Drifting
Hebrews 2:1-4 New King James Version (NKJV)
Therefore we must give [a]the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just [b]reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts[c] of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
One reason the writer of Hebrews emphasizes the superiority of Jesus and His revelation is to stress that those who have experienced salvation in Him must not be careless about their commitment to Him that it requires. The word here “drift” (Gk parerreo) has nautical overtones, as when a ship drifts past the harbor to shipwreck. Therefore, we must pay closer attention to the things that Scripture warns about. Neglect and apathy can be fatal.
The apostolic gospel was and still is confirmed to us by the Lord Himself, then the testimony of those who had heard and known Jesus first hand, and then its proclamation of salvation by “signs and wonders”. There was not just a testimony of words, but a testimony of the Spirit working and living among the people of God.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? – drifting
Neglect is visited with penalty. The unrepentant murderer does not inherit eternal life, “For no murderer has eternal life abiding in him”. But, the writer of Hebrews tells us that “neglect” is enough to ruin us. A man who owns a business does not need to commit tax fraud to ruin himself, he need only to neglect his business. Sin does not have to ruin you, neglect will do it good enough. Most of the calamities of life are caused by simple neglect. By neglect, children grow up rebellious and disobedient. By neglect, a field of crops is overrun with weeds. By neglect, a house will fall prey to the environment and rot. There is nothing in earthly affairs that is valuable that will not be ruined if not attended to—how much more to the neglect of our soul? Neglect so great a salvation, not just by never believing in Christ and repenting from an old fleshly man; but by the neglect of your spiritual walk.
EX: I spent summers with my grandmother in California and she lived about 17 miles from the beach. My cousin Al and I would spend hours in the water. I remember this one time we were playing in the water as we do, with all the other kids on the beach, not paying attention to our surroundings and before you knew it, we had drifted about ½ mile down the coast. We looked up and there was no one in sight. We got out of the water and it took us 20 min to walk down the beach. We had been gone for hours and my grandmother had alerted the beach patrol to look for us.
Drift- be carried slowly by a current of air or water.
Are you aware that there is a current that is pulling us in a certain direction? It’s rarely the waves you have to worry about because those you can see, you should be concerned with the undercurrent. There is a spirit of deception strong at work, it is the spirit of the antichrist and it is unyielding and forceful, requiring that you obey it. Are you aware of this current or are you too busy playing in the water, not paying attention and drifting away from safety?
How to avoid drifting:
Make a covenant with your eyes to not lust.
Job 31:1 New King James Version 31 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I [a]look upon a young woman?
Be content with where God has you and what He is doing in you. Drifters desire things that are not meant for them. They are not content to stay within the parameters that He has set for their lives. They refuse to operate within the field God has given them, always wanting and desiring more. Wanting more is not a bad thing, but desiring more or desiring things that are not meant for you can be dangerous stumbling blocks
1 John 2:16 New King James Version (NKJV) For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
This word “lust” is not just sexual. It has to do with yearning and desiring things. You can lust for money and power. Lust for position. Lust after ungodly relationships. Lust after stuff. Lust for more. Lust for food. Lust for your own way. Lust for success. EX: Worldly success was the driving force behind why I did things. did you know I was going to be on ESPN? (there is a difference between worldly success and godly success- and these do not look the same. Look at the prophets, look at the NT apostles, by the world’s standards, they were not successful.)
People’s desire for worldly success only succeeds in driving them further from the ways and will of the Lord.
Lust is a longing especially for what is forbidden; it comes from the root word that means to set your heart upon.
Mark 4:19 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.
What are you setting your eyes upon? Have you made a covenant with your eyes? What are you allowing yourself to look upon and desire? What do you admire? Because what you admire, you will be attracted to.
The person who gives into lust shows that they are unrestrained. God restrains. In fact, the church is the restraining influence that is holding back the antichrist from being revealed for who he is. We are to not only restrain wickedness and evil in the world, but to operate in self-control personally. Satan never restrains himself. So, when our lusts and desires run freely, we show kinship to that antichrist spirit.
Be single focused.
