Hebrews 5:11-6:20 | Salvation

Intro

Hey y’all

Everyone good? Glad it’s getting cold?

Everyone ready for the hurrication?

It’s just gonna be a Cat 1 when it gets to us, no big deal. get some bottled water and you’ll be good.

So question for you, you ever felt like you were misunderstood? Like if people would have just listened, they would have heard what you meant?

It happened to me a couple years ago, we hit on homosexuality on a Wednesday night and what we were talking about had a lot of levels, and you really had to listen and pay attention or you would have miss heard me in what i was trying to point out, and the distinction i was trying to make.

anyways, these students came up to me afterwards and was like, we need to talk about what you said. and glad they did that, we talked through what I said and meant and what they heard and perceived. Like if you ever struggle with something we talk about in here, come talk to me. let’s sort it out. I invite that from y’all.

Anyways, the passage of scripture we are going to talk about is a really tough text, it’s a hard text to it and think on.

So we really need to critically read what is being said in the text.

So, tonight, if you are one who just kinda listens or only halfway listens, i’m gonna ask that you press in. I’m gonna ask all of you to really think about what we are talking about and try not to mishear me, or think I’m saying something else.

What we are talking about is a very nuanced thing.

Do you know what nuance means?

It means subtle differences.

That means this needs to be a careful discussion. So we are going to try and do that, so stick with me, we are gonna go a little bit deeper, so stay with me.

So tonight we are in Hebrews 5:11-6:20 its a big long passage, we are going to break it up in to chunks and go through it, so you are going to need a bible in front of you, if you don’t you are going to miss some of the nuance and subtly of what we are looking at.

So who needs a bible? Throw a hand up, we’ll get you one, you need to have one with you.

Who needs one?

Okay cool.

Context

So while you’re flipping over there to it, let me set the stage for you as to what is going on.

Last week we talked about how Jesus is the great High Priest, what a high priest did, sacrifice.

We talked about access to God, how we can come to God with everything we have. How God is there like a Father is to His kids.

This week we are going to look at a warning that the author of Hebrews gives us. Warning about falling away.

So we are going to answer some questions, look at how we should read this scripture, how does the rest of scripture interpret this scripture.

And so tonight, the big question we are going to answer is, can you lose your salvation?

Can you lose it? What does the bible say about this topic, and how do we interpret this scripture and apply it to our lives.

this is going to be a night where I want you to take inventory of your relationship with the Lord.

So, before we jump in to it, let’s pray for our time in the word tonight, so y’all pray with me.

Pray

5:11-14 -Spiritual Maturity

Okay, so we are going to break this up in to chunks, and go through it slowly so that we can look everything going on, and see how all of this relates together.

So Hebrews 5:11-14, y’all read this first bit with me

Hebrews 5:11–14 (ESV)

11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Okay, let’s look at this,

First thing the author says is, “about this we have much to say, but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing.

SO what’s that about? Remember last week, we talked about Jesus being the Great High Priest, higher than any other, he is our High Priest. The author wants to explain that more, explain what is going on there, but he knows that thy aren’t going to understand him, so he shifts to this.

He tells them they are dull of hearing. He says y’all should be teachers by now, but you aren’t, y’all need milk, not food.

He is calling them spiritually weak, he is trying to make them think about where they are spiritually.

Who in here likes milk? I love milk, whole milk is the best. Just regular white milk. Y’all like chocolate milk? Yeah Chocolate milk is good!

Price gets down to some milk, she on formula and can start to recognize the bottle. She loves it. She survives on it.

But what if that was all you ate?

Athletes, what if when you just go done with a 3 hour practice, someone just handed you a glass of milk? Would that do it for it? At first it might, but you’re gonna get hungry, and when you go to the fridge to get some food, you open it, it’s all milk. All you can have. What’s going to happen? You’re going to drink it because you’re hungry and it kinda works, but not really. eventually though, you are going to start to physically break down, your muscles won’t grow, you’ll start losing weight, your body will start to dip in to fat reserves to keep up, then it will start to burn muscle, you’ll probably get sick. Headaches all the time. you’re not going to grow, your body wont work properly.

You need real food, to exist you need real food. When you get done with practice, you are gonna want to go to DQ and get the chicken tenders, go to Taco bell and get the crunch wrap. Go to Jacks and starves to death in line waiting for your food.

You can’t live on milk.

So what is the author saying? He is telling them to grow up. move on to the meat in the word of God.

We can feed Price milk for a while, and she’ll be on formula for a while, but eventually we are bad parents if we don’t let her have real food.

So what is he saying?, he is saying Grow up, train in the word.

and for some of you in here, you are a new christian, cool, he’s not talking to you, you will need to eventually move ahead in your faith, but he’s talking to us who have been followers for a while and are just still drinking milk. We are just scratching the surface.

Why do we need to grow up? becasue when life kicks you in the teeth, you need to be mature in your faith, to understand how to deal with it.

