Hebrews 6: 1-12 • A serious warning and greatly misunderstood passage

all right hebrews chapter six open your bibles there please hebrews beginning the sixth chapter this morning we're going to take the first 12 verses all right it says this 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 and of instruction about washings the laying on of hands the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment and this we will do if god permits 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 and have tasted the goodness of the word of god and the powers of the age to come 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 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 but if it bears thorns and thistles it is worthless and near to being cursed and its end is to be burned though we speak in this way yet in your case beloved we feel sure of better things things that belong to salvation 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 and we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises stop there if you would please let's pray heavenly father every time we approach the word we recognize our great need of the holy spirit as teacher instructor revealer illuminator no less today lord these are hard verses challenging verses and frankly i don't believe that i'm up to the task but i know that you are and so we look to you as the teacher in the room here today and we ask you to fill our hearts with insight wisdom and understanding and we pray that you would enlarge our hearts to receive for we ask it in jesus precious name amen amen i have to be completely honest with you and tell you i felt like reading this passage and then closing in prayer and just kind of going home but this is because this is challenging stuff here today okay you know over the the course of our studies here at calvary chapel we've spoken many times about passages in the bible that really need their context in order to be understood and and you know by the same token i've said and you've heard me say those of you that have been around that there are passages in the bible that don't require context it's not true that every single time a passage must be taken in context some must some are not necessary to take into context let me actually show you on the screen three different passages that don't need the co their context to be true for example john first john 4 8 says god is love uh hebrews 12 29 we'll get to this later in this study says our god is a consuming fire and john 14 6 we have the words of jesus saying i am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me i share those with you because those statements are just a few in the bible that are true regardless of their context god is always a god of love he is always a consuming fire and jesus is always only the way the truth and the life and those things don't change and so it doesn't really matter in what context they are spoken but one thing you'll notice about all of those passages is that they speak about god or his salvation and the reason that they don't need context is because god never changes and his way of reaching people and saving them never changes jesus is always only ever going to be the way and and god is always going to be a god of love he does not change he is also always going to be a consuming fire and that speaks of his holiness god will always be holy and in so being that consuming fire is always a reality so those are things that don't change regardless of the context they remain true however there are other statements in the bible that absolutely need their context in order to make sense and this today here in hebrews 6 the first 12 verses is very much one of the passages that needs its context to be understood especially as it relates to verses four through six of this passage and by the way it's it i i get asked on a fairly regular basis pastor paul what's your interpretation of hebrews 6 six and they'll just write that what's your interpretation of this passage well may i suggest to you this morning that's the wrong question uh the real question that we should be we should be asking about the this passage or about those particular verses verses four through six are actually a series of questions that are really needful to ask in order to really understand the passage let me put them up on the screen for you they are basically these what is the author saying in verses four through six of this chapter what does he mean by what he's saying and finally why did he even say this what's his reason for saying this in the first place why was it necessary for him to make uh these the this statement and the this statement of great strength and so forth these are the questions we're going to be looking at here this morning and i trust the lord will give us satisfying answers but that's his responsibility all right so we're going to take a look at the first question what is the author saying and that's the first thing let's read again beginning in verse 1 he begins by saying therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of christ and he referred to the elementary doctrine in the last chapter he just referred to it using different words you'll remember in the last chapter he called them the basic principles of the oracles or the word of god it was also referred to as the milk right basic stuff the milk and he talked to these people you'll remember in a fairly in-your-face kind of a way uh in the last chapter as it ended saying you guys really aren't ready for the meat of the word you're still on milk because you're still kind of babies and so we have to go over that over and over again but now he's saying so let's leave let's let's move on now from that let's go on to stuff that is going to bring you into a place of maturity let's grow beyond uh the the milk of the word and we made the point last week that the milk of the word you know are the basic things and and here in verses 1 and 2 he repeats more of these basic things look at look at verses 1 and 2. he says let's move on let's move beyond things like repentance let's move beyond things like you know faith let's move beyond instruction about washings your bible may say the doctrine of baptisms if you have a different translation and it's possible that the author here was speaking of uh ritual cleansings that were our part of you know the old testament law he says let's move beyond the laying on of hands what that all means and why we do it let's move beyond the resurrection of the dead the resurrection although it's an amazing teaching it's a basic one it's a basic one jesus was raised from the dead he's coming back to raise us um he says let's move beyond eternal judgment boy some people are fixated believe me on eternal judgment they're just like you gotta go back pastor paul can we can we talk about judgment and the reason i find that well the biggest reason i find people get fixated on judgment because they're afraid of it they're fearful of it and so they want to talk about it and they think that maybe by talking