How To Grab Hold of the Promise

Our passage this morning is both lengthy and difficult. Now of course I could have chosen less verses to preach but I think that would actually cause us to miss what the author is doing in this text. In fact, I have to humbly say that I think when we come to this passage we so often get tripped up on the difficulty of that we miss the forest for the trees. There are some difficult questions that await us in this passage. And it’s one that has caused a decent amount of debate. If you ever hear a discussion on the topic of whether or not one can lose their salvation then this verse is going to inevitably be brought up. And I, personally, don’t think that’s correct to do that. Here is why.

Imagine with me that you could time travel a bit and you went back to September 12, 1962 and were able to ask then President John F. Kennedy who had just given his put a man on the moon speech. Kennedy is wanting to launch the Apollo program. And so you’ve got a great question about Google Earth and so you ask President Kennedy how he thinks this Apollo program might impact questions about security and freedom and such that relates to Google Earth taking pictures of our backyards. Now what you’ve done here is what is called an anachronism. It’s when you take a question from a later point in history and impose it on a historical discussion at a prior date. President Kennedy didn’t know anything about Google Earth and so it’s not proper for us to ask him questions about Google Earth. It’s not even on his radar.

In the same way the “lose your salvation” debate isn’t even on the mind of the author of Hebrews. He is viewing things from a much different perspective than that debate. His purpose is much different. Now I think you maybe can learn a little about that debate from this letter and you can take it as a whole in our discussions of that. But the author of Hebrews is doing something entirely different here. He is warning. It’s not retrospective. You cannot take someone who has “fallen away” and then apply them to what the author of Hebrews is saying. That’s not what he’s doing here, it’s not his intention.

And so it’s really hard for us, I realize, with having all of the Scriptures and thousands of years of debate about this topic not to ask questions of the author of know that when I come to this passage I really want to say, “well, are these guys saved or not…have they at some decisive moment asked Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior and has God changed their heart?” And I’m not saying that this isn’t an absolutely valid question to ask today when we consider the whole of Scripture. But what I’m saying is that we misread Hebrews if we take that mindset into this text. This isn’t how the author is thinking or what he is aiming to do. And we know that by tracing his entire argument through this letter and looking at the way he uses words and how he puts together his argument.

So we have to somehow allow ourselves to table those questions for the moment and just let this brother speak and hear him for what he’s saying and then apply it. Because this is the Spirit of God speaking to us and helping us to see something absolutely vital about what it means to walk with Christ, about what it means to have access to God, about what it means to be part of the new covenant, about what it means to have Jesus Christ as your sure and steady anchor.

Picture with me if you can a group of people who have received all these great benefits from God. Much like the Israelites in the Old Testament. And here you have these people standing before the Promised Land. And the question is put for them as to whether they are going to believe and trust in God and enter in or are they going to have unbelief in their heart and not enter into the Promised Land. That’s really the question at hand. There is a way to grab hold of these promises of God and there is a way to end up dead out in the wilderness. That’s what he is saying. And we neuter the impact of those words if we put that “lose your salvation” debate into it. We just have to let the passage say what it’s saying. There’s a way to grab hold of the promise and there is a way to end up dead in the wilderness. We can take our debate about how to label those who professed faith but dropped dead outside the Promised Land elsewhere. This is meant to say don’t be one of those dead bodies outside the wilderness.

For the author of Hebrews salvation is a future thing. Don’t hear me wrong it’s not like he is saying that his audience isn’t saved. It’s just that he’s not thinking in those terms. That’s hard for us, I realize. But for him the image is more like the Israelites in standing before the Promised Land and needing to decide if they are going to trust God and enter the land or disbelieve and end up missing out on the Promised Land. That’s the picture. And I know that it still puts us at that spot where we’re thinking in terms of “well, are these guys saved or not…have they at some decisive moment asked Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior and has God-changed their heart?”

And so it’s a warning and an admonition to say you don’t want to be like those guys. You don’t want to be an outsider when it comes to access to God. You don’t want to miss out on what God is doing.

But I say that and I realize that you might still be thinking in terms of “well are these guys saved or not…have they at some decisive moment asked Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior and has God-changed their heart?”

Or sometimes we will read a book

I think we are doing much the same thing to the author of Hebrews when he says

So how do you grab hold of that promise?

