Turn to Hebrews chapter 6. And let's pray. Dear Father, I pray this morning that you would please move on our hearts. God, I pray that each person here would leave today having a full assurance of hope in you, Lord Jesus, that their heart and soul be anchored in you, Lord, I pray. Please work in a deep way, God, through your word, and give us a clear and proper interpretation that we might hear and obey, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. This portion of scripture is especially personal to me, and I don't like to talk about myself much when I preach, but I will for a couple minutes to start with. And I'll read verse 11 in chapter 6. And we desire that every one of you do share the same diligence to the full assurance of the hope until the end. The Apostle's motive in writing this portion is that they would have assurance, that they would have assurance. And it's my desire also that each one here would have assurance. My desire is not to discourage, but that you would have a full and true assurance of salvation and a strong hope in Jesus Christ. And the reason why that's so personal to me is because I've struggled with assurance in my life at times. quite severely at times because in my twenties I lived in terrible sin and the Lord delivered me and I questioned my salvation for years and it's only been over the past several years and especially in the past four or five years that the Lord and now in the last two or three it's been incredible. The Lord has given me such great amounts of assurance that It's overwhelming to even talk about. And my desire today is that each of you would have a true assurance of salvation. And the funny part about it, if you would have asked me when I was living in sin, I would have told you, I know I'm saved. I know I'm saved because I prayed to receive Jesus. And I did the thing. But then it's interesting, when the Lord delivered me from sin, I believe this is when He truly saved me, is when I started to question and say, why did I get saved? Am I saved? And it's interesting that when I started to walk with Christ, I started to desire to have true assurance, true and biblical assurance, not something that was made up in my mind because of the sincerity of my decision or because of what somebody told me. But I desire to have true assurance. I said, Lord, I want assurance that comes from you. And I desire this morning that each one of you would have that same assurance. And I sincerely believe it's the desire of the writer of Hebrews, as he writes in verse 11, he desires that you would have this full assurance. These things are not written, even in 1 John, which is the great spotlight of the Christian heart. It is written for what reason? That your joy might be full. That you might know that you have eternal life. That's why these things are written. And granted, at times it becomes difficult, because we must warn, and we must warn of this false security or this false assurance, but at the same time it is the desire of the Holy Spirit, it is the desire of the writer of Hebrews, it is the desire of all the writers that our assurance, that we would have a full assurance. And as we go through this today, that is my desire. My desire is that everyone will have a full assurance of the hope until the end. My desire is that all will be fully persuaded of the Christian reward which is heaven and that will be fully persuaded of that in our lives until the end. Not that we will be convinced by any other means but by the means of the word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. For it is the Holy Spirit in Romans 8.16 that bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And in Colossians 2.2 it says that their minds might be comforted being knit together in love unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding. Assurance comes from understanding the riches that we have in Christ and that being our expectation. When that is our expectation, that is where assurance comes from. Assurance doesn't come from me determining how sincere I was At the point of salvation, assurance comes from expecting, an expectation of the riches that we have in Christ. In Matthew chapter 6, no man can steal your treasure when it's in heaven. But when your expectation and treasure is on this earth, it can come, it can go. And the thing that's even scarier is it can be secure and be false. When our expectation are the riches in heaven, And we're looking forward to that. And I wake up in the morning and I say, Lord, I just can't wait to get the full reward of you. That is what brings true assurance. The assurance that a Christian has is anchored in the fact that God has promised and God cannot lie. We'll see that at the end of this chapter in verses 18 and 19. But what has God promised? That's another key point. What has God promised? God has promised at the end of verse 19 that we shall enter into the veil. Enter into the veil. What does that mean? God's promise is that we, through Jesus Christ, because God is faithful, because God is faithful to his word, and we have been fully persuaded of these things, that we do enter into the presence of God. We enter into that which is within the veil. The veil meaning the holy of holies in the temple. The place where God dwelt. The inner sanctuary where the high priest would go. Now Jesus Christ being that high priest and representative of heaven. Heaven is where God is. And all believers have this as their hope. The true Christian hope is that we will one day soon be with God forever. And my friends, I'm sad to say that most people's view of justification and