The drifter is aimless, shooting off arrows in every direction but never hitting the mark. They are apathetic about what really matters because they are too busy pursuing everything else to pay attention. They cannot stay focused because their heart is divided always desiring more. One of Satan’s biggest tactics is distractions.
Matthew 6:22-23 New King James Version (NKJV) “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is [a]good (single), your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is [b]bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
The light of the body … – The sentiment stated in the preceding verses –
Matthew 6:19-21 New King James Version (NKJV) 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
the duty of fixing the affections on heavenly things – Jesus proceeds to illustrate by a reference to the “eye.” When the eye is directed steadily toward an object (single vision), and is in health, everything is clear and plain. If it vibrates, flies to different objects, is fixed on no one singly, or is diseased, nothing is seen clearly. Everything is dim and confused. The man, therefore, is unsteady. (double-minded man is the distracted man, unsteady in all his ways)
The eye regulates the motion of the body. To have an object distinctly in view is necessary in order to correct and regulate action. Tight rope walkers, that they may steady themselves, fix the eye on some object on the wall, and look steadily at that. If they should look down on the rope or the people, they might become dizzy and fall. A man crossing a stream on a log, if he will look across at some object steadily, will be in little danger. If he looks down on the rushing water, he will become dizzy, and fall. Lunges- put your eye on one spot on the wall. So Jesus says, in order that the conduct may be right, it is important to fix the affections on one thing-heaven. Having the affections there – having the eye of faith single, steady, unwavering – all the conduct will be correspondent.
Are you single focused in your aim? Paul was successful because he had ONE aim in life
Philippians 3:12-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Colossians 3:1-2 English Standard Version (ESV) 3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Where is your treasure? Are you storing up things here on earth that fade, or is your focus on those things that are eternal? What distractions are you allowing to keep you from what He has called you to? Remember: busyness is not effectiveness
Counteract Satan’s strategy.
A drifter is unaware of what’s going on around them nor of the undercurrent beneath them.
Satan uses deception, that’s all he knows is how to lie and deceive. This is the undercurrent- deception. And some of you are being swept away with the deception that is taking place because you cannot discern the times. We are being groomed, like a predator grooms an innocent child; the enemy is grooming the world to acquiesce to his plan, and under the guise of “love your neighbor”. The spirit of antichrist is deception.
Revelation 13:11-14 New King James Version (NKJV) 11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb (looks peaceful, gentle and kind) and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives [a]those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
You will drift away from your place of safety if you are not aware of the current of deception. You have to swim against the crowd- the crowd goes the way of the broad path to destruction.
Matthew 24:24 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)
24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (God’s chosen ones).
We counteract his strategy by KNOWING His Word. You must read it, memorize it and put it in your heart, believe it, live it. You WILL be deceived if you do not know God’s Word! You will think things are loving because you do not know the Word. You will think things are true because you do not know what God says about it. You will think erroneous things of Jesus (30% of evangelicals do not believe Jesus is God) when you stray from His Word. God still has laws. He still has rules. He still has boundaries. He still requires obedience. EX: marriage and divorce, this is the standard stop trying to find the loopholes
For many, their ignorance of the truth has so corrupted their minds that they don’t even recognize sin anymore. They say:
I will determine truth
I will determine what is male and female
I will determine what a family is]
I will determine my own sexual norms
I will do according to my pleasure, my rules, my law, my free will
Grace does not give you an excuse to keep sinning.
You cannot claim ignorance- you are responsible for knowing His Word when its been so readily available to us. Are you willing to stand against the current and be set apart? EX: meme of Nazi Germany, one man standing with his arms folded
We counteract his strategy by shutting our ears to the lies of enemy and giving our ears to the Spirit. “Therefore we must give [a]the more earnest heed to the things we have heard”
For goodness sake, shut off the media! Media-medium. Who are you hanging out with and allowing to speak into your life? Not everyone is a friend! What podcasts do you listen to? You can find anyone who preaches a “gospel” that fits your opinions and narratives.
How shall we escape? There is no need to fear man and no need to fear the enemy’s attacks and schemes. Satan can only do what God allows. But, you better fear the judgment of God.
Matthew 10:28 New Living Translation “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a]
for more sermons please visit our SERMONS PAGE
Please subscribe to our YOUTUBE PAGE
