If you're visiting with us here at Lamar's Bible Church, what we typically do on Sunday mornings, we start at the beginning of a book of the Bible, like Hebrews, and we keep going. As we go through it, we come to a very sobering passage this morning. As we launch into our discussion of this, a question for each one of us is, where are you at in your spiritual health? Are you spiritually healthy? Are you spiritually alive? Now one of the key signs of spiritual health is that when you hear the word of God, you respond to it. In fact, if you go into the Bible and you look at the beginning of someone's relationship with Jesus Christ, one of the things that changes when I first come to Christ and put my faith in him is he gives me a new heart that wants to hear his word and apply it. So Ezekiel 36 talks about this new heart that God gives to those who believe. Ezekiel 36, 26 says, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. So as you see the connection between the new heart that God gives us when he saves us and our attitude towards his word, all of a sudden now I want to listen and put it into practice. In the book of 1 Thessalonians, Paul looks back to the time when he first came and preached the gospel to the folks at Thessalonica and how they responded to God's word when he spoke it. Look at this, 1 Thessalonians 2.13. Paul writes, and we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. This is normal Christian living. Normal Christian living is the word of God comes to a believer and we hear and we respond. Okay, now, you've probably had this scenario, you go to the doctor, and you're sitting on the edge of the table they have in there, and the doctor comes with the little hammer, soft hammer, hits you on the knee, and what do they want? What they're looking for is if they hit the knee, then your leg kicks, right? If your leg doesn't kick, then there's a problem. And that's the same kind of thing that we have in this passage. The author of Hebrews, actually what he does here in Hebrews five, starting in verse 11, he does a full stop on what he had to say, what he was talking about, and he doesn't pick up his topic until the end of chapter six. And the full stop that he has is he's saying, friends, there's something wrong with your spiritual condition, because you're hearing the word of God and you're dull to it. You're not responding. to the word of God when you hear it. And that's a major concern. And so in our passage, he's kind of saying, well, what's going on now in my title? Late onset dullness of hearing. What do we mean by late onset? So if someone doesn't know Christ, then they're not gonna respond to God's word. They haven't been given life yet. And so if you've never come to Jesus and said, Jesus, I know you died for me, I trust in you, will you make me new? Then you can expect God's word to be kind of dull to you, right? Until you are born again. That's not the problem that these people had. The problem they had is for a while, they were taking in the word of God eagerly, and now they have become dull. Look back at Hebrews chapter five, verse 11, about this we have much to say, and it's hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing towards the word. Maybe you're here today sitting in church or listening online and you'd say, well, I'm kind of in that same place. I used to be very excited about the Bible. Like I wanted to read it and apply it to my life. And when I went to church, I'd walk away and it just felt like God spoke to me there and what was said from the word. But that's, I don't really feel like that anymore. It's something in the past for me. Now, honestly, there's so many other things I'd rather do than be in the Word. It's become dull to me. Well, if that's where you are, what's the problem? Okay, now the first point on your sheets here is actually a, it's a review of what we looked at last week. So the author's gonna say, here's what I think the problem is for you. So he diagnosed them with a certain problem and he gave them a prescription for it last week. His diagnosis for his readers is that they're spiritually immature. The reason that they're not responding is that they're believers, but they are immature. And his prescription that we saw last week, what they should do about it is, letter B on your sheets, 1B, that what they should do is move on to maturity by opening their eyes to what the whole Bible says and applying it. And we looked at this last week, but some in the church, many in the church, so it kind of becomes the majority of them. They've, They've got so much of a focus on what they're defining as the basics that they've stopped listening to the rest of what God had to say to them. And this is a sign of spiritual immaturity. Let me just give you an illustration from everyday life. Let's say that I go to my son, Luke. I say, Luke, this morning I want you, I don't know if Luke's gonna be a bad guy in this story. He's nearly not like this, okay? So I say, Luke, I want you to mow the lawn this morning. And let's say that Luke is not himself and he says, he comes back to me and he says, dad. I don't want to mow the lawn. But dad, I do want to listen to what you have to say. I want to hear from you and listen to you. I just, I don't want to mow the lawn, but I feel like there's other things in our relationship that are a lot more basic to like our relationship. And I think like fishing and watching football, those things are more basic to our relationship. So dad, you just, you talk to me and I'm going to listen about those basic things. I don't want to mow the lawn though. Now, I don't know how you guys parent, but my normal, now this would not be how Luke would have responded, but how I would have responded, had he responded like that, would be something like, well, why don't you mow the