Apostasy and Perseverance - Part 2
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[00:00:00] Good morning. Thank you for your, uh, patience and grace last week. Uh, my eyes a lot better. It's not a hundred percent, so if I lose my place, that's why I, I go back and forth between blurry and clear. But, uh, if you would please take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews chapter six. We're gonna read the first 12 verses.
If you're able, please stand. Hebrews chapter six verses one through 12, and hear this for what it is, the words of our good and gracious God that he would love us enough not just to go to the cross, but to continually warn us of that truth. Hebrews chapter six, verse one. Therefore leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity.
It not laying again, a foundation of repentance from dead works and of [00:01:00] faith toward God of instructions about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal punishment. And this we will do if God permits for in the case of those who have once been enlightened, have tasted of the heavenly gift, have been made, partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.
And have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they, again crucify to themselves the son of God and put 'em to open shame for ground that drinks the rain, which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is. Also tilled receives a blessing from God, but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to a curse.
And it ends up being burned. But beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you. [00:02:00] Things that accompany salvation. Though we speak this way for God is not unjust to forget your work and the love with which you have shown towards his name and having ministered and still ministering to the saints.
And we desire to each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end. So that you'll not be sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. May God add a blessing to the reading, the hearing, and the obedience to his word.
Please be seated.
What do you think of when you hear the book of Hebrews? When you hear the book mentioned, what do you think of? Just take a minute. What? What do you think of angels, the priesthood, atonement, [00:03:00] covenants, maybe the superiority of Christ, or maybe it's the question who wrote it? 'cause we don't know who wrote it.
The Hall of Faith found in chapter 11. What do you think of? Because all these things are good, and all these things are found in the book of Hebrews, and I'm not here to offer a critique at all. This is just an observation. It just seems as, I've studied it, as I've tried to dig in, as I've read a variety of things written on the book of Hebrews that for whatever reason.
We seem to forget. We seem to miss the fact that it opens with an elegant, beautiful, and clear, concise, and yes, I'm packing on the words because I tried everything to come up with one word that would capture this, and I couldn't. A clear and a concise, a definitive, thorough, heresy splitting statement of the divinity of Christ Jesus.
The book starts that way. The author of Hebrews, whoever [00:04:00] he is, was a master of his language, and he begins with the fact that Christ is God and because he's God, he's creator, and because he's creator, he's redeemer, and because he's God, because he's creator, because he's redeemer, he's superior. And that's what we find in chapters one and two.
Jesus is superior to the angels. In chapters three and four. Jesus is superior to Moses and to Joshua to the Old Covenant. And then in chapter five, the author begins to talk about Jesus's superiority to the Levitical priesthood. But then, and I don't think he gets sidetracked, he just stops and he goes back to warning.
And chapter five ends with a warning on immaturity. To avoid immaturity to press on to maturity, and that same warning is picked up and carried through Chapter six. I've titled today's Sermon Aposty and Perseverance part two, and hopefully you'll remember a couple of weeks ago when we [00:05:00] looked at part one, at least what I called part one, we looked at the two-sided doctrine of preservation and perseverance.
And we saw, like we often see in scripture, we have the sovereignty of God side by side with the responsibility of man, God preserves his people. God ensures that his elect will not fall away. And at the same time, we are called to perseverance. We are called to rely on the Holy Spirit and obey and persevere and strive and fight and struggle.
And we saw that preservation and perseverance were the expectation and belief of the author of Hebrews. We took a, a quick run through the book of Hebrews and we saw that this is exactly what the author presents, and we did an even quicker run through of the New Testament, and we saw that the other New Testament writers believe the same thing.
God preserves his people, but we have been commanded. To persevere and we need to take that with us as we study this warning. And I would highly recommend if you didn't hear that [00:06:00] sermon, go back and listen to it. Go back and read the transcripts. It's all on our website. Number one on your outline. The warning, the warning verses chapter six verses one through two.
Therefore leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ. And it's really important to understand these words because what the author is saying is the basic teaching. He's gonna list six things and he categorizes them as basic. I would like to leave the basics and get onto something a little harder.
And this is embarrassing and it is shameful because as I will show you in a few minutes, the modern church is still debating. What the author of Hebrews says is Basic theology, and yet we can't seem to agree. That doesn't mean that I don't think we've got it right somewhere, but sadly, those who would claim Christ, those who would claim to be a Christian, those who would claim to be a Protestant [00:07:00] evangelical, we still argue over these six things and the author says These are basic and he'd rather press on to maturity, not laying again, a foundation of repentance from dead works.