sanctification today is measured by the degree of the sincerity of their decision. And then it's measured by, then sanctification is viewed as, well, if you obey God, he'll give you all these good things on earth. So now I'm saved because I made this sincere decision, and now I grow in having all these benefits that are earthly because I obey God. And it's a twisted view of what God really has for us. But this hope, this hope, this true Christian hope produces something. When our full hope is in heaven, it will be seen in our holy living. And when our hope is earthly, or to escape difficulty, that will be seen in our lack of holiness. And this holiness is primarily seen in verse 10 of chapter 6, which we'll get into at the end of the sermon today. It is seen in how we minister to the saints. Holiness is measured by how you relate to believers. And we see that in verse 10, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. In verse 10, which for you have showed toward his name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. Our labor and love toward God and our ministry to the saints is really one in the same. And we are able to minister to the saints because of this true assurance. true assurance is seen in our ability to minister to others, not just an assurance that says, I know that I know I'm saved because I did whatever. And now I can go on with my life, but a full assurance of hope that is based on the riches that are in Christ. And this hope brings joy and zeal. It's like the difference between the get out of jail free card versus knowing our eternal riches in Christ. In other words, if your assurance is only based on the fact that you will escape hell, then you will never experience the full joy of the assurance of knowing that your treasure is in heaven. That is really the difference between the two doctrines of eternal security and perseverance of the saints. Now the doctrine of eternal security, I believe, is a biblical doctrine, but sorry to say, many have distorted it, have distorted that doctrine. Most of the people who teach the doctrine of eternal security distort the biblical view of true eternal security. We have to talk about eternal security when we get into verses 4 through 6, because the doctrine of eternal security teaches that once you are saved, you can never lose your salvation. which is absolutely true and is a true interpretation of the doctrine of eternal security. But where the distortion comes in is when people start to say, it doesn't matter how you live or how shallow your understanding of the Bible is, as long as you said the sinner's prayer or did whatever, as long as you accepted Jesus, you're all right. And for most people who teach eternal security, They teach that nothing matters. As long as you did the thing, as long as you prayed the prayer, you're saved. And you'll escape hell. Now, if you obey, then God's going to give you all the good things on this earth. And I'm sorry to say, but that's probably 80% of evangelicalism thinks that way. But that's why I prefer to teach the perseverance of the saints. And we see the perseverance of the saints over and over again through Hebrews. He keeps talking about persevering to the end, believing to the end, believing to the end. Even here, a full assurance of hope. What's he say? Unto the end. And that's why I prefer to teach perseverance, because not that eternal security is wrong, eternal security taught in its proper context, It's true, it's even laid out in the 1869 London Baptist Confession of Faith. But in modern day, what eternal security means, if you look into it, you'll see that many mean that you can do whatever you want, as long as you pray the prayer, you're saved. That's what a lot of people mean by eternal security. So that's why I wanted to define that, because the doctrine in and of itself is not wrong. but how it's perceived, I believe by many, is the saints, because of perseverance of the saints, teaches that a true Christian will be kept until the end because of the work of the Holy Spirit because the man has been brought from death to life and now that person will persevere through the worst of difficulties because their hope is in heaven their hope is in the riches of Christ and they rejoice in suffering in Matthew 5, 12 because they know that suffering for the name of Christ brings greater reward. It's what it says in Matthew 5.12. You cannot steal a man's reward, like I've already mentioned in Matthew 6, when his hope is in heaven, and when his life has been transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit. But when a person is told that they are saved because of the sincerity of their decision, and now their life will get better if they obey God, Those are earthly hopes and can be shaken. It is much like the doctrine of the carnal Christian. I believe in the doctrine of the carnal Christian. I don't believe you can not believe in the doctrine of the carnal Christian and be a true Bible student. In 1 Corinthians 3.1, the apostle says, I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto bathes in Christ. that word bathes the same as it is in Hebrews chapter 5 that we went over last week. You read 1 Corinthians 3, he's talking to Christians, but he's talking to those who are carnal. And even in the next three verses in that chapter, he addresses, he calls them carnal and he calls them Christians. But my friends, anyone who is living in carnality, or living as bathes for perpetually living as babes, I guess we could say, should have no assurance. Does that mean that there is no such thing as a carnal Christian? I would say