Sunday School - Refine Class - Can I Walk Away From My Salvation?

Passage

Hebrews 6:1–12 CSB

Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And we will do this if God permits. For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned. Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them. Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.

How would you define Perseverance?

What is something you do, perhaps work or a hobby, that requires patience and perseverance?

What is something you have done that you are glad that you did not give up on?

The Point

A True Relationship with Christ is seen in our perseverance.

You may not be a quitter, but we do quit things

from time to time. For some, it’s a hobby they

haven’t touched in years. Or it might be a movie

that’s not holding their interest. Others quit their

jobs. Unfortunately, some people quit their families.

But can a person quit being a Christian?

If you have genuinely committed yourself to

Jesus and have been born again by His grace,

can you stop being a Christian?

And if you sin, does this mean you lose your salvation?

It might be better to ask why would any real disciple

ever turn away from following Jesus?

These are tough questions, and they are made

more difficult by a challenging passage in the

Bible, which some interpret to mean Christians

can fall away from their faith. But we must

remember two important principles of biblical

interpretation. First, we must interpret verses in

their context, studying the verses both preceding

and following them. Second, we need to

interpret these verses in light of what the rest of

the Bible says.

Let’s use these two principles to discover the

answers to the questions above.

Perseverance Calls for Growing in Our Faith

Read Hebrews 6:1-3

Hebrews 6:1–3 CSB

Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And we will do this if God permits.

Therefore… When you see therefore, we have to ask, what is it there for?

Background:

Within the first several chapters of Hebrews, the author wants to show his audience that Christ is the true and better…

In Chapter One we see that Christ is not just a prophet coming to declare God’s Word to us, but Jesus is God’s Word Himself directly spoken to us. He is the true and better prophet through whom we get to see who God is and what He is like.

Because of this Christ is superior to the angels that the early believers were tempted to worship and follow.

In Chapter two, the author warns us from neglecting the salvation that Christ offers to us. These early believers who had a Jewish background were tempted in falling back into their former Judaistic ways by trying to earn salvation through a law of works rather than receiving God’s grace by faith in the finished and perfect work of Christ.

In Chapter three, we see that because Jesus offers the salvation that all of the Old Testament pointed to, Jesus is greater than Moses, the greatest of all the Jewish prophets and the one through whom God provided deliverance from Egypt. And because He is greater than Moses, He alone provides the true Sabbath rest that the OT law pointed towards.

Jesus is also the Great High Priest as shown in chapters 4 and 5. While the other priests had to offer the yearly sacrifices on behalf of the people, Christ offered the perfect sacrifice, Himself, once and for all. Never will there be another sacrifice needed because He accomplished the payment for sin and the work of redemption all at once because His sacrifice was perfect and without blemish and He did not have to pay for his own sins as the priests had to do.

So now, the author urges his audience to quit trying to go back to their former ways of life and understanding and to press in to the Gospel of Christ!

Hebrews 5:11–13 CSB

We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.

Ask: How do parents measure the physical growth of their children? How do you measure growth in faith?

Head Knowledge Does Not Necessarily Mean Maturity

What is going on here? These Jewish believers kept going back to their former understanding of the law and the false belief that adherence to the law could provide salvation. They needed to be reminded again and again that salvation for both the Jew and the Greek can only be found in Christ and in what He accomplished on our behalf.

It’s not that they were uneducated people. They were probably much more educated in the Scriptures than many of us are today.

This does not mean that knowledge is inherently bad. We are called to learn and to grow in knowledge.

Jen Wilkin - The Heart Cannot love what the Mind does not Know.

If we are to grow in our faith, it requires learning about who God is.

But we need to be careful that our learning and knowledge isn’t taking us away from the truth of the Gospel, but rather further into it.

Leave the Elementary Teachings?

So what does the author mean that we are called to leave the elementary doctrine of Christ?

He is not saying that we need to leave or quit learning about the foundations of the faith. He is not saying we are saved by learning about these things, but then we outgrow them and need to move on to something better.

In fact, the immature are doing these things. They have to keep coming back to these foundational issues because they forget about them and are trying to move on without them.

We are not saved by the Gospel and then move on to bigger and better things.

We are saved by the Gospel and then we grow in the Gospel as we continue to press on in the good news of what Christ has done for us. But we do move beyond the foundational things as we build upon the foundational things, not as we try to forget the foundational things, such as:

Repentance from Dead Works

Ritual Washings (Baptism)

Resurrection of the Dead

Eternal Judgment

The early Jewish believers had to keep coming back to these things because they were trying to build a new foundation upon other things rather than going deeper into the foundations of the Gospel.

