Hebrews 5:11-14, 6:1-12

Preparation

Pray

Lord, prevent this sermon from just being a source of entertainment. Crucify my flesh and let Christ shine. Change us. Convict. Encourage. In your name, amen.

Just Meditate

Questions for the passage / first illumination

5

Their dullness of hearing makes it hard to explain / 11

What does he mean by teachers?

He calls them spiritual babies

This is a skill and a practice / 13

The mature have power and discernment / 14

6

What does he mean by “elementary doctrine of Christ?”

Some of these things are still foreign to our believers… TEACHING IS SO IMPORTANT

Impossible

Tasted but not swallowed

Contempt toward Christ / 6

If he is not speaking about them, who is he speaking about? / 9

God is pleased with his people. He is not unjust. He sees our labor /10

Is there a difference between faith and assurance? / 11

Who are you imitating?

Mood/Emotion of the Passage

Sharp then comforting

Word-studies

None for now

Cross References / Passages that illustrate

With man it is impossible, with God all things are possible

Commentary

Context / Overview

“1-3 So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!” - Eugene Peterson

“This is addressed to first-century Jews who were trying to decide whether or not Jesus was their long-awaited MessiahW. C. Fields, “Hebrews,” in The Teacher’s Bible Commentary, ed. H. Franklin Paschall and Herschel H. Hobbs (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1972), 777.

“The readers of Hebrews were looking, sounding, and seeming to be like believers; but they were urged to show the reality of their faith by enduring in their commitment to Jesus.” Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 111.

“this section is on making spiritual progress” Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 294.

Versus

11

“the ignorance spoken of is the result of ignoring” Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 1469.

“One of the first symptoms of spiritual regression, or backsliding, is a dullness toward the Bible.” Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 294.

“The word “become” is important. It indicates that they didn’t start out that dull of hearing, but became that way. Therefore the writer to the Hebrews warns them again.” - guzik

12

‘Any believer who fails to move on from milk to solid food—“milk” being the content of God’s Word, while “solid food” is the spiritual application and use of God’s Word in life—has some developmental issues and becomes stagnant in spiritual development.’ Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible, 2019), 1458.

At least they are his children.

One who only drinks milk, not only misses nutrition, but also the joy of flavor!

See 1 Corinthians 3:1-2

13

“A child is a very beautiful object, an infant is one of the loveliest sights under heaven; but if, after twenty years, your child was still an infant, it would be a dreadful trial to you.” Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews, ed. Elliot Ritzema and Jessi Strong, Spurgeon Commentary Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), 135–136.

“Now when we are born to God, we have all the parts of the advanced Christian. Faith, hope, love, patience,—they are all there, but they are all little, all in miniature, and they must all grow; and he is of full age whose faith is vigorous, whose love is inflamed, whose patience is constant, whose hope is bright, who has every grace, in full fashion.” Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews, ed. Elliot Ritzema and Jessi Strong, Spurgeon Commentary Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), 136.

14

“ Mature believers train themselves by constant practice. They are to be trained in godliness” John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Heb 5:14.

“It is a characteristic of little children that they lack discernment. A baby will put anything into its mouth. An immature believer will listen to any preacher on the radio or television and not be able to identify whether or not he is true to the Scriptures.” Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 295.

“Now this is not the result of years, for there are some gray heads that have no more wisdom than when they first began; and, on the other hand, there are some youthful believers who are worthy to be called fathers in Israel through the progress that they have made in grace. Growth in grace does not run side by side with growth in years.” Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon Commentary: Hebrews, ed. Elliot Ritzema and Jessi Strong, Spurgeon Commentary Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), 137.

“They are between Egypt and Canaan—out of the place of danger, but not yet into the place of rest and rich inheritance,” he replied. “They are between Good Friday and Easter Sunday—saved by the blood but not yet enjoying newness of resurrection life.”

Are you a “betweener”?”Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 295.

1

“The metaphor suggests that Christians should not replace this foundation, but instead build upon it.” John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Heb 6:1.

“Instead of going ahead, however, these believing Jews were tempted to lay again “a foundation” that is described in vv. 2–3. The six items in this foundation do not refer to the Christian faith as such, but rather to the basic doctrines of Judaism. If they did not move forward, they would be moving backward, which meant forsaking the substance of Christianity for shadows of Judaism.” Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1992), 691. (m)

2

“Washings (baptismos), where the plural may refer to teaching about the differences between Jewish purification rites and Christian baptism.” - esv study

3

“The lesson of the paragraph (Heb. 6:1–3) is clear: “You have laid the foundation. You know your ABCs. Now move forward! Let God carry you along to maturity!” Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 296.

4

“The Scriptures offer encouragement to the weakest believer, but they declare alarming warnings to those who carelessly presume that they are on God’s side.” Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 111.

“Most argue that although these people may have participated fully in the Christian community, when such people do fall away it is clear that they are not true Christians because they have not made a true saving response to the gospel.” - esv study

“Another view is that the warnings are addressed to true believers, and though they will never completely fall away, the warnings are still the means that God uses to challenge them to persevere in their faith.” - esv study

“First, some say those who had “fallen away” were genuine Christians who had forsaken Jesus and reverted to Judaism.” Malcolm B. Yarnell III, “Hebrews,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1952.

