The Danger of Falling Away from Jesus (Hebrews 5:11–6:8)

Well, we are in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11 to 6:8 today. and how many of you have been to Yosemite Park? So we got half of you we have spent quite a few years going to Yosemite in the summer camping in the valley and then we've done various hikes, but one hike we do almost every time we go almost every time is to the top of Vernal Falls. It's the shortest little waterfall right there out of the valley you get up to the top and you there's a guardrail right in front of the river next to the river there. And on the rail are numerous signs that say if you go pass this rail, it means certain death Why because the end of the river is Vernal Falls and no one survives going down Vernal Falls and inevitably every year we hear of people who died in Yosemite who disobey the sign and go over the rail go into the water and go down the falls and Parrish. Our passage before us is a warning sign it's as if God is saying to us my child. If you fall over this precipice, you will be dashed to pieces and so what would a child do they would say father? Keep me hold me up. I'll be safe if you hold me. This is what the passage is meant to do today. It's to lead us to Greater dependence on God to a holy fear and caution because he knows that if we were to Fall Away, we could never be renewed again that's in the passage. He stands far away the child from a great Chasm. He doesn't want to get into the river at Yosemite because he knows if he would fall there would be no salvation. No saving anybody who tries to save people who fall into the river get drug away as well as wretched. So this passage before us is a warning it's a wake-up call of the danger of spiritual immaturity and laziness that can unchecked lead to apostasy falling away from Jesus not an easy passage to preach I confessed since we've been going through the book of Hebrews in theirs as I mentioned before 5 morning passages. I'm going to take some time to just speak to those but just by way of introduction remember, this is one sermon that was meant to be preached at one time to this Audience by this author were chopping it up into 19 weeks. And so we always have to keep the big picture in mind what the preacher the author was intending to convey. And so taking a slice of this one warning maybe could be tempted to leave some of you to despair or hopelessness, but that's not the author's point. You're at all. In fact, we're going to see that right in the versus right after our section. But what I want to do is read the whole section to you and then we'll break it apart the beginning in 5:11 about this we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing 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 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he's a child but solid food is for the mature for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from Evil. Therefore. Let us leave the elementary Doctrine. A Christ and go on to maturity not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead Works in a faith toward God and of instruction about Washings the laying on of hands the resurrection of dead and eternal judgement in this we will do if God permits for it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened to have tasted the Heavenly gift in a shared in the Holy Spirit and it tasted the goodness of the word of God in the powers of the age to come and then have fallen a way to restore again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding them up the contempt for the land that is 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 it Bears thorns and thistles it is worthless and near to being cursed and its end is to be burned while what a passage before us today. Do I tell her? Guys in Theology of preaching class that expository preaching verse by verse through a Bible makes you preach the hard passages. It is actually a more faithful thing to do as a pastor because I wouldn't I just want to skip over this in my pastor's heart. Like why do we need to hear a warning today? Why do we need it to be admonition can't we just get to the good news and yet here we have this passage before us that sin scripture. And so we have to deal with it and understand what the author is telling us and we see in verses 11 to 14 at the end of chapter 5 that as he warns against apostasy. He basically says spiritual immaturity and laziness go hand-in-hand it begins in verse 11 about this we have much to say he's talking about what he had said at the beginning of chapter 5. The Jesus is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now that's a as I mentioned last week that's a deep cut into Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 and people who didn't even have an Old Testament background Gentiles might be thinking I don't even know who Melchizedek is prior to last week. You might be thinking I didn't know who Melchizedek was and the author hear you this as he's preaching he wants to talk about Jesus and what it means that he's a high priest after the order of Melchizedek that he has it in Eternal priesthood, but he says to them I have much to say about this but it's hard to explain because you've become dull of hearing. And again this brings us to another thing that I like to teach art. Our student says they're taking preaching class is that when we preach we preach to our own churches. We don't just preach to the radio and in order