more about it they might not have so much fear about it and frankly that usually doesn't help i'll be just honest with you what they what they need to do is resolve their their issues of fear with faith in the finished work of jesus christ on the cross we think getting more information is always the answer and sometimes it just feeds the fear to be completely honest with you so he says now we need to go beyond these things and we need to move on to maturity and then he comes to that beginning of that section in verse 4 where he begins this way and he starts with this thing and he just lambasts us i don't know if you use that word my mother used to use that word lambast i don't even it hit hit hard he hits us hard with this i pick up these things you know i say these things that my parents used to say well still do um but anyway he hits us hard with this statement for it is impossible oh good that statement just removes all doubt that what he's about to say has any gray area he doesn't say it's hard it's difficult he says it's impossible impossible for what well he goes on to describe it's impossible in the case of though he starts describing a person he says who has once been enlightened someone who's tasted the heavenly gift or shared in the holy spirit have tasted the goodness of the word of god the powers of the age to come and then to have fallen away he says it's impossible to restore them again to repentance that's what he's saying since they are crucifying all over again the son of god to their own harm and holding him up to contempt you'll notice that in this beginning in verse 4 he describes this individual or individuals as someone who has been enlightened tasted the heavenly gift shared the holy spirit tasted the goodness of the word of god finally tasted the powers of the age to come and again he says for such a person to then fall away it is impossible for such a person to be restored unto repentance and then he gives the reason why but before we ask what the author means by all this we need to make the point that what he's doing here is he's sounding well it's obvious he's sounding a very serious and a very sobering warning i mean i don't care what your personal belief is as to who he's talking about it doesn't really matter what we can all agree on is this is a warning and the book of hebrews is largely about warnings there's a lot of warnings in this book i mean very in your face sobering serious warnings and this is one of them so now that we know what he said let's go to the next question on our list here and that is what does this warning mean and this is where we get into some challenging territory and i will tell you before i begin to explain to you what i feel it means that there are i'll just tell you right now there are many wonderful and very sincere believers in jesus who look at this passage read the very same description that you and i have just read in this passage and they will tell you that they believe that this does not describe a true believer in jesus they will tell you that some of them will cite the fact for their belief by pointing to the repetition of the word taste or tasted as kind of their proof text in a sense and they will explain that what the author is referring to here is someone who has merely tasted or if you will sampled these aspects of the word of god the spirit and so forth but they've never really consumed them in the sense of uh taking jesus in and therefore they believe that the author here is referring to a non-believer okay i i just needed to get that out there and there may be some of you here in this room who'd have that same position and if you do i i want you to know that i respect you uh for your position but you need to know that i disagree with you not because it's all that important that i disagree but i think that there's something that some things you need to see i cannot subscribe to the interpretation that the author of these descriptions is speaking of an unbeliever for several reasons and one of the things is the is the the very word that people will point to and that is tasted because the greek word that is used here for tasted in verses four and five saying that this person has tasted the heavenly gift and tasted the goodness of the word of god is the same word that we saw the author use earlier in this very letter to describe something jesus did let me show it to you on the screen hebrews 2 9 we see him and we're talking about jesus who for a little while was made lower than the angels namely jesus crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of god he might taste death for everyone and see that's the same word so the argument is again that the person described in hebrews 6 4-6 is an unbeliever because they've merely tasted or sampled the things of god but never consumed them but if that argument stands then the same has to be true of hebrews 2 9 and that means jesus merely sampled death and didn't really experience it see that's a problem you can't have it both ways the word doesn't mean just sampled so what are we talking about here well there's another reason to me that it doesn't make sense that the person described in chapter six is an unbeliever look at the wording in verse 6 with me look again in your bible he says here that after describing this person he says if this person has fallen away i have a question for you if this is an unbeliever how can they fall away how can an unbeliever fall away they have to be there first to fall away in fact then he goes on to say it's impossible to restore them to repentance again so this person has already repented they've come to christ and then he says if they fall away they can't repent again and why he gives the reason because they're crucifying once again the son of god to their own harm but it shows you know that they've already repented they've embraced the crucifixion of the son of god embraced it personally so i have to tell you when i read the description that is given here in hebrews chapter 6 i see a believer i see a true honest born-again believer in jesus christ so what are these verses saying they're saying that it is impossible for a true believer to return to the lord through repentance if they fall away but here's the real question we have to ask what does he mean by fall away that's see that's that's where it really all comes down to that it's it's absolutely critical that we define and understand what the author is saying here well let me just tell you what he's not saying okay when the author uses the term fall away here or fallen away he's not talking about a christian falling into sin okay it's not what he's talking about because repentance we know is possible for people who fall into sin we know that by the sheer magnitude of the times the new testament tells people to repent i mean it's absolutely huge did you know that of the five letters that jesus dictated to the churches in asia minor that are recorded for us in the book of revelation excuse me did i say five of the seven letters five of them tell