Of whom we have much to say and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. And have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection or maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away to renew them again to repentance. since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. For the earth, which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it and bears herbs useful to those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. But beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end. that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. And this is the word of the Lord. Thank you. You may be seated. While I'm sure you all know by experience that sometimes the difficulties of life sneak up on you, and you are unprepared for them, like the flat tire, or when you lock your keys in the car, But sometimes there are difficulties that you can see coming, and they don't sneak up on you. You know they are on their way. Well, this passage, I will confess, and preaching it, has been a difficulty that I have seen coming for a little while. Hebrews chapter 6, particularly verses 4 to 6, is one of the most hotly debated and discussed passages in Scripture. I actually remember years ago, a friend of mine, a brother in the ministry, having a conversation with him about this passage. And this was years back. And he said, essentially, that I need to know exactly what this passage is communicating right now to be a true faithful servant of the Lord. I was kind of awed because I was pastoring a very small church in Bellewers, Ontario at that time. No one had asked me about this passage, and I wasn't even preaching through Hebrews at the time. But this brother was quite insistent that I had to know exactly what this passage said and meant. So I went through it. I read through the book. And I sorted and worked through it. And I remember writing him an email of several pages in length. where I described what I thought that this passage was saying. I emailed that passage to him, and this brother responded by saying, well, I'm not sure, that doesn't seem very convincing to me. So at this point, I asked this brother, well, what is it that you think this passage means? Since, of course, he is also in the ministry, and he's the one that thought that I really needed to know what it said if I'm going to be an effective minister. And he said, oh, I have no idea. So talk about laying heavy burdens upon someone. That is what he had done to me. Now, that time in the Bellewer Church is memorable not just for this unreasonable expectation placed on me by a fellow pastor, but for someone that attended that church and actually had a position of servant leadership within that church. There was a man named Mark that attended that church and he was a deacon of that church. And I remember when we first came to the church, Mark received us with great enthusiasm. And I remember him being enthusiastic in his singing. Enthusiastic when we went out visiting and soul winning. Enthusiastic about the things of the Lord. Now, Mark was mercurial and he was prone to times of depression and even for a time he walked away, went to another church for a few months, but he came back. I remember that when We moved down to Toronto when I left that ministry and I moved down to Toronto with Pastor Daniel trying to plant a church downtown. Mark was one of the trustees of our charity to plant that church. I remember with him times of visitation and prayer. meeting together, Bible studies. I remember times talking with him about evangelism. I remember times of sorrow and hope and disappointment and gain and loss. And all of these within the context of our mutual confession of faith. But where is Mark today? I don't mean, where does he live? I could probably track him down fairly easily. But where is he spiritually? Well sadly, Mark, though once a deacon, and once a person who actually led the church in my absence, once a trustee of our Christian charity, once a man that had intentions of starting a Christian bookstore, sadly today he has renounced that faith that he once professed. He no longer has any confession of faith today. He has abandoned the scriptures that he once proclaimed, and he has rejected the Savior he once professed to believe in. Today, I want to join with the author of Hebrews to urge you to not follow Mark's path. to not follow His trajectory. May none of you fall short. May every one of you who has confessed faith in Christ show true diligence to the end. There is a powerful point that I think this passage makes. And it is this. Those who profess faith must persevere in the faith. Those who profess faith must persevere in the faith. I don't have a fancy alliterated outline for you this time. This outline is a struggle and a labor of love and my passion for you, professors of Christ. I want you to remember, for those of you who were here earlier in this series, I want you to remember, and for those of you who weren't here earlier in the series, I want you to know the theme of the book of Hebrews. The theme of the book of Hebrews is, Jesus is better, don't turn back. These people of Hebrew descent have made a profession of faith, but as the years have gone by, and the afflictions have increased, and the persecution has become greater, many of them have spiritually regressed. Many of them seem to be buckling under the pressures of this opposition and persecution. And to some, it might seem easier just to go back to their old ways of Judaism to escape all that. To this group, the author of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, communicates that one message, Jesus is better, don't turn back. And he does it with three main points. The person of Jesus is better. The ministry of Jesus is better. The way of Jesus is better. And those three points he interspersed with five powerful warning passages. This passage before us that we have read, like the book as a whole, is an urgent appeal to faithful perseverance. Two, in the words of the text, show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end. There are two trajectories in view here. One of them is a terrifying trajectory. A trajectory away from faith, away from Christ, that terminates in hell. The other trajectory, with Christ, that ends with the inheritance of the promises. And so brothers and sisters, friends, and perhaps even those who have not yet even made a profession of faith this morning, the author urges us to believe in Jesus and hold fast our confession. What can we learn and apply from this powerful passage this morning? Those who faithfully persevere will not be content with inexcusable immaturity. Those who faithfully persevere will not be content with inexcusable immaturity. Last week, we looked at Hebrews chapter 5, verses 11 to 14, and we recognized that there is such a thing as excusable immaturity. Perhaps someone, spiritually speaking, has just trusted in Christ, and they haven't come to maturity. But there is an inexcusable immaturity. An immaturity in spite of opportunity and in spite of time past. This immaturity is marked by dullness, a deficiency in growth, diet, and skill in the word. And it is marked by decline. But the author, in the opening of chapter six, urges his readers and urges us to maturity. Look at what he says here. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, that is maturity, not laying again the foundation. He wants to move on from the elementary principles of Christ, not move on in the sense of leaving them behind. Those things are, after all, he says, the foundation. You don't do very well if you take your house off the foundation. What he means by this is to move further into truth, beyond the elementary discussion of these principles. We are to move further into the truth from milk to meat, the author says. If you think about it this way, some of you might remember, maybe even with some trauma, your math classes as a child, where you had flashcards. You have to have them go over the flashcards over and over again. Hopefully in time, you were able to do all of those sums and all of those subtractions and all of those multiplication and division problems without having that prompt of seeing the card. You move further, but you don't actually leave the content of that math behind. Any advanced math and calculus is built on that same foundation that those flashcards were. And so it is with our spiritual journey. The author doesn't want to lay the foundation again. As he talks about the truth, he wants to move on, or deeper, or onward in. He talks about, really, three groups of two. Each of these has their roots in the Old Testament, but is shown with greater clarity in the New Testament. This is not just an exhortation for them to move on from the Old Testament. He talks, first of all, about truths of conversion. This is not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. He moves on to talk, I believe, about truths of the Church. Baptisms and laying on of hands. Baptism, he's likely talking about believer's baptism and the contrast with the Jewish rites of baptism. Laying on of hands possibly was connected with that rite of baptism, but certainly is connected with the conferring of leadership symbolically upon people within the church. And then he talks about truths of the future. resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. The author does not want to leave these behind, but he wants to move deeper into these truths. Specifically, he wants them to see more and more of the glory of Christ in these truths. And as the book of Hebrews unfolds, and he moves on in his discussion of the superiority of Christ, he's going to do just that. The glory of Christ will shine and illuminate in all of these things and bring so much greater depth and height and joy than the elementary discussion of them. Though they are dull of hearing, He desires to move them forward in maturity, verse 3, if God permits, God willing. But friends, this is all a part of Him urging His readers in faithful perseverance. A faithful perseverance that is not content with inexcusable immaturity. Question 4, you, for me, for all of us today. Are you content with your knowledge of the Word and your relationship with God? Are you in this place where, like the young people would say, I'm good. That you think you've reached a point and that's fine. Or are you, like sometimes we sing, I'm pressing on the upward way new heights I'm gaining every day. Yes, I know that there are times of decline and times of plateau, but it is at your zeal and desire to go on in Christ to know more of Jesus. Because if you are in that place where you're content to just bob along, it will not be long before you backslide. Those who are content with inexcusable immaturity will backslide. Decline is a mark of inexcusable immaturity. You have become, the author of Hebrews says in verses 11 and 12. of chapter 5. Backsliding unconfessed leads either to chastisement or hell. As it reveals the true nature of the heart, my friends, rather than sliding back, let us step forward. So those who faithfully persevere will not be content with inexcusable immaturity. Second, those who faithfully persevere will take spiritual warnings seriously. Those who persevere will take spiritual warnings seriously. We see this in verses four to six. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame." This is one of the more difficult passages of the Bible to interpret. It is very clear, contextually, that this is a warning to his readers. It is also clear that he wants his readers to take this seriously. This is why I think that looking at this as just a mere impossible hypothetical situation doesn't really suit the tone of the passage. The wording of the passage, though, has caused some people to wonder if the author of Hebrews believes in salvation by works, or does he believe in eternal security? So let me address those two things before we lean on this passage a bit more. First, the author of Hebrews does not believe in salvation by works. But in a salvation that works. Note again, two passages that we have already looked at in this book, back in chapter 3. In chapter 3 verse 4. The author of Hebrews says, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. And lest we think that that is somehow something we earn through our own effort, look with me at verse 14. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. In other words, holding that fast is a proof that we have already become a partaker of Christ. We truly do believe what we sang earlier. The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. But the author of Hebrews wants us also to know throughout this book that the true faith of a true believer is not something that flies by night. It's not here today and gone tomorrow. So the author of Hebrews believes in salvation by faith, not by works. Our works demonstrate the reality of our faith. Our perseverance shows that we have already become partakers of Christ. Second, I think it's important to understand that the author does believe in eternal security. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 9, which we read earlier in this series. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 12, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 15, for this reason He is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death, for the redemption of the transgression under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. And then that passage that I remember memorizing in my youth, Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. So if the author of Hebrews does not believe in salvation by works and does believe in eternal security, what is going on in this passage? While we could get bogged down by looking at quite literally five major views of this passage, let me simply state that the author is warning any and all who have professed faith to persevere in that faith. This is a message to anyone who has professed faith that they must persevere in that faith. The author in this passage, I believe, warns us that there are people who can experience these spiritual blessings and still never actually have saving faith. They experience them, but they do not embrace them. I believe it is possible to be enlightened, to have a knowledge of the truth, but not be regenerated. It is possible to taste of the heavenly gifts and not receive it. It is possible to partake of the Holy Spirit, but not be possessed by Him. It is possible to taste of the good Word of God, but not receive it. It is possible to experience the powers of the age to come, but fall short when that time comes. How is it possible? Well, I think that there's a sense in which each of these can be experienced corporately within the community of God's people. Were these not true of Israel? The same Israel that never entered God's rest? I think these can also be experienced personally as God shows and showers goodness and grace on a person. In my own scripture reading, I believe, providentially, I was brought to Numbers chapter 22 to 25, my scripture reading on Friday. Numbers 22 to 24, you might remember, is the story of Balaam. Numbers 24, verses 2-4. I'll just read this to you. Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes, and the Spirit of God came upon him. Then he took up his oracle, and said, The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened, the utterance of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of God, who falls down with eyes wide open. If I were to say that there was a person who preached in the power of the Spirit of God, who heard the words of God, who spoke the words of the Almighty, who saw the vision of the Almighty, you might say, of course you're talking about someone who's a true believer. But Balaam was not. In Jude 11 we are warned about false teachers, and specifically we are warned of those false teachers who have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit. Revelation 2 and verse 14, But I have a few things against you, because you have those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balaam to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality." Yes, Balaam experienced the work of the Spirit. He knew the truth of God's Word. He even spoke of what was to come. He tasted of the power of God. And yet, He revealed the reality of His heart in His unfaithfulness. Later we read in Scripture, Numbers 31, it tells us that Israel goes forth to battle. They kill the kings of Midian. And they mention a bunch of people who are killed along with these kings of Midian. They mention Balaam the son of Beor. And that's an evidence that he was not one of God's people. Because after knowing the truth and proclaiming the truth, he went back and hung out with Midian. And even counseled Midian on how to cause Israel to stumble and to be weakened. Numbers 31 would say, speaking of the after-effects of what Balaam had done, said, look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Feor. So, the solemn truth is that decline unchecked leads to defection. Backsliding unchecked leads to desertion, to apostasy. Not because you lose something that you had in the sense of you were saved and lost it, but because you were never saved. This is the same warning, then, that resounds through all the book of Hebrews, including Hebrews chapter 2 verses 1 to 3, where we are urged to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest we drift away. Lest we let those things drift away. In that context, The author of Hebrews says in chapter 2, verse 3, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And the answer is, we won't. It's the same warning given in Hebrews chapter 3, where God is quoted, the Holy Spirit is quoted from the book of Psalms. Psalm 95, hear His voice, don't harden your hearts. And then it goes on to talk about how they would not enter His rest. And as we saw, the author of Hebrews applies this, there remains a rest for the people of God. For those who rest from their works in God's, there is the ultimate rest of glory of heaven to come. But unbelief can cause you to fall short. This is not because they've lost their salvation, but because they never had it. Like dogs and pigs, they return to that which is consistent with their own nature. This is what Peter says of these false teachers who had turned away from the truth that they had heard and perhaps even proclaimed. He says this, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. but it has happened to them according to the true proverb. Notice this, a dog returns to his own vomit and a sow, a pig having washed to her wallowing in the mire. That's the problem all along. They were always pigs and dogs. They were always unclean spiritually. The author of Hebrews says very solemnly, Really, it's amazing how He sets it up in chapter 6. He begins this paragraph by saying, it is impossible, and then you're left waiting. It's impossible? What are we talking about here? If people who have experienced these graces, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance. It's impossible to renew them to repentance. Even that false and shallow repentance that they had shown earlier, it is impossible. They won't come back. Now note, God