to Shepherd. Well, we have to know our people and know what they're going through know what their struggles are know what their weaknesses are in when we give application it needs to be to our people and we see me an example of this. The author of Hebrews is talking to this church and we don't know exactly which church it is, but they were tempted to go back to the levitical priesthood to go back to Judy is so they're apostasy that he's worried about their turning away from Jesus Falling Away from Jesus. It's an apostasy that's returning to Moses in Judaism in he been spending five chapters talking about how Jesus is better than all of that. So don't go back to that cling to Jesus and he's looking at them as he's preaching and he says, Yeah, I want to talk to you about Jesus being an eternal priest but you're not quite ready for it because you've become dull of hearing and the difficulty is not in this subject matter, but in the audience this dullness, it's actually the word for laziness or sluggishness might be your translation. This is more than ignorance. This is a negligent a reluctance to listen. I don't want to listen. I'm too lazy to listen. I don't really want to hear what you have to say because I know you're right and I just I want to keep doing what I'm doing. Now the word sluggishness II was down a rabbit Trail in my studies. I wanted to find out you know, why is the slug called a slug? I was thinking about you know, the Proverbs rise up sluggard and I'm like that's an Old English word. Well, it turns out the little creature is named after lazy people. I would have thought it was opposite that the slug would have been the lazy creature that people then were called slugs. But actually it's the opposite in the 1400s the Oxford English Dictionary has the word slug for people who are lazy and it's not until the 1700's that the little creature is called a slug. Slugs the picture is obvious. I'm not going to beat the illustration to death, but he says you become do love hearing. You become lazy of hearing. You've become sluggish appearing but that's like having teenagers and you want to talk to him and they look like they're listening to you. I mean their eyes are on you but they're sort of a vacancy there right there. You're not really the words are going in one ear and out the other you've never had that happen when you were a teenager, right? You never listen to your parents and thought yeah, I hear what you're saying, but I'm really reluctant to take it in you really want me to do the dishes. You really want me to clean my room and make my bed. I think I'm going to be a little lazy of hearing about that. This idea is in verse 12 that he says to them by this time. You've been Christians long enough you ought to be teachers not not in the sense of preachers, but you ought to be able to disciple people because he says instead you need someone to teach you the basic principles of the Oracles of God and you need milk and not solid food Sophie thing. I've known you church. You've been Christians long enough. He's going to stay in in chapter 10 that they've even been through suffering. They've done good and been persecuted but they become lazy and listening and instead of teaching others what it means to follow Jesus. They need milk. They need someone to teach them again. Well milk versus solid food. What is the difference milk is food that is digested by someone else. We have a lot of babies in the church. It's a easy illustration. They're all drinking mom's milk. Mom digest the food and they get the milk solid food is food you digest yourself and the natural progression is babies end up learning how to eat solid food by transitioning from milk to solid food now could be, you know, the squishy food that we see in baby jars. Are you could do your own thing and grinded up yourselves, but the idea is you want them to mature you want them to grow up and be able to eat food themselves. He takes that it was stration and it was a very common illustration in the Greek world and he uses it about them and he says here's what it's like you need milk verse 13 everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he's a child. Do infants who need milk they need to restudy. The basic principles are the ABCs of the word of God and it's milk because someone else has to study the word and digest it and teach it to them and ways they can understand they're not able to digest it themselves. And it's this word of righteousness in verse 13 this word concerning as he's going to say in verse 14 what it means to distinguish good from Evil to know the right thing to do in the wrong thing to do. The mature on the other hand, they're able to eat solid food their Discerning in verse 14 their powers of discernment have been trained by constant practice and that word constant practice. Our constant effort is what is the word goon Nazo in Greek where we get the word gymnasium And again, why do Olympic athletes make it look easy and graceful in their competition? Because they have put the work in their attention to and constant effort in the gymnasium to improve their craft in the Greek world that are that are easy illustrations to understand and he says this is what happened. You've become lazy in your hearing you you're reluctant to hear the voice of Jesus and instead what you want to do is you want to listen to the voices of the world and you're not able to distinguish between right and wrong. You're immature.