lawn, and then we'll see what else I have to say, right? Like, let's take care of this first, this is the thing that's basic right now, and then we'll move on to these other things. And that's kind of what these believers were doing. They weren't listening to what God had to say to them. They're like, well, I'm just focusing on the basics. Not on all that. And for them, their basics they were focusing on were things in the Old Testament. So, his prescription for them, listen, you're spiritually immature. What you need to do to move to maturity is just listen to all that God has to say. Maybe there's something he's saying to you and you're not listening to it, and that's keeping you from understanding his word, right? So let's say that you're in a place and God's word just kind of seems dull to you. Is there something that you're hanging on to? And like, you know in your heart, God wants you to do this. He's saying this to you. You don't want to do that. You want him to say other things to you. Well, it might be that God isn't going to speak to you much else about other things until you've listened to that other thing, right? So this is where they are. If you're spiritually immature, he says, listen, open your eyes to what the whole Bible says and apply that. Don't just define the basics and only think about that. All that's kind of a review from last week. The original hearers of this, they're dull of hearing. He says you're spiritually immature. Pay attention to what God has to say. Now, that's gonna lead us to verses three to eight. And here the author of Hebrews is going to say, now there is, of course, another possible diagnosis. If someone isn't responding to God's word after being eager at one time and now they're, they're just dull to it, the other possibility is apostasy. Okay, so that's number 2A on your sheets. Another possibility, another possible diagnosis that someone, if they had this symptom of not listening to God's word, being dull to it, maybe they've become apostates. That's a lot different than being immature. Okay, look at chapter six, verse three, is where he transitions to this. Hebrews 6, three, he says, this we will do if God permits, but this we will do is like go on to maturity. Say, okay, we're gonna go on to maturity if God permits. You say, well, why would God ever not permit someone to go on to maturity? Well, he won't permit it if they're an apostate. These folks, they're never gonna move on to maturity. I gave you a definition, kind of a easy one there on your sheets of what an apostate is, and we're gonna see this in our passage. Some people fall away from God and are never able to come to repentance again. Some people fall away from God and are never able to come to repentance again. They're described in verses four through eight. Now before we will look at that, I want to point out something that I think is important as we understand this text. The author of Hebrews doesn't think that these apostates, that he's describing his readers. And you can tell he doesn't think he's talking about his readers by the way he goes back and forth from using the word you. So in the first part, when he was saying you guys are immature, he uses the word you over and over again. Like you have become dull of hearing, you ought to be teachers, let us go on immaturity. So he's talking to his readers, you, us. Now when he comes to talking about these apostates, now he uses the word they, them. Then, when he goes back to chapter six, verse nine, and he starts talking to his readers again, he's gonna say, now, I don't think that you are apostates. Look at chapter six, verse nine, he switches back to you. He says, though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation. So, two categories, and so basically, by and large, the people that are reading this letter, he believes that they're born again, that they love the Lord, they're just immature. But, there is a possibility, and it should be considered if someone is dull to the word of God, what could have happened in their case, and maybe there's a few in the congregation that are reading this who have become apostates. And it's a different thing than just being immature. They've walked away from God and they're never coming back. Okay, I wanna look at this, verses four to six. The author is going to describe these people. This is basically how verse four flows. We're gonna read through it. But the author's gonna say, it's impossible for those with these experiences. And then he goes through five experiences. It's impossible for those with these experiences to ever be restored to repentance. It's kind of the main idea. Let's look at verses four through six. For it is impossible, and then he goes through the experiences. In the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, It is impossible to restore them again to repentance. Well, if the person has tasted of God's word and had an experience with the Holy Spirit and then walked away and they can't be restored to repentance, then what are we saying about them? What will be their destiny if they can't ever repent? Well, he's gonna explain that in verses seven and eight. They're on their way to cursing and burning. Look at verse seven. 