HEBREWS 6 THE UNCHANGEABLE CHARACTER OF HIS PROMISE As I’ve already mentioned in previous weeks, we don’t know who the author of the book of Hebrews was, but it is clear that he expected his readers to be thoroughly acquainted with the Old Testament: the persons, institutions, texts, and the Mosaic law While the church was undergoing persecution, it had not yet experienced martyrdom Also, it likely was not an exclusively Jewish church - there were very likely Gentile believers present But as we read the text and examine the arguments, it becomes clear that this letter is intended to urge the Jewish converts to Christ not to turn away from Him, going back to their old Jewish faith The reason for this was the persecution that had begun from the Jews Additionally, within the Church, several Jewish customs were being challenged as Gentiles were coming to faith, and into the Church, for the first time So there was a lot going on So the author of Hebrews argues for the superiority of Jesus over angels, the Mosaic law, the Levitical priesthood, the Sabbath, the Temple, and the Old Testament sacrificial system - basically calling the faithful into worshipping Jesus as the Christ (the Messiah), and moving fully into the New Covenant And this would have been really hard for some of these converts to Yeshua/Jesus to hear and receive, and even for many who saw and heard Jesus in person! Because of this, some of the Jewish Believers began to turn back from Jesus, and go back into Judaism And the problem with this is that those people were turning back FROM Christ And that necessarily meant a full denial of who He really was is, and what He’s done for us So you can see the problem To depart from these truths would be for someone to "harden their hearts", to "shrink back", to lack the faith, and ultimately to denyJesus himself, who suffered persecution and death for the "hope that was set before him" And while it may not have been their intention, but many of them ended up as apostates, forsaking the One who bought them with His own precious blood This warning written in chapter 6, then, is intended to shock and urge Jewish Christians into persevering in their faith, and to exhort them to resist the temptation of returning to their old Jewish beliefs and community, in order to escape that persecution The writer of Hebrews wants them to persevere! To stay in the Faith even when it is hard! And so the entire letter is really geared towards combating apostasy, which is the specific sin facing the readers in this passage Having embraced Christianity, they were tempted to go back to Judaism The author makes a stand, arguing the superiority of Jesus over angels, over the Mosaic law, over the Levitical priesthood, the Sabbath, the Temple, and even the Old Testament sacrificial system These were all things that the Jewish converts to Jesus would have struggled with But to turn back FROM Christ to these things, the author argues, is to "harden your hearts" and to "shrink back", And lest we get too comfortable, there is a danger in the Church today that causes professing Christians to to shrink back from Jesus himself, despite Him being the One who braved persecution and death for the "hope that was set before him" And we see this happening all around us - this threat of Apostasy Today, it is called the “Deconstruction Movement” and it is in full swing in Western Civilization So this warning in Heb 6, is intended to shock Jewish Christians (and Gentiles today) into persevering in their faith The writer desperately wants to exhort the Jewish converts to resist the temptation of going back to their old Jewish belief and community in order to escape persecution And that is a very real danger that the entire letter is seeking to combat - ultimately the denial of Jesus It is a final rejection of the One who bought sinners with His own precious blood So that’s what we’re going to deal with this morning… // TEXT AND EXPOSITION [1] Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, [2] and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [3] And this we will do if God permits. So what DOES Christ call us to? We see in the list “repentance”, particularly related to dead works, which I should define Dead works are those which are performed by an individual a who is “separated from the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18) Many people are sorry for their sins, but never confess them in the context of a relationship with the Son of God It’s like being caught by the police You can honestly tell the officer that you’re sorry for what you’ve done (your sins), and the police officer is going to agree with you And all you’ve done to that point is to acknowledge that you’re still a sinner All your sin had to be placed on Jesus as our Scapegoat, but we’ll talk about that in weeks to come Dead works don’t gain you anything They may have a hue of religious nature, and even have a veneer if religiosity, but they are “dead” That means that they cannot bring or aid anything when it comes to the spiritual life Such works may appear virtuous and even sincerely pious (godly), but the works (and those who do them) are not rooted in faith in Christ, or the love of God, and so they are useless in terms of salvation leading to eternal life If you’re new/newer to the Chritian faith, the best thing you can do is to seek out an older, wiser brother or sister in Christ and build a relationship Jesus wants us to be in relationship and community with other Christians! A new or young Christian ought to be growing in his or her faith in God, and trusting Him more and more When I knew that I was going to ask Jen to marry me, I began to pray for the ring I’d already been praying for Jesus to confirm that she was the one He wanted for me to marry But I didn’t have any money I had just entered into full-time ministry, and was raising my support So I did the only thing I could - I kept on praying And do you know what God did? He made my engagement possible by using 2 different donors when I was raising support for full-time ministry I prayed and He paid He was good to me, and my faith was built up! In addition to growing in Christ, there were instructions about ceremonial washings (and why it was important to the Jews) The Believers would have regularly been laying hands on others for healing And you know something? While we read about this, we don’t actually do it very much More of the charismatic churches do, and we should as well! If you’re sick, the Elders at Emmaus Road would be blessed to lay hands on you and pray