He's rebuking some in the audience for this immaturity. They can't teach others. They need milk and not solid food and they cannot distinguish between good and evil and so what he's basically teaching us is that spiritual immaturity leads to moral immaturity. We can't distinguish between right and wrong and so the author says in chapter 6 verses 1 to 3, let us in this is a whole burden of this section. Let us move on to maturity. Here's the the appeal not quite a command but it's an appeal to the church and notice how he changes the pronouns again. He says you've become dull of hearing but then he includes himself and he says 6:1, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity not laying again Foundation of repentance from dead works and Faith towards God. The method is a set of weaning babies from milk is actually to feed them solid food now in a manner they can digest but it's solid food. It's it's what he saying is you need to be able to read the word of God yourself and understand it and digested and that's how you grow.

Includes himself. He says let us it's another way of what he said in 4:16. Let us hold fast our confession. Lettuce with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. This is the idea that we're doing this together as a church. And what we're doing is he says let us move on to maturity is fascinating in the Greek hear the word move on the the verb. It's in the passive voice which means that were dependent upon God to do this work in Us by the spirit. This isn't him all of the sudden changing his mind. He was talking about the sufficiency of Jesus and it's not like he's changing his mind and saying now you need to grow by works. No, he's not putting it in the context of Faith versus Works what he saying. Is he saying when you're a new Christian and you're a baby Christian, what you do is you get taught the word of God by others, they digest the meeting and they give it to you. It's what we think of as the the basics. And he's going to talk about what these Elementary doctrines are here in verse 2 in a moment. But he says the goal is to move you on to maturity so that you're learning to obey everything Jesus commands and then you're going to teach others also. It's basic discipleship. So he's he's imploring them. He's pleading with them. Let us move on to maturity.

And don't abandon Jesus don't lay again. I found a sheet of repentance from dead Works don't return over and over and keep trying to what he's going to say later re crucify Jesus as if his his death is not enough for you to be saved. What you need to do? Is you need to move on to maturity by the grace of God not abandoning the gospel either but instead digging into the deeper truths of the person and work of Christ. It's why he uses the word foundation we get the foundation of what Jesus has done for us. He died for us. He was buried for us he rose again for us and we keep digging into that. It's he's going to after three chapters of teaching on these more of these things in Greater detail that he wants to cover about Jesus being a perfect high priest forever. He's going to say what in chapter 12 fix your eyes on Jesus the author and Perfecter of our faith. What are these Elementary teachings in verse 2 verse 1 and 2 first the first thing we learned when we come to Jesus his repentance. This word repentance metanoia means to change our thinking 180-degree turn and notice how he describes it. We repent we turn from dead works and we turn to face. So we don't turn from Works to works. We turn from dead Works to Faith in Jesus.

This is Christianity 101. This is the entrance this is the foundational things. Second he says and this is a little more cryptic the instructions about Washings the laying on of hands and that they're paired into three pairs of two things and and his theologians and historians have been talking about this for a long time, but it seems clear that he's talking about baptism in the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant. I don't want to get sidetracked and derailed down a long academic talk instead. I just wanted you to go with me on this for a moment and what he saying is that when you got saved and you turn from dead works and you believed in Jesus you had faith in God and his message of Salvation in Christ you then were baptized you were Washed by the Water and at that baptism there was laying on of hands and you publicly identified as a follower of Jesus. Not like the baptisms of the Old Testament or the even the baptism of John of repentance. This is the baptism that we were commanded to do as a part of what it means to follow Jesus and then he said there's the basic teaching of the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement that when he speaks of the resurrection of the Dead. This is our hope when we were saved when we believed in Jesus, we had this great hope that we would not perish but have eternal life that is the resurrection of the Dead there will be with Jesus forever that even our own death physically in this world is not the end because in Jesus we have eternal life. And so to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord Jesus to live is Christ and to die is gain and isn't that our hope when we Face death when we see our loved ones die. That's our hope is that there is a resurrection from the dead. And the Hope in Jesus is that the Eternal judgment there is not condemnation. But there is rewards. He's going to talk about the judgement seat later and you might get the impression that he's only speaking about the condemnation, but that's not what he's holding out he saying when you learned the basics of Christianity, you knew that you're going to stand before God one day you're going to be in his presence forever and he's going to bless you and reward you for being in Jesus. What a hope what we heard in a fusions. We've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus and in Romans if he did not spare his son, but freely gave him up for us all how will he not with Jesus give us all things. This is good news. And so the author of Hebrews is saying this is what you learned in the elementary doctrines and you need to move on from this into maturity not abandon these Basics but rather growing deeper and understanding more and more about what it means so that then you would grow into maturity by the grace of God, you will be moving on to maturity again that words in the passive. It's it's like a ship that Hoist the sails and it's at Full Sail and it's carried Along by the wind. That's the picture of moving on to maturity. It's not that we're rowing the boat and ordering ourselves into maturity, but rather were hoisting the sales by looking at Jesus in the spirit of God blows us into maturity. What Paul teaches in 2nd Corinthians 3 that as we behold Jesus we become like him that beholding is becoming. And so he's going to after this warning from chapter 7 to 10 do a deep dive and what it means that Jesus is our high priest and that he's a priest after the order of Melchizedek, which is really good news because he's an eternal priest not a temporary priest. But his last warning is here in versus 428 when he says there's a terrible danger of apostasy.

