Hebrews 6:1-12

Part two: Growing in Maturity

Introduction:

Two weeks ago we started though another of the warning passages in Hebrews. I told you then that where we began in chapter 5, verse 11 would actually be continued in the following few verses that we would cover the following week. Well, then camp happened and I decided to take a week and share what I shared at camp with the students. So today we come to Hebrews 6:1-12. This passage is one of the most terrifying and hotly debated passages in all of scripture. It is incredibly tense but also incredibly important.

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Strength and Growth

In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther strengthened the church by exposing its corruption and artificiality. He enunciated its structural sins. In Britain in the eighteenth century, a man named William Law enlarged the place of the church by exposing the piety of its members. And John Wesley and his colleagues lengthened the cords of the church to embrace neglected masses. The twentieth-century American church has endeavored to be all things to all people. It has produced fascinating materials, specialized in dialogues, programs, and projects; but the spiritual life of professing Christians has not always been in proper balance.

To this end, we see those who profess Christ but their lives appear to be far from Him. On another level though, there are those who once professed Christ openly but now have fallen away from a life of godliness. That is what we want to look at today.

Context within Hebrews and the continuation of the previous section

Hebrews 6:1–12 ESV

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. 9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

I. Press on towards maturity (v. 1-3)

1. A call to progress

1. If God permits (6:3)

1. God governs the progress of sanctification (maturity)

2. Hebrews 13:20-21

1. 20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—with the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 equip[a] you with all that is good to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to Him forever and ever.[b] Amen.

3. He either permits our progress or He doesn't

4. God doesn't have to grant repentance to anyone

II. Warning against Apostasy (v. 4-8)

6. 6:4-6 - This passage is terrifying

1. There is funny fear, bad fear, good fear (keeps you from touching a hot stove)

1. The author is helping people discern if they are built on rock or sand.

2. This person has had great blessings and high religious experiences.

1. Conviction of sin is not the same thing as salvation.

2. They have been around the things of God and seen the good working of the Lord and they turn away from it.

3. They are not a saved person.

3. In spite of that, this person falls away and in doing so re-crucifies the Son of God and puts him to an open shame.

1. Jesus died to make us holy. If you choose unholiness, you are in effect saying, you vote for what put Him on the cross. You are saying that the world and the life you want is more valulable than that. (Piper)

4. It is impossible to renew that person to repentance.

1. God will never not forgive a repentant sinner.

1. They won't repent.

2. If you can repent this morning - You are so fortunate!

3. There comes a point after which this person will not be able to repent.

4. Illustration of this: Esau

1. Hebrews 12:16-17

2. God does not reject genuine repentance. Esau could not repent. He was so hardened that he cried out for things to go better in his life but inside he would never submit to God's terms. (He was immoral and godless)

3. Tears mean nothing if they are not tears of repentance.

A Question Arises

So, is the writer of Hebrews saying that you can lose your salvation? He’s not. There are four reasons why he’s not.

He is instead saying that you can experience spiritual things and not be saved. Let me show you the four reasons why I believe this.

Number one is found in verse 6. He does not say, “if they fall away.” He says, “they have fallen away,” which leads me to believe that the person he is discussing is not going to make it, has no shot of making it, because they were never truly converted to begin with.

The second reason I believe this is people who experience

spiritual things but are not saved is found in verse 9. Look at verse 9, “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation.” So, he is separating out the story we just heard of someone who

does fall away from the living God and what really happens to those who are genuinely saved.

Reason number three is the parable of the fields here. He did not say in verses 7-8 that there was this land that got rain, and it produced fruit. And then, it had a bad Tuesday, and all the fruit dried up and thorns and thistles came and took it’s place. That’s not the illustration. The illustration is, “There are two separate pieces of land, both get rained on, one produces fruit, one does

not, ever. It produces thorns and thistles. You might think it’s fruit when it first starts springing up, that first little bit of green chute sticks out of the ground, and you’re going, “Oh what do you think that is? Grapes? Cantaloupes? What do you think?” And then in the end, when it’s full blown, it’s thorns, it’s thistles.

The fourth reason I believe is because the entire book of Hebrews says that once you’re saved, you’re saved.

Let me show you two of those, I could show you more, but let me show you two. Go to Hebrews 3:14, “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” I doesn’t say, “We will become partakers in Christ, if we hold fast.” That’s not what it said. It does not say that you and I will become partakers in Christ if we hold fast; it says “We have become...” now, present. “We have become partakers in Christ. And because we have, we will make it firm until the end.

One more spot, Hebrews 10:14, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time

those who are sanctified.” So, God does not change His mind about you. He does not save you, rescue you and ten weeks later, go, “You know, I never saw this behavior coming. Damnation!” Alright? He who began the good work will finish it.

God cannot fail.

III. Better Things (v. 9-12)

Hebrews 6:9–12 ESV

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

The author is not saying this is true of his readers. He is warning them so as not to see them fall into this grave situation.

Hear me say this: if you are concerned about this for yourself then it probably isn't true of you...

##If you can repent and desire growth and would hold nothing back from the Lord, then you must go on to maturity:

Progress demands diligent surrender

1. It is our duty and delight to press on to maturity

2. When he appeals to the readers "let us go on," in v1, it is literally let us be borne or carried, on...

1. The writer is not talking about self effort but is appealing to the readers to yield themselves to the power of God. This is the same power that upholds the universe. How can we fall when God is holding us up?

2. God's sovereignty in sanctification does not remove our obligation-it enables it.

1. Philippians 2:12-13

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

3. cease resistence and submit to the authority

The author is calling these people to action.

They must be diligent to make sure they have laid down their human effort at the foot of the cross and are completely surrendered to God and resting in his sovereign rule and reign. To surrender means to cease resistence and to submit to the authority of the one you have surrendered to. I like this idea of surrender because the word makes us think of war and when we were in our sin, we were at war with God. We were his enemies. The beauty of the cross is that even though we were his enemies, Jesus died that we would become part of His family. It's incredibly good news!!!

2. Are you surrendered to Him and His plan? Does your life reflect it? Are you submitted to the authority of His Word? Are you dilligently seeking Him in His Word?

<Human beings grow by striving, working, stretching; and in a sense, human nature needs problems more than solutions. Why are not all prayers answered magically and instantly? Why must every convert travel the same tedious path of spiritual discipline? Because persistent prayer, and fasting, and study, and meditation are designed primarily for our sakes, not for God's. Kierkegaard said that Christians reminded him of schoolboys who want to look up the answers to their math problems in the back of the book rather than work them through...We yearn for shortcuts. But shortcuts usually lead away from growth, not toward it. Apply the principle directly to Job: what was the final result of the testing he went through? As Rabbi Abraham Heschel observed, "Faith like Job's cannot be shaken because it is the result of having been shaken." >

Philip Yancey, Disappointment With God, Zondervan, pp. 207-8.

Progress results in fruit - things connected with salvation (v.9)

1. If you are saved better things than this warning are set aside for you.

2. Be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.

1. Follow them as they follow Christ.

If our lives bear no fruit, we must examine if the seed was ever planted.

We should be progressing in maturity, as God permits.

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