In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the eternal nature of God and His authority over all creation. He quotes from Hebrews 1:10-14, highlighting that while the earth and heavens will perish, God remains unchanged. The preacher also questions the superiority of angels, stating that God never asked any angel to sit at His right hand like He did with Jesus. He emphasizes that angels are meant to serve those who will inherit salvation. The sermon concludes with the importance of paying careful attention to the message of salvation and not drifting away, as it was confirmed by the Lord and accompanied by signs, wonders, and miracles.

Hebrews chapter 1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times in various ways but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven so he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say you are my son, today I have become your father or again I will be his father and he will be my son and again when God brings his firstborn into the world he says let all God's angels worship him. In speaking of the angels he says he makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire but about the Son he says your throne O God will last forever and ever and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness therefore God your God has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. He also says in the beginning O Lord you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands they will perish but you remain. They will all wear out like a garment you will roll them up like a robe, like a garment they will be changed but you remain the same and your years will never end. To which of the angels did God ever say sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation. We must pay more careful attention therefore to what we have heard so that we do not drift away for if the message spoken by angels was binding and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation. This salvation which was first announced by the Lord was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Well may God bless the hearing and the reading of his word. If you have a Bible if you could open that Bible at the New Testament book of Hebrews and at the second chapter of Hebrews and before we come to consider God's word together shall we just pray. Living God of heaven and earth we believe that you are everywhere present your word tells us that there is nowhere that we cannot go and there is nowhere that we can flee to where your presence is not known. Your word declares to us that you are a God who fills the heaven and the earth. You are from eternity and to eternity. You are the alpha and the omega and we believe that as we gather this afternoon we gather not only beneath your eye but we gather in your very presence and we would ask that as we open this book your own holy word and that as we come to consider the truth which it contains we ask you living God would you captivate our thoughts would you bring every wandering thought that we would be beneath your word subject to your word open to the leading and the teaching of your Holy Spirit and that we would as a result of this gathering together see Jesus more clearly long to follow him more closely and be those people who are a bright and shining light into this dark world speak to us minister to us for we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus himself amen. He described himself as the preacher of the seven seals the pale rider of the book of the revelation and the hand of God. He was a man of violence he was a serial rapist and he was a paedophile yet such was the charismatic aura and the psychological power of this one man that he was able like lemmings from a cliff face to lead 72 intelligent lively bright thinking men and women to their own private Armageddon his name was Vernon Wayne Howell better known as David Koresh and he has been recorded by history as a religious madman a man who claimed to be the Christ the incarnation of the divine and a man who led people to destruction what you may not know is that at the age of 19 he was an orthodox clean committed member of a Southern Baptist church he sang the hymns with gusto and with real enthusiasm he prayed with feeling and publicly his devotion and example to men and women to him young people were captivated by him and to all intents and purposes this man would be a trailblazer for Jesus Christ the problem was as time went by his devotion turned to depravity and instead of experience religion he had performance religion instead of the inward he turned to the outward and while the outward became everything to him the inward withered and died and instead of becoming Christ centred he became self centred instead of loving the Saviour who began to love sin instead according to Mark Briolt his biographer and for a while his right hand man it wasn't an overnight thing it wasn't that he suddenly awoke one morning and removed his halo in favour of horns it was something gradual and insidious it began with the thin end of the wedge with small compromises with the insignificant with the unimportant with the little foxes which nibble away at the vine until eventually this trailblazer had a life that was a mess a twisted mass of lies and perversion he started so well he ended so badly you know David Koresh is a tragic example of a small spark becoming wildfire you see the Bible tells us that there are many people like David Koresh people who begin well those who give every indication of life and promise and potential but who make utter shipwreck of their faith it is possible you see to be gathered in a congregation like