“So, the whole message of this difficult passage is this: Christians can go backward in their spiritual lives and bring shame to Christ. While they are living in sin, they cannot be brought to repentance, and they are in danger of divine chastening. If they persist, their lives will bear no lasting fruit, and they will “suffer loss” at the judgment seat of Christ.” Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1992), 692.

“The writer of Hebrews admonished his readers not to go back to the OT sacrificial system because Jesus is superior to it in every way. If they were to turn away from Christ, repentance would be impossible because it cannot be found anywhere else once Jesus is rejected” Terry L. Wilder, “Hebrews,” in CSB Apologetics Study Bible, ed. Ted Cabal (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1526.

“the fourth interpretation—that the author was speaking of an unfulfilled possibility rather than a concrete reality—seems most acceptable. Indeed, he used the warning against apostasy as a rhetorical means to call his readers to demonstrate the same diligence they had shown before. He was confident of something better than apostasy in their lives because he saw their prior love for Christ and faithful service in his name. The author was not detailing a doctrine of apostasy; he was calling his readers to progress toward maturity. Every succeeding statement promotes this goal” Malcolm B. Yarnell III, “Hebrews,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1952–1953.

“The writer spoke to his readers in accordance with their profession, but he urged them to show their true faith by producing real works.”Thomas D. Lea, “The General Letters,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 622.

5

f

6

“Fallen away involves a sustained, committed rejection of Christ and a departure from the Christian community.” - Esv study

“You can either be repenting or rejecting, but you can’t do both.” - Mark Dever

“Holding up to contempt conveys the idea of a public, shameful display.” - esv study

“having fallen away The Greek verb used here, parapiptō, refers in this context to a strong stance against God epitomized by sinful behavior.” John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Heb 6:6.

“we should ask, impossible for whom? After all, Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26). The issue, then, is not God’s inability to bring someone back to repentance; it’s man’s inability to do so. God has to directly interveneTony Evans, The Tony Evans Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible, 2019), 1458.”’

“The writer of Hebrews spoke to all of them as if they were true Christians, not wanting to make the judgment himself. He urged them to show their real faith by endurance in their commitment.

Some professing believers seemed to be toying with the idea of a return to Judaism. The writer of Hebrews assumed that continuance in commitment to Christ demonstrated real Christianity. The readers had professed some experiences with Christ. If they turned away from him after this initial start, their desertion would show that they were not real Christians. They needed to understand the seriousness of what they were considering.”Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 110.

“It is not impossible because God would not be willing to bring them to repentance, but it is impossible because the person is so hardened he will not repent.” Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, vol. 10, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 111.

“His argument runs like this:

“Let’s suppose that you do not go on to maturity. Does this mean that you will go back to condemnation, that you will lose your salvation? Impossible! If you could lose your salvation, it would be impossible to get it back again; and this would disgrace Jesus Christ. He would have to be crucified again for you, and this could never happen.” Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 297.

“The writer did not say that these people could never be brought to repentance. He said that they could not be brought to repentance while they were treating Jesus Christ in such a shameful way. Once they stop disgracing Jesus Christ in this way, they can be brought to repentance and renew their fellowship with God.” Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 297.

7

8

8

g

9

“He does not think it to be true as a whole of the congregation.” - esv study

10

4

11

He is not trying to destroy their assurance, he is trying to strengthen their assurance.

12

“Sluggish is the same word as “dull”” in 5:11 - Esv study

““Imitators” - Abraham is the immediate example, other examples are found in ch. 11” - esv study

Application

Relational application (love your neighbor)

Family members who have tested and rejected.

Thinking application (mind)

If a child from bridge kids asked you to follow you around this summer to learn the Christian faith would they learn anything of value? / 12

Feeling application (heart, soul)

Action application (strength)

Illustration

Verbal Illustrations

The story about the pastor who preached the same message week after week. “I’ll stop preaching it, when you start living it.” / 5:11

Spiritual baby’s

Teaching foreigners the abc’s vs. teaching our graduates the abc’s. One is appropriate, one is embarrassing. This does not mean we throw away the abc’s, but rather that we must move on to learn other practices. / 6:1

Imagine that Jesus was standing between you and your sinful choices. Would you kill him to get to sin? / 6:6

Watering weeds / 6:8

Coffee cupping - tasting but not benefiting / 6:4

Imagine you had a rewind button to experience the historical events of the gospel. Witnessing with an understanding that this was for your salvation. After returning to the present, you say, no thanks. / 6:4-6

The closer one get’s to the cliff. The tighter they hold on.”

“Like Caleb and Joshua, we must believe God’s promise and want to go in and claim the land!”Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 298. / 9

Visual Illustrations

Audience

pains/problems

passions/purposes

Questions/arguments they may have for the text

Pre outline

Main Ideas of the text

So what?

What would this look like lived out?

Title ideas

Assessing Spiritual Maturity

Testing Spiritual Maturity

Evaluating Spiritual Maturity

How spiritually mature am I?

A Spiritual Maturity Test

Potential Outlines

Grow up. Wake Up. Imitate/Persevere

Don’t be a spiritual baby. Don’t fall away. Persevere by imitating. or Don’t give up.

Teaching the dull. Watering weeds. Encouraging the slothful.

Assessing Spiritual Maturity: Option 1: I’m spiritually immature. Option Two: I’ve fallen away. Option 3: I’m spiritually mature. Imitate the faith of mature believers.