It's impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened to have tasted the Heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit and tasted the goodness of the word of God in the powers of the age to come and then it falls on the way 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. Now some of the commentary said this is the most notoriously difficult passage in the Bible to interpret. What does the author of Hebrews mean here? This is the third warning passage so far in the book of Hebrews and it's a sermon and so these warnings are meant to be application of Psalm 110 in his Exposition. The first one was in 2:1-4. Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we've heard lest. We drift away from it for since the message declared By Angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or Disobedience received a just retribution. How should we escape if we neglect such a great salvation it was declared it first by the Lord. It was attested To Us by those who heard well God also bore Witness by signs and wonders and various Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will so the first warning has this idea of where in danger of drifting away. And is drifting away is equivalent to neglecting this great salvation that Jesus has declared to us. That's the first warning. The second one is I'm not going to read the whole thing. It's 3:12 all the way to 4:13 and he says beware less. There's an evil unbelieving heart that leads us to Fall Away From the Living God, so he says drifting away neglecting salvation having an evil unbelieving heart that causes you to fall away from the Living God now in chapter 6, you say that if we fall away from Jesus,

After experiencing all of these things verse 6 it's impossible to restore those who fall away again to repentance because their recruit defying Jesus the fourth one is in chapter 10 verses 26 to 31 that fact I will read that one to you for the context. Verse 26 if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but fearful expectation of judgment in a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries verse 29. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserve by the one who's Trampled Under Foot the Son of God and profane the blood of the Covenant by which he was Sanctified and outraged the spirit of Grace for we know him who said vengeance is mine. I will repay in the Lord will judge his people. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God and then the last one verse 12:25 see that you do not refuse him who's speaking for they did not Escape when they refused him who warned on Earth much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven and he concludes verse 29. Our God is a consuming fire now in all of these warnings. Who were the wardens address to? That's the first question that comes to mind and there's actually four views on this passage and I'm not going to go through all four views, but I'm going to mention two of them to you one would be the view that the warnings are addressed to non-christians in the church who think they're Christians. That's the first view so that would be the view that there's some who are professing Christians but aren't really saved. They think they are but they're not that has been a very dominant view in and you might hold that view here. And that's a very plausible view. For example, Wayne grudem has one of the most robust defenses of that view. The second view is that they're Christians and the warning is to Christians about falling away. Now if we hold to the doctrines of Grace and believe that if we are saved we cannot lose that salvation. Now we have this challenge In this passage. Don't we what does it mean about falling away? Well, I take it here that the warning is addressed to Christians. He mentions and every warning it's to Christians. It's to the church that's gathered. Second. What is the sin warned against in all of the warning passages? It's drifting away. It's neglecting salvation. It's deliberate its high-handed sin. It is called apostasy turning from Jesus turning from God. What are the consequences well according to the 1st view I mentioned if there's non Christians in the room, it's proof. They were never really saved. Like Jesus said a tree is known by its fruit and if there's no lasting fruit, then they were never really safe to begin with and that's possible but I don't think that's what the author of that is a true teaching the Jesus taught in Paul taught but I don't think that's what the author of Hebrews just getting at here. I think he's speaking to Christians and he saying if all of these things were to happen, you would lose your salvation, but the reality of scripture teaches we cannot lose our Salvation which is why I started with that illustration of the warning sign at Yosemite. This is meant to be a warning not a statement of truth. It's not to prove guilt and innocence. It's to be a warning to keep us in the in the lane. It's it's like the the lights that go on and now our steering wheel pulls us to the side when we Veer into the the wrong lane. It's meant to be a warning light to tell us you're in danger. You need to turn back to Jesus. That's the burden of it. These Warnings need to be taken as a whole. They're not declarations there a wake-up call to fix your eyes on Jesus. The warning passages are not talking about declaring what your state is before Jesus. The warning passages are warning. You you need to fix your eyes on Jesus Christian. Have you got your eyes off Jesus? Have you got your eyes on the world? Have you been drifting away from Jesus thinking that he really can't save you. He really can't deliver you from your troubles that maybe I need to turn to something else. Let this passage fall on you in a way that warns you to get back to Jesus. That's what the author of Hebrews has is getting at here. He says the verses for 26. It's impossible back in 6:4. It is impossible. In the case of those who've been enlightened. To restore them again to