READ TEXT

Here is how I think this passage progresses. The author begins by doing a bit of meddling. There are five warnings in Hebrews and this one is different from the others. And I think that’s intentional. This is the central warning and I think that makes it significant. I think this might be the crux of the issue here in this whole letter. So he begins with this warning—shows them what happens if the warning isn’t heeded—but then gives them encouragement and hope and shows them how to grab hold of the promise.

So what’s the problem here? It’s what the author calls dull hearing.

1. Dull of hearing

Or perhaps we could begin by saying it negatively as the author of Hebrews does here…how do you end up not in the Promised Land?

Dull of hearing

The author has much that he wants to say but cannot because it’s hard to explain—and it’s hard to explain because they have become dull of hearing. What does that mean? Well in secular literature of the day that phrase would be used of a slave whose ears were “stopped up” by laziness and so he wouldn’t be obedient to the call of his master. It’s the picture of a football player who shows up about 30 pounds overweight and so doesn’t move nearly as quickly as he needs to. He ought to be running through the line and scoring touchdowns but instead he’s getting tackled at the line of scrimmage.

The author then talks about having a diet of milk or of solid food. It’s important for us to understand what this is. Milk is for those unskilled in the word of righteousness. What does that mean? It could be talking about being prepared for suffering but I think it’s very much connected to living out the Christian life. And I say that because of what’s in verse 14. The mature—thoe who are on solid food have “their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil”. This means that such a one isn’t just knowing truth but is actually using it. They are living it out.

I want to illustrate this. And 6:1-3 helps us do that. I think some might read these verses as if milk is the gospel and solid food is the really deep and interesting stuff like end times stuff and predestination and those really lengthy theology words. But that’s not what he is saying.

You see the gospel is really a then-now-then message. What I mean is that it speaks of what Christ did and has done on our behalf, that’s the first then. And it speaks of what happens in the future—heaven and the new heavens and the new earth and hell and judgment and such. That’s the second then. But it also speaks to now. Let’s see . Do you notice something missing? There’s repentance from dead works and of faith towards God and instructions about washings (which is really the word baptisms) and laying on of hands (likely a reference to the giving of the Holy Spirit). So what are these? These are introductory things. This is the first then. And then there is resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. That’s the second then. So you’ve got the cross…and the crown…but there’s something missing isn’t there? The middle. The now.

And this is the key thing here. This is where they are dull of hearing. Have you ever known…or maybe been…the person who seems to have all the right theology—you know what it means to be saved, you are trusting that Jesus saves you from hell and has a place prepared for you in heaven, you have right beliefs about who God is, who man is, all that stuff but yet your marriage is falling apart, or your finances are out of control, or you can’t seem to keep anger in check, or you wonder why in the world you still can’t get victory over that addiction, or maybe all the outward stuff is in check and things look really good and you’ve put on a pretty good game for others but inwardly you are kind of wasting away. Your affections are dull. You don’t pray. You don’t read your Bible. What’s going on here?

Why is there such a disconnect between what we believe and how we live in our life? It’s because we have a massive gap in our gospel. God in Christ has given us everything we need for life and godliness but for some reason we are fruitless and ineffective. What’s going on here?

It’s that you’ve got this gap in your gospel. You’ve got the THEN and the THEN but you don’t have the NOW. The gospel doesn’t speak to your Monday. But you ever clean out a closet or that junk drawer. How often does it stay empty? It doesn’t. We always fill in those gaps with something. And that’s exactly what happens. And I’m indebted to Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane in their great book How People Change for this thought. That gap in our gospel fills up with something. Always.

Busyness—> Calendar Doing stuff for God instead of enjoying him.

Legalism —> Checklist Neatly organizing a Christ vacant heart

Religious Experiences —>

Activism…politics and picket lines —> Donkey and Elephant

Biblicism…theology —> Theology Books

Self-help…Christ my therapist --->

Socialism…friends, relationships —>

And all the while you are engaging in religious activities. Hearing messages about the gospel, etc. but it’s not impacting. Why? Why does the author of Hebrews have more to say but he can’t? Why are they still on milk when they ought to be on solid food? Why is it that they should be teachers—impacting others with precious gospel truths—but they are continuing to have to be spoon fed? Because they aren’t actually drinking the milk the right way. It’s not being applied. It’s not that they don’t need the gospel anymore and they need to graduate. No it’s that they aren’t rightly applying the gospel to their lives.