Of faith toward God, of instructions about washings and laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead in eternal judgment. So ever. So briefly, I'd like to look at those six things that the author calls basic Repentance from Dead Works and Kids. This is on your outline. So kids, if you're filling in the blank, you're taking some notes.
Repentance means to change your mind. Repentance is a change of mind. It's literally an afterthought or a change of thought. It's also a change of attitude. It's a reversal of one's position, a reversal of one's beliefs, a reversal of one's lifestyle. It is to change. Repentance is one side of the coin of repentance and faith, and [00:08:00] repentance is to turn from, and faith is to turn to.
Listen to the words of Romans chapter one, beginning in verse 21, for even though they knew God, there's no such thing as an atheist. There is no such thing as an atheist. All men know God, and that's why they can function in God's world, and that's what Paul teaches here. Even though they knew literally in the Greek, the God, the triune God of heaven, they did not honor him as God.
Nor give thanks. But they became futile. They became worthless in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Their foolish heart was black professing. To be wise, they became fools the very opposite of wisdom. And they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds, and of forfeited animals and crawling creatures.
And yet we debate this today. Yes, and the debate is [00:09:00] known as Lordship Salvation. There are those who would stand before you in the pulpit, and they would tell you that repentance is not necessary to be saved, that your life doesn't have to change. You just need to believe in Jesus. And yet the author of Hebrews says, this was basic stuff and we still debate it.
The teaching of scripture is your life must radically change, not because you have the power within yourself to change it, but because you are a new creature. You put your faith in Christ. You are born from above. You put your faith in Jesus Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit and you're sealed in him, and your life changes.
And if it hasn't changed, be warned. And that's what the warning is all about today. The second thing, or he says, uh, repentance from Dead Works. I think it's important to understand what Dead Works are, and I think that when you take the entire epistle, uh, into context and in consideration, I think Dead Works are, are one of two things.
Number one, all sin [00:10:00] is considered a dead work, but I think more importantly contextually, especially as he's addressing these Hebrews that wanna return to the old Covenant Dead Works is an attempt to earn one's salvation. Dead Works is a rejection of justification. By faith, it is an a belief and understanding that I have to do certain things.
I have to earn my way. I have to earn merit before God. If you are living like that, if you reject justification by faith alone through Christ alone because of grace alone, then you're dealing with dead works because your works earn you nothing. Apart from Christ. If you are in Christ, God will bless your works.
God will reward your works. In fact, God has planned works for you to walk in, but if you're doing it because you think you need to earn salvation, they're dead and they're worthless. The second one is faith towards God, and this is the other side of [00:11:00] repentance and kids. This too is on your outline. Faith in God means to trust God.
It's a rejection of self alliance, self-reliance. It's seeking the help. It is seeking the assistance of another and the author of Hebrews, as well as so many other books that we've looked at and passages that we've, we look at Saving Faith in scripture is defined as ongoing. It is defined as persevering faith.
It is defined as a faith that brings with it good works. And we've talked about this, but I think it's really important to review it in terms of the warning passage reform theologians have agreed upon, and I believe this comes from scripture, that there's at least three components to saving faith. But if you only have one component, you have faith.
If you only have two of the components, you have faith. Yes, but saving faith involves all three, and hopefully you'll remember this, but faith begins with knowledge. You have to know [00:12:00] certain things. You have to know what it is you believe in. And second thing, faith involves belief. Not only do you have to have knowledge of what you believe in, but you have to actually believe it.
And this is where I wanna stop for a minute, because we all know people like this. We all know people. In fact, most of us have family members that will sit out nativity scenes over Christmas that will play Christmas carols over Christmas, that will even go to church on Christmas and Easter. And if you were to talk to them, if you were to put them on a lie detector machine and say, do you believe in Jesus, they could answer yes.
Do you believe he died on the cross? Yes. Do you believe he rose from the dead? Yes. Do you believe you're going to heaven? Yes. Yeah, and yet you and I both know there is no fruit in their life. If they go to church, it's because it's Easter or Christmas. If they pick up their Bible, it is to dust the coffee table.
They could care less of what scripture teaches. They would care less of what Christ calls us. [00:13:00] There's absolutely zero fa, uh, work or evidence in their life. That they have bowed the knee to Jesus Christ. And that's the third part of saving faith. You need knowledge. You need to believe that knowledge. But last but certainly not least, you need to trust in that knowledge and trust means bowing the knee to Christ Jesus.
Trust means humility and turning away from yourself. And here's the debate that we have in the modern day, is we have family members or friends like this, and we wanna say they're okay. I heard them pray that prayer. Oftentimes that will be taught well. They pray to prayer, so they're okay. They're just, they're just not walking with Christ right now.