repentance for 6. He says it's impossible. He's used this word three other times. He says in 6:18. It's impossible for God to lie. He says in chapter 10 verse 4. It's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. And in 11:6 is impossible to please God apart from faith. Those are the impossible statements of Hebrews in here. He says it's impossible to renew those again to repentance who have a pasta sized and he gives them five descriptions. He says they've been enlightened that is they've had their eyes open to the reality in the truth of it. They've second tasted the Heavenly gift. That is they've they've not just tried it but they've they've jumped wholeheartedly into this they've shared in the Holy Spirit. They have the Holy Spirit. They've tasted the goodness of the word of God in the powers of the age to come. They're part of this New Covenant Community. And then falling away is impossible to renew them again. In a bit, it is a real warning but it's also in a way a bit of a hypothetical isn't it? Because the warning is meant to drive us back to Jesus in the spirit of God is going to use These Warnings to drive us back to Jesus. So what is it not mean? Well, this doesn't mean Falling Away doesn't mean falling into certain sins every Christian falls into sends, but that's not the same thing as falling away from Jesus according to the author of Hebrews here. It also doesn't mean falling into temptation. It also doesn't even mean take Peter. For example, what did he do when he fell he denied Jesus three times because of pressure. He was afraid and he was scared and he denied Jesus three times even curse, but he hadn't Fallen away. He had no pasta sized. He hadn't he hadn't basically said I no longer want to follow Jesus. He crumbled under the pressure and Jesus restored him. And so as you're hearing this don't take this as while I fell into send this week. I must be one of those whose falling away and there's no way to renew me again to repentance. That's not what the author is saying. The author is saying that if you go so far that you're saying, I know I am a pasta sizing I am turning away from Jesus and I don't want anything to do with him anymore and you've experienced all these things. There is no other savior. You can't recruit if I jesus again for your sins. There's No other salvation, there's nowhere else you can turn to that's what he's getting at. And once again, I want to emphasize this is not a statement of despair. Like an inevitability that's not what the author means to do. This is a wake-up call. He's picturing his audience at a Crossroads like Israel in the wilderness. And if Israel had believed God and followed Moses, they would have entered the promised land instead we heard last week and the week before they grumbled and complained and said the God. Why don't you just kill us in the wilderness? And God said, okay, you won't go in. One commentator at Ridge says our author does not accuse his address is of being in this Condition. It's a warning that should remind them of the seriousness of their situation and the importance of renewing their commitment apostasy is where their sluggishness could lead. So back to that first part spiritual immaturity and laziness can lead to apostasy. And then he concludes with this illustration of a well-watered garden and in quite a contradiction that if you took care of your garden, you watered it. Well, you prunes your Vines and all it produces is thorns and thistles. It's a contradiction. It doesn't make any sense the land in the picture obviously represents the audience the reins of the goodness of God upon them. The fruitfulness is the blessing but if thorns and thistles appear in verse 8, the land is worthless in near to being cursed and it echoes numerous passages in Deuteronomy gives us an indicator of the Wilderness wandering is the background that he hasn't left that story. He was in that story in chapter 3 and 4 and he still got it in the back of his mind and he's using Israel as an example that if you apostatize and turn away from God you'll die in the wilderness. Don't do it beloved. Jesus is better. What a wake-up called. The intent is clear if we've been well watered by God through his word and by his Spirit if we've received God's blessings and all we do is produce weeds in our life. Then we're about to be cursed and headed for judgment on the last day. And if I mentioned it appears that that original audience was thinking of abandoning Jesus and returning to levitical Judaism. He's giving them a warning throughout the book that to leave Jesus to turn away from him is to turn away from salvation, but I wanted I want to jump ahead into our next sermon because I want you to see the next part of the passage look at 6:9. Do we speak in this way yet in your case beloved. We feel sure of better things things that belong to Salvation. So I want you to hear this from the author himself. He's warning with a strong warning Don't Drift Away from Jesus. Don't fall away from Jesus. Don't leave your only salvation, but he also says I'm speaking in this way, but I'm certain of better things concerning you things that actually belong to Salvation for God is Not unjust verse 10. So as to overlook your work in the love you Sean for his name and serving the Saints as you still do what what is that? That's fruitfulness that's evidence of the spirits work and we desire each one of you show the same earnestness to have the full Assurance of Hope until the end. So he's not giving this warning to undermine Assurance of Salvation. He's giving this warning so that you would have Assurance of salvation. In your own experience. Think about this when you're in the midst of sin when you're in the midst of Disobedience, and you're tempted to shake your fist at God, do you have Assurance of salvation? Probably not only unless you've deluded yourself into thinking well, I'm going to send that Grace would abound. Know the times we lack assurances when we're in the midst of our sin. We're in the