no, it doesn't. I think there can be to someone who's carnal Christian in that terms of how Paul explains it, 1 Corinthians 3. And I believe there can be babes in Christ who are perpetual babes, but they should not have any assurance of their salvation. But because salvation and the assurance of salvation, listen to me, this is an important point, and then we'll get directly into the text as I make this last point. But because salvation and the assurance of salvation have been viewed in one and the same, many have taken these doctrines in 1 Corinthians 3, the carnal Christian, and in Hebrews 5, I'm going to term it, the perpetual babes in Christ. and have assured people who live in habitual sin that they are saved. And in neither of these places is the Holy Spirit commending them or trying to comfort them with these teachings. In both places, in Hebrews 5, read it, and 1 Corinthians 3, the Holy Spirit is not saying those things through the writer to comfort them. He's actually condemning them for it, saying, no, come out of this, grow up. come out of being a babe. And in 1 Corinthians 3, they're being rebuked for it. But what do people do today? They comfort people who live in sin. They say, oh, you're okay. You're a Christian. You're just a carnal Christian. Just like it says in 1 Corinthians 3. You're okay. It's okay if you don't have a lot of understanding. You're just a babe. Just stay that way. You're okay. And the Bible doesn't talk that way. There are carnal Christians. There are babes in Christ. But someone who's a babe in Christ for 20 years should have no assurance of their salvation. And someone who lives in carnality and sin habitually should have no assurance of their salvation. And they should not be given the assurance of their salvation. Because God delivers us from sin. But it's funny to me how people use those two doctrines to comfort people when those doctrines were never used to comfort people. They were actually given to warn people. And to warn them to come out of that. To come out of being carnal. to come out of being a babe and grow up into Christ and so really chapter 6 of Hebrews is an exhortation to the hearers that the writer is going on he's going on to the more meatier doctrines and these babes in verse 14 of chapter 5 they have no discernment they are never moved beyond the basics Are the basics bad? Is milk bad? Absolutely not. Peter says in 1 Peter 2.2, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. Milk is good. Without it, a baby would never be able to grow. Are the foundational truths of the gospel bad? God forbid! They're glorious! But if it's all you have is the foundation, what kind of house do you have? Is a house with only a foundation even useful? So let's start in verse 1 of chapter 6 with these things in mind. I know I just ran through a bunch of doctrines, but I think it's all important. It will help clarify things as we go through these verses. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Therefore, is the first word, or because the babes are still unskillful and the mature have discernment, because of that, in the end of chapter five, let us leave the primary principles of Christ. Not to leave and forget, or to leave with disdain, but to leave and build upon. For five chapters he has been laying the foundation. And obviously in 2.1 and 3.1 of this book, he warns us so strongly not to leave the foundation. So we're not to leave the foundation in the sense of leaving it behind, but we're to leave the foundation as to build upon it. I thought of it as building a house. I worked on a house one time, where we started from the foundation, we poured the floor, we built the walls, we built the whole foundation, right? And when the foundation was complete, and the footings were in place, and the walls and the floor were in place, and the house was starting to come out of the ground, I thought about it. At the end of the day, the foreman gets everybody together and says, okay, tomorrow we're going to leave the foundation, And we're going to go on to work on the first floor. When he says that, do the workers start asking where's the job site? They're not leaving the foundation and going somewhere else. They're leaving the foundation. We left the foundation and we built upon the foundation. And that's what he's talking about. He's not talking about leaving the foundation and going somewhere else. But he's talking about building upon the foundation. Of course not. You would not leave the foundation They know that the first floor goes on top of the foundation. We never leave the foundation in the sense of forsaking it, but the problem today is that many don't have the proper foundation. And in verses 1 and 2, we have the six foundational doctrines. I'm going to run through these quickly. You can preach a whole series of messages on all these things, but we're going to go through them quickly. The first one we're going to go through in a little more detail, then it'll go faster, so stay with me. So, the six doctrines we have here are number one, in verse one, the doctrine of repentance from dead works, Faith unto God is two, of baptisms is three, and laying on of hands is four, and of the resurrection of the dead is five, and of eternal judgment is six. Number one is the repentance from dead works. These Hebrews were in a system of dead works before they came to Christ. They were in a system where they thought that because of their ceremonies and rituals, their sins could be forgiven. We may say that we have never been in a system like that, but don't kid yourself. Everyone on earth is in a system and