Can I Fall Away?

Intro

Get excited about VBS

Story about walking on the obstacles, “the odyssey” at JH Ranch. I came to one that would give slack under the weight of my foot…I was attached, but my footing was not solid.

We often begin to question our salvation when our footing is not solid in the faith

Sometimes it’s because we find ourselves stuck, we haven’t matured past the elementary things of the faith.

Sometimes it’s because our life doesn’t match our faith and confession, guilt or maybe apathy has set in. Maybe we have had a bad experience and that stains the way we see Life. Either way the writer of Hebrews begins chapter 6 with a stern warning, and concludes with a a glorious encouragement.

We are going to ask three questions today from the text.

Why stay where you are?

How do I know if I have fallen away?

Is God Unjust?

Why Stay Where you are? Vs. 1-3

The writer is going to urge his readers to move into maturity, to continue to seek the solid food, to leave the elementary teachings of the faith…what are these elementary teachings? (The main thrust is that many, because of coming persecution would go back to the Jewish faith) You have to keep moving forward to keep from going back.

He admonishes them to build on the foundation they have, not to keep repeating these elementary teachings. He gives 5 things that are foundational…this list is not exhaustive, but its a good start

Repentance and faith, (How you understand salvation)these go hand in hand and you can’t have one without the other, so we must talk of them in tandem. It is foundational to our belief and even immature believers have to have this as a foundation, so no dead things in our lives, we live by the new life in Christ and as we live, we confess and repent

Baptism and Laying on of hands(how you understand the church) Ritual washing of items, this could harken to a priest who would live in a world of constant ritual washings…see Mark 7:4

Mark 7:4 ESV

and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

This was something the priestly class was having trouble understanding through the lenses of the Gospel.

John 13:8–9 “Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head! We have been buried with Christ, and risen to walk in the newness of life.

Laying on of hands, two things in mind, succession of leadership, and the importance of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life.

3. Hope of the resurrection and the judgement to come (How you understand things yet to come) it’s crucial that we believe in the resurrection, we are a resurrection people.

Then finally, the judgement of God which is eternal.

2 Timothy 4:1 “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:”

These are all foundational beliefs for the Christian. We build on these beliefs that are foundational, again this is not exhaustive, but this is a good list. Get these locked in.

How do I know if I have Fallen away?

Verse 4 you have a wake up call to the believers

Probably talking to a mixed group of believers and unbelievers, the call will be to repentance, so the next group of verses serve as a stern warning to those who could go apostate

He is speaking about faith and repentance for the most of these verses

Again we have a list of five (this would not happen to true believers, since a true mark of a believer is perseverance.

Once enlightened, denotes a decisive event in the life of believers, its where dark submitted to light, its where death submitted to life.

Tasted the heavenly gift…not sip, not a mushroom that springs up over night, no this is tasting and ingesting the gift of salvation that only comes from God.

Shared in the Holy Spirit…they are friends, full participation with the Holy Spirit, being in you as you are in Christ. Mention “unmute God” theme from Project Serve.

God’s good word…you have received, not just heard, and applied the Gospel to your life. That’s God’s good word

The powers of the coming age, this means you live and experience the Kingdom of God before the consummation of the Kingdom of God, you live with Christ as God. These are genuine marks of a real believer.

Verse 6…Johnson remarks, “This is not a matter of faults and errors, in other words, but of apostasy, of making a deliberate choice not to participate in the gift once given.”

A crucial question is how the participle “falling away” should be interpreted. Some understand it to be parallel to the rest of the list so that he describes those who have actually fallen away. Such an understanding of the participle is improbable, for elsewhere in the letter the writer admonishes the readers not to fall away in the warning passages. He doesn’t assume they have already fallen away. The participle is not conditional grammatically, but functionally and interpretively the word found here is to be construed as a condition. Attridge remarks: “Our author does not accuse his addressees of being in this condition.… It is 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

Schreiner, Thomas R. 2021. Hebrews. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger. Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

If you are living in sin, the consequences of sin should be front and center, not the pleasures of sin if you are abiding in a Holy and Loving God.

This notion of “re-crucifying Christ is absurd for the community and the writer since Christ is the supreme being, He is better than all things, why then would you say to Jesus you deserve the shame of the Cross, I deserve the pleasures of sin and falling away.

Two examples of what this is like, its like that are contradictory of one another.

Ground that has been tilled and planted and we see fruit.

Matthew 3:8 “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

2. The cursed ground of the heart, its conditional in the phrasing which means it doesn’t have to happen!!

SO, what if today you are at a point and you don’t feel saved, or secure in Christ, let me explain the Gospel of Jesus.

John 10:26–29 ESV

but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 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.

Ephesians 1:13–15 ESV

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

Romans 7:24–8:1 ESV

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Believe these things, take the holiness and wrath of God seriously and cling to Jesus the author and perfector of your faith, if you are counting on anything other than Christ, turn to Christ!

This warning disturbs us, but his assurance of the Gospel gives assurance

Once saved always saved? How about once saved always persevering

Why? This is based on the justice of GOd. So we ask…is God Just, yes he is!

Is God Unjust? Vs. 9-12

As Koester says, “The warning disturbs while the promise gives assurance—but they serve the same end, which is that listeners might persevere in faith

Schreiner, Thomas R. 2021. Hebrews. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger. Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Here he called them beloved, a tender moment, he is persuaded of better things concerning their salvation.

The writer is convinced that they will heed his warning and God will not forget their work and their love on the last day.

Because he is not unjust, The past obedience of the readers signals that they have new life in Christ.

Schreiner, Thomas R. 2021. Hebrews. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger. Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

We can’t be sluggish, spiritual apathy is a critical problem, it is a warning sign of your spiritual life, it means the check light engine is on, so what do we do, while it is still today, pray for the Gospel to become so real to you and seek to serve him

Do not let the sin that easily entangles keep you from Christ, call on his name and fall on his mercy

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Live that way with that posture toward Christ, don’t make a Jesus of your choosing who does not look anything like the Jesus of the Bible.

What do I do if I don’t feel saved? Trust what holds you from above and hold onto your salvation. If that assurance is not there because you don’t have a relationship then cry out to Jesus today.