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. So for these people that are in the condition of apostasy, there is no longer any hope. It is impossible for them to ever repent again. they're on their way to eternal destruction. And it's, I'll just put on the screen the things. Boy, these people, they've had some wonderful experiences. The first four of these five things are, it's great, right? I mean, they're not gonna repent. They're on their way to cursing and burning. But look at what they had. There was a time when they were enlightened. They tasted of the heavenly gift. They shared in the Holy Spirit. They tasted of the word of God, its goodness, and the powers of the age to come. And then after all that, they fell away. The Lord is greatly offended by these folks and their actions. Look at verse six. He describes how this is viewed by the Lord. Hebrews 6, 6. So these people who then have fallen away, it's impossible 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. Okay, what he's saying, I think, there's a comparison he's making between what these folks have done in the church and what the Jews did when first Christ came. When you think of the privilege that a Jew in Jerusalem or Galilee, when Christ was walking this earth, what a privilege it would have been to see Jesus. In our ABF this morning, we all sit over there, that's why I pointed. In our ABF this morning, we talked about if you could go back in the past to some time, where would you go? Some of us listed, well, things in Jesus' life. Because wouldn't it be awesome to go just sit and listen to him teach the Sermon on the Mount? or to watch him feed the thousands of people. I mean, it'd be sobering, but even to be at the cross where he died for us. Be there in the room when the word comes that he's risen from the dead, like, what a thing. Okay. Now, those Jews that lived there at that time, got to see these things. So many of them got to see Jesus heal someone, got to hear Jesus speak. And then what was the result at the end? So many of them stood around and cried out, crucify him. And so they saw Jesus up close and personal and the power of the spirit in him and rejected him. Now, the author is pulling on that and he's saying, okay, listen, you in the church, You've heard the gospel, you know what Jesus did for you, you know He died for you, and you've seen, you've understood all that, and you've seen Him working, and then in the face of that you've said, nope, I'm not gonna follow Jesus. He says, you've done the same thing. It's like you've joined your voices with those that say, yeah, go ahead and crucify him. You've crucified him again by the fact that you've had this experience of him and you're just holding him up to contempt rather than saying, okay, this Jesus I love, I'm gonna follow him, I'm gonna trust him. And so the author of Hebrews has, for those folks that have been through this situation, they are, it's a settled manner. They are still alive, but they are gone and they're never coming back. They're on their way to eternal destruction, even while they live. Okay, that leads us to a theological question. The theological question is, what's going on with these apostates? Like, we got what he says about them. What's going on theologically with them? The question is, have they lost their salvation? Are we saying that these people were truly born again and then they walked away and they lost the salvation that they had? My answer to that is going to be no. Here's how I understand this. My understanding is that these folks, these apostates, were never really saved to begin with. So they're walking away from the Lord, but they were never really saved to begin with. There's a couple of things I wanna show you why I believe that that's the case here. Number one is, and I have these things on your sheet, why would I say they're not, they weren't ever really saved? The first thing is just kind of taking a step back and looking at scripture as a whole. It's this, the rest of the Bible teaches that those whom God saves, God keeps. So I just think that there's so many passages that teach clearly that if God saves someone, he keeps them until the end. And we don't have time to go through all of them, but we'll just look at one. Philippians 1.6 says, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So to say that these people, an apostate God began a good work in them, but then he didn't bring it to completion, doesn't seem to fit with that in many other passages. Okay, there's that, but we have to let, friends, we've gotta let the word of God speak, and if it says your theology is wrong, then we should change our theology to fit the word of God, right? And so, do we see anything in the passage that might indicate to us that these, what's the condition of these people who knew so much and then walked away? I think in the passage itself, it explains them in this way. So in number two, second reason, I don't think they were really saved to begin with, in this passage, verses seven and eight, explain what happened to these people. The reign of God's truth fell on them, but they were never really transformed. The reign of God's truth fell on them, but they were never really transformed. So look at verse seven and eight. We looked at it. Comes right after he gives this description of these people, all these things they've been through and they walked away and there's no hope for them now. They're not ever gonna repent. It's impossible for them to repent. Then the next verse, verse seven, six, seven, it says, Four, 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. Okay, verse seven is just, it's a word picture for a Christian. What happens for the Christian? Well, boy, the Word of God comes to them, and the Spirit of God is working in their hearts, and it's like the rain is coming on their land, and they drink it in, and then they produce a crop that's useful to the Lord. So, The word of God has an impact on them, they're changed. So now, their life bears good fruit. They love other people, they're seeking to live in obedience to God, they're walking with the Lord. Right, so the rain came and it transformed them and they produced fruit. Okay, now verse eight is gonna be a description of a different kind of people, it's gonna be a description of these apostates. Notice, and I think for them, the people in verse eight, you gotta assume the same thing. So their land, the