for God to heal you! Even today if you need it!! Let us know! Another elementary doctrine was the Resurrection of the dead This one is VERY important, and also dear to me! (I hope it is for you, also) One of these days, soon and very soon, the sky will open, the Trumpet of God will sound, and we who believe on Jesus will go to be with Him forever! One more doctrine…Eternal judgment If you are IN Christ, then you are under the blood of Jesus But those who have not put faith in Jesus will not be covered by His blood That KAPHAR - covering - is only applied to the individual who has saving faith in Christ This is why it is so important to evangelize to people now It’s the one thing you can’t do in Heaven There were also instructions about washings, about the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment And it almost sounds like a dig or an insult to assert that we are to “leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity…” But what the human author of Hebrews is really getting at is that there is SO much more to learn, know, and experience There’s always a progression Little children wade in the baby pool, and their parents hover over them as they acclimate to the water But as the child grows, they learn to swim with floaties, hold their noses, dive from the diving board, and swim to the bottom of the pool to get the rings So this isn’t meant as an insult, but as a challenge to grow up in Christ Jesus, and to keep moving forward when it comes your relationship with the One True and Living God If we’re going to eventually master swimming, we have to get wet There’s a similar reality with Christ You have to immerse yourself at some point in the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit, instead of continuing to splash in the kiddie pool What that means is that we have to help those who come to Christ grow in Christ’s likeness And that means discipleship that engages the individual and challenges them to grow in the love of Christ towards Christlike maturity In fact, that’s precisely what the text says - Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity It is not enough to make converts We’re called to make disciples That means imparting what you know AND modeling how you live when it comes to the Christian faith Unfortunately, over the last 30 years, American Christians have opted to put it all on the hired hand (the local pastor) but that’s not the heart of Jesus for His people Jesus wants each and every one of us to make disciples who make disciples Jesus doesn’t want churches to be places where people passively receive something, while sitting passively for 45 min - 1 hour He wants everyone to engage and serve, because that’s how you REALLY receive and grow, namely the fellowship of the Redeemed! Church was NEVER intended to be a place where people come in and just sit and soak It was ALWAYS supposed to be a place of love and fellowship, but also equipping, being under God’s Word, so that every single Christian is spreading the Good News and making disciples who are making disciples When I look around at the American Church in this day, what I predominantly see is passivity from Christians They want a good worship show, some teaching (but nothing that will upset them or challenge them too much) But many others go to Church to get “The Feels” and that’s so sad to me We are a culture of feelings, not truth, so this is to be expected This is one of the worldwide indicators that tells us Jesus is near We must nurture a passion for Christ in those who come to faith, and walk with them through the maturation process A good parent nurtures, protects, and teaches his or her child as they inevitably grow They make sure the child has everything they need for life and godliness, if they’re walking with Christ And we need to take seriously the command of Jesus to make disciples who make disciples [4] For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. It’s an impossibility to have shared in the Holy Spirit, then, having fallen away, to restore that person again (this is apostasy) These are God’s Words, and this is a scary thing! Someone will inevitably ask, “Were they really enlightened? Did they really taste of the heavenly gift?” And from what I can deduce from this chapter and the Bible’s wider context, I believe the answer to be “Yes” Human beings have free will (regardless of what the Reformed/Calvinist crowd might say) So this begs the question, “Can someone who apostatized (deliberately left faith in Jesus and chose another path) be brought back to faith again? This is really what’s at the heart of this chapter Can a person who swears they understand what it means to ask Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of their life, and then after many years of professing to walk as a believer, walk away from Christ? And can someone lose their faith for eternity, even though they said that they understood what they were doing, and have decided the God-thing is a myth??? Is that impossible? The question is, “Can a person lose his/her faith?” Here’s what I believe about this…I don’t think a person can LOSE his or her faith, like I am always losing my car keys But I DO BELIEVE that someone can deliberately walk away from his or her faith, and abandon what they once believed The book of Hebrews is replete with warnings to Jewish Christians who were in danger of falling from the faith Continuing on, Hebrews 6:6, reads, “...it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance.” And that phrase is troubling to many sincere Christians But the recipients of the letter were being warned against “drifting away” from the truths they had learned regarding the Lord Jesus Now, call me crazy, but I don’t think that the Lord would add this warning in His Word unless it were a serious thing that could actually happen to someone And I want you to know that I’ve struggled with this at times because I’ve had friends who walked away from their faith And maybe you have, too But the “Hebrews” were urged not to listen to those influences that denied the identity of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, and who were attempting to corrupt their faith, leaving them only with evil hearts of unbelief They were warned not to follow the destructive course that of some of their ancestors walked The text tells us some of the traits they had developed They had become “dull of hearing,” meaning they had not continued to absorb the rich teaching that they had received in the earlier days of their Christian commitment These Jewish Christians had