this to be dressed in your Sunday suit and your outward Sunday smile and appearance to be surrounded by the ordinances of the gospel to enter into listening to the sermon from beginning to end to stand on tiptoe while singing the hymns to nod in all of the appropriate places and still be lost it is possible to think you're making progress when in fact you're not and in the words of the songwriter Paul Simon it is possible to believe that you're gliding down the highway when in fact you're slip sliding away the book of Hebrews is written to just such people people who have seen the glory of Christ have known the reality of his presence have experienced something of seeing around them the glory of God in operation and they're now thinking of returning to the shadow and the type of Judaism they started well but now they're in real danger of exchanging what they know to be true for the incomplete and for the inferior they're in danger of walking out on the genuine in favor of the counterfeit the reality for the shadows you see they're under real pressure pressure from the authorities pressure from their peers pressure from their priests give up your Christianity come back to the fold you see it's easier it's more attractive it's legal and these people who have professed faith are on the verge of walking out on their faith and throwing in the towel and of giving it all up maybe this afternoon you're in exactly the same boat maybe you've come to worship as is your habit but the thrill is gone you spent a summer of activity you've been on camp you've been involved with young people you've heard preaching which has thrilled your heart and stirred your soul in years past but this year has been different you've not been around maybe as you should have been you've not been at the means of grace on a regular basis and now as we come to the beginning of September and we've come to a preaching rally which should be a spur and a new beginning a new impetus for a new session of work for the Lord Jesus and worship in his name you've come here this afternoon and you're wondering really whether it's all worth it at all and nobody else knows you've brought your camp photos like everybody else has you've come along in a car with people who have spoken about the preaching at the Aberystwyth Conference and while they've all joined in conversation you've been quiet or maybe you've joined in with them but in your heart you know that you don't have what you should have your faith is an uphill struggle the world seems to have so much to offer you're tired of struggling every day in a relentless battle against the world the flesh and the devil and now you're ready to back off you're ready to tone down maybe you're ready to walk away completely you may have been off the blocks like a sprinter when you began but now your energy is spent your hands and your feet are tired of gospel work and maybe you feel as though you're in the position of Ezekiel to remember him lying on his side day after day after day with the same vision and the same view in front of his eyes and maybe you are transporting yourself and you're feeling Lord I'm a bit like Ezekiel it's nothing new here it's all much of the same and it doesn't thrill me any longer it's not doing anything for me well if that's where you are this afternoon but if despite your doubts and temptations and the weariness that is within you if you want to go on in your faith and not out of your faith I want to give you two injunctions from the book of Hebrews and chapter two and verse one as an antidote to your apathy there are injunctions that remind you that not all who begin well end well injunctions that remind us that you can belong to a conservative evangelical bible believing reformed evangelical church which dots all of the i's and crosses all of the t's in the right place and rightly so you can be an outspoken firebrand quote the catechism pour over the puritans but still be lost you see the heritage and the ministry of the evangelical movement of Wales with all of its clarity and with all of the blessings of its past and its present are no inoculation for you against individual coldness of heart because you're here doesn't mean you're okay consider those who first heard the words that we've read from the mouth of the apostle here are second generation christians they're contemporaries of the apostles they are eyewitnesses of miracles they are the closest generation of all to those who lived alongside the savior himself but a rot has started in their hearts and instead of wonder there is weariness and instead of love there is lethargy and these first century believers are in terrible danger you read of the same thing elsewhere in the new testament think of that vibrant church at Ephesus that church which had godly pastors and wonderful preaching and diligent pastoral care but the aging apostle of love was able to write the words of the lord jesus to them that they had forsaken their first love why because these verses tell us beloved that the tendency of your heart unless you are vigilant is to drift away the old hymn says prone to wonder lord i feel it prone to leave the god i love and this world with all of its influence and all of its sinfulness exerts a pull upon your life which will be with you right up until the day when you enter heaven itself here is a boy switch on your imagination in front of him is a bowl of water in his hand is a hose pipe and alongside him is a tap and as you approach this boy you can see that next to him are a scrubbing brush and a piece of soap and every few moments as you walk toward him he takes two pieces of metal from out of the bowl