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Hebrews chapter 6, verses 1 through
8. We'll figure it out in a minute.
Turn there with me, if you would, in your Bibles. Hear the word of the Lord. 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. and of instruction about washings,
the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits,
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, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers
of the age to come, 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.
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. But if it bears thorns and thistles,
it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be
burned. All right, so I will tell you
in advance that this is one of the hardest texts in all the
New Testament. Purposely chose every hymn this
morning to correspond with salvation by grace In case you don't get
the message clearly this morning, but if it's not as clear this
morning Hold on till next week because next week he's going
to give you the solution completely I'm going to hint at it today
and try to lead you to Christ today but at the same time I
do think the author of Hebrews wants you to feel the weight
of of his Challenge today as well. So with that being said
let's let's pray together Our Father, we ask for your blessing
as we read your word. We pray, Lord, that we would
pay careful attention to what we're hearing. We pray, Lord,
that as we examine the text and as we examine our own hearts,
Lord, that we would see not only our sin and our doubt, but we
also would see the Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that
you would continue to help us to hope in him. We pray in Christ's
name, amen. Whatever happened to Susan Pevensey?
For those of you who are familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia
by C.S. Lewis, she was one of the four children who walked
through the magical wardrobe, if you remember, and the lion,
the witch, and the wardrobe, and joined with the League of
the Saints, if you will, to fight against the white witch. And
then eventually, she was one of the children that reigned
on the throne in Narnia for a number of years. And then all of a sudden,
they found their way back through the wardrobe back to their home
again. It's a great adventure, but that was the last time Susan
was ever seen in Narnia. The rest of the children all
came back at some point, and in the last book in the series,
in the book called The Last Battle, we see all the other children
entering into Aslan's country, which is supposed to represent
Heaven, if you will. And there is one person missing,
and it's a glaring absence, and everyone's asking, where's Susan?
Why isn't she here with us, sharing with us in our glory? And the oldest brother, Peter,
answers very soberly, saying, Susan is no longer a friend of
Narnia. If you're a child who's read
through the series, that should make you sit up and ask why. Another of the friends chimed
in and said, whenever you try to get her to come and to talk
about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says, what wonderful
memories we have. Fancy, you still think, you're
thinking about all those funny games that we used to play when
we were children. For now, all she cares about is lipstick,
nylons, and invitations to parties. That's how it's written in the
book. Now she didn't think that she
had time anymore for those childish pursuits. The irony of the matter,
she's the one who never grew up. She's sort of stuck in this
perpetual teenage life in which she never advances into full
adulthood, whereas all the other children have grown by leaps
and bounds in their faith and have continued to persevere in
that faith and finally end up in Aslan's country. Did Susan
change her mind later on? We don't know. We're not given
that answer in the book. We're left wondering whether
she walked away for good or whether maybe she was just stunted in
her growth. In our text this morning, the writer of Hebrews
is making that same connection. He's making the same connection
between those who never really grew up in their faith and the
possibility of some walking away from the faith altogether. Admittedly,
one of the most sobering and difficult passages in all the
Bible, specifically the New Testament, for this reason, that there might
be the realization that there are some in the church today,
maybe some even here this morning, who have never really understood
the gospel and who eventually will walk away from Christ and
the church altogether. Those who have made a false profession
of faith, those who have been a part of us but were not really
of us. Very serious warning. I hope
you pay close attention to it. But I hope at the same time that
the message would drive you back into the arms of Christ as your
only hope, Is your only sense of security? We're gonna talk
a lot about that next week, but but for the time being no This
is the Robert Murray McShane used to say this over and over
again for every Look that you take it yourself When you're
reading the word take ten looks at Christ Or else you'll lose
all hope Because all of us are at times doubtful, and none of
us are without sin. But for the sake of an outline
this morning, I just want to ask the journalistic questions,
you know, the basic questions, who, what, when, where, why,
how, those types of things, to try to get at the meaning of
the text, because I think it's very important that we don't
miss what he's saying. It's one of the most controversial
texts in Scripture, not just one of the most difficult ones.