Milk doesn’t get you very far when you are sore, tired and beat up. So when you are sore, tired and beat up by life, have more than milk to lean on.

Know the lord deeper, know his truths, know why the stories you heard in VBS are essential to what we believe about the nature of God. Go deeper with your faith, know why you believe more than just having blind faith.

6:1-3 -Get past the basics, stop acting like you were never saved

Which leads in to this next chunnk, look at this next chunk, Hebrews 6:1-3 y’all read this with me

Hebrews 6:1–3 ESV

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.

Okay so, he has just told them that they are spiritually weak and that they need to grow up.

There is a Threrefore, linking what he just said with what he’s about to say,

he says move past the basics.

So question for y’all, do y’all know he difference between Justification and Sanctification?

any takers on that?

Okay,

Justification is what happened on the cross. We have been justified by the blood on the cross, the sacrifice has been made, debts paid, Christ shed his blood so that we don’t have to. Justification, a one time thing. Christ made the sacrifice for all once, on the cross, in that specific moment, once and for all Christ went to the cross.

Sanctification, to be made like Christ. The word literally means to be made Holy, to be made like christ. Sanctification is not a one time thing, it’s not like, one moment you are not sanctified and the next you are fully sanctified. No, it’s an on going process where God shapes and molds your desires and affections. Where God makes you more like himself, giving you His will and His heart. It s a life long thing.

So what is he saying here? What is the author telling them?

He just told them to grow up, now he is telling them, to grow up you need to move past the basics, get past Justification, and start being sanctified.

Think of it like this, and I’ve talked to some of y’all about this, but think about.

If at every DNow or Fuge, or retreat or any sort of even we go to and you get saved, stop. If you think you have mess up big or are confronting a big sin or something and feel like you need to be re-saved or “rededicate you life” or what ever word you want to use, stop. You were saved, if you are being convicted of sin, and you have cried out to the lord to save you, He is apt to save you. The conviction you are are feeling and the want to come back to the Lord is evidence that you were once saved.

When we do that, we get Justification and sanctification mixed up, instead of letting the Lord sanctify us, we keep asking the Lord to justify us.

When we do this, we say to God, i don’t think you actually saved me, why don’t you make sure.

Side bar, I’m saying if you for sure know you have been saved, know what salvation is, know why, fully aware of the meaning of cross and what it means for Jesus is Lord. you have been saved. Not saying if you raised your hand and walked an aisle at VBS or cause your friend did it but you don’t really know what it means to be saved, you might want to rethink that and check where you are in your walk with the Lord.

Back to what this text is saying, the Lord justifies us once, and sanctifies us for the rest of our days.

The author is saying, get past the basics, let the Lord sanctify you. Quit trying to save your self, and rest in the fact that God has already saved you.

And we need to know what these verses are saying before we get to this next part, because this is where it gets really nuanced, and confusing if you don’t pay attention. So press in here, This is about to be past milk, and in to some food. Some of you, this migh tbe your first bite, so you may want to really think and chew on this for a second.

6:4-8 - Eternal security - we cannot re-crucify christ

So let’s look at this next part Hebrews 6:4-6 read this with me.

Hebrews 6:4–6 ESV

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.

Alright, this is where it gets fun.

So when we read this, the first thing that is going to pop in our head is a question. That question is, Can you lose your Salvation? That’s whats on your mind, when i decided to preach through Hebrews I knew this passage was coming.

So let’s talk about it, can you lose your salvation?

So first thing we need to do is, remember that this is scripture, the author put this in here for a reason, the author didn’t mix words and he wanted us to see and read this. So before we address the big question, we need to address the why? Why is this in here? What’s it in here for?

It’s in here as a warning, it’s a warning for believers and those that think they are believers.

and remember a few chapters back the author told us, to not harden our hearts.

So with this in mind, don’t harden your heart. This is a real warning for us, and this should eat at us for a bit. Because it begs us to ask, can we lose our salvation.

So let’s answer that question. Can we lose our salvation?

So press in here, don’t mishear me, stay with me, press in. this is where it can get tricky.

So how do we read this?

if you read it at face value, in a vacuum, this verse would tell you, yup you can. But we need to ask the question can you?

Here is how I think about it, if you can, does that give you a power over God? If God is Sovereign and chosen to save you, can you give back the gift of salvation? Something to think about.

But if you can’t give back this salvation, if that would give you a power over God, why does this passage read like you can lose your salvation, why is this warning in here?

So to answer that, and really to deal with any tough texts, you need to look at the whole of Scripture to help guide you in deriving meaning from the text.

So what does scripture say? A good thing to remember when reading the bible is that scripture interprets scripture.

So where else in the bible is this addressed.

Flip over to John 10:27-30, normally I would just read this for you, but i want you to see it, so put a finger in hebrews and flip on over to John 10 and let’s see what this says. Read it with me.

John 10:27–30 ESV

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Okay, sometimes when people are reading this pasage in hebrews they would just site this and move on.

like, this sounds like you cant right. boom, these are in red, Jesus said you can’t let’s move on.

but we can’t do that can we? If we just gloss over this, then what i’ve done is just give you some ice cream, we like ice cream, because it’s fun easy and everyone likes this. But that’s not what we are going to do. So lets get to the meat here.

Does John 10 and Hebrews 6 contradict?

No i don’t think they do. Stick with me, this is where the nuance comes in to play.

If I say the term “Logically possible” do you know what i mean? Where something is logically possible? Logically Possible means it could happen, but it won’t happen.

If I said The President of the United States could be at FBC Gray Sunday morning, thats a logically possible thing, but it isn’t going to happen.

When we read Hebrews 6, we see that this is a warning to believers, a warning to true believers. When we read John 10, we see God eternally holding us fast.

So how do we reconcile these?

Hebrews 6 is saying, it is logically possible to walk away from the faith, you could do that thing, it is logically possible to do so. but John 10 is saying, by the grace of God, if you are His you won’t do that. God uses all means of grace to hold us, that includes warning us in his word.

This is a doctrine we call Perseverance of the Saints, some call in eternal security, both work, but I think the term Perseverance gets to the heart of what is going on.

If you are His you will persevere to the end, if you are you will remain.

A good example of this is Peter, who denied Jesus 3 times, 3 times he was asked if he knew Jesus and he was like, “no i don’t know that guy, i don’t want anything to do with him?” Did Peter throw away his salvation, no, Peter was weak.

We don’t persevere through sheer will but only by the grace of God.

So to answer the question, can you lose your salvation, no, by the grace of God you can’t give back what was given because God is the one who does the saving and does the holding, God is the one making sure you persevere, so if you are truly his, you aren’t going to leave and forsake him.

If you could, your fate would be what is described, a life where it was impossible to come back. because we have been justified once, we can’t be justified again. We can’t put Jesus back on the cross and thankfully we don’t have to.

6:9-12 - we are secure, what fruits, desires and affections do you have, are they toward God

let’s keep going, cause if you can’t lose your salvation the next thing that is going to pop in to your head is “how do I know I’m saved?” Read this next chunk with me, Hebrews 6:7-12

Hebrews 6:7–12 ESV

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. 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. 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.

Two things we need to see here, first, he gives an analogy of things growing on a land. One is producing fruit, one is producing weeds and thorns. The land that yields fruit is cultivated and the land that produces weeds is worthless and burned.

The second thing is, God is just and merciful. and Keeps his promises.

So what do we do with this? if you want to know that you are saved, ask your self, what fruits am I producing? If you ask what fruits, look at Galatians 5:22-23 “22 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Ask yourself are your desires and affections towards the things of God? If they are, and you are struggling with a certain sin, or feeling convictions, that doesn’t mean you are not saved, it means you are being sanctified. It means God is cultivating you, and cutting things out of your life.

on the other hand, if you see no fruit, if you feel like you can live your life how ever you want, you may want to check you relationship with the Lord. you may want to ask yourself if you are truly saved. in the end you will be cursed and burned if you think you can do this life with out God.

The author wants to make sure we see this as an assurance of our salvation. and gives us ways God allows us to persevere. The primary means of holding us is through discipleship, that is where sanctification happens, and discipleship happens in community. Look at verse 12, Hebrews 6:12 “12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

This can only happen in community.

God’s grace is shown to us through discipleship and community, we were not created to loan wolf the christian life, because we are not wolves. We are sheep.

What happens to herd animals if they leave the heard? They get picked off by the wolves.

I know y’all have seen that on Nat Geo, who does the lions go after? The gazelle off by himself, not the heard. and if they go to the heard they take the sick and weak.

We are in this together.

God keeps his promises.

P2Christ - Do you hear his voice?

So, what do we do with this? What is the point of all of this?

This passage wants to give us assurance that God, if we are truly his, will hold us through His grace and despite ourselves. The author gives us another example of God holding us with Abraham, becasue God is the author and perfecter of our faith.

Look at the last bit of Chapter 6, Hebrews 6:19-20 “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.

Jesus is our great high priest who goes before the throne and intercedes for us.

So what do we do?

John 10:27 says “27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

So you need to ask yourself, do you hear His voice? Do you know that you are following Christ, do you know what it means to follow Christ. If you are His your desires your affections will be towards Him, towards His mission, to see him as King. To know him deeply.

Sof, do you hear His voice? as we sing this last song think about.

For some of you you are tuning out His voice, you are saying, i don’t need this, I can do my own thing. This text is saying you can’t. Eternal judgment is upon you if you think you can do this with out God. That you can save yourself from your sins.

For some of you, this text is calling you to get off the milk, and get to real food. To grow up, to start getting in to the depths of knowing God.

And for some of us, its calling us to rest, rest that God is the one who saves and not us. That God’s grace will hold and sustain us. Rest in that.

Come See Christ as Lord, Comer see Christ as King.