Sermon Tone Analysis

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Maybe this is just me, but all of the warnings and so many of them being utterly ridiculous leaves me not really taking warnings all that serious.

I mean it’s obvious not to stick your hand in a chainsaw…but sometimes there are warning signs that say things like, “danger ahead”…and I don’t know if I’m a thrill seeker or I’ve just become numb to all the signs and warnings but it makes me kind of want to jump in.

So I’m not sure what your response to warnings are but we’ve got one here in (and we will see more of these) that are absolutely dead serious.

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I think this passage is a big massive warning sign.

But if we don’t understand the function of warning passages in think we’ll miss it.

So even though there is much more that could be said on this topic, I think it’d be helpful to ask, “What are the purposes of the warnings in Hebrews?”

Or let me ask that another way…when the author of Hebrews says, “if we hold fast our confidence” what does he mean there?

Here are a few options.

He means that if you don’t persevere

He means that there are real people who he would call “brothers” who legitimately belonged to Christ but they have fallen away and lost their salvation.

The language here really seems to fit that.

But we’ve got a bit of a theological issue with that interpretation.

Because in Jesus said, “what is the will of the Father but to lose NONE of those whom the Father has given him.”

If this man was one who “belonged to Christ” and he somehow was lost—lost his salvation—then Jesus would have failed in his calling.

That’s not just bad news for the guy who walked away.

It’s bad news for all of us.

No, I believe the Scriptures are clear that none can snatch us out of the Lord’s hand.

Nobody can pluck us from his hand…not even our own idiocy.

But what then do we do with this text?

One possibility when you are confronted with passages like this one is to say, “If he does not continue then he will be stripped of his rewards but will not forfeit entrance into the Kingdom because that, as we have seen from places like is not possible.

You don’t lose salvation..you get to go to heaven…but you are stripped of rewards.”

But that doesn’t do justice to this text.

Entering the Promised Land…entering into rest…isn’t talking about rewards it’s talking about eternity.

Rest, rule, relationship.

Redeemed and renewed Eden.

And so it’s not doing any justice to this text to say, “you really don’t HAVE to persevere to the end to share in Christ, just to get rewards.”

But what IS it saying.

A really good option is to say, “this is telling us that if someone does fall away it is evidence that they were never truly saved in the first place.”

It’s an evidence thing.

Sort of like what we read in .

Now I’ll say theologically I have zero problem with this view.

I believe that if someone does fall away it IS evidence that they were never truly born again.

But is that how these warning passages in Hebrews are functioning?

Are they saying, “Don’t fall away because if you do it’ll show that you weren’t saved.

Therefore, if you keep going it’ll be evidence that you were truly born again”?

Does that fit what’s happening here in this text?

Is that the language used in 3:14?

It really isn’t, is it?

This is saying if you do this thing…then this thing will happen.

It’s not saying…if you do this thing then it will show that this thing HAS happened.

Again, I agree with that theologically but I think there is something different happening with these warning passages.

These warnings are the actual means that God uses to keep believers to the end.

They are serious.

Dead serious.

If you do not persevere to the end you will not be saved.

Yes, not because you’ve lost your salvation but because you never had it in the first place.

But it’s doing more than that.

isn’t retrospective.

What I mean is that its not meant to be read like something we look back upon after we have already endured or fallen away.

If you endure then you look back at Hebrews and say, “see my faith was genuine” or you look back after falling away and say, “well I guess my faith must have been a lie”.

No this passage is prospective.

He’s not saying this looking backwards, this is look forward.

It doesn’t say, “if you persevere that reveals you are really part of the people of God.” That’s true.

You can find something like that in other places in Scripture.

But this text isn’t saying.

It merely says, “we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

Now as I said, theologically I don’t have any disagreement with that view of the text.

But why I’m saying what I”m saying is that if we switch the text to say that then we are failing to communicate the proper function of the warning.

Because the author of Hebrews isn’t calling them to look back to see if they are genuinely Christ.

He calls them to remain faithful to Christ in the future, in the present, and he warns that if they do not do it then they won’t enter into God’s rest.

I believe he means exactly what he says here.

If you fall away from Christ into unbelief then you will not enter into God’s rest.

So what do believers do with these warning passages?

How are we to receive them.

In our journey in the Christian life we receive them just for what they say.

When we read the warnings in Hebrews, 1 John, , etc., we take seriously the threat that if we do not endure, we will be eternally damned.

The warnings remind us that falling away from the living God has eternal consequences.

They shout out to us “Danger!”

They are akin to a sign on the road which says, “Go no further.

Bridge out ahead.”

Any driver who wants to preserve his life takes heed to the warning and turns around.

Similarly, the warnings and admonitions in scripture call out to us, “Danger!

Do not fall away from the living God.

If you deny him, he will deny you.”

It is precisely by taking the warnings seriously that we avoid eternal destruction.

The label “Poison!” on a bottle seizes our attention and awakens us to the peril which awaits us if we swallow its contents.

Thereby we take special care when handling such a container and do not put it in the same cupboard with soft drinks.

I agree with Tom Schreiner on this:

The error that you make is assuming that should be understood retrospectively.

What I mean by that is that you are assuming that Colossians is something we look back upon after we have already endured or fallen away.

If you endure then you look back at Colossians and say, “see my faith was genuine”, or you look back after falling away and say, “well I guess it must have been gas”.

The truth of the matter though, is that is prospective.

Paul is not saying this looking backwards, he is looking forward.

It does not say, “Your perseverance reveals that you are really part of the people of God.”

It merely says, “If you remain in the faith, you will be presented before God’s presence blameless.”

By switching the text, you fail to communicate the function of the warning, for Paul does not summon us to look back and see if we are genuinely Christians.

He calls us to remain faithful to Christ in the future and threatens us with eternal destruction if we do not remain in the faith.

Contrary to the tests of genuineness view, I believe Paul means exactly what he says: “If we fall away from Christ, we will face eternal destruction.”

That message should be preached from our pulpits, taught in our seminaries and colleges, and reflected upon in private devotions.

The truth of the matter though, is that is prospective.

Paul is not saying this looking backwards, he is looking forward.

It does not say, “Your perseverance reveals that you are really part of the people of God.”

It merely says, “If you remain in the faith, you will be presented before God’s presence blameless.”

By switching the text, you fail to communicate the function of the warning, for Paul does not summon us to look back and see if we are genuinely Christians.

He calls us to remain faithful to Christ in the future and threatens us with eternal destruction if we do not remain in the faith.

Contrary to the tests of genuineness view, I believe Paul means exactly what he says: “If we fall away from Christ, we will face eternal destruction.”

That message should be preached from our pulpits, taught in our seminaries and colleges, and reflected upon in private devotions.

The warnings in the scriptures are also intended to arouse us from lethargy and propel us onward in the pathway of faith.