must repent and come to Christ. Have you repented of thinking that you are a good person? Have you repented of making the sacrifice of Christ a small thing through a system of good works? Have you repented of trivializing the grace of God by thinking that you can earn his favor. Some ask the question, have you repented of your good works, of your dead works? How can we move on when some cannot even discern between good and bad? They're still eating at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Every single thing I did before I met Christ was in direct opposition against him. and was an act of war against God. Whether I was a drunk or whether I was a good, upstanding citizen, that statement is true. Every single thing I did before, I would say, was rebellion against God and an act of war against God that must be repented of. Repentance is the only way a person can come to God. It is a turning from self. There's a turning from self. There's a turning from good self. A turning from bad self. A turning from hard-working self. A turning from lazy self. A turning from pseudo-humble self. A turning from proud self. A turning from ignorant self. A turning from smart self. You must repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe the gospel. To turn from self. to turn from dead works, from the works that I think that I could make myself right with God, which is the thing that holds everybody back. You can talk to some man who's in prison, who's never been to church one day in his life, and I guarantee you, the first few sentences out of his mouth, he'll justify himself. He'll justify himself in one way or another. He's in a system of how he's justifying himself. He's never been to church one day. He needs to repent of that. Every one of us needs to repent of the dead works and understand what is good and bad. You must repent and believe is the second doctrine. Believe the gospel before we persuaded that the promises of God will come to pass. This is to believe. To believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ and him alone for salvation. To repent and believe, the two can never be separated. And after a person comes to repentance and faith, they come to an understanding of baptism is number three. They desire to be water baptized. They make a public proclamation of the inward change. And they also begin to understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit. For John said, I baptize you with water, but Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And I believe that's why it says baptisms. It's understanding both baptisms. Water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit. And it's an obvious progression. Then you come on to laying on of hands. We read today what happened in Acts chapter 13. They laid hands on Barnabas and Paul and sent them out. Laying on of hands in the New Testament is used several times for the sick in Acts 28.2. I'm sorry, 28.8. to ordain the office or for a particular ministry like we read today in Acts 13 and Acts 6, 6 they laid hands on them for the office of deacons. And also in Acts you see three different occasions where they laid the hands on people and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. I personally believe that was unique to Acts because they were filled with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit when they laid hands on them. But the laying on the hand, I think it could represent one who had to do the work of the ministry. But they also laid on hands for the entrance into the church, to be admitted into the church, which I kind of struggle with that viewpoint because I think baptism is what admits someone into the church. But some believe that in the first century, they would lay hands on to admit people into the church, which I guess is historically proven. But either way, it's to do ministry. It's the laying on of hands to do ministry, because you repent, re-believe, baptize, and then you do the work of the ministry. Everybody's called to the work of the ministry. And these last two, of the resurrection of the dead. Now I believe this resurrection of the dead is speaking of the resurrection of Christ, that the believers are raised unto. And I would believe that this resurrection would refer to Christ's resurrection, since the Lord's resurrection has such a predominant part in the beginning of the Church, and should be in the Church today. And that the Lord's resurrection plays a key role in the resurrection of the saints, which makes sense that this fifth point, this fifth foundational doctrine, has to do with the saints. And the sixth foundational doctrine has to do with what? With the unbelievers. And that doctrine is what? Look in verse 2, it says, and of the eternal judgment. This doctrine says that punishment is forever. That God, that the wicked will suffer eternal punishment. But we must move on to these doctrines, or build on these doctrines. All of these doctrines are called the doctrines of Christ. As we've seen at the beginning, we repent because we have sinned against Jesus Christ in doing evil, in trying to justify ourselves. Number two, we believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ for salvation. Number three, we are baptized unto the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ symbolically in our water baptism, and literally baptized into Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Number four, hands are laid on us in a symbolic way to do the work of Christ on the earth. Number five, the saints are raised unto eternal life through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And