You're not okay. Just because you pray a prayer, you're not okay just because you profess faith in Christ Jesus. Do you live that faith? Do you have evidence of that faith? The third thing that our author, our author, puts under the basic category, and I would love to do a whole sermon on this, but I will restrain myself, [00:14:00] is instructions about washings.
And I find this most fascinating because of the word that is translated washings. And the word that is translated washings is, and you'll know this, it's the Greek word baptism must, it comes from the Greek word bap, and it means baptism. It comes into English, meaning baptism. And we still argue about baptism.
Who ought to be baptized and how ought we to baptize them? We still argue about this, and yet the writer of Hebrews says, this falls into the basic category. But let me take it a little further because he may not even be talking about baptism here, but it certainly relates, it certainly is connected to what he's talking about, but if you dig a little further, I think that what he's probably talking about are the various ceremonial washings found in the Old Testament.
And he's talking about the, the various ceremonial washings because of what they pointed to, the fact that they were shadows and types to something bigger and better. [00:15:00] And he'll return to this discussion in chapters eight and nine, but it would certainly include the idea, at least on the fringes of baptism because it was those washings that help us understand the meaning and the mode of baptism.
But the fascinating thing, or the thing that troubles me most, I guess, is not a single Old Testament washing was done by submersion, and yet you'll have Christians today saying that this Greek word baptism can only mean to dunk and it simply doesn't, and it's plain on the pages of scripture and we still debate it.
The laying on of hands, that's number four in the basics category. And in scripture, the laying on of hands is associated with receiving the Holy Spirit. It's associated with receiving a blessing with healing, but more often than that, not it's associated with ordination and spiritual gifting. And yet, look at the [00:16:00] churches around us.
We, we don't even practice this most of the time. Most churches will ordain. They won't even ordain elders. They will appoint elders. There will be no examination. It doesn't matter if the elders agree theologically. I've had people get angry at me. Because, and I've said it, I'll say it again at the business meeting, I'll say it again this morning.
We need more elders at this church, but I will not compromise. I'm not gonna compromise, and the elders will agree theologically or we won't be elders. And we have a statement of faith. And there are many churches that will ignore that and they will simply let anyone, because they're a businessman or they've got a good reputation, you can be an elder.
But they couldn't argue themselves out of a theological wet paper bag. Number five, the Resurrection of the Dead. It's another basic category, and I don't have time to get into it today, but you would be shocked at the fact that this [00:17:00] is still debated by Christians. It is still debated. When are we resurrected?
What is the nature of the resurrection? Did a resurrection take place back in 70 AD. Is there still a future resurrection? All this stuff is still debated and yet the author says this is the basics, eternal judgment. I don't know if you are listening to the blogosphere or you what blogs you listened to, but Kirk Cameron got himself in trouble in the last couple of weeks, and I like Kirk Cameron for the most part, I think he's pretty solid, and I think his biggest mistake is honestly, if you listen to his blog cast.
Uh, he did it with his son. I think his biggest mistake is he's thinking out loud. I don't think he's asking the wrong questions. I think he's close to arriving at the wrong conclusion. But Kirk Cameron presented and so do other Christians, and this is taught in many churches, annihilationism. And that's the belief that when the unbeliever dies, he stands before [00:18:00] God has a quick fast judgment and his soul is destroyed.
There's no eternal punishment. Another view is denial of eternal punishment. It's called universalism. Everyone is saved. There are some that would go so far that even the fallen angels will be saved in the end. And then there's the doctrine that we hold here. Eternal conscious punishment where the believer will be punished consciously, eternally.
There's second chance theology. And the Roman Catholics practice Second Chance Theology in their doctrine of purgatory and the Mormons practice Second Chance Theology. Because when you die, you just get a second chance.
All these things are still debated today, and yet the author of Hebrews says, this is the basics. These are the first words concerning the Christ. That is a literal translation of what he [00:19:00] says. These are the easy things. These are the things that we should press on and move forward. And he says in chapter or verse three, and this, we will do if God permits.
And then he hits us with the words of warning. And I dare say that this is likely the strongest warning that you will find in scripture. So let me read it and then we're gonna say take some time to, to break it down and parse it out. But beginning in verse four, he says this. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted of the good word of Word of God and the powers of the age to come and then fall away, it is impossible.
And when we get there, that's what the word means. It is absolutely impossible to renew these people again to repentance. Since [00:20:00] they, again, crucified to themselves the son of God and put him to open shame. So how ought we understand those words? And I wanna give you five principles on how to understand these words and how to understand many, if not all, the warnings found in scripture.