midst of our spiritual immaturity and our laziness, but when we follow Jesus when we fix our eyes on Jesus our insurance become strong and that's what he wants that he says a 12 you may not be sluggish. She returns to that word again, lazy sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises so this is the warning that then he's going to jump into the greater things. He wanted to talk about with them about milk is a deck in Jesus being a high priest. He's going to cover that in chapter 7 through 10. He's going to return to face in chapter 11 in and say that all of this we received we received by faith. And then in chapter 12 after instructing on these more mature Christian doctrines, he basically tells them look to Jesus 12 to the founder and Perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endure the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God consider him who endured from Sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted in your struggle against sin. You've not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as Sons. My son. Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor be weary when reproof by him for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastises every son whom he receives. So he returns to athletic imagery in Chapter 12, and he says you're going to run a race with endurance and it's like an Olympic marathon. It's a long race and you need to be in the gym as it works strengthening yourself into maturity to run this race. And you fix your eyes on Jesus. Oh, by the way, he's the beginner of your faith and he's a Perfecter of your face. So it's not up to you alone. But Jesus is at your side. He is the one you're fixing your eyes on and you run the race. He's your example. He ran it with endurance. You can run it with endurance. He despised The Shame of the Cross and he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. You're going to be in his presence wherever you're going to get there. And when you are mistreated, you don't have to grow weary and faint hearted because Jesus was mistreated. And when your discipline by God the Father, you don't have to think that you're kicked out of the family that you're no longer wanted. No because every father disciplines his child is everyone So These Warnings they go hand-in-hand with discipline. Don't they? They're coming from a loving father in Heaven who says Don't Drift Away from Jesus, and if you do I'm going to discipline you so that you get back to Jesus ever been disciplined by God in your life. I actually give to very specific times in my life were the Lord's hand of discipline was upon me once when I was about 1920 years old, and he was teaching me not to be ruled by my emotions and a second time when I was Unsure about Ministry and unsure about life in the future and I was wallowing in self-pity and the Lord disciplined me heavy. He was preparing me to be a pastor and I didn't even know it. And maybe a third time it covid when I lost my job for four months and he was disciplining me because I had found my identity and being a pastor rather than and just being a child of God. The Lord does this because he wants us? To be with him forever. And turn back the Hebrews 6 because I want you to see this confident Assurance in the author of Hebrews and we're going to get to it in a couple weeks, but look at 6:18. Actually starting verse 17 when God desired to show more convincingly to The Heirs of the promise that's us the unchangeable character of his purpose. He guaranteed it with an oath. So we have Scott's promise and he swore an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. We have fled for Refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the Hope set before us we have this as a Shore and steadfast anchor of the Soul a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. So this is the argument he's making is there's a great warning Don't Drift from Jesus, but when you cling to him, there is a hope that's like an anchor to your soul in the midst of a hurricane. You will never be Crushed you will never be drowned. You will never be lost. Because Jesus is gone is a 4Runner and he's a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He's returning to what he had paused for a moment to talk about in 5:11. So this is what we have beloved is we have this warning before us and I believe that God is Sovereign and he's on his throne and I don't know what you're facing. I know what some of you were facing but this I didn't plan this this is where we're at today. And so if this warning hits your ears in a way that causes you to repent of sin and return to Jesus praise the Lord that's the spirit of God planning this moment ordaining this moment for this sermon to hit your ears. This is what God does but what a warning it is and what a hope we have in Jesus. It's kind of like saying you're a fool if you leave Jesus and do the thing that's going to destroy you. Why would you ever do that return to Jesus were all of your hope and all of your safety and all of your salvation and all of your joy and all of your happiness is found. It's a no-brainer.

What A Savior we have in Jesus father thank you for this word In this passage. Thank you for this warning

We don't want to ignore the warning. We don't want to ignore this sign.

We want to hear you. We want to listen closely.

How we need you to work in our church?

To establish us to build us to be a witness in this community to see others believe in Jesus and come to this great salvation in Christ that he would be their High priests in their savior forever their King who is ruling and reigning with the greatest Authority.

How to use this message use this word in our lives. We don't want to be the same we want to be changed. So would you by your spirit change us today May We Go From Here moving on to maturity. Do this we're desperately in need. This is as the author it said it's if you will so father, would you do your will in us and through us? I pray in Jesus name. Amen.