number six, the believers will be judged and condemned by none other than Jesus Christ. These are the six foundational doctrines of Christ Now are we to leave the doctrines of Christ? No. No, we are to leave the primary doctrines of Christ and go on to the higher principles of Christ. When a child is in first or second grade, what happens? He learns addition. He learns 2 plus 2. Then in second and third grade, he learns multiplication. Then he learns fractions. Then he goes on to high school and he learns algebra and geometry. Then he goes on to college and learns trigonometry. But even in all of his higher learning, he never forgets 2 plus 2 is 4. If he ever does forget that, what happens? Everything else is meaningless. Nothing else makes sense if you don't build on that foundation. He must leave the primary principles of addition in order to move on to the higher principles of math, in order to excel in his field. But he never ultimately leaves the primary principles, or else everything else falls apart. Likewise, we must move on to the higher principles of Christ, and in doing so, we never leave the primary principles. Which brings us to verse 3. And this will we do if God permit. Do what? That we will move on from the foundational principles to the higher principles of Christ. That we will be brought unto further maturity. The Apostle wants to bring us to further maturity. Why? Why does he want to bring us to further maturity? Because those who stay babes lack biblical assurance. And he desires that they have assurance. But not just that, there's something much worse. There's something much worse. Those who stay babes, or live in this state of carnal Christianity, have tendencies to become apostate, and can become apostate. And the apostle is so concerned about that. He's like, I don't want you to become apostate. These others have become apostate. They've already turned. They've already turned away from Christ and gone back to the Judaistic system. And he's saying, I don't want that to happen to you. So move on to maturity. Move on to maturity so that you won't be led astray into apostasy. Into this great falling away. Into this falling away. staying in the state of infancy for long periods of time is dangerous. Because where there is life, there will be growth. And also, where there is a true move of the Holy Spirit, there will always be those unbelievers or false professors who get swept into the movement. If you study revivals, you will see that there is always apostasy where there is a revival. And in the book of Acts was the greatest revival. They say 120,000 people got converted in a short period of time in Jerusalem. In the book of Acts, there was this massive revival. And if you read about revivals, you'll see that what happens is that the revival happens, but then unbelievers get swept into the movement. And then afterwards, you have this apostasy over a period of time. And I believe it's what was happening here. I believe it was one thing that was happening here. But let's move on to these verses in Hebrews 4. Let's read Hebrews 4, 4 through 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they fall away to renew themselves again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. Are these believers that lost their salvation? Of course not. First, because these verses must fit into the New Testament. And the New Testament clearly teaches that God will keep his people, as we already read in Philippians 1.6 earlier in the testimony. But if you look in John chapter, why don't you go to John chapter 10, I think this is an important point on these verses, because these verses are interpreted by many, or at least some, to mean that you can lose your salvation. John chapter 10, verses 28-29 says, And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. There's Jesus speaking, saying that He won't allow it to happen. Then He says, My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. There's Jesus saying, No man will pluck them out of My hand. And the Father is saying, No man will pluck them out of My hand. So salvation is eternal. He's certainly not speaking of those who lose their salvation in this portion. So these people in verses four through six were professing believers that never truly got born again. The writer is warning them and he gives five descriptions of how they were affected by the work of God. They were once enlightened. They tasted of the heavenly gift. They were made partakers of the Holy Spirit. They tasted the good word of God. and they tasted of the powers of the world to come. Four out of the five of these descriptions have to do with experience. The word tasted here figuratively means to experience. The Strong Dictionary tells us that they experienced, they had this experience. And it's what happens in a revival. And it can happen in a small revival. You can have a corporate revival where a church will catch on fire. And unbelievers will see it and be drawn to it. And actually have a Christian experience to some degree. It's not a true Christian experience. But they will experience, have some of the experiences that a true Christian has. And it's not a true Christian experience. Look at these descriptions. They were once enlightened. They had an understanding of the truth. Although it never seemed to go beyond the basics, they did have a true understanding of the gospel. They tasted of the heavenly gift. They had one or more experiences that related to the benefits of salvation. They experienced the benefits of salvation to some degree. And I think it happened even more, like I said, because they