So this is the first one, and this is the takeaway of today's sermon. Number one, if we're gonna understand the warning passages, they are real. And they apply to every single person seated or standing here today. They are real and we need to take them serious. Number two, and kids, there's some of this is on your outline.
You can fill in the blanks. Uh, number two is on your outline. They are covenantal language. I have said it a number of times. I will con continue to say it. Christianity is a covenant religion. The Bible is a [00:21:00] covenant document, old Testament, new Testament. Old Covenant, new covenant. And if we're going to understand scripture, we must understand the covenants.
If we're gonna understand the book of Hebrews, we need to understand covenant language, covenant theology, how it works. It is so important that my goal, and I don't know if I'll get actually accomplish it today, but my goal. Is to finish this sermon next week. We'll finish chapter six, and then I'm gonna take a step back and no less than four weeks we're gonna look at the covenant because in order to understand the rest of the book of Hebrews, we need to understand the covenant, how it functions, how it's tied together, how it's connected, how it runs through scripture.
But this is covenant language and it ought to be expected. You ought to expect warnings in the Bible because God promises blessings and curses. Number three, especially concerning this passage, if you look at the words, they've been enlightened, they've tasted of the heavenly gift [00:22:00] they've made, been made.
Partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of God, the powers of the age to come. They've offered some kind of repentance. These are all, and this is important, outward invisible. These are outward invisible acts. They're something you can see, you can look at, you can know is it temporary or is it long lasting?
But they're all in and I'll do a, hopefully a better comparison here in a minute. But they're outward invisible. Number four, and this is very important. Very important, and this is what confuses a lot of people. And this is what a lot of people will deny in an attempt to teach that you can't lose your salvation.
So number four is important. The description given the enlightenment, the tasting, the partakers, the description is true of every believer. These words are true of every believer because every believer is a member of the covenant. And every believer will have been enlightened. Every believer will have tasted of the heavenly gift, would've been, uh, tasted of the [00:23:00] good word of God, the powers of the age to come.
They are partakers of the Holy Spirit and they've expressed repentance. So every word in this warning is true of every believer, of every person elect before the foundation of the world. Born again, born from above, and preserved by Christ Jesus. This warning applies because these words apply to you.
Number five, they also apply to many unbelievers, and that's the part that some of us have a hard time wrapping our heads around. These same words apply to those who had profess faith in Christ Jesus, who are members of the Outward Covenant, who sit in pews Sunday, after Sunday, after Sunday, who profess faith for a certain period of time.
These same words as we'll see, apply to them. And again, as I said, they're meant to motivate. And as I've said, we probably know family members that would claim Christ, but they show no [00:24:00] fruit in their life. No signs of obedience, no signs of true love. If you open your bulletins, there's a couple of things in there.
There's a half sheet of paper, and on the half sheet of paper there's uh, on one side there's some discussion questions. On the other side, there's a table. It says The covenant vocabulary of Hebrews six, four through six. Look at that for a minute. I just wanna make some, uh, obvious what I think are obvious comparisons.
I don't know if you're old enough to remember the show, Dragnet. You probably aren't. I'm aging myself, but, but there's a famous line from Dragnet. It comes from Joe Friday and Joe Friday. He's, he'll, he'll question people and they'll get off and he'll, he'll bring them back. Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts.
So right now I just wanna go over the facts and then we'll, we'll dig into word meanings. But if you look at that handout, look at the middle list, enlightened. Tasted partakers, tasted repentance. And again, what I wanna point out is these are [00:25:00] all outward, invisible, and people are the subject of each and every one of these people are enlightened and for people to be enlightened, when we look at the word, they come to an understanding of certain things.
So they have to exercise their mind and their intelligence man is the subject of every one of these verbs. Every one of these statements. Now look to the left. And we looked at this several weeks ago, the Golden Chain of Redemption. Romans chapter eight, and Paul writing here uses very different vocabulary.
And the subject of every one of these words is God. And every one of these things in a sense is invisible other than they can be illustrated by our good works. And Paul writes this in Romans chapter eight, verses 29 and 30, and then he goes on and there's this giant section of how the elect cannot be lost.
The elect cannot lose their salvation. Why? Because they've been foreknown of God. They've been for love. [00:26:00] They've been predetermined unto salvation. They've been called and the Holy Spirit has changed their heart and given them a new heart and a new mind. And so they've been justified. By the work of Christ Alone, and they have been.
