Better Things for Believers

After giving a very strong warning in 6:4-8 the writer now encourages the Hebrew Christians. This is necessary because among the group are those who are indeed saved. They are bearing fruit for the kingdom. The writer has hope that they will continue in the faith.

v. 9 “Though we speak in this way” a harsh way, a way of warning.

“Beloved” is another name for the brethren. He considers them true brothers and sisters in the faith.

This is important because the message he just shared with them was a harsh one. They needed to know the writer did not think they had all deserted the faith.

“things that belong to salvation” reinforces that he believed in his heart they were saved.

There is a principle here for us. Some folks get upset when the preacher preaches a strong message. When the preacher does this it’s not because he thinks badly of the congregation. The truth is there are times when preaching must be bold, even harsh to an extent.

We see this in the sermons of Jesus

We see this in the sermons of Peter

We see this in the sermons of Paul

Harsh preaching does not mean the preacher is mad at folks. The preacher is responsible to God to preach the whole counsel of God.

That means heaven and hell.

It means grace and judgment

It means encouragement and admonition

v.10 “God is not unjust so as to overlook”

This is in contrast to man. Man makes many promises to God that he forgets.

“God I’ll serve You if…”

“God I’ll die for you…”

“God I’ll go wherever You send me…”

We break our promises to God. God does not break His promises to us.

“Your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints”

Notice the type of work God does not overlook. It is the work done in His Name. If we do it for vain glory, there is no reward. If we do it for His glory, He will not overlook it.

Notice the work done is “serving the saints”. The primary work we do as Christians is in the church. We serve one another.

Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him three times.

Each time Peter said yes.

Each time Jesus said, “Then feed My sheep.”

Think about this. Jesus didn’t ask Peter if he loved people. He asked him if he loved Him. It’s useless to love and serve people if you don’t love the Lord. Our service for others must be in the name of and for the glory of Jesus.

“as you still do” Notice he mentions their past and their present service. They didn’t put their time in and hang up their tools. They continued in their service to the Lord.

Christians don’t retire from serving God. Our love for God is shown by an ongoing attitude of love and service toward fellow believers.

We shouldn’t comfort ourselves for what we have done in the past for the Lord. We should think of what we are presently doing for Him.

v. 11 “And we desire” The writer is speaking of spiritually mature believers, perhaps elders who are watching the congregation. There should be a desire in our heart to see others living faithfully for the Lord. If they are not it should break our heart.

“each one of you” He wanted all of them to serve God faithfully. I think this implies some in the church were not as encouraging as others were. There were some he had legitimate concerns about. But he did not want them left behind.

“the same earnestness” As I said last week, all believers can be mature. There is no excuse for not growing in grace. There are no super Christians. No one has an upper hand. We all have the same Holy Spirit, we all read the same Bible, we all serve the same Lord. There should be a diligence, an earnestness in all believers to grow in their faith.

What if an entire church served the Lord with the same godly passion? We would see great things!

Where does this earnestness lead? Look at the text. It leads to “the full assurance of hope until the end.”

Assurance of salvation is the sweetest of things to have. Some people have it for a while, then they lose it because they are not faithful to the Lord. The person who continues to have full assurance is one we should all seek to imitate. This ongoing assurance comes from a real relationship with Christ and His people. As we faithfully serve the Lord the Holy Spirit continues to assure us that we belong to Christ.

We always need this assurance. We will certainly need it if we are aware of a soon coming death.

In that nursing home.

In that hospital bed.

Trapped beneath that wreckage on the interstate.

v. 12 Here we see what will rob that assurance.

“Sluggish” means lazy. He already warned them about being lazy hearers in 5:11. Now he speaks of being lazy in the Lord.

We can be lazy in our study of God’s Word.

We can be lazy in our church attendance.

We can be lazy in our service to the Lord.

He’s saying, “Don’t be a lazy Christian.”

There were, in the church, some who had become apathetic. They were idle. They had very little to show for their love of God. Probably attending church, but unmoved by the Spirit.

It’s not hard to spot a lazy person. In shows in lots of areas of their life. The same is true for Christianity. If we are lazy in our spiritual life it will show. Others will notice. We will notice as well.

“Imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” He’s going to give us a list of such people in chapter 11.

I want to mention a couple of things about this:

1) It is a blessing inherit the promises of God. There is a sense in which we experience the promises of God presently. We experience His peace, His fellowship, we know have a home in heaven and eternal life. We appropriate many of God’s promises by faith.

We look forward to an inheritance not yet experienced but just as sure as what we have already experienced. We will see God. We will be eternally healed, we will be rid of the sin nature, we will receive a glorified body.

2) We are called to imitate those who clearly have inherited those promises. In others words, those who have an obvious relationship with the Lord should be imitated by us.

This is an important principle in spiritual growth. We must surround ourselves with people who challenge us spiritually. That’s not always easy. It can be intimidating. The Bible says iron sharpens iron.

If you want to be a better mechanic, watch a mechanic who is better than you.

If you want to be a better painter, watch a painter that is better than you.

If you want to be a more faithful Christian surround yourself with Christians who are more faithful than you are.

Take a look at the people you spend time with. They will almost always tell you where you are spiritually. The flesh will encourage us to surround ourself with people who aren’t doing quite as well as we are. This makes us feel good about ourselves. The Spirit will urge us to surround ourselves with people who will push is in the faith to deeper waters.

Thought to Consider

1. Every Christian should desire that every other Christian grows to maturity in the faith.

2. God will not overlook a single thing we did for His glory in His name.

3. What I am doing today for the Lord matters more than what I did yesterday for Him.

4. Spiritual laziness is often justified by people who would not justify laziness in other areas of life.

5. If your friends do not challenge you to be more like Christ their not very good friends.