the people there to repent of the seven five let me show you first couple smyrna in revelation 2 5. remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the works you did at first if not i will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent pergamum therefore repent if not i will come to you soon in war against them with the sword of my mouth we move on here to thyatira behold i will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her i will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works sardis remember then when you what you received and heard keep it and repent if you will not wake up i will come like a thief and you will not know at one hour i come against you and then finally you know the backslidden church of laodicea those whom i love i reprove and discipline so be zealous and repent okay what's the point i'm trying to make i'm making the point that repentance is possible for when a believer backslides and falls into sin obviously obviously so we know that that's not what the author of hebrews is referring to when he speaks of a believer who has fallen away that's it's we're not talking about backsliding all right very important so what does fallen away mean in the in in in verse six well this is where we come to context this is it right here guys you can't get past context and and so that's what you've got to apply which brings us to the final question that we're going to look at what was the author's reason for making this statement guys it's the context of the letter that's why he said what he said you know we've been saying since we started the the study in the book of hebrews and you guys could probably repeat this verbatim you've heard it so many times the letter is written to jewish christians who are being tempted to abandon faith alone in jesus christ and begin to take on elements of the mosaic law so as to deflect persecution and public pressure and this letter was being written to those jewish hebrew believers encouraging them challenging them and warning them about that exact thing and we saw last week we talked last week about compromise what it is to compromise the gospel and again they're being tempted to compromise by once again rejoining some of these elements of judaism part of the mosaic law and uh as as a means of being saved and that's a serious thing because they're they're they're saying the cross is great but we're going to add in these other elements like circumcision and sabbath keeping and food laws and feast observances got to do that okay cross is great but you got to do these other things 2 and that's a compromise and the author is saying listen the author is saying in this letter over and over again that for someone to do an about face as it relates to the gospel and the cross being the only means of our salvation he is saying for some person for such a person to do that kind of an about face and to say that the cross of christ is no longer sufficient in and of itself to to save us he is saying for such a person there is no recourse and that repentance is no longer possible all right that's challenging isn't it that's challenging stuff to hear now let me just tell you that in my 48 years of being a believer my 38 years of being a serious believer and my roughly 35 years of being a pastor i've never met such a person i can tell you that in all honesty i have not personally met someone who came to christ at least i don't think i have it's pretty tough to know but i don't think i've ever met anyone who who put their faith in jesus you know walked in the power of the spirit and sampled the power of god and and then did an about face on that coming to a place of of of unbelief but my experience does not interpret the bible you with me i'm just one guy and i've got a fairly limited experience in my life my experience the bible interprets my experience not the other way around but even though i've never met such a person the author of hebrews tells me it's possible that it is possible that's why he wrote the letter and so i i'm assuming not just for hebrews but because of other testimony in the word of god i'm assuming the reason these authors gave these kinds of warnings is because it is possible now i will also tell you that even though i've never met personally a person who's done this sort of turnaround from faith to unbelief i have heard of such a person some of you may have heard or know of a man by the name of charles templeton he was a close friend of billy graham and like graham was a powerful and very anointed evangelist templeton and graham worked together at times and during the 50s they were probably the two most successful pioneers of mass evangelism in north america templeton would speak in front of groups of 30 000 plus sharing the gospel many many people just like billy graham many people came to faith in jesus christ through his powerful messages but over time charles templeton began to entertain doubts about the word of god he particularly had troubles with the old testament and eventually after a period of time charles templeton came to a place where he rejected the faith that he once so powerfully shared with others in fact he even wrote a book the book is entitled farewell to god my reasons for rejecting the christian faith you can still buy it i although i wouldn't recommend it but i found out it's still available i never met the man but his story is well documented you need to know that there are those who claim that charles templeton could not possibly have been a believer and they say that because they personally believe that what charles templeton did or claimed to do is an impossibility but if it is an impossibility i have to ask why the letter of hebrews was written that's my question to their statement because the author of this letter is presenting an argument so that what happened to charles templeton would not happen happen to the people who are the recipients of this letter and you know frankly it's not just the book of hebrews we've mentioned previously that we also have the letter that paul wrote to the churches in galatia i've mentioned it in the past in fact even last week you'll remember the believers in galatia were also being tempted even though they were gentiles they were being tempted to embrace aspects of judaism particularly circumcision by adding it to the cross of christ as the necessary means of being saved paul gave them a very serious warning too let me show it to you galatians 5 2. look i paul say to you if you accept circumcision christ will be of no advantage to you that's a strong word to to give to believers let me show it to you in the new king james indeed i paul say to you that if you become circumcised christ will profit you nothing again strong word made to believers you know years ago a number of years ago i asked a brother who did not believe that a person could turn their back and go the other way i brought up this passage i showed him galatians 5 2 and i said how do you explain this what was paul saying when he said christ will be