The way Paul uses these words will be in reality, glorified. But I just want you to note the different kind of terminology. God is the subject here, and these are invisible acts versus what we see in the middle row. They're outward and visible. Now look at the row on the right hand side, and we'll see that the writer of Hebrews goes back and forth with different terminology, terminology.
He talks about those who have been forgiven. That is an act of God. He talks of those who have had their consciences cleansed. Again, that is an act of God. He talks of those whose law has been written on their hearts in the new covenant. Again, that is an act of God, but he also uses language that that we perform continue to holiness people who continue to strive live the Christian life [00:27:00] lasting faith.
You see that in my life. Does my faith persevere till the end continued obedience? Am I living a life of obedience? Do I care? In perseverance. So we see that the author of Hebrews uses different words to describe things. The author of scripture uses different words to describe things. Some are invisible and attributed to God.
Others are visible and attributed to us because it's covenant language. This language is meant to apply to real believers who are in covenant with Christ and those who are exercising temporary faith and are temporarily in covenant with Christ. They go to church, they attend service. There's another handout in your bulletin.
It's a full page handout. Grab that one. It has the same title, the covenant vocabulary of Hebrew six. And I wanna just look at these words and I want to try to demonstrate something. And you're gonna have to go this week and you're gonna have to look up these verses. And I'm going to. Caution [00:28:00] you and, and encourage you.
Just like when we find verses in scripture, treat these as hyperlinks. When you go and you read these verses, make sure you understand the surrounding context. But every single one of these words, enlightened, tasted, partakers, repentance. Every single one of these words can be used of true believers demonstrating a salvific reality.
And they can also be used of unbelievers. They have a certain ambigu ambiguity and inconclusiveness with them. So look at the top word enlightened, and we see in Hebrews chapter 10 and two Corinthians chapter four, that this word enlightened is used of real believers. If you are a believer, you have been enlightened, the gospel has been shared with you, and you understood it, and you put saving faith in it.
But if you look at the next row and the title of the next column is ambiguous or Inconclusive, all the word means is you've learned something. [00:29:00] It means you've learned and understood. It does not in and of itself, apart from any context, have a salvific meaning, and you can again, look up all these verses tasted.
Here's another word that we have to be careful of because tasted is a physical act, but it's being used in a symbolic sense here. And what have we tasted of the heavenly gift, the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and how do we understand those terms? Well, I think the author himself has given us the meaning of those phrases, and the meaning is found in Hebrews chapter two, beginning in verse three.
You can turn there or you can just listen. And the interesting thing in Hebrews chapter two verses three and four, which I'm about to read, is the context is similar. This is a warning passage. This is a warning to persevere and listen to what the author says. How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
We've heard the gospel. We've heard the message of Jesus Christ. We've seen the Old [00:30:00] Testament saints punished when they didn't believe. How will we escape when we've gotten something greater? After it was first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will.
And I believe verse four is definitional of what it means to experience the Heavenly Gift, the good word of God, the powers of the age to come. It is to experience signs and wonders. It is to experience various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. And even today, people who attend church will see this.
They will hear the word preach, and at times their heart will be pricked. They will see people saved. They will see people that were living one way radically transformed and changed. They will see families healed, children growing up and embracing their parents' faith. They will see these things. The same thing applies [00:31:00] today, and in Hebrews chapter two, verse nine.
This word taste, it applies to Jesus because Jesus tasted death for all of his people, and it's a real taste. And Jesus embraced it and experienced it to the full. But this word taste can also be a temporary general experience. It can be permanent, but it can also be temporary. And you have to allow the context to determine meaning.
And I've given you multiple verses there. Partakers. In Hebrews chapter three, verse 14, we are told that we are partakers of Christ if we hold fast. In a couple weeks back, I explained the if then statements. If we hold fast our confession, then we are partakers of Christ. But it's used in a real sense there, a salv sense.
But this word partakers can also be translated simply a participation, an attachment. A loose association. It can be used of friends and companions and associates. [00:32:00] Again, there's nothing salvific about this word apart from context. Repentance. Repentance too. It literally means we talked about it, a change of mind, but again, it's not always salvi.
You see in scripture, repentance and sorrow are closely tied together. So listen to the words of two Corinthians seven. Two Corinthians seven beginning in verse nine, Paul writing. I rejoice not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
Verse 10, for the sorrow that is according to the will of God, produces repentance without regret. Leading to salvation, but the sorrows of the world produce death. Now, this word sorrow is tied to repentance. Repentance brings about sorrow, but it's not always a [00:33:00] godly sorrow. It is not always a salvific sorrow.