alone knows when that actual falling away has happened. Not every doubt and disappointment, not every backsliding is the falling away. But there is a point, there is a point. Here's what I'm saying, my friends. There is a point where you can't come back. You can't come back. You're done. There's only a certain fearful judgment. How horrifying it is to think that such a day might come, and that such a day might come to people who had heard the Gospel preached, and had experienced God's goodness in their own life, and had experienced God's goodness in the community of faith, after all that God had done to turn away and never, ever come to faith. It's a horrifying thing. Like Esau, if you are in this position, you will not be able to find repentance even if you seek for it carefully with tears. That's a horrifying thing to think about. This point of no return. And maybe some of you are flirting with this idea. Well, maybe it's not all true. Maybe my spiritual life is not all that. Maybe Christ is not all that. You are in danger of this. But there's something even more, even more horrifying to me in this passage. As horrifying as it is to think of someone falling away and never being able to be renewed to repentance. Here's something that terrifies me and horrifies me even more. Since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. To fall away is to symbolically re-crucify Christ and to put Him to shame. If you have any love for Christ in your heart, the thought of putting Jesus to an open shame would be the most horrifying thing you can think of. That your actions would cause shame on the name of Jesus to fall away. is to essentially, like the crowd, cry out in their rejection of Christ, crucify Him! And you're falling away, you cry out along with them. And you do it all over again. Just as the soldiers stripped Jesus bare, exposing Him shamefully to the watching world in a crowd jeered as our Lord hung on that cross for our sins, so we do the same thing if we turn from the truth and reject Him. How horrifying. To think that we might do such a thing to put Jesus to an open shame. And maybe that's why the Spirit inspired author says it this way. Because maybe this is a litmus test for us. That the very thought of crucifying Christ again, the very thought of causing shame to Jesus, would break our hearts and renew our repentance. So I say for the good of your own soul and for the glory of the Son of God, don't turn away. Third, those who faithfully persevere respond to spiritual blessings by bearing fruit. Those who faithfully persevere respond to spiritual blessings by bearing fruit. Look at it with me in verses seven and eight. For the earth, which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it and bears herbs useful to those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. One author has stated that the Word and Spirit fall upon us like refreshing rains. But one soil receives that and bears fruit, while the other is soaked by the same blessing but bears thorns and briars. This comparison is the same type of comparison that Jesus used in Mark chapter 4. Jesus mentions four types of soils, but three of those soils have something in common. They don't bear good fruit. The fruitful professor is blessed by God. The showers of spiritual blessing fall upon them, and what happens? They hear the Word preached. They know the moving of the Spirit, and their life responds by bearing fruit. Whereas that false professor is a fruitless professor. His life bears thorns and briars. The fruitless professor is in danger of being cursed. And if that fruitless professor persists in that, his end is to be burned. Like a land that would be burned to remove all of the vegetation that is unwanted. So there's a fate that awaits the false and fruitless professor. A terrifying destiny. So there's a question here. When you hear the good word of God, how do you respond? When you experience the truth, when the spirit is at work, how do you respond? Does your life bear fruit? Or do you get stirred for a little bit? Feel a little pang of conscience and then away you go. Back to the mud. back to the vomit. And instead of good fruit being grown, cultivated in your life, it's thorns and briars. It's the same thorns and briars as always. Do you hear the word with faith and heed with obedience? Well, friends, I see that time is fast passing from us. I have three more points, but according to my current trajectory, those three points would take us a little longer. We'll save those for next week. But let, my friends, let these words fall on your heart. Let none of you be like Mark, who heard the word, who had a confession of faith, who for a while looked the part, but in the end revealed the reality of his heart by failing to faithfully persevere. May none of you be like Balaam, who experienced and even proclaimed the Word of God, but died and went to hell. May none of you be like a field that only bears thorns and briars, but may your life bear fruit." And so, my friends, you must faithfully persevere. But I have to say a word to someone here who may not have even taken that first step. Who may not have ever confessed faith in Christ. We have sinned. All of us. God's law reveals that we have not loved God or our neighbor perfectly. And because of that, we deserve God's punishment. But the God who is holy and righteous and has every right to punish us to the full extent of our transgressions, has in love sent His Son to live and to die for us. so that all who will place their faith and trust in Him will be freed and forgiven from those sins. Jesus is better than anything else you might be living for today. As I preach this message, Jesus is better, don't turn back. I want to also preach this message, Jesus is better, step forth in faith to trust in Him. Turn from your sins to trust in Jesus and He will forgive you. And He is able to keep you. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. Will you come to Him today? And for those of you that confess faith, that profess faith in Jesus, keep on going. Jesus is better. Examine your hearts. Do not be content with spiritual immaturity. Don't just spurn spiritual warnings like this. Well, that's for fill-in-the-blank with such-and-such a person that you know. Consider your life. Are you bearing the kind of fruit that is in keeping with repentance? Oh friends, don't give up. Don't give in. Jesus is better.