of no value to you he said well he meant that they would lose their reward they would lose their eternal reward i said but you're saying that they're still saved he said oh yes absolutely and my response was if they're still saved then christ is of some advantage to them isn't he i mean if i if i find my way to heaven and yet there are no rewards given out for me in this life jesus was still a pretty big advantage in my life because i got i'm saved for eternity maybe i got nothing to show for it but i'm saved i am with him i am you you get me can we go back to those verses no advantage profit you nothing see that's the strength of the argument that that that it seems to me that that some people are just not truly embracing or understanding paul said if you're going to compromise the cross as the only means of salvation you're going to render christ of no advantage to you or of no prophet so you know we come back to this whole conversation once saved all was saved or or or the question you know can a person lose their salvation you've heard me talk about that in the past and you know for the record i'll say it again i do not believe that a born-again christian can lose their salvation due to sin i i don't i don't believe they can i don't believe that's possible because their faith is in jesus you see for the forgiveness of sins and that's a perpetual cleansing the bible tells us that the blood of christ keeps on cleansing us from sin people these warnings that i shared with you here from hebrews and also in galatians these are not meant for tenderhearted people who are who lack assurance if you're one of those people and i talk to a lot of them who struggle with the area of assurance these verses are not meant to upset you or to get you to a place of saying i don't even think i wonder if i'm even saved that's that's not the author's intent because the when people say that to me there is always and only one reason they say it because they are personally aware of their sin that's why they doubt if they doubt that's why they doubt i'll say why why do you doubt your salvation well because i'm such a jerk i'm such a sinner i go yeah see i i hear you the enemy has done an effective job accusing you because he's the accuser of the brethren and he accuses you and he says you think you're saved good grief all you need yeah yeah yeah i get it i get it you got your eyes on yourself get them off yourself get them on to jesus you got your eyes on the problem get them on to the solution you got your eyes on the center get them on the savior that's the solution to your problem those of you who have an assurance issue get over yourself get your eyes on jesus christ and what he did on the cross stop looking at your sin start looking at the savior keep your eyes there don't let the enemy turn you back to looking at you you keep your eyes on him you'll be okay this warning is not for you okay this isn't for sinners in that sense remember what the apostle paul said he said here's a trustworthy saying jesus christ came to save sinners of who i am the worst he said that present tense the apostle paul present tense i'm the chief sinner but am i saved you betcha because you see jesus is bigger than my sin praise the lord right and we're all like yeah thank you lord this warning is for people just like the hebrews that are the recipients of this letter just like the believers in in galatia who are mixing and matching the cross of christ with some other means of salvation doesn't matter what it is it doesn't matter if it's water baptism it doesn't matter if it's the first time you take communion it doesn't matter if it's sabbath keeping doesn't matter you mix the cross with something else you dilute the cross it is jesus christ and him alone who saves us period exclamation point right that's it oh i'm so glad to hear that i really am every time i say it i encourage myself you know because i know what an idiot i am you know i know i know the tendency i have in my own life to mess up oh jesus thank you that you love me and nothing can separate me from your love however i do believe that according to what we've seen here today in hebrews what i've shown you also in galatians i believe that it is possible for a born-again christian to walk away from their salvation by embracing unbelief where faith once existed and the fruit of faith versus the fruit of unbelief is described by the author in verses seven and eight look with me in your bible verses seven and eight 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 results of faith the result of unbelief but if it bears thorns and thistles it is worthless and near to being cursed and its end is to be burned yikes but then after giving you know what is a very stern statement there the author says this in verse nine though we speak in this way yet in your case beloved we feel sure of better things in other words we're confident about better things in your case things that belong to salvation and why well because there was there was fruit in their lives look at verse 10 this is interesting he says for god is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name and serving the saints as you still do and this showed that the spirit was moving in their hearts and lives and so he says in verse 11 and we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish but imitators of those who faith and through who through faith and patience inherit the promises so these are kind of some these final statements are like the coach coach encouraging the team and he's saying you know we got we got better thoughts for you guys than what we're talking about i know that i gave you a hard warning but we think better about you guys and he says i i want you to just keep doing what you're doing so that you would have the full assurance of faith now that's important that you guys see that especially those of you who maybe struggle with your assurance the author knows and he that's what he's saying here that when you see the fruit that comes through your life when the lord uses you it lends itself to giving you an a greater assurance of your salvation guys i what i just told you i'm not even sure how that works i'm really not i don't really know how that works all i know is that it does if you serve the lord and you see the lord working through you it encourages you and it helps give you an assurance of your faith so if you're one of those people again like we've talked about that struggles with your assurance get busy serving others right so get your eyes off yourself get them on to jesus and serve others serve other people because as you do you're gonna find that it just has a wonderful way of settling your heart with a sense of your real identity in christ you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

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Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament

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Length: 40min 0sec (2400 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021