But let's begin with the who. Who is the author of Hebrews
talking about when he's Particularly discussing people in verses 4
through 6. Who is he talking about? It's
very important that we pay attention to pronouns in Scripture for
all of those of you who hated grammar in school, it's very
important to actually know a little bit about grammar when you're
reading a You'll notice in this text he continues to transition
from one set of pronouns to another and then back to another and
then still to another. Let me help you see this. If
you would turn backwards just a little bit to chapter 5 and
look at verses 11 and 12. I want you to notice in those
verses that Paul continues to use the second person plural
pronouns. Over and over again, he keeps
saying, you have become dull of hearing. You need to have
someone teach you again the basic principles. You need milk, not
solid food. Now, move forward to chapter
6 verses 1 through 3. Notice the pronouns here. This
time it's first person plural pronouns. He says, let us leave
the elementary principles and go on to maturity. But then if you look at verses
4 and 4 through 6, which are the most controversial ones,
notice he switches again to third-person plural pronouns, this time speaking
of those who have been enlightened and have fallen away, and that
it's impossible to restore them since they are crucifying the
Lord once again Now, why the grammar lesson?
Well, I want you to understand the text doesn't assume the automatic
correlation between someone who's childish in faith and someone
who walked away from it. It's not necessarily the same person,
although it could be. That's his point. Not necessarily
the same person. He's talking about people who
have literally walked away from Christ in the church. But then
you'll notice, if you skip ahead to verse nine, we're not in there
yet this week, but we will be next week. Again, he goes back
to the second person plural pronouns. There he says, but in your case,
we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation,
for God is not unjust to overlook your work and the love that you
have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do. So
again, the author's not accusing them of having walked away from
the faith. But he's saying some have, and
you might be in the same dangerous position if you don't grow up
in your faith. That's his point. So know that
from the beginning. He's not automatically assuming
that the people that he's writing to, the recipients of this letter,
have walked away from the faith, but others have. And it's a real
danger, so he wants them to know about it. So that's sort of the
who. Now let's look at the what. What is the author talking about
here? He's talking about falling away from the faith. Now we we
sometimes will used to use the terms backsliding We've already
talked about drifting away, which is a slow process of drifting
from christ Whereas in this passage the falling away seems to be
a complete act That happens at a moment in time where someone
has walked away. It's already taken place. We've
already seen this once hebrews 3 verse 12 Um there in that case
it was more of a process to hear as we're falling away from the
living god through an unbelieving evil heart, but now he's using
In the greek he's using the term in the arist tense, which means
it's a completed action. It's already happened These people
have walked away. These are apostates. That's literally
the word that's used in the greek They are apostates who have walked
away from the church now. He's going to bring them up again
in hebrews chapter 10 He's going to bring them up again in hebrews
chapter 12 He keeps bringing it up. Why because this is a
very real possibility for those who go to church Regularly that
there are some that can walk away from Christ and then never
come back. Now, here's the most important
part of it. This is not something that happens without your knowing
about it. It's something that is very decisive.
It's a choice that you make that is not by accident, it's not
unintentional, but rather something very purposeful, something very
intentional that's always accompanied by a hardening of the heart. And speaking on the issue, listen
to what John Calvin, the reformer, says. He says, this total defection
of falling away from the gospel occurs when a sinner offends
God, not in just one thing, but entirely renounces His grace
altogether. Likewise, John Owen, one of the
early Puritans, said of this apostasy, he said, they must
continue, this consists in a total renunciation of all the constituent
principles and doctrines of Christianity in an avowed and professed manner. They're renouncing Christianity
altogether. So it's not something that's
just happened. It's something that they purposely wanted to
happen. He's not talking of those who
are in a slow process of falling away, but those who have fallen
away. They have renounced Christianity.
Of course, no one just gets out of bed one morning, right? Sunday
morning they wake up. You know, I don't feel like going
to church. I renounce Christianity. No one does that. Even though it's an act that
takes place in a moment of time, sort of like justification is.
Justification is an act of God's grace where He saves you. This
falling away is an act that takes place in which someone has just
completely renounced the faith. But I'd say to you that there
is a process that leads up to that act, of course. In fact,
if you remember reading from Psalm 1, he talks about the man
who's blessed and is the one who meditates on God's word day
and night, he's blessed. But then he compares them to
the man who's not blessed. And he speaks of three different
things in reference to that man. He says, first of all, he walks
in the counsel of the ungodly. So in other words, if you can
imagine a guy who used to walk and talk with Christians, but
now he's walking with the ungodly instead. He's just walking along
with them and talking to them about non-Christian things that
are sort of somewhat antagonistic to Christ, but not necessarily
too much. But then as he's walking, one day he decides he wants to
get a little bit more serious with them and just stops and
talks with them in a deeper way, in the foolish ways outside of
Christianity. And then it gets a little bit
more serious, and then he finally says, I'm going to sit down with
these guys, and now I'm in fellowship with them. I'm a part of them. This is my group. And now he
begins to sit and to scoff the things of the faith. You see,
there's a process. It slowly has happened over time,
but then at some point, he wakes up and he says, I don't believe
this anymore at all. I renounce it altogether. And
that leads us to the when. When does this happen? Does the
falling away happen before or after regeneration? In other
words, is the author of Hebrews talking about Christians here
who have lost their salvation? Or is he talking about those
who are almost Christians? I actually stole the title of
the sermon from a Puritan named Matthew Mead, who is explaining
how close someone can get to Christianity and yet not be a
Christian. They're almost Christians. Now, some seek to avoid the question
altogether, is this a Christian or non-Christian, but they're
trying to make it a hypothetical situation, trying to say that
the writer of Hebrews isn't really saying this actually could happen,
but that it's just a possibility that would never happen. In fact,
one of the reasons why we got rid of the 1984 version of the
NIV is because there's a little bit of interpretation in there
that's not correct. In the NIV version, on this passage, it
would say, if one could fall away, They're trying to lead
you to think that it's not possible from the very beginning. But
the word if doesn't occur in the Greek at all. It's not saying
whether or not it's a possibility to fall away. Rather, he's talking
about the possibility of whether someone can be restored once
they have fallen away. He's not questioning whether
someone can fall away. He's questioning whether someone can come back.
So the question again is this. Does someone fall away before
or after they have faith in Jesus Christ? John Wesley, the father
of the Methodist Church, emphatically taught that Christians could
lose their salvation primarily based upon this passage in Scripture. He sees their enlightenment and
their sharing somehow in the Holy Spirit is a sign of their
being a part of Christ, a sign of having faith in Christ, and
thus they have somehow lost it. He says on this authority, quote,
I believe a saint may fall away and that one who is holy or righteous
in the eyes of God may nevertheless so fall from God as to perish
everlastingly. Now, his good friend, but also
one who stood in opposition to this greatly on this particular
topic, George Whitefield, would quote a number of scriptures
to say there's no possible way that someone who was genuinely
saved by God could ever fall away from the grace of God. And
I'll give you a few of the verses that he would use and others.
There are thousands of them, I think, in scripture, but I'm
going to give you maybe five of them. John 6, verse 36 and
following. Jesus says this, He who believes will be saved,
he says. John 10, similarly, verses 28
and 29, Jesus says, I give them eternal life and they will never
perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand, no one. The apostle Paul agrees, Romans
8, verses 38, 39, he says, I am sure that nothing will be able
to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord,
nothing. And then as we sang earlier,
the hymn based upon 2 Timothy chapter one, verse 12, Paul says,
for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
So again, I could go on and on and on giving you others, but
the point is, if someone has received the grace of God by
faith in Jesus Christ, he cannot ever lose that. What God has
begun. He will bring it to completion
at the day of Jesus Christ. One cannot lose his salvation.
It is impossible. But what is a real possibility,
on the other hand, is someone who has professed faith in Christ
and has been a member of the church of Christ, In any evangelical
church for years and years and years and yet somehow Come so
close to christianity that he figuratively rubbed shoulders
with jesus as judas did And yet did not know him and did not
trust him That's a real possibility Later on, the Apostle John would
say in 1 John 2, verse 19, he says, you could tell these apostates,
he says, 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 because they have fallen away. And that leads us to the
where. Where is this happening? It's
always in the context of the church. It begins with people
who were in the church, who then walked away from the church. The obvious implication is that
anyone who has fallen away from God also falls away from his
church. And then if someone falls away
from his church, he has fallen away from God. It's always that
correlation. One can't be in a good relationship
with God and fall away from his church. He's the head. This is the body. Doesn't have
to be this particular church, but if someone stops going to
church altogether, the assumption is that they've fallen away from
God because they've fallen away from the church. And it's in this context
that he keeps bringing up things like baptism and repentance and
the laying on of hands. All of these things are things
that take place in a public confession before the church. Similarly,
those words that he talks about, the one who is enlightened, The
one who has shared in the Holy Spirit, tasted the heavenly gift,
tasted something of the powers of the age to come, tasted the
goodness of the word of God. All of these things are things
that take place in the context of the church. Think of it this
way. In the Old Testament, the Israelites, and again, keep in
mind the writer of Hebrews always has the Old Testament people,
the Israelites, from the time they were in Egypt to the time
of the wilderness. The Israelites were enlightened.
by the Shekinah glory cloud, by the pillar of fire at night.
They were guided and they were enlightened. They were able to
see what God was doing, and yet they still fell in the wilderness
in doubt. In the same way, he says, they
tasted the heavenly gift. What do you think the Israelites
tasted? The manna from heaven. They tasted something great,
something good that came from heaven itself, and yet they fell
away. He says they even shared in the
Holy Spirit and tasted something of the powers of the age to come.
How many miracles did the Israelites witness? How much power did they
see God display in Egypt and then throughout the time of the
wilderness? How many times did he have to
prove to them his great power? They saw his power at work. Some
of them even had that power flowing through them and yet they still
walked away. And then the same way, he says,
some tasted the goodness of the word of God. Again, how many
times did the people of Israel hear the covenant promises? How much of the law did they
receive? How much of the covenant did they, were they granted over
and over and over again? They had heard the word, tasted
how good it was, and yet they walked away. From the passage
we read earlier in the Old Testament, King Saul, is one who walked
away. And yet, if you remember, he
tasted the powers of the age to come, did he not? Did not
King Saul prophesy along with the prophets? Did not the Spirit
come upon him, enabling him to do things that a normal person
wouldn't be able to do? And yet he walked away from God. Think of Judas. Judas is one
of the 12. They cannot recognize any difference
between them and He on the night in which Jesus shared the Lord's
Supper with them after having spent all these years of ministry
with Him. They all had cast out demons in the name of Christ.
They all had healed people through the power of Christ. How is that
possible? Well, someone can have gifts
of the Spirit and not be enthralled by the Spirit. Someone can have
gifts of the Spirit and not bear the fruit of the Spirit. And
that's one of the scariest things I think you could ever see. The
parable of the sower continues to unveil this, though. As Jesus
tells, the very first parable he gives in Matthew and Mark,
explaining to them the context of how to even interpret parables,
he's saying, many will not understand what I'm saying because The devil
immediately comes and eats up the seed like the bird that comes
and eats the seed off the path. He said, others, though, will
stay in the church for many years. You won't be able to tell any
difference between them and you, and yet, Somehow the thorns will
grow up and choke them. The sun will begin to beat down
upon them and scorch them. In other words, the trials of
this life and the love of this world, the temptations, the treasures
of this world can lead them astray to where they walk away from
Christ altogether. And yet there are those who hear
the word and bear fruit. So there's a big difference between
those four different types of ground. I myself have worked
with two pastors. Now this should tell you something
right here. I've walked with two pastors who have been serving
in the ministry for 20 years who walked away from Christ.
I personally. And still have not come back. Doesn't matter how gifted a man
is, and these men were gifted. I tell you, one of the men that
I worked with, I patterned my entire ministry off of his. The
man could pray, the man could sing, the man could preach. And yet he didn't bear the fruit
of the Spirit. That should give us pause. If
it can happen to the leaders of the church, certainly to the
members as well. It's not enough to listen to
God's word preached and to say, good sermon, pastor. It's not
enough to be a part of the fellowship of the church. It's not enough
to use your gifts in doing things for the church and serving for
the church. I'm so grateful for all those who came in and worked
yesterday, helping on church work day. That alone won't get
you into heaven. One could do all those things
and yet still not have a confidence that's in Christ. can somehow still miss the gospel,
miss Christianity. And therefore, the author of
Hebrews continues to remind his hearers in this epistle, he says
that you can be a part of God's house only if you hold fast your
confidence and boasting and hope until the end. If you're really
a part of God's household, it's someone who is confident in Christ,
And holds firmly to the hope that they have in christ and
nothing else Hebrews 10 verse 25 though. He
says Let us not neglect to meet together as is the habit of some
in other words He's saying some have stopped going to church
because they didn't have hope in christ So they just stopped
coming Hebrews 12 verse 22, he reminds the believers that when
they come to the Lord through Christ, they're also coming to
the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. In
other words, when you want to know Christ, you have to know
him through the context of his people. And you can tell when
you've walked away from Christ because you've walked away from
his people. Direct correlation between those two again and again
throughout Hebrews. Now, how does this happen? That's
the fifth point. Let's consider the how. If we're to put all
the passages of these warning passages together in Hebrews,
there's like six of them, it always starts with an unbelieving
heart that does not listen to God's Word. If someone is listening, they're
half-heartedly listening. He says they're childishly and
sluggishly listening. In other words, they don't want
to listen well. They don't want to have to put
the work into it to really know who God is, to know who Christ
is. They don't want to learn anything
other than what they learned the first day that they made
a profession of faith, the first day that they joined the church.
They don't want to grow. They're happy being children.
It starts with that. But then soon enough, their disinterest,
their boredom from sermons and from reading the Bible on their
own eventually affects their attendance at church as well.
They become more and more sporadic. Anything else, everything else
is more important than going to church because there they
find life, there they find joy. Church, not so much. Slowly then
a root of bitterness begins to grow up. Usually it often happens
someone has lost someone. They had a prayer that they prayed
to God that God didn't answer in the way they wanted and immediately
they began to hold some grudge against God and then begin to
doubt that God is who he says he is. and then complained bitterly
against the church for not understanding where they're at. It happens
so, I can't even tell you how many times that has happened.
Again and again and again. It starts with someone not paying
attention to the word, and because they don't pay attention to the
word, they don't know how God acts. They don't know how he
answers prayers and why he doesn't answer the prayers that they're
praying. And then they hold grudges against him and hold grudges
against the church because they now think it's all hypocrisy
because they never learned. They didn't know God's ways.
And then they assume God has to think like I do, that God's
ways have to be like my ways. And when he doesn't do what we
want, we say to hell with him. I've seen it so many times. To the point where one day that
person in their anger In their doubt, they eventually wake up
and they say, I'm done. I renounce it. That's how it happens. Now, why is it that when this
happens, it's impossible to be restored to repentance? That's
the last one, the why. Some have said that it's impossible
with men, but possible with God, but that's just a Salvation is
always impossible with men. We're not saying anything new
if that's what the author of Hebrews is saying here. He's not saying
that. Some have said, well, it's impossible if the man doesn't
repent. Again, we know that. If someone doesn't repent, they
can't be saved. We know that. That's not what he's saying. What he's
saying is what common sense tells us he's saying, that the very
plain reading of the scripture is there is a point of no return
that someone can get because they've grown so hard of heart,
they've continued to not listen to what God says, to the point
where when they walk away, their heart is so hard they can't have
it ever softened again. And there are two reasons for
this the scripture gives. The first is based upon the person
themselves. Somehow the apostasy harms their
own heart because they're so obstinate.
Verse six, look there, he says that person is crucifying once
again the son of God, look, to his own hurt, he says. It affects them to their own
hurt. Only a fool would despise the mercy of God. And yet that
person despises the mercy of God. They despise God's salvation. They despise the good news of
the gospel. They despise the very cross that
could save them. Somehow they've harmed themselves
so much spiritually that they actually despise the very news
that could save them. And so they've hurt themselves.
This is why Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem. He weeps
over them because he knows they're not capable of repenting. They've
grown so hard, they won't listen. He longs to gather them like
a hen gathers its chicks under its wings, and yet they refuse
because they're so hard of heart. But there's also a heavenly perspective
on this impossibility as well. Through their continual rejection
of God's Word, they're bringing contempt upon the Father and
contempt upon salvation in His Son to the point where God's
justice is required. To the point where His judgment
has to be relegated against those who sin continually against the
light. These are not people who didn't
understand. They did understand. And yet they rejected the truth
of God's Word. For those professing Christ who
came out of Judaism and then later renounced Christ, it's
not that they didn't understand Christ, they did. And yet they
renounced him. In this case, the writer of Hebrews
is saying they're now standing with the Pharisees. Mocking Jesus,
accusing him of sin. If he's not the Messiah who he
says he is, then he's a liar and he's a sinner and he was
worthy of going to the cross in the first place. He's mocking
Christ, the one who knew Christ and yet says he's not good. says he's actually of the devil
instead. This is what, if you remember,
Jesus has brought out in every one of the synoptic gospels. He continues to say that there
is a sin in which you cannot be forgiven. The blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit, right? What is that? He says you can
sin against Christ, but if you sin against the Spirit in this
way, you can never be forgiven because each case, notice the
context in which that's being said, each case the Pharisees
who had seen all the miracles that Jesus had done and heard
about many of the others still said he's of the devil. He's not good. He's not the Messiah.
He's a liar. Somehow people inside the church
are capable of doing the same thing if they don't have the
grace of God. And even though they know something
to be true, they reject it. So see, here's the thing. When
Jesus is on the cross and he says, Father, forgive them for
they know not what they're doing. He's talking about those who
participated in calling out, crucify him, but didn't know
who he was. They're ignorant, you see. Jesus
wasn't praying that for the Pharisees, who had already blasphemed the
Holy Spirit. And we know that he didn't, because there's another
strange passage in 1 John 5, verse 16, in which Jesus says,
if someone has committed this sin that leads to death, he says,
don't even pray for him, because they've sinned a sin unto death.
It's the same sin. A sin of blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit, a sin of walking away from the God whom you know
is real and whom you know is true, and yet I renounce it. Now, I haven't
seen that type of sin very often in the church at all, thankfully. However, there have been a couple
of occasions in which it's really made me wonder how close this
person has come to the point of no return. I think I shared
a little bit with a group already here at the church once. There
was a young woman in a church that I was in prior to this one.
who I had known her for a couple of years, but one who came to
church sporadically. She always had a chip on her
shoulder. Every time she came, she didn't want to get to know
anyone. And again, it came from something that had happened in
the past. She had prayed to God that God would save one of her
loved ones. He didn't. And there was doubt that began
to grow up there. And she began to hold a grudge against God.
She began to hold a grudge against the church. One day, after her
not coming for a number of months, I asked her parents about it. And her parents told me that
their daughter had renounced her faith. She no longer believed.
And so I wrote a letter to her and just said, you know, this
is what I've heard from your parents. I'm sorry to hear that.
Certainly respect the fact that you're trying to go according
to what your conscience is saying to you. And yet I warn you of
the danger that you're in. And went off on that a little
bit and then explained to her that we ultimately would have
to erase her name from the roll because she no longer confesses
the name of Christ. She didn't respond for a couple
days, but then eventually she sent me a picture. Just a picture. That's all it
was. No words. And it was a picture of a very
famous painting by Caravaggio. It's a painting of Doubting Thomas.
So that should give you a hint of where she's at. But it was
captioned by an atheistic group. And in the picture, you actually
see Thomas sticking his finger in the side of Christ. And the
caption read, stick your right finger in, stick your right finger
out, stick your right finger in and wiggle it all about. As
you can imagine, version of the Hokey Pokey, but mocking Christ, mocking him. A girl who had gone before the
entire church, years before, and said, I know him, I trust
him, I need a savior, he's mine. Now, mocking him. What do you
say to someone who sends you a picture like that? Immediately,
my heart sunk. I had no idea what to do, and
knowing these scriptures in my mind, I thought, well, should
I even pray for her? But not knowing for sure where she stood,
I decided to pray to him. Lord, give me wisdom. I don't
know how to respond to her. Eventually I came to the conclusion
that if a picture paints a thousand words, then let me send her a
picture. So I responded picture for picture. I sent her a picture
of another famous painting by Rembrandt of the Prodigal Son. on his knees before his father,
being embraced in love. A couple days later, she emailed
me and apologized for sending the picture. But then she continued
to ran against me and against the church. against Christianity. I haven't heard from her since.
She told me not to contact her anymore. Last Sunday, if you remember,
a number of us went out to stand in the right to life chain, holding
up the posters. If you ever want to be blessed
in the sort of sermon on the mount kind of way of being blessed,
you'll hold up a sign that says, This is sin. Don't do this. You're taking someone's life.
What I mean, the sort of blessing I'm referring to is when Jesus
says, blessed are you when others revile you and utter all kinds
of evil against you falsely on my account. You will be doubly
blessed on that day if you stand in the right to life chain. And
you'll be blessed in a very demonstrative way by a number of young people
particularly. It's always the young people. What you don't know, though,
is this. Some of you may not know, at least. Most of those
young people went to church at one time. They were a part of
a church at one time. And they walked away. And now they're cursing at anyone
who represents any vestige of Christianity. And they're doing
it with such great passion. That should give you pause. Peter
says in 2 Peter 2, verses 20 through 22, he says, it would
have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness
than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. In other words, it would have been better
for them to never have to ever darken the door of a church ever,
because at least it would have been in ignorance. But they were
sitting against the light because they knew better. So what do
we do with this? What do we do with this exhortation? It does no good for you to ask
me if you've committed this sin. If you're asking me and you're
here, then you haven't committed this sin. I can tell you that
at least. Of course, there's always a process
before that happens, and the intention of the author of Hebrews
is simply trying to tell you that all of those who have not
grown up in their faith, those who are still childish in some
way or another, are in danger of this. He's not saying it will
happen, but saying there is a danger of this, a bitter root growing
up in your life, and when that bitter root happens because you
don't know God, because you don't trust Christ, you will turn against
Him. You have to know Him in order
to trust Him. And if you don't know him, I
guarantee you, you'll trust something else instead and you'll walk
away from the church altogether. The hard part is we think that,
okay, well, I'll try to listen better next time maybe, but not
today. What makes you think that you're
going to have ears to hear tomorrow? For those of you who have not
trusted in Christ today, what makes you think that your heart
will be soft enough tomorrow? The Lord gives us His grace today. Today is the day of salvation.
Today the gospel is being preached to you that Christ has died for
sinners, that He's the friend of sinners,
and that all who trust in Him, that all their sins will be blotted
out and they'll be white as snow. That all who know Him and love
Him He will continue to hold in the
palm of His hand until that final day. There's nothing that can
separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus if you know
Him and you love Him. So I encourage you, be careful
what you hear. Be careful how you hear. And
cry out to god if you don't have a clue what i'm talking about
Maybe you're one of those sitting in the congregation and have been
a part of the congregation for many years, but have no idea
What i'm talking about come talk to me Don't miss out on the grace
of god Don't let the spirit pass you by I'd be happy to pray with
you anytime. Let's pray together even now
Our father we ask Lord that your spirit would be
moving even now in the midst of this assembly. Father, bring true conviction
of sin, of righteousness, the judgment to come. Bring a true
conviction of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of sinners. Bring a true conviction of the
Lord of the universe who demands to be our Lord and master as
well because he's made us, he's laid down his life for us. Oh
Lord, help us to know him and to love him. We pray, Lord, that
we would not be hard-hearted any longer, that we would not
be so dull of hearing, that we would not be so childish and
foolish in our ways, that we think that we know better than
you. And that when we pray, that you have to do what we say. Lord,
we are your creatures, you are the creator. You are God, and
we're so small. Lord, help us to trust you. and to leave it at Your feet,
knowing that You love us and You care for us and that You've
made a way for us, we pray in Christ's name, amen.
The Almost Christian Discovered
Series Hebrews Sermon Series
| Sermon ID | 101021145051942 |
| Duration | 45:31 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Hebrews 6:1-8 |
| Language | English |
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