land is receiving rain. So they're getting good things given to them. But look at what's different, the people in verse eight, from the believers in verse seven. Verse eight, but if the land bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. How can you know who's a true believer and who is not? Here's how you can't tell. You can't tell by who's sitting and listening to the word of God, right? I mean, you can't just say, well, listen, that person goes to church every Sunday, they listen to God's word. Good, right? But is it, that's not the way to tell who's really born again. How can you tell? Well, you have to look at what is produced in their lives. Okay, so the one person, the rain came, the word of God, they took it in, and they were transformed, so they produced good things. The other person took in the same rain, the same word of God, the same powerful impact, and yet they were not changed, and so what they produced was thorns and thistles. Okay, I wanna show you another passage that I think talks about the same people and very similar language. Hold your finger here in Hebrews, go back to 2 Peter in your Bibles. So we're just going to the right, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 and 2 John Jude Revelation, so we're almost to the end of the Bible. We're going to 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 20. Here's a very similar group of people described in very similar terms. 2 Peter chapter 2, look at verse 20. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Okay, so right there, there's some people, they have come to the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, they got information about him, they have knowledge of him, and even they've escaped the defilements of the world. So these folks that are being described as second Peter, not only did they hear about Jesus Christ, but when they heard, they changed, the way they were living. So they turned away from some of the sins that used to characterize them and they've escaped those things. They're walking, externally they're doing the right thing. They've escaped the defilements of the world. Now look and see what happens to them next. 2 Peter 2 20. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. for it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness. Then after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. Okay, are these people saved? The answer is no, right? Because it's worse for them now than if they had never even heard about Jesus. They're clearly not saved. What's going on with these people? They had the knowledge of Jesus and they escaped the defilements of this world and now that Now they've gone back, what's going on with them? Verse 22 explains it. 2 Peter 2.22, what the true proverb says has happened to them. The dog returns to its own vomit and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire. See, a dog will behave like a dog. If you give a pig a bath, you haven't transformed the pig's nature, it's still a pig. So you wash up a pig and you put it next to The mire, it's gonna plunge back in. It's clean on the outside, but it's still who it always has been. Some people hear the good news of Jesus Christ and they profess to believe in him. Even for a while, maybe they follow him. They start going to church and they're doing good things, they're cleaning up their life, but it's external change. And the word hasn't really penetrated their hearts. They haven't really come to the Lord and said, Lord, You're the Lord, you're my savior, I wanna trust in you, my life is yours, change me. It's external, but they're still pigs. They've just been externally cleaned up and so eventually they show their true colors and they go back to who they really are and living according to that pattern. And so that's the example of the pigs, the example of the rain falling on the two different kinds of land, I think it's the same thing. So I can get God's word coming to me and How do I know if I'm saved? Well, does it change me or not? Does it transform me into a new person or not? Okay, go back with me to Hebrews. Okay, Hebrews chapter six, verse four. Now, I wanna walk through these phrases here because how I'm interpreting this, right? I'm getting this off the verses in front of you. How I'm interpreting it is that all of these things are external. It's rain hitting them but not transforming them. And that's why they walk away, is because they weren't ever saved. Okay, well can you do that with these words? First, so these people, they were enlightened. Does that mean they were saved? It could mean that. But could the word enlightened just refer to something that's external? It's the rain hitting and then running off. It can. Look here at John chapter one, verse nine. When John 1, 9 uses the same word, enlightened, and it's talking about Jesus coming, it says, there was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. Okay, so Christ has come, and it says he's enlightened every man. Does that mean, therefore, that every man is saved? Well, no. Jesus is shining the light, but a couple of verses after this, right, we're gonna read, but to those who received him. Right, to those who believed in him. He gave the right to become children of God. And so there's a way in which the word of God can enlighten you, but not transform you if we don't receive it. Okay, going back to our verse. So these folks, they had been enlightened. They tasted of the heavenly gift. What's that talking about? Tasted of the heavenly gift. Now, I think the problem we have sometimes in understanding the Bible is that like it takes me a year to teach through it. And so we forget what he just said. But if you were reading through it, you would remember that, because we just said it two minutes ago. So let's go back to what he would have just said