They might have accepted the fact that they were saved by God’s grace, but then they thought they had to grow by their own works, when then they had to come back to the repentance from their dead works and from reliance upon their own ritual washings rather than resting in the baptism they experienced in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

These things are meant to establish our faith in Christ. And then we grow, not by trying to work to be good enough, but by growing in our faith and trust in Christ. The truly mature are those who continue to rely upon Christ and to trust His work on His behalf.

Ask: Why does God desire all believers to mature in their faith? Is this a human endeavor?

Look at how the author ends this section…

Hebrews 6:3 CSB

And we will do this if God permits.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t things for us to do. But we follow Christ in obedience as we trust in His grace and power working within us.

Legalism says I have to work to earn God’s favor.

Grace says God loves me as I am and and then gives me the desire to work out my faith in obedience.

There is work to be done. But it is work that comes as a result of God’s saving grace, not as a way to earn it.

True maturity understands that obedience flows from faith and salvation, it doesn’t produce faith or salvation.

But while true maturity understands that everything we have comes from Christ, we do not receive it passively. We do strive for obedience as we seek to follow Christ in faith and trust.

Philippians 2:12–13 CSB

Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

We do persevere in obedience to Christ while we trust that it is by His grace and strength we will endure.

What are ways you have found helpful as you have grown in your faith in Christ?

Perseverance is Grounded in What We Have in Christ

Hebrews 6:4–8 CSB

For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.

Here we come to a passage in which there are many different thoughts and opinions. This passage has been used to argue that it is possible for a Believer to walk away from Christ and to lose their salvation.

What’s your initial reaction to these verses?

This certainly serves as a warning for those who do not persevere in growing in the faith, but does it refer to believers in Christ or not? That’s the question.

Why is it impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened? And who do you believe this is referring to?

What is repentance?

One could say it is impossible for one who was once saved to fall away and then to be restored to salvation. This would certainly be a terrifying and hopeless situation.

But as we look at this, we can also see that it would be impossible for one who was truly saved to fall away and to require a new repentance. If one is in need of repentance, it would mean they never truly repented in the first place. So it is impossible to renew to repentance for someone who was once enlightened. Because…

If they truly had repented, there would be no need for a new repentance. They have already turned from sin and turned towards Christ if that’s the case. And when we turn towards Christ, we will not turn away from Him because we have already turned from sin.

This doesn’t mean that we won’t sin in the future. But as we persevere in growing in faith, we will also come to see our sin as wretched and heartbreaking as God does. And when I say there’s no need to repent again, I’m not talking about the daily repentance we are called to do. We are called to daily repent, to pick up our cross and follow Jesus.

But when we make that true initial decision to follow after Christ, there is no need to have to be re-saved, to ask Jesus to save us again or to ask Him into our hearts again, whatever terminology we might use.

Our true repentance will show itself in the daily choosing to follow after Christ and the mourning over sin when we do stumble and fall.

What About all this Deconstruction?

What we are seeing is false professions of faith making themselves known.

What we have to remember is it is possible to profess faith in Jesus without really possessing faith in Jesus.

A tale of two disciples:

Peter

Judas

The difference? One got back up and persevered while the other called it quits.

It’s not that Judas need to be renewed to repentance. He had never repented to begin with.

There’s never been a true repentance that has taken place in the lives of these individuals. Otherwise, Christ’s name would be put to shame. If Christ could save someone and then lose them, then He would not be our almighty Savior that He actually is.

Security of the Believer:

God is the Author of Salvation

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 ESV

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God jsutifies or treats as acceptable sinners who receive Christ in faith

Romans 3:21–26 ESV

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

God who has begun the work of slavation in Christians also provides the necesary assurance to bring His work to completion in the day of Christ.

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

God in Christ protects and keeps Christians

John 10:27–29 ESV

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.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV

But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

God sends Christians His Holy Spirit who seals them for the day of redemption

Ephesians 4:30 ESV

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Perseverance Calls for Diligently Walking in Christ

Hebrews 6:9–12 CSB

Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them. Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.

Finally we come to this last part which should serve as an encouragement to all those who are in Christ.

The author is expressing confidence in the salvation of his audience here.

What is the reason for his confidence?

God’s faithfulness.

God is not unjust; he will not forget.

There is no way God would neglect or overlook either their work or the love they demonstrated for His name.

God is the author of salvation and will not fail to save His people or allow them to walk away from Himself.

Believer’s faithfulness to God’s people

Saint is a term for true believers who are a part of God’s covenant family

This group demonstrated their faith by the love they showed to God’s people and thereby, demonstrated their love to the Lord Himself.

Now the writer calls them to persevere in the working out of their faith until the end. This perseverance does not cause our salvation, but it is rather a sign of the salvation we have freely received by God’s grace through faith in what Christ has done for us.

We NEVER earn our salvation. But our salvation will demonstrate itself through faithful perseverance and obedience to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves!

Who have been some good examples in your life of a persevering faith?

How can we as a church family serve each other to persevere in our walk of faith?