See here in your text that is what the mature do. The gospel—this word of righteousness hits their heart and they put it into practice. They apply it to their lives. They do something with it. But that’s not the case with those who are dull of hearing. That word isn’t meant with faith that produces obedience it’s met with dullness, slowness, hardness.

The warning

Now we come to verses 4-8. So many questions and debates surrounding this passage. Is this talking about a Christian, an almost Christian, a hypothetical person? Again, I think we are putting questions to the author that he isn’t intending on answering. His point—and I pray for grace to say this clearly—his point is that if the truths of the gospel cause you to want to go back to Egypt then there isn’t anything left for you. The gospel alone saves. The new covenant alone creates the type of obedience that is pleasing to God. So if the good news of the gospel is being met with falling away then while this is the case of your heart there isn’t hope for you. Because there isn’t another path. There isn’t something else that sparks repentance.

All of those things in verse 4-5 are experiences of believers in Jesus. But it’s also a picture of some of the blessings given to the Israelites. So again I don’t think it’s for us to say, “Is this a person who is saved? Is this a person who isn’t saved yet? That’s not the topic at hand. What he’s talking about is what happens in our hearts with the good news of Jesus—with the new covenant—with this elementary doctrine of Christ. Does it produce maturity? Or dullness? He’s talking about having received these benefits and blessings of God—this word of righteousness from the Lord—or even using language from chapter 1 this the message spoken to us by the Son.

And I think verses 7-8 tell us that we are on the right path here. You’ve got rain falling on land—that’s the benefits of God, this word of God. And for one piece of land it drinks it in and as such it produces crop that is useful—it receives a blessing from God. But this other land receives that same rain and what comes up is thorns and thistles. It’s worthless—not able to be used for anything. It’s near being cursed. The farmer is going to have to burn the field off because something is radically wrong with the soil. So do you see how this connects?

If you don’t drink the rain then the message doesn’t do any good for you. And there’s only one message. If that message produces thorns and thistles then there isn’t another option. There isn’t something else that is going to produce repentance. It’s only the milk of the word. It’s only as we see in verse 3 “if God permits”. God has to change that soil. He has to change that heart. And the means that he uses is His Word.

But the call here I believe is very similar to what Jesus says in the parable of the soils. Be careful how you listen. Be careful how you hear. And I don’t think this is only talking about how you listen to a sermon on Sunday morning. Its saying essentially heed the message of the kingdom. Stop, respond to His beauty. Anytime you hear Him. Anytime you meet the Lord in Scripture, with other believers, in creation, stop and heed the message of the kingdom! Listen!

And I believe Jesus’ message there was that there may be things that need to go in our lives. Perhaps we need to get thorns out of our life so we can listen. The author of Hebrews will say something similar in chapter 12. Perhaps we need to grab ahold of Jesus and go deeper and actually have roots. Maybe our hearts need to break so that we can receive the word. Maybe idols need to be forsaken. But fundamentally this is a call to heed the message of the kingdom!

If you don’t…there isn’t another message. There isn’t something else you can try. All those things in your box that try to fill in the gap…they won’t do it. They are a sham. They might be good in and of themselves…maybe if put in proper balance and in submission to the Lord they might be good. But they are terrible god-substitutes. And so if they are filling in the gap they need to go. But this is a very strong warning. If you don’t heed this message and it’s not producing fruit and the gospel doesn’t impact your Monday it doesn’t shape your life the new covenant isn’t lived out and your gospel is only a then-then gospel and it isn’t a now gospel then you are in a very dangerous spot. And you’ll eventually fall completely away.

Notice verse 12…so that you may not be sluggish. In other words they aren’t yet to be defined as the sluggish. They are sluggish of hearing…they are dull of hearing. But that isn’t yet their hearts total disposition. But it’s headed there and so the author gives this warning. And you know what happens in the heart and life of believers when they hear a warning and a message like this. Life. It wakes up! It presses into Christ more firmly. That’s the means that God uses to hold us. But if dullness and sluggish hearing happens…that’s just going to keep you down that path until you end up dead in the wilderness outside the Promised Land.