two minutes ago, if we were reading this in order. He's been using, we're going to Hebrews 3, 9. So all throughout this last few chapters, we've been using the Jews going through the wilderness as a bad example. Hebrews 3, 9. Okay, Hebrews 39 says, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Okay, for 40 years in the wilderness, what gift from heaven did the Israelites taste? Manna, right? For 40 years, every day they got up in the morning and there was a gift from heaven and they ate it. Now, what a wonderful blessing. God's sending gifts from heaven, they're eating it, but does that mean that they're right with God? Mm, look at 310. So they received these, they saw God's works for 40 years. Chapter three, verse 10, therefore I was provoked with that generation and said they always go astray in their hearts, they have not known my ways. As I swore my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Okay, so I think that we're saying here in the New Testament, these people have been through a similar thing. They didn't eat manna, but what's the bread that God gives from on high now? He gives his word, right? So we don't live by bread, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And so I think what he's saying is, listen, there's some folks that have been enlightened, God shined on them, he sent his word to them. They were receiving it in the sense that they were listening to it. This next phrase, they shared in the Holy Spirit. Okay, clearly, in the Bible, if you want proof that someone is born again, that they're saved, do they have the Spirit? If someone has the Holy Spirit living within them, then they are born again, they're saved. Okay, what I'm saying, I think these are all external things. Is there a way in which you could share in the Holy Spirit, but it's external, it's not Him transforming your heart? I think there is. Look here back with me at Hebrews chapter two. We're gonna see the Holy Spirit working in a way that's short of salvation. Hebrews chapter two, verse three. Hebrews 2.3, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. So in the early church, with the preaching of the gospel, they were working of mighty miracles. And some of these folks in Hebrews saw God's word come, and they saw God do miracles in their midst by the power of the Holy Spirit, and yet, that great salvation can be neglected if I don't respond to it with my heart, right? So I think that's what's going on here with this phrase they shared in the Holy Spirit, they saw is working, so these folks probably heard the gospel, maybe even got baptized, started coming to church, and then in the midst of the church, they're seeing God doing good things, and I would hope that if you come to the Marsh Bible Church for a couple of years, you would, even if you aren't a believer, you would see the Holy Spirit working. Because he is working in our midst. He's changing us. There's some folks that are going through really hard times and they trust in the Lord and he gives them strength to get through. He is helping, he's working here. And so these folks, they were in the midst of God's people and they're seeing his Holy Spirit work. The fourth description I think would be similar then, right? So they tasted the goodness of the word of God. They tasted the powers of the age to come and saw God doing these miracles. But then they fell away. And what this is saying is, for these people, there is no hope. They can never be brought to repentance again. Okay, we're gonna move on to what he's gonna say to Christians. But before we do, I just wanna have a couple of quick applications on these verses on apostasy. Okay, first application. Never assume, ha, Never refuse Jesus and then assume that you can just accept him later. Never refuse Jesus and then just assume, well, I'll accept him later. And I think this happens. Some people come and they hear the word of God and they hear that Jesus died for them and he's inviting them to Christ in faith and they say, well, I think I probably believe that, but I don't wanna follow him. Maybe I'll just kinda stay around the fringes here before I really give him my heart and my life. And they just keep refusing Christ over time. Thinking, well, you know, when I get to the end of my life, like I'm about to die, then I'll run to Jesus and he'll accept me and he'll forgive me. But that's not necessarily the case. The warning of this passage is if you wait too long, your rejection of Jesus may become a settled thing between you and God. Where you have hardened your heart against him and he has hardened his heart against you and there is no repentance left. And so, don't refuse Jesus if the rain's coming. Let it come into your heart. Trust in Christ, right? Let him change you. He'll do it. Second, application of these verses on apostasy. Only God knows who the apostates are. Only God knows who they are. Maybe you're reading these verses, listening to this, and you're thinking of a loved one. Right? Maybe you know somebody who once said they were a Christian, once were with the people of God, once seemed to be excited about the Word of God, and now they've walked away from Him. And so you're wondering, well, is my loved one an apostate? Is there no more hope for them? Ah. And what I would say is, this is God's domain. We don't know what's going on in their hearts. My advice to you would be, with that loved one, keep on pleading with God to show mercy and to save them. Keep on pointing that person to Christ every chance you get. We don't know what God's gonna do. I've got in my mind two examples right now, I could tell you the stories. Someone who seemed like they fit this, like they were following Jesus, it seemed, they were claiming Jesus, and then they walked away for a long time. But now, they're gloriously born again. They've