were caught up in this massive movement of the Holy Spirit. Number three, they were partakers of the Holy Spirit. This meaning that they partook in the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. They were there, and even received the benefits of the many signs and wonders done by the apostles in their early ministry. Number four, they experienced the benefits of the goodness of God's Word. The Word took some root in their hearts, like in Matthew 13. The Word did take root in their hearts to some degree, but what happened? It was quenched. It did not produce fruit. And number five, they understood and experienced the spiritual world, the powers after, and the spiritual warfare. But even in the midst of all of this, they were not saved. They had all the knowledge and even the experiences, but the true test is that they fell away. What is this falling away? I think this is the key to understanding this portion of scripture. Because we can obviously see that these are pseudo-Christian experiences. These are so close to being true Christian experiences, but they're not. And in that sense, it's a warning that you can have Christian experiences, and not be a Christian, and not be a Christian. I guess we would have to call them pseudo-Christian experiences, so they would not be true Christian experiences. But in this, what does it mean to fall away? And the writer uses two descriptive phrases to describe this condition. Look, in verses 6, if they shall fall away, to renew them again into repentance, seeing they crucify themselves, the Son of God afresh. That's the first description of the falling away. And second, they put him to an open shame. Now we know in the direct context of this writing, what was happening was that the Jews, these Hebrews, what were they doing? They were going back to the Judaistic system. They were going back to the sacrifices. The temple was still intact. And the temple sacrifices were still going on. They were turning away from Christ. They knew about Christ fully. They knew the gospel. They knew the foundational truths. They knew the gospel very clearly. And it was not a wrong view of the gospel. They knew the gospel and they turned away from it to sacrifice for their sins outside of Christ. So they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, number one. And number two, they put the Lord to an open shame. First, they rejected the gospel. Or, having full knowledge of the gospel, and even experiencing its benefits, to some degree, they turn and reject it. They deny the finished work of Jesus Christ. Now, like I said, in the direct context, we see what was happening. as they went back to the animal sacrifices for the atonement of their sin. But in application to us, this falling away is a rejection of the gospel. It is a denying of the person and work of Jesus Christ that was once adhered to. These are apostates. So first, to be an apostate, or to fall away in this sense, you must have a full understanding of the gospel. They understood these six foundational points and they were perceivably babes in Christ, but they were not. They were not babes in Christ. They were apostates. They fell away. And secondly, they put the Lord Jesus to open shame. This means that there is something, that this is something that's not passive. This is not a passive thing here he's talking about. This is something that's deliberate and something that's purposeful. These are people who have thought through the issues, understand the issues, and openly reject Jesus Christ and join his enemies. This is a purposeful act. It is not passive. They put him to an open chain. They thought this through, and they understand the gospel, and they reject it. For those people, there is no repentance. That's what the Bible says. It is impossible, it's very hard to even think about, that there's people where there is no chance for repentance. But it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance. Because they have full knowledge of the truth, they've seen its benefits, they've thought about it, and they've rejected it. They have become reprobate. They will never turn back to Christ. because they have openly rejected him with a full knowledge and experience of the truth. It is impossible for them to be brought unto repentance. Now, we don't know who's in that category. We can't go around and say, well, you're beyond repentance. We cannot determine that, but we know that there is a group of people that are there. The Bible clearly says it, but we don't know who that is, so therefore, preach Christ to everybody. We preach Christ to everybody. And in verses, let's move on to verses 7 and 8. It says this, For the earth which drinks in the rain, that cometh often upon it, and bringeth forth herbs, meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is burned. The same rain falls on the earth, And in some plants it produces fruit that is useful, and in other plants it produces thorns and briars. It's the principle the same Holy Spirit fell in the book of Acts. Right? And the same Holy Spirit falls now. In some people it produces salvation under fruit. And to others it does not. It's why this issue of being a baby Christian is so important. We need to grow up into maturity. into fruit-bearing Christians, lest our knowledge of the gospel and even our Christian experience be nothing more than a game. We need to be protected by growing up into mature Christians. And mature Christians are characterized by three things, but I want to make this point. This is why we are encouraged to grow up into Christ, so that we won't be led into apostasy, so