But the author of Hebrews is aiming to give hope here. These last verses are actually quite hopeful. Let me sum these verses up and then show how to apply all of this.

How you grab hold of the promise

verses 9-12 is him saying that he has hope that the Hebrews will respond to the gospel not with dullness…not with just keeping that then-then gospel but embracing the nowness of it. And he points to some of that fruit that God has brought already. And so he encourages them to have full assurance of hope—to keep hoping. And somehow this HOPE actually is the means that God will use to help them not be sluggish—hope is how they end up being imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

So this is how you grab hold of the promise.

verses 13-20 is going to propel us into the next section but what the author is doing is grounding our attainment of these promises in the very character of God himself. He swore by himself because there was no higher thing to swear upon. When he told Abraham I’m giving you this promise that’s what he did. Now listen to verse 18, the author puts himself and the audience—us as believers—into this promise. All those who have fled for refuge have this sure and steady promise of God. And then I absolutely love verse 19. Christ a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. A hope that enter into the inner place behind the curtain.

You see our redemption is found in a person. We grab hold of the promise—we make it by being in Christ—by holding onto the one who is holding onto us! By having our identity and everything wrapped up in who Christ is. He is the anchor. You see friends that’s what goes into the gap. The person and work of Jesus Christ. That impacts the now. Let me show you this.

So let’s take someone with suicidal thoughts, overcome by anxiety, being swallowed up by bear, and almost caving in to the darkness of depression. What does the gospel say to such a one? How does Christ impact this? BUT YOU SEE HOW THE GAP CRIES OUT TO BE FILLED…I’VE GOT TO FILL IN THIS PAIN…AND WE’RE TEMPTED TO PICK UP ANY OF THESE SUBSTITUTES. But here is Christ. How does he speak. How does this anchor speak in that moment?

Well you ask that question. What does God say about this situation? How does Christ inform this? And you start thinking about the character of God and who Jesus is.

You grab hold of a precious verse like , “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. And you realize that all this striving that you’ve been doing to hold on and make a name for yourself and build a kingdom and all this stuff is an empty promise. That the Father delights to give you the kingdom. And so you rest in His provision.

Or you take the fact that Christ himself was overwhelmed with agony. And you press into His emotions and you don’t focus quite so much on how you feel but you start to think more about how you are to respond in the midst of your feelings.

Or you consider that Christ is your refuge. The greatest danger you ever faced was being one upon whom the wrath of God was upon. But Jesus took that he swallowed all of that. And he’s your refuge. He’s your protector. He’s your redeemer. Why are you having suicidal thoughts in that moment? Because you are imagining a place where the goodness of God isn’t there for you and it’s more you can bear. And so you stop and realize that he’s your anchor, he’s your refuge, that he’s there with you no matter what darkness it is you are facing and no matter what is causing you to want to escape.

Or you think about how God is the rock.

As it’s been said before, “When everything else is uncertain, God is sure. When everyone else lets you down. God is faithful. When everything around you is in flux, God will not change. He is the Rock.”

I like these words that come from a book that was absolutely life-giving to me in a dark night of the soul:

Whatever storm you face, the Lord Jesus remains your immovable and inexhaustible Rock. He will supply you with his Spirit when you feel that you can’t go on any more. So you don’t need to escape. A girl who discovers she’s pregnant and doesn’t feel ready to be a mom can know that an abortion isn’t the only way out. A woman grieving a miscarriage can look to Jesus for solace and not to a bottle. A dad who can’t see his kids can pray to Jesus for the Holy Spirit’s help not to give in to despair and bitterness. A man who is coughing up blood can find the strength to see the doctor when he fears the worst…The truth that overcomes this fear is that even though you might not be able to cope, Jesus will be able to. However strong the storms, your Rock is stronger. However high the waves, your Rock lifts you higher. Your Rock is immovable, incomparable, invincible, and inexhaustible. Your Rock will stand firm—so you have a firm place to stand. Stand on the Rock now, before the storm strikes, and the Rock will keep you standing firm when it does.

Our hope is found in a person. Grab that anchor, friends. Not just for then and then but for NOW. If it’s not radically transforming your NOW then the author of Hebrews would cause us to question our participation in the Then’s. Grab that anchor!