come back to Christ, they're alive, they're living for him, they're on their way to heaven. And so maybe if I was in the middle of that situation looking, I would've said, oh, maybe there's no more hope for them. But there was hope and God saved them. And so I'd say, this is God's domain. There are some people that he says, listen, you've gone too far, there's no more hope of repentance. But there's others that that door is still open. Okay, so our problem, the problem that he's diagnosing is dullness of hearing. And he says there's two basic things that could be happening. If you used to be open to it and now you're dull, The one thing is you're immature, right? You gotta go back to here's the whole word I'm gonna accept all that God says, I'm gonna live it out. That's how you get if you're immature or maybe you're an apostate. Okay, so we've seen in our passage that he doesn't believe that his readers, by and large, are apostates, he believes they're immature. So when he talks to them, he says, you, he says, okay, now, you need to grow up, you need to stop being sluggish, right, he's talking to them. So what's gonna happen in verse nine, he's gonna go back to talking to his readers who he thinks are immature Christians that need to grow up. Okay, and you can tell he's going back to talking to them because he switches back to you. Okay, the first thing he's gonna say in verse nine, so we're on point three now, letter C. It's C because it's continuing what he started from above, right? So the third thing he says to them, he says, listen, I know that you're not apostates, you're immature, and the reason I know this is that I've seen spiritual fruit in your life. The reason I know that, the reason I'm talking to you as immature believers instead of apostates is I've seen the transformation when the rain fell on you. Okay, look at verse nine. So Hebrews 6, nine, he says, though we speak in this way, like about these apostates, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation. Well, what spiritual fruit has he seen in their lives that convinces him that these people are born again? Yeah, they're dull to God's word right now, but he believes they're born again. They're just immature. What is it that he's seen in their life that convinces him of that? That's verse 10. Verse 10, for God is not unjust, so as to overlook your work and the love that you've shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. So he says, friends, I've seen God's good fruit in your life. I've seen fruit of genuine salvation. I've seen you work for the Lord's name. I've seen you love the Lord's name. And how did he see their love for the Lord's name? They showed their love for the Lord's name by serving other Christians. He said, you were doing that and you're still doing it. Like I've seen your love for the Lord. I've seen you show it in serving other people. Now the author of Hebrews has a history. He has a history with these people and he's thinking back to some things. So I wanna show you some of his history. Go back to Hebrews chapter 10. He's remembering these events that happened when they first came to Christ. Look back at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 32. Hebrews 10.32, he says, but recall the former days, when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession than an abiding one. See, early on when these people first heard of Christ and said, listen, I'm gonna follow Jesus, they were persecuted for their faith. Some of them were thrown into prison for following Jesus. Others of them had their property plundered. So because they're Christians, people are breaking into their houses, stealing their stuff, ruining the things they own. And their response to all that wasn't, ah, this is horrible. Their response, while people were throwing them into jail and plundering their stuff, was, listen, we love the Lord's name, we're gonna take care of each other. And so they visited the people that were in prison, and they shared their possessions with each other, and they did it with an attitude of joy. Because they're like, you know what? They may have just knocked down our house, but we've got a better possession. We've got eternal life in Christ, and it's worth so much more than this stuff. And so the author of Hebrews looks back to that, and he's like, listen, I've seen spiritual fruit in your life. Not only was it way back then, he says, but I still see it now. You're caring for one another. And so he's like, it's not, you guys aren't apostates. You're just immature, right? And so there's something God's saying to you that's outside of the basics you've defined. You gotta pay attention to that and let's go, let's grow up. Let's put this into practice. Okay, so turn back to Hebrews chapter six. His prescription for his readers, he knows they're immature rather than apostate because he's seen spiritual fruit in their lives. And so the next thing he's going to do, He's already given them their prescription. The prescription is take in all of God's word, right, earnestly. Now what he's gonna do is he's gonna say, if you do it, there's gonna be good advantages. There's a doctor on the wall. Let's say you went to the doctor, told the doctor about your problems. He says, okay, well, I can prescribe this medicine for you. You have to take it three times a day. Be careful, do it at these times, but it won't do any good. What's the likelihood that you're gonna take the prescription? Maybe some of you are just like, I always do what the doctor says, so. But if you're like me, if he says it's not gonna do me any good, then what, I'm not doing this, right? So here's what we have in verses 11 and 12. What he says is, listen, the solution for your spiritual immaturity and for your dullness of the word of God, you gotta listen to all that God says. He