The Gospel produces Assurance

After the very stern warning in verses 4 to 8, the writer transitions to a more encouraging tone. His language moves from the impersonal “those” and “them” to the more personal “we” and “your” in verses 9-12. He was led by the Spirit to stress the seriousness of their spiritual health with the warning, but afterward he reassures them that his personal expectation for them is much more positive. His belief is that they will in fact hold fast to their faith and grow and mature as believers.

In these four (4) verses he encourages them by

stating his belief that they have the better things that belong to salvation

reminding them they serve a just God

and by holding out the full assurance of hope

Let us look closer at the writer’s means of encouragement, especially of these better things that accompany salvation. In light of the previous message dealing with the warning about apostasy, I feel led to spend some time on the issue of salvation itself.

I stressed the Eternal Security issue in the previous message, but just to be clear: a person who has been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit has been transferred from being in Adam to being IN Christ, and that person will never lose his or her salvation.

Therefore, those who commit apostasy - those who turn away from Christian belief by rejecting and renouncing the things of Christ - those people were NEVER truly saved to begin with. They can be members of a church, they probably have been baptized, they have prayed a prayer and had some type of religious experience, BUT they were NOT regenerated by the Holy Spirit and they were never transferred from being in Adam to being in Christ!

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

Matthew 13:20–22 “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

These are the only two biblical options

Genuine believers can never lose their salvation

Those who turn away from the faith were never genuine believers.

It is therefore, vital for us to understand what is involved in salvation itself. We must have a biblical understanding of the Gospel!

The word gospel simply means Good News. And, the gospel message IS good news. But, a biblical understanding of the gospel actually begins with bad news.

The Bad News is that each member of the human race is under the curse of sin (Romans 3:23). [Give the CEF definition of sin] Sin is anything we think, say, or do that breaks God’s law and makes Him sad.

Being a sinner is the default position. Humans are born with a sin nature as descendants of Adam (Romans 5:12; 17-19). Humans are NOT basically good until they do bad things. Humans are born with a sin nature and we sin because it is our nature to do so.

Ephesians 2:3 “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

The consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23a)

Illustrate: Use the life preserver illustration. Only those who know they are drowning will grab on and cling to it. Only those who are convicted by the Holy Spirit of their lostness will look to Christ as Saviour and Lord

The Good News is that God is in the Redemption business. He is a God of love (1 John 4:8) and He demonstrated His love by sending Jesus on a rescue mission that was accomplished through the death of Jesus (Romans 5:8).

The substitionary death of Christ as a payment for sin was necessary because, while God is a God of Love, He is also a Holy and Just God. Jesus is the ONLY Savior because He made the ONLY payment that satisfies the settled wrath of God on sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Argument: It is vitally important that we get this right. When talking about Jesus, make sure you are talking about the biblical Jesus. Tucker Carlson’s tweet from 2 weeks ago: the people in power don’t want you to know this, but Muslims love Jesus.” It is true that Jesus is in the Koran and it is true that Muslims consider Jesus a prophet. It is also true, however, that Muslim’s believe that God has no son, that Jesus did not die on the Cross, that Muhammed is a greater prophet than Jesus, and, most importantly, the consider Jesus’ equality with God to be vile blasphemy! They aren’t the same Jesus.

It is when a lost person is convicted of his or her condition as a rebel sinner and by faith accepts Jesus’ payment, he or she is saved.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Romans 10:9–10 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Conclusion:

If you have never responded to the biblical Gospel, the Lord Jesus stands ready to receive your surrender. “Repent and Believe” is the biblical response. If the Holy Spirit is convicting you, surrender today!

It is AFTER salvation when believers begin their work for Jesus. This is what the writer of Hebrews brings out in verse 10 of our text. He is talking to them as fellow believers and he is reminding them that God will not forget about their work and their love and their service to other believers. And he states that all of their effort is being done for His Name!

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

When those of us who are IN Christ are walking in fellowship with one another and are working to advance the Kingdom for God to be glorified, it is then we experience the smile of God and are confirmed in the full assurance of hope.

Rise to the challenge found in verse 12. Be imitators of the faithful so you will not remain sluggish in your Christian walk. Pursue God and grow in your faith to maturity and experience the full assurance of hope that can be yours.