and he touches them together and he puts them back in the bowl and after a few moments of struggling of scrubbing away with the brush and the soap he takes them out and he touches them together again and he puts them back in the bowl and as you approach him you find that as he's scrubbing he really has to pry to get them apart until you're right next to where he's standing and for all of your journey he's been in and out of the bowl with the metal he's been scrubbing and rubbing until you realize that those two pieces of metal in his hand one of them is a magnet and the other is a piece of ordinary metal and no matter how much he tries to scrub he cannot remove the internal pull which is exerted upon the piece of metal by scrubbing that magnet it is something inside it's not external it's something that is part and parcel of that piece of metal and this afternoon i want to remind you that the attraction of sin is the same you see although the general polarity of your heart if you belong to Jesus Christ is now centered toward him because your sanctification is not yet complete there is a part of you over which sin still has influence it still has a pull you're like mixed metal your heart is directed to Christ but the pull of sin still tugs at you whoever you are whatever church you're from however long you've been in the faith faith that pull is still there and this verse in chapter two and verse one tells us that you and i need to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away i want to tell you today that you need to heed those things which you have heard the greek verb which translates this literally means to hold on to to turn your attention to to focus all of your mind and energy upon those things which you have heard i want to remind you today that the reason that the sparkle goes from my life and your life the reason our christian faith becomes like treacle and the walk of witness for the lord jesus christ becomes difficult the reason our joy is absent is because very often the lord jesus christ does not have our full attention the old chorus says turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace when we speak of the lord jesus christ this afternoon and the things that we have heard concerning him those things which we are to heed and hold we speak of the eternal god of light and truth the one who is the word of god the architect of creation the bright and morning star he is the artist who paints the sunset the sculptor who frames the cosmos he is the matchless god of heaven without beginning or end from everlasting to everlasting he is god he is without weakness or frailty he is the image of the invisible god the brightness of his glory the express image of his person he is holy harmless undefiled and separate from sin he is the one who laid aside his majesty the one who gave up everything for me he is pure the spotless lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world this savior is the lion of judah he is the lily of the valley he is the rose of sharon he is the furthest among ten thousand and he is the darling of heaven i remind you that the one of whom you have heard is the one at whose command kingdoms rise and fall he holds all things in his hand by the word of his power he rules in the army of heaven he reigns amongst cherubim and seraphim he is clothed with majesty his name is wonderful counselor the mighty god the prince of peace the everlasting father he is the bread of life that satisfies the light of the world that illuminates and i remind you this afternoon that the reason you are in christ today is because you are justified freely by his grace you were chosen before the worlds were made you are called by the power of the spirit you are redeemed by precious blood you are kept by the arm of omnipotence and you are adopted into the family of god so i remind you that to walk out on him is to walk out on the light of heaven and the light of the gospel into outer darkness and into utter darkness the resounding truth of the book of hebrews is that the lord jesus christ is better he is better than the prophet better than moses better than aaron he brings a better covenant a better sacrifice a better hope of heaven and he certainly brings better than this world can ever offer you because what did this world ever give you it promised you the best and it paid you the worst it promised to satisfy you and it left you empty it promised you friends and gave you only hangers-on it promised you those who would stand with you through thick and thin and as you turned around you found that you were totally on your own and at your deepest point of sorrow there was nobody with you it promised that you could know the meaning of life and hope and peace by living for yourself eating and drinking and being merry because tomorrow we die by squeezing the marrow out of life by saying corpe diem i will take what i can and i will live as i please i'll be the master of my own fate i will be the captain of my own destiny i will go and i will live helter skelter for self and that promised you that you would be happy and satisfied but you're not are you because all that you found was a bitter taste in your mouth can i say to you this afternoon that there is no one thing and there is no one person that can be compared with the lord jesus christ he is peerless he is without equal and before him you and i had nothing which is why the whole of this epistle parades christ it answers the question how do you go on when you feel on the verge of giving in the answer consider him in his kingship his glory his might his beauty his compassion consider that before him we were bankrupt before the god of heaven we were naked we were without righteousness we had only our sin to clothe us we were in filth we were in the mire we had no hope of heaven we were urged to nothing but the sins of our forefathers before us and we were headed toward a lost eternity outside of the presence of god forever we were like belshazzar despite all of his wealth and popularity he was weighed in the balance and he was found wanting and so were you and so was i but then christ came and he took away the fog that blinded you he put a new heart within you he put a new song in your mouth he lifted you out of the miry clay he placed your feet upon a rock and instead of being on the broad road that leads to destruction he placed you on the king's highway that leads to the celestial city and now this afternoon many of you you are in christ you profess faith in him you've met with him in prayer you found him to thrill your soul and to delight you you've had experiences in him which pale everything else into insignificance outside of him you wonder if you could ever attain to anything greater and these are the things which you and i have heard or at least a taste of them we've been taught them we believe them we've known something of them they're not just abstract notions they're glorious truths and if you and i this afternoon are to go on in our faith and not out of our faith then we need to heed those things which we have heard can i challenge you that in our shallow inch deep days you and i need to take hold and to grasp the truth of god's word like never before why because a world at its worst needs men at its best because you and i don't grow in grace by having nice experiences we don't grow in grace by being in a wonderfully warm atmosphere and singing rousing hymns and and choruses perhaps and having noise and activity all around us growth in grace isn't like a virus that you catch it's not like spiritual osmosis that you gather together with others and somehow it migrates during the preaching rally from the person next to you into your own heart in your character it doesn't happen that way you and i grow in grace by meditating upon the word of god by seeking him with all of our heart and by considering christ as the author and finisher of our faith it's by grasping hold of these things and saying i will not let you go by hiding them in our hearts that we will not sin against him by being transformed daily by the renewing of our minds so brethren firstly i encourage you to hold the truth of god's word as we go almost into a new session between september and christmas to remember your creator some of you in the days of your youth to remember the words that have been spoken to you about christ who is a glorious redeemer and it was the only hope for a world which is lost in sin and confused and looking for answers and wondering why am i here where am i going and what is the point of it all only jesus christ is that answer it's a challenge to bless the lord and to forget not all of his benefits to remember the rock from which you were hewn and the hole of the pit from which you were dug so the first spiritual checkpoint i want to give you is this heed the things which you have heard heed the doctrine heed the truth heed the message the second checkpoint i want to give you is the word hold no matter how much you scan verse one you won't find the word hold it's not there mentioned but it's there in principle because the verse that we read together says therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away according to vine's expository dictionary the phrase to drift away is summed up by a nautical term used by sailors the idea it carries is of a boat a yacht perhaps that is moored down by the docks a boat that is expensive and valuable carrying great treasures in which a great deal of time and money has been invested the problem was as the man who owns the boat steps off his pride and joy and onto the jetty as he goes about his business he turns around and he finds that he has failed to lash that boat securely to the side he's failed to drop an anchor he's failed to make sure it is securely tied and because of that the boat is in danger of drifting away and i remind you this afternoon that the danger of drifting away from the faith that you possess is a gradual drift it is something so subtle and slight that at first it is hardly noticeable at all i remind you that just as the turn of the tide is something unseen and just as the shift in the pull of the current at first occurs out of sight and under the surface so the drift of the heart away from jesus christ is exactly the same unless you are vigilant and you are tightening the rope that lashes you to christ the tendency of that rope will be to loosen there was a man by the name of william perry he was an admiral he was an explorer and he was an englishman his intention was to lead a group of men to the arctic ocean to chart and map the region on the way they evaded all sorts of dangerous falling ice constant exposure to the elements unexpected crevices which opened before them and day after day they battled against the bone-chilling cold they use the stars by night as their guide as they march northward they use their compass to direct them but after a few days of concerted marching they realized that as they took their compass bearings that instead of being further northward they were further southward than they were when they began something was wrong it only took a few moments for admiral perry to realize that for the last days they had been walking on an ice flow that was traveling southward faster than they were walking north its drift was imperceptible it wasn't plain to the senses but it was real nevertheless that is the phenomenon that concerns the writer to the hebrews because when our anchor is dislodged from the rock which is christ jesus we begin a drift which ultimately leads far away from him for some people that drift winds up in very dramatic and shameful places the back of a police car the bottom of a whiskey bottle in the midst of a relationship or sleeping in a bed that you never ever thought that you would be in for others the drama is a lot less obvious but no less awful respectable mediocrity cold-hearted agnosticism faithless cynicism but a very real drift nevertheless now hang on some of you are thinking hang on we believe here that no christian can be lost eternally the evangelical movement of wales believes that god is able to keep to the end all those who come to him so what are you preaching are you preaching heresy are you bringing some strange english doctrine into the hallowed halls of welsh christianity why are you trying to frighten us don't you believe that god has the power to keep all that come to him of course i do that is the clear teaching of god's word but listen that is only half of the truth and as one preacher that i listened to some time ago said when you try to make half the truth into the whole truth you end up with an untruth you see the flip side of that wonderful doctrine that god keeps his children is that you and i are called to work out our salvation day by day we are called to persevere to the end we are called to fight the fight of faith we are called to press on for the goal of the upward call of god in christ jesus praise god for the truth that no real christian can ever be lost no matter how weak how feeble how failing how stumbling because of the blood of jesus christ he is able to say of them that you have given me i have lost none praise god for that but praise god also for the grace of god which comes into the heart of a believer a true christian and makes him so that he would never sin himself into lostness the issue of the book of hebrews isn't whether god keeps his children it is the necessity of his children to keep on going you see the temptation for these hebrews was to let go in the face of affliction to let go and if you've never been in an affliction and you felt at times i want to let go then you've not been afflicted yet you will be the bible tells us that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward the hymn says through many dangerous toils and snares i have already come jesus said through much tribulation you enter the kingdom of god and there are times in affliction we say how can i keep holding on to you it's too hard i can't go on any longer i'll let go what am i holding for anyway i'll just let go a little so friends how do i recognize this sign of drift well you can identify it you can find that this drift is already in motion when speaking to the lord jesus christ is no longer as important to you as once it was when the quest to be like him no longer dominates your thinking and takes up your waking hours you can know this drift has begun when you can come to worship and you can mouth the songs without ever needing to engage the heart you can know that this drift has begun when the slightest excuse keeps you from the means of grace or from the word of god or from private prayer you can identify this drift when a longing for the salvation of souls ceases to be important to you and the pursuit of leisure or activities or hobbies becomes the overriding issue that drives you on you can identify the drift has begun when the book of god is gathering dust and the buttons on your remote control have started to whir away with overuse friends i want to challenge you today as we begin a new session with many things facing us with many opportunities but with many trials and difficulties that if you and i are to be an ongoing vibrant clear gospel witness in the 21st century in a dark and pagan wales then we need to heed and to hold the things of christ nothing else matters how is it with your soul today do you feel i've heard it all before just from different lips i don't get anything when i come to worship any longer it doesn't matter what church i go to what preachers i hear it doesn't stimulate me well my friend knowing that the road to apostasy begins with a slack grip and a careless walk where are you really not the person next to you where are you you and god do you listen with attention to the preaching of god's word what are you reading at the moment in your own time with the lord if i were to get you out to the front and ask you to share with folk here what book you're reading to stimulate your growth and grace what would you say would you be able to tell me if i were to ask you what sin you're battling with and seeking to defeat and conquer what would you say if i were to ask you which truth you're coming to grips with and seeking to understand which unbelieving friend are you seeking to witness to and bring under the sound of the gospel or come alongside them with a welcoming arm and a cup of coffee and time for them when they need you to speak of the glories of christ and the only way to heaven what would you answer what about fellowship when was the time that you said i don't care what others say about me though none go with me yet i will follow when was the last time that you wept with those who weep and rejoiced with those who rejoice friends when did you last really pray i don't mean in the prayer meeting necessarily i mean at the sink with the dishes i mean with the books open before you as you're seeking to study i mean as you're walking down the road i mean when you've got a ball at your feet or a ball under your arm in this part of the country when did you last really pray when with the puritans did you last do natural things spiritually and spiritual things naturally you see there are only two sorts of knots and with this i'm going to work toward a close there is a knot that is becoming tighter and there is a knot that is getting looser only two knots you see there are two pictures on that quayside in one there are men who are straining on that rope and they've lashed it to the side they've made sure that it's knotted they're holding firm they're standing with their feet planted they're pulling that knot so that nothing will dislodge them and alongside them are other men in another boat and between them there they're unpicking the knot with pieces of metal and knives they're seeking to pull up the anchor they're falling asleep on the deck that have been kindly laid on for them and as the storm is gathering and the knots there are loosening their boat is slipping away out of their grasp so what are you doing this afternoon where are you what place in your life are you are you tightening that knot or are you loosening that knot because i tell you today unless you are deliberately and specifically seeking to tighten the knot of your heart then that knot is working loose the only reason that you and i are still in christ is because underneath are the everlasting arms the only reason that i am in christ today is because the hand of grace is stronger than my hand that seeks like a little boy crossing the road to rest his hand out of the one holding him and to go his own way the reason you're in christ is because you're being held but my christian friend you need to hold on you need to keep going the pledge of the book of hebrews is that all who truly belong to christ will be in heaven so the question i leave with you is whatever evidence is there that you belong to christ you may have a clear profession but is there any fruit in your life has there been a change taking place are you different do you want holiness is jesus precious are you asking lord would you fill me with your spirit would you take me deeper into christ are you longing for heaven have you got your hands on the plow and are you looking over your shoulder and yearning for what used to be robert robinson was a young man who was an outstanding christian he had great gifts and great potential in the kingdom of god he was zealous he loved the bible he wrote hymns and poems which pointed men to the beauty of jesus that led others to appreciate the tenderness of the savior and caused friends and contact to marvel at the glory of the cross one day robert robinson fell into secret sin instead of confessing it though and forsaking it he fed it and he encouraged it and before long he was in slavery to that secret sin and he reached the point where he couldn't read the bible and pray any longer he couldn't face the words of judgment that sprang off the page into his vision he couldn't bear being around other christians he couldn't believe that the offers of mercy could actually belong to him so off he went he walked out he began to travel the world turning away from the faith which had earlier he had embraced and for many years he shut god out and resisted the work of the spirit in his life until one day he became acquainted on a journey with a young woman who spoke to him about spiritual things so attracted to he was was robinson to the words of this woman that he listened as she shared her faith eventually she read to him a poem which had moved her heart it was like this come now fount of every blessing and she read to him the verse that says prone to wander lord i feel it prone to leave the god i love take oh take my heart and seal it seal it to the court to thy courts above so moved was robert robinson by hearing the words of the hymn that he had written that he knelt down there and then to return to the lord he confessed his sin he acknowledged his transgression and he received the mercy of god in forgiving and restoring him to a place of acceptance and usefulness and although this lady was greatly surprised she said to robert robinson the streams of mercy that you have written about apply to you you may have been in deep sin this summer far from god can i say to you that the streams of mercy spoken of in that hymn and in the grace of the lord jesus christ if you will repent if you will make short accounts with god then that mercy applies even to you wherever you've been whoever you are whatever holes you've been in the mercy and the grace of the lord jesus christ even this afternoon can be applied to you so come to him come back to him find restored to you the years that the locust has eaten and whether you are a young believer or a believer of many years in the faith take home two words today from this session at least heed and hold those things which you have heard well before i give you back to our chairman we'll pray father we think of many in your word who have wandered far from you we think of jonah in his sin and in his impenitence we thank you that you restored him but lord it took a great affliction to break his heart we would ask you this afternoon that you would break our heart in repentance and faith that you would cause us to heed the things which we have heard to hold on to the truths which have been precious to us and we pray that we would seek after christ the one who in every way is better more glorious more great and the one who saves to the uttermost all who come to god by him restore us we pray for we ask in the name of jesus amen