says, now if you do it, I've got two advantages, two fruits that are gonna come from taking the medicine. It's gonna be worth it to dive into God's word again like you used to. Okay, so the first thing he says you can expect if you take your medicine, number one, you will develop a sure confidence in your relationship with God. Go back to listening to all that God says and trying to put that into practice, you're gonna develop a sure confidence in your relationship with God. Look at 611. He says, we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness, to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish. That word sluggish there, it's the same word for dull that he started this whole thing off with. You're dull in your hearing towards God's word. He says, now I don't want you to be dull anymore. Let's not be sluggish anymore, let's be earnest. And then he says, I want you to be earnest so that you can have the full assurance of hope until the end. Okay, do you know that there's a difference between the security of your salvation and the assurance of your salvation? Have you ever thought about this? Okay, let's say that you're a believer. If you've trusted in Christ and he has promised you eternal life and you are secure in him, okay, that's the security of your salvation. There's also something that's called the assurance of your salvation and that's whether I feel secure. It's possible that I could be secure, like God has saved me and he's gonna take me to heaven, I am secure in him, but I don't feel very good about my relationship with him. I have doubts, I have fears. Okay, now, here's what happens if I stop listening to all of God's word. He's not gonna, if I'm his child, he's keeping me, I am secure. But what can happen if I'm not listening to all that he has to say is that feeling of assurance of salvation can be rattled, right? Because I'm reading the word and God isn't speaking to me like he used to. And I start to wonder, well, am I really God's child? And I kind of go through life uncertain and insecure in my relationship with Jesus and it messes me up from day to day, right? So what he's saying is, listen, friends, let's go back to being earnest with all the word of God, not be sluggish about it. And one thing you're gonna see is you're gonna grow in your confidence that you're his. And that all these promises are your promises, right? God's words start speaking to you again, you're gonna grow in this assurance of salvation. So that's one advantage of taking the medicine, of taking God's word earnestly. You're already saved, but you can develop a sure confidence in your relationship with God. Number two, second thing you can expect if you take your medicine is this. It will not come without patience and faith, but God will keep his every promise to you. It will not come without patience and faith, but God will keep his every promise to you. That's verse 12. so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. Listen, God's gonna, he's promised us believers so many things, but sometimes, we go through hard times, and there's a lot of patience and faith that's needed in between, right? Times are difficult, and so Lord, I believe what you say, I'm gonna wait for it. Right, he says, now do that. Imitate those who are patient in faith, they keep believing, and you'll see that God is gonna keep all these promises he's made to you. I just wanna end our time this morning with a bit of spiritual self-diagnosis. Okay, so let's say that today you are hard towards God's word. Like it's just not alive to you. What's, what could be? There's three possibilities. One thing is you don't know Jesus Christ personally. Maybe you're here today and you just never have said, listen, I understand Jesus died for me, he's my savior, Jesus, I'm taking you. That's the start of being alive to God's word. Do you know him personally? Maybe you're not saved, that's why the word of God isn't alive to you. Second possibility is, you're spiritually immature. Maybe you know the Lord, but you're just, you're spiritually immature. And so if that's the case for you, then I encourage you to take what the passage says. Okay, what is it that God has to say to you that you're maybe not paying attention to? Is there some part of his word to you that you're ignoring? Give attention to that and see if the rest of this word doesn't come alive again. Third possibility, if the word of God is dull, if you're hard toward it today, the third possibility is that you are an apostate. And if that's the case, then it's too late for you. I can't help you. God won't help you. But maybe, maybe you haven't gone that far. You know what Jesus said? Jesus says, John 6, 37, he says, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. So if you're afraid, like where am I at with God? Here's what you do. You run to Jesus and hold onto this promise. He says, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. If you're running to Him, He's gonna receive you. This is the way our Savior is. Will you join me in prayer? Lord, thank you for your word. One of the things that your word does is it shines, it cuts deep into our souls and it reveals to us where we're at. And Lord, I pray that you would do that for us this morning. Give us a clear understanding of our own spiritual condition so that we can run to you and trust in you. Lord, give us, will you give us, maybe there's somebody here today and they just, they long for your word to be alive to them again and it's been dull. I pray that you might show them what it is they can do to come to you, what it is that you wanna say to them in your word so that this can be alive again. This is what it's meant to be for us as Christians, that we hear what you say and we respond in joy and obedience. May that be the case for every one of us here today.