"1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 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, 4 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
The second point arising from the idea of drifting in 1 is this: the word of the gospel which was being proclaimed to them was a new word, whereas the word of the angels, the word of the old economy, had the force of established custom and tradition on its side. And the force of old established custom can be very great indeed. Someone has said, "There are currents of thought, feeling and action, which, if not resisted, carry down to the sea of death!" And those to whom these words were first written were in fact in danger of being carried headlong by the current of established religious custom. They were saying something like this: "We follow the customs of our pious forefathers, in observing the word of God spoken to them by angels, and we do not hold with the doctrine of Jesus which requires us to break with these old customs and embrace something new and revolutionary." And the Apostle says, "Beware! You are in the grip of a current which is going to sweep you right past the gate of heaven." The applications of all this to our contemporary situation is surely obvious. The 'new' word of the gospel is so often refused on these very grounds by those brought up in the traditional religious life of 20th century Scotland, in a tradition of good works which represents as great a misunderstanding of the gospel as that which Paul and the other apostles encountered in the Judaism of their day, a tradition that is carrying so many past the 'landing-stage' of grace out into the open sea without hope of salvation. To cling to old established tradition, to 'What we have always been used to', when that is proved by the Scriptures and by the teaching of Christ to be wrong is dangerous folly. This is the point of the warning in 3. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"