regressed in their faith With the passing of time, they ought to have gotten stronger, yet they were at a point where they still needed elementary instructions again To say it another way, they needed to learn their ABC’s all over again They had remained in spiritually infancy instead of growing up in Christ These brother and sisters in the faith were in error, and were admonished to advance beyond the “first principles” of Christ’s teaching They were encouraged to press on to spiritual maturity And that should be the aim of every born-again person! But again, were these people genuine Christians? This is something that I wrestled with a lot in college, and have revisited several times over the years Because so many within the protestant community are wedded to Calvinistic dogma, twisting maneuvers of exegetical gymnastics are frequently used in an attempt to establish these individuals in the text are not genuine Christians The claim is made that they were only “professors,” not real “confessors” I read one writer this week who asserted: True Christians do not and cannot apostatize” And we have to take some things into consideration here Carefully notice how these “brethren” are described They once were enlightened, and had left the realm of darkness They had tasted the heavenly gift - salvation And v7-8 clarifies this conundrum… [7] For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. [8] But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. So we get a metaphor about the rain that produces the crops That rain comes from above (from God) But the land on which the rain falls still must be cultivated, otherwise the rain that falls will produce thorns and thistles because of the Fall of Man That takes time and work Everything necessary was in place by God’s grace - it just needed tending So when we get into this debate about “Once saved - Always saved” I want us to have grace for one another - that’s Number 1 on my list God sends the rain on the just and the unjust So let me be clear - God does not want anyone to perish, but that ALL should come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ And yet, not everyone does… Is He playing games with us? No. He gives us FREE WILL to choose And unfortunately, we see with the Christian Deconstruction Movement that there are many men and women who were (I sincerely believe) in the Faith, who now have fallen away It’s not something that God does TO us It is something that we humans choose for ourselves, and this extends to those in His Church Now, some will say, “They were never REALLY saved” but then you have to go back to Heb 6:4 and deal with that text Now, I’m not looking for a protracted debate There are GOOD CHRISTIANS (our brothers and sisters in Christ) on both sides of this But it sure seems to me that this incident in Hebrews points to the reality of saved men and women being able to leave the faith, and go back to their paganism It’s heartbreaking to see this up close It’s even more heartbreaking for the Lord, because He loves at a level we can’t even conceptualize [9] Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. [10] For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. The writer of Hebrews is expressing a hope and desire that these Jewish Believers will persevere instead of fall away And in the Gospels, Jesus Himself warns us in advance that there are hard realities that have to be engaged in this life, if you’re going to walk with Him God’s Word is not for the faint of heart He tells us like it is, and He does it because He loves us, and wants us to embrace Him He’s the only one who can lead you out of your sin and into His glorious Light [11] And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, [12] so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. We are to show the same earnestness: seriousness about these things, with sincerity and conviction This harkens back to Jesus’ teaching on the 4 soils One of those soils was described by our Lord as, “those who received with joy the things of God”, but then the attraction of the world takes over, and has greater pull on their souls They received the things of the Lord with joy, but they eventually lose all desire for the things of God and end up turning away from Him [13] For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, [14] saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” [15] And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. [16] For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. This paragraph is really here to remind us that there is none Greater than YHWH (Yaweh) Himself! So when the Lord God swore on oath to Abraham, the greatest thing He could swear on was Himself So this promise that was made was that Abraham would be the father of many nations, more in number than the grains of sand on the seashore God blessed Abraham, but the promise was not instantaneous God still had a timeline that was at His own pace But in the fullness of time, according to the Lord, Abraham received the promise [17] So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, [18] so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. Later on, after that previous generation had all died off, God knew that this new generation wasn’t going to just take this promise at face value They, like their fathers before them, needed assurance And this is what’s stated in v17 God was good and understanding towards the next generation who had only heard about YAHWEH And His promise stands because the Lord has guaranteed with His oath (and He cannot lie!) Those 2 things were that 1) His character NEVER changes! He is always only ever good to us! And…2) We have assurance in Christ to enter into the Holy Place and be with Him in eternity! That is absolutely incredible! These promises can never be rescinded or broken! [19] We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, [20] where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. I don’t know about you, but I am longing to see Him face to face And if you know me, then you know that I don’t think we have too long to wait His timing is perfect, and so we do wait for Him But in our waiting, we have been tasked with a Commission Let us be about making Jesus known in these Last Days Let us be known to our neighbors and friends as those who care for others because Jesus cares for us Let His Name be on our lips as we talk to our family and friends, especially those who don’t know Him And know that He’s coming, and right soon! MARANATHA! Come, Lord Jesus! Emmaus Road Church, YOU ARE SENT!!