that we won't have a lack of assurance, so that we will have a full and true biblical assurance, and so that we will not be led into this apostasy that is sweeping across our country, that has swept across our country, and is still sweeping across our country. We need to grow up into mature Christians, that we would be protected from this, that we would have discernment, that we would love the saints. And we see these three characteristics here in this chapter of those who are maturing. Those who are maturing, number one in 514, which brings us to the former chapter, it says, by discernment, having their ability to discern spiritual from carnal. So, I added that spiritual from carnal, but able to discern. The mature are able to discern. They're able to discern good from bad, like I've already mentioned. But then, those who, in our verses, let's look in 9 and 10. But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward his name, and that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." They're characterized by two more things here. First, they show love towards God, or a desire to bring glory to his name. You see it in that verse. And secondly, that is shown, their love to bring glory to God's name is shown in the ministry toward the saints. These babes in Hebrew 5, these carnal Christians in 1 Corinthians 3 are characterized by an occupation with self, with a concern for their own welfare in a wrong way. But those who are maturing and are starting to bear fruit and are bearing fruit, work and labor because of love. They work and labor because of love. Look in 1 Thessalonians, this chapter, I don't know how to read the whole chapter, it's only a few verses, maybe go to 1 Thessalonians. You see the perfect example of this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. We could start in verse 3. It says, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we are among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye are examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. And from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God is spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show unto us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. But look in verse 3, they had this ministry, this work of faith and this labor of love. This work of faith and labor of love. Do you lack assurance? Do you feel that you could be swept away? Mature. Love God, love His people. Are you worried that you may be in this infancy state? And in danger of apostasy, there is a simple yet profound answer. There is a simple yet profound answer. Lift up your eyes. Stop looking to yourself. Stop looking to yourself. Lift up your eyes. It is a simple answer. Look unto why we are here. Why are we here? We are here to bring glory to God. Lift up your eyes. And that glory is seen in Jesus Christ. That He came for us. That He showed us this love. And that love transforms us. And causes us to love God. And then causes us to love and serve the saints. Maturity, like I said at the beginning, is seen in how we minister to the saints. I don't know how else we can measure it. Because in 1 John or however, it's equated as one and the same. As to love God's people and to love God. Do you want to mature? Love God and serve His people. Love God and serve His people. That is maturity. Lift up your eyes. Do not look to yourself. Look in two directions. Look unto Jesus. who's the anchor of our soul at the end of this chapter, and then look! Look at the people sitting next to you! They have needs! Each person in this room has needs! Can we only see our own? Or do we see the needs of the saints, and we minister to the saints? That's what the mature do. Do you want to mature? Minister to the saints. Minister to the saints. Those who are looking to Jesus will always be looking to the needs of others. A person who is self-occupied is not in fellowship with Christ. The one who is in fellowship with Christ is concerned for others. Do you want to grow unto maturity? Then put away the childishness of self-occupation and serve and minister unto the saints. because of our love for our precious Lord, because of His love for us. Nothing brings more assurance than a laid down life, a laid down life for the glory of God and for the edification of His people. We must go on to maturity as Christians, and that maturity is seen As we look away from ourselves, we lift up our eyes and we see Christ and His love for us. And because of that, we love Him. And because of that, we love the saints and minister to the saints. You see that in the Thessalonians. Read the whole first book of Thessalonians. The apostles edifying them for that. You see that over and over again. If you want to move on to maturity and escape This apostasy that is sweeping people, that is sweeping our nation. Serve the saints. Serve the saints. Take your eyes off yourself. Serve the saints. Serve God. Love God. Learn how to see Christ and what He's done for you and believe the promises of God. And you'll be delivered and mature into a fruit bearing Christian. And you'll have true assurance. And you will not be in danger of being swept into this apostasy. And that's my desire for each of you today, is that you will not be led into apostasy, and that you will have a great confidence and assurance in our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. So let's pray. Dear Father, I just thank you for your word. It's so very humbling that you would Lead us away from the things, God, that we would so naturally be drawn into, God. And you so graciously lead us unto your Son. You so graciously lead us unