Hebrews 6:1-8
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Joshua Harris
Joshua Harris
I want to tell you a story, a true story, and a sad one.
A little boy was born to a family of 7 children.
His mother and dad were influential in the 70’s and 80’s in the homeschool movement. They fought for and advocated heavily for parents to homeschool their children.
Naturally, this little boy and his brothers and sisters were all homeschooled.
Raised up in a Conservative Christian Home.
In 1997, this boy was now a man and he wrote a book where he critiqued and spoke against the American teenage dating culture.
He gained wide popularity. He wrote more books Hold them up. And he became a pastor of 3000 member church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
He resigned in 2015. After he resigned, he announced that he and his wife had separated. Later he publicly wrote this on his social media page:
"The information that was left out of our announcement is that I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is deconstruction, the biblical phrase is falling away. By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.
How does that happen?
He has had every opportunity. And using his own words, he has fallen away.
My prayer is that he would repent. That’s my hope.
But if he doesn’t, what happened?
Was this a genuine believer who lost his salvation?
Or is this someone who never had it at all?
Last week, we left off with the author of Hebrews having given us a warning about spiritual laziness.
The audience of the letter has become lazy and sluggish and, as a result, he can’t teach them what they need to know to grow as followers of Christ.
So now we come to Hebrews chapter 6, which is arguably the most controversial chapter in the whole book when it comes to differing interpretations.
People have interpreted this passage in many ways and I’m convinced many wrong ways.
To put it simply, some believe that this passage proves that a genuine believer can effectively lose salvation.
Just to be clear. I do not believe this passage is doing that at all.
Now, as Baptists, we have and hold strong beliefs concerning this.
The confession or the order of beliefs that we hold to as a church is known to be the Baptist Faith and Message. I want you to hear what that confession says regarding this particular topic:
“All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”
That is the official stance of our church on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, eternal security, and more informally known as “Once Saved, Always Saved.”
But we don’t believe those things for no reason.
As Christians, as Baptist, we hold the Bible to be the supreme authority and guide to our doctrine.
Which means, a confession is only good if it can be grounded in Scripture.
Our belief is only good if it can be grounded in Scripture.
So where in Scripture do we find clear evidence that God will not fail in saving His people?
I am glad you asked.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Eternal life by definition, does not end.
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Jesus says here, the Father has given him a people. And Those people will come to him. And when those people come to him, he will not cast them out.
He also says he will lose nothing that the Father has given Him. In other words, Jesus will not fail to do what the Father has sent him to accomplish. He will save His people, and He will raise him up on the last day.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, 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.
Jesus WILL save his sheep.
And then you have Paul.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Honestly, I could go on and on and on. There are so many passages in Scripture that teaches this.
The Bible is clear.
The New Testament is clear.
If you are one of His sheep, a genuine believer who has trusted and put your faith in Christ, you will be saved.
No ifs, ands, or buts, If the Father has set his affections on you and sent Jesus to save you, you will be saved.
Thats why as Baptists, as Christians, as people who believe the Bible, we believe this doctrine.
So then we come to Hebrews 6 and many Christians and interpreters have ,now, all of sudden rejected what is clear in the New Testament regarding genuine believers, and my belief is that they have wrongly understood Hebrews 6.
I was taught at a young age, even before I was a Christian, that this book doesn’t contradict itself.
It is a product of a perfect God and God’s inspiration, and therefore, it also is perfect, inerrant, infallible and without contradictions.
So if I ever come to a passage of Scripture that seems to be contradictory, the problem is not with Scripture, the problem is my understanding or my interpretation of it.
In the cases of difficult passages then, as a matter of Bible study, we must let Scripture interpret Scripture.
So the goal this morning is to preach Hebrews 6 in light of what we know to be true in the rest of Scripture. In other words, we know what he isn’t saying. So what is he saying.
So in light of that LONG introduction, look what he says here beginning in verses 1-3
Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits.
Leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity.
Now verse 1, establishes the meaning for the rest of the text.
He is urging the genuine believers toward spiritual maturity. The language is important. He says “us.”
And he is urging those who are genuine believers to press on.
They had the privilege of being around the elementary teaching, but there were some that were stagnant. Not growing, not progressing. Not becoming more obedient.
So theres a warning here and encouragement to press beyond what they have already been taught and begin to mature.
He mentions the things they’ve been taught.
They’ve already been taught:
Repentance from dead works.
Instructions about ritual cleansing and laying on of hands.
Resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
They know all of this, but its as if there are some are unwilling to go beyond that.
Instead, they are satisfied.
And I spoke on this last week, but let me stop here to apply this:
If you are not growing spiritually, and you are content with that, it may be time to check out whats going on inside.
Living things grow. They age. They mature.
Spiritually living things are no different.
They grow. They age. They mature.
And we see it is God who provides the growth. This will not happen outside of him.
This is what he means in verse 3
And this we will do, if God permits.
And this “We” will do.
Notice the language there again. “We”
He is speaking to the genuine believers in verse 3.
But now, I want you to see in verse 4, he turns his attention to a separate group within the congregation to whom he is writing.
There is a group within the audience that will not grow.
They have no desire to produce fruit, and the reason for that is there is no genuine root of faith and belief in them.
In other words, put very simply, he is speaking to those who by their own actions have rejected God even though they have had enormous privileges.
They have had unspeakable opportunity, yet they reject.
Look what he says beginning in verse 4 and verse 5.
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
For in the case of “those” See that language. He is making a distinction.
Between us (genuine believers and them- not genuine believers)
And then he goes on to discuss the opportunities these people had
They had experienced every opportunity that comes from being apart of a church.
“They’ve tasted of the heavenly gift ”
In other words, they’ve experienced God tangibly and with their eyes, they have seen God work in their midst. They’ve been apart of the Lord’s Supper. They’ve seen baptisms.
But the words he uses again are super important. They’ve tasted of it.
Chinese Buffet at the mall
They’ve tasted it, but they haven’t consumed it.
“They have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit.”
What this mean is that they have had the benefit of watching the Holy Spirit’s work. They’ve seen the presence of God manifest itself in the lives of those around them and in the life of the church. They’ve seen it. They’ve experienced it.
It doesn’t refer to them having recieved the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
The language that he uses here is not in reference to a personal reception of the holy Spirit, but rather the experience of the Holy Spirit’s work.
“They have tasted of the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come.”
They have listened to the word read, the word preached, the word sung, the word prayed.
They have seen its power to transform through the Spirit
to change lives, to convict of sin, and to raise the spiritually dead to life.
They’ve watched others be transformed and obey the Word of God.
They experienced all of that.
But they make a tragic mistake.
Look at the beginning of verse 6.
And then have fallen away.
This word literally means to forsake, to fall beside, to turn their backs on, to turn away.
In other words, they have seen all of this, and they reject its power and they have rejected the God who has blessed them to see it and experience it.
And when we see these verses, We should see that in redemptive history, these verses are inevitably illustrated by the generation of Israel who were brought out by God from Egypt’s slavery.
Think about that generation.
The literally saw all God’s works.
They were enlightened- Literally a pillar of fire by night was above them at night, a pillar of cloud by day to lead them.
They literally tasted of God’s heavenly gift of manna. Every day, they tasted of God’s gift to them.
They literally saw the Spirit of God as it rested above the tabernacle as they would move.
And then they make the same tragic mistake he is warning about in Hebrews 6.
They turned away. They got all the way up to the promised land of Canaan and they turned away. All but two of them.
They turn away. The author of Hebrews has already told us why they were unable to enter.
And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Here in Hebrews 6, these people they’ve done the same thing.
And should they remain in unbelief, they will be judged as well.
Because ultimately they have rejected Christ.
and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
They know the Gospel. They know that Jesus died was buried and now lives and they reject him. They crucify him again. They kill him in their minds and hearts and go on living how they want.
If they reject him continually after having recieved all thee blessing, there is no hope for repentance.
They have proved what they are.
Unbelievers.
He ends this warning with a familiar parable or illustration:
For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
We’ve heard this kind of illustration before. From Jesus.
If you were here this past Wednesday Night you heard this illustration.
“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
The actions or fruits or lack of actions prove what you are.
If someone perpetually rejects Christ, then they are not of God, and the sin of continual rejection of Christ having heard the Gospel and rejected, there is no repentance.
It is the sin of unbelief in Christ. And unbelief in Christ leaves one forever obligated to pay for their sins in Hell under the just penalty of God.
Do you see why he repeated over and over again in chapter 3.
If you hear His voice, today, do not harden your hearts!
He is begging them to not to get to this point of no return.
They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
And in this passage we see again, that proximity to the things of God doesn’t mean we are children of God.
Being baptized, hearing the Gospel, growing up in church, growing up in a Christian family, having a believing bloodline, does not equal salvation.
The author of Hebrews is warning of this very thing. Someone can experience all the blessing of being close to Jesus and His church, and still remain in unbelief.
We can all identify people who grew up in church, maybe even made professions of faith, but who have turned away.
The author of Hebrews is making this clear. Those who do that are not genuine believers who lost their salvation. They were never truly believers. Never truly born again. Never truly saved.
And you say: well how do we know?
We know this because he makes a distinction from the group he is referring to in verse 8 (unbelievers) and the true believers.
Look what he says in verse 9 and this is key to understanding this passage correctly.
But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.
But Beloved- This is a term used only for believers in the New Testament.
We are convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.
The genuine believer will persevere.
The author of Hebrews is convince of better concerning them.
We can be sure that those in Christ, those who genuinely have placed their faith in Christ, will endure to the end.
We can also be sure that those who reject God, even though they are closely associated with the church or with his blessings, they will be judged.
Application:
This is a hard passage of Scripture, but we can understand it.
If you are a believer today, be diligent in the faith. Those who are truly his will endure. They will bear fruit.
If you are an unbeliever today, do not continue any longer in your rejection of Christ. If you die in that rejection, you will be judged.
Call upon Christ. Repent of your sin. Trust in Him today.