In fact, the same word, it's sorrow. It's Hebrew equivalent is used in Genesis six, six, and many of your translations will say that God was sorry that he created man upon the earth. King James brings out the actual meaning and it says, God repented that he brought man upon the earth. And it's not as if God sinned and he had to repent and no, but there was a certain kind of sorrow ness that God is trying to communicate to the readers of Genesis because of what happened to man, because of how far man had fallen.
So we see that every one of these words, and I hope you go home and I hope you study this chart. Every one of these words applies to believers. But they also apply to unbelievers who spend time in church,
verse six, and these unbelievers fall away and it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they, [00:34:00] again, crucify to themselves the son of God and put him to open shame. You see this is a sin against the light. This is a sin against better knowledge. This is a sin where the people who are sinning and remember the context, it is likely, well, we know for a fact he's writing to a group of Hebrews and he's writing to a group of Hebrews that are thinking about going back to the old covenant system.
What I have argued for and what many. Better scholars than me have argued the same thing is it's likely that the audience was made up of a number, if not in the entirety of former priests, former officials at the temple. And these guys were thinking about going to the old Covenant system. They were gonna leave Christ.
They were gonna return to the temple, and they were gonna start offering sacrifice again. And every sacrifice they would've offered would've been a denial of Christ Jesus. It would've been blasphemous. Every sacrifice offered in the Jewish temple after AD 30, after the crucifixion and [00:35:00] resurrection of Christ was blasphemous.
And that's what these folks were returning to. And we struggle with the impossible because the text says, clearly says it's impossible. These people cannot return to repentance. And yet this isn't the only place where this is spoken of. In one John chapter five, verses 16 and 17, the Apostle John speaks of a sin leading to death.
In fact, he even says in verse 17, this is a sin leading to death. You don't even have to pray about it. If you recognize that somebody has committed the sin, you might as well stop praying because nothing is gonna work because it is impossible to renew these people to Salvation kids. This is on your outline in Matthew chapter seven, verse 21.
Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, not everyone who expresses some kind of faith, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does [00:36:00] the will of my father. Saving faith. We are saved by faith alone, but faith never comes alone. It comes with a changed life. And see, the problem is the reason we get so upset that it's impossible to renew them to repentance is because we all have family members like this.
We all have family members that have turned away from the faith or have never embraced the faith, and we wanna pray for them. Here's the encouragement. We don't know who Infallibly falls under this. Let me remind you of King David, and let me remind you of the horror of what King David did. King David murdered one of his best friends.
And we miss that sometimes We read of Uriah, the Hittite, and we read it in Second Samuel. And we, we miss the fact that Uriah was one of David's best friends. In one Chronicles, chapter 11, verse 41, Uriah the Hittite is mentioned as one of [00:37:00] David's mighty men. And not to put anyone on the spot, but if you don't believe me, talk to Neil after service when you go to battle with somebody.
And it, it's the same with fighting fire when you go to battle with somebody. You are not fighting for your country. You're not even fighting for your family. You're fighting for the men next to you. David fought with Uriah, the Hitite. They were friends, they were best of friends, and he had him murdered so he could have his way with his wife, and yet David was not an apostate.
Because these are sins of the heart, and only God can judge the heart, and only God can know for sure. So if you have a family member and they've walked away from the faith, I would encourage you. Keep praying, keep praying, keep believing the promises of God, especially if it's a child. Keep believing his promises.
Keep praying. Because we can't [00:38:00] know for sure. Number two on your outline, an illustration, and we'll do this fairly quickly, but I think it's really important because if you understand this little parable, you will see that this parable says the exact same thing that I'm telling you right now. Let me read the verses, verses seven and eight for the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls upon it.
And brings forth vegetation useful to those for who sake. It is. Also tilled receives a blessing from God, but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and is close to a curse, and it ends up being burned. Now this little parable that the author tells communicates the same truth that the warning did, so let's break it apart.
He's describing. One plot of ground, he is describing a giant plot of ground, but this plot of ground, like many of your properties is broken up into [00:39:00] parcels and the various parcels react differently. So on one plot of ground, on one church, it rains, but people react differently. Just like ground reacts differently and on each plot it experiences the same thing.
Rain falls upon it. And I want you to note these words because it says, for the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls upon it, even in the parable, the author is presenting it in such a way that it regularly drinks, it regularly gets rained upon. And in fact, not only regularly, but often, there are no excuses.
You go to church, you go to a good church, you hear the gospel week after week, after week after week. There are no excuses. In this big plot of ground, in its various parcels are reigned upon continuously, but the soil produces something different. In one [00:40:00] case, vegetation, in another case, thorns and thistles.
Each soil demonstrates its quality, one is useful, one is worthless, and each soil is rewarded. And the language here is the language of the covenant. One receives a blessing, the other receives a curse. And it is fascinating when you read this closely because it says the soil that yields thorns and thistles is worthless.
And literally in the text it says it is near a curse. It is near. It is right next to right beside a curse, and its end is destruction. Its end is burning with fire. Listen to the words of Hebrews chapter eight, verse 13, and the author is specifically talking about the covenants in Hebrews chapter eight, and he is specifically talking about the new covenant and listen to his language, and God said a new [00:41:00] covenant.
When he speaks of a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete, but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is near destruction. Literally in the Greek, it is the same grammar, it is the same construction, and the parable is presenting the same thing. Keep in mind the context. The author of Hebrews is writing in the middle to late sixties.
What's going to happen? We know this and so did he, and I'll explain why in a minute. We know that in 70 AD, and we've talked about this so hopefully you'll understand my language if you don't please see me afterwards. We know that in 70 ad Jesus came on the clouds and obliterated the old covenant system.
Just like God. Yahweh comes on the clouds multiple times in the Old Testament and it's a judgment coming. So did Jesus in 70 AD, and he obliterates the temple and he obliterates their old covenant system. They experienced the heart of the [00:42:00] curse. The author of Hebrews knew that it was near. He didn't know the exact day or time, but he knew it was near because Jesus said, this generation will experience these things.
So even as parable points to a coming curse, take this serious, but whether the, what we call the second coming of Christ, whether it's around the corner or not, one day we will die and we will stand before God. And believe me when I tell you, the older you get, the more you realize just how near that time is.
And I don't care how old you are, it can be near. And we don't know when it's gonna be going to happen. And so I beg of you, take this curse, this warning, not the curse, but the warning, serious number three on your outline, and we'll have to do this quickly.
The author always comes back to [00:43:00] hope. He always comes back to encouragement. Beloved, there's a strong word in the Greek, beloved. And, and, and it, I think not only does it express the author's love for his readers, but God's love for his readers because the author says, I am convinced and literally in the Greek, I am certain of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation.
Though we speak this way better things is equivalent to the things that accompany salvation for God is not unjust, so as to forget your work. And the love with which you have shown towards his name and having ministered and still ministering to the saints, and a couple of things to point out here.
Again, covenant language, our works merit nothing. Our works earn us nothing before God. It is a blessing and a covenant promise that he rewards them so they do matter. I'm not trying to [00:44:00] say they don't matter. But they don't earn God's love. They're not what make you beloved. They don't put you in better standing with God.
He has graciously and with humility said, I will bless them even though my spirit creates 'em within you. Even though I predetermined them and I've created works for you to walk in. I will still bless you when you walk in them. God is good and he's gracious. And these are covenant promises, and this is what we should expect as we read the scriptures, and I want you to understand how he describes them.
He says, the love which you have shown towards his name, having ministered in the past and still ministering to the saints, and this phrase towards his name, it speaks of purpose and direction. What the author is saying is the work that you did, the service that you gave was truly motivated. By a love of God, by fear [00:45:00] of Yahweh.
This was real. He describes it as real, and this is covenant language. And so I ask, what about us? What have we done for the kingdom? What are we willing to do for the kingdom? What are you doing right now in your lives for the kingdom of God? Are you willing to stand up? Are you willing to be publicly humiliated?
Are you willing to bear the stigma and the shame of what it means to follow Christ? Because you're willing to voice an opinion in public. You're willing to stand up for right and wrong. And here's the sad thing, and it's true of today's church, which may explain some of my frustration if you haven't caught on.
The absolutely overwhelming majority of persecution up until 70 AD came from unbelieving Jews came from God's former covenant people. The [00:46:00] persecution that comes from churches today is embarrassing and it's sad. Are you willing to stand up and be counted for Christ?
How do we do that?
What does it take? Wrapping things up with my last sermon. What does it take to persevere? And the author gives us three things that we need to do if we're gonna persevere. Verse 11, we desire, and I want to explain this desire. And the best way that I can think of explaining this desire, and the word and the grammar that's being used here is it's equivalent to a parent's desire for the salvation of their children.
I don't know a parent, I've, I've, I've had more than one parent stand up and say, maybe we should just kill our kids when they're born. They say it in jest, but the idea there is to ensure they're gonna go to heaven. And again, [00:47:00] it's said in jest, it's not how it works. Okay. But I don't know a parent who wouldn't give their life, who wouldn't give their very soul the way Paul says it in Romans 11, I would give my salvation for the salvation of my brethren.
There's not a parent in this room. I've never met a, a godly parent that would not give their life for the salvation of their children. And that is the desire that the author is expressing here. We desire that each one of you sh show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end.
And number one, in kids, this is on your outline. To faithfully follow Christ, we must be diligent. And what do I mean by that? We must be diligent. We must be willing, ready, and active. This word literally means commitment. To an [00:48:00] obligation. It means haste, speed, swiftness. Are you diligent? Are you swift to follow Christ?
Are you swift? Are you speedy to obey God? When you see a need in the church, how fast do you respond? And it's not only that, and we come back to this every time, but are you swift to learn obedience? You see, a lot of us say, I wanna obey, but we don't pick up our Bible until Sunday morning. And I know scripture reading can be hard.
Go home, read the book of Leviticus today. I'll prove it to you. But it is worth it and we've been commanded to do it. And let me just say right now, and I'm gonna come back to this in a minute. If you're not reading your Bible, you are committing spiritual suicide.
Are you quick to obey? Are you quick to learn obedience? Are you diligent because you see Diligent helps [00:49:00] you avoid what the author talks about in verse 12, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience, inherit the promise. This word sluggish, means lazy. It is the same word that the author used in chapter five, verse 11 concerning him.
We have much to say, but it's hard to explain. For you have become dull of hearing. You have become sluggish. The easiest way to become sluggish in your Christian walk is to avoid the things of Christ. Is to avoid the basics. I will repeat them in just a minute. But the third thing, so kids on your outline, you must be diligent.
We must be willing, ready, and active, but we also must not be lazy. We must not be lazy in the things of Christ. And last but not least, we must copy the behavior of Godly examples. We must copy the behavior of godly examples. Who in your life do you wish to [00:50:00] copy their behavior? You see, we must be imitators of those who through faith and patience, inherit the promises.
And this word translated imitators is literally the word mimic. Do you have someone in your life that you would like to mimic? But a more important question, are you the kind of believer, are you the kind of Christian that anyone else sitting in this building would want to copy?
Could you see yourself being mimicked by somebody else? Are you discipling anyone? Are you being discipled? Faith and patience go together. It. Faith is always patience patient, and you can't have patience apart from faith if you don't believe that God is in control. If you don't believe that when various trials come into your life, that is God who literally brings those trials to you because he knows exactly what you need, and it is hard to believe that.
Trust me, I know it. I'm [00:51:00] not talking as if I have this down because I do not. It is hard to trust God when various trials come in. That's why we need to be the church. That's why we need to be discipled. That's why we need to be in accountability relationship. Can you call somebody and cry out for help or is it too embarrassing?
How do you exercise your Christian muscles? And I've said this before, I've said it often. I will say it again. You need to read your Bible. You need to pray. You need to confess your sins. You need to fellowship with other Christians, and you cannot compromise on church. You cannot compromise on church.
There are so many indications that the Church of God today is in horrendous shape. It no longer influences the thinkers of our country. There's a lack, a complete lack of unity amongst churches. It lacks sound teaching resulting in biblical illiteracy. [00:52:00] So I hinted at this, I'll say it one last time. As we bring things to an end, what is the takeaway?
Be warned, because this warning applies to you and it applies to me. Be warned, but also be encouraged. Allow the warning to have its full effect. And the full effect of this warning is fear God. Fear God. Utilize all the tools that he has given you. Be diligent. Be quick to obedience. Be quick to learn obedience.
Don't be lazy, and find someone to imitate. More importantly, be that someone, be the person that others would imitate.
The warnings are real. They're covenantal. They apply to everyone in this room, and they apply to any unbeliever in this room. Let's pray. Father in heaven, [00:53:00] thank you for your warnings. Thank you that you love us enough and that you use all kinds of things to motivate us. Kindness, love, grace, various trials, other people hard times.
But also warnings. Father, help us understand your covenant warnings. Help us understand that they are real. They apply to all of us, and we have to check ourselves. We have to do what your apostles taught us, to examine ourselves to be sure that we're in the faith, to work out our salvation with much fear and trembling, to take this faith serious.
It is not a one day of week. One, one day a week event. Father, help us learn that. Help us know that. Help us be committed to your word 24 7. Father, thank you for the warnings. But more than that, thank you that the, the author here, [00:54:00] you ultimately always end the warnings with encouragement. Encourage your people this day, Lord, for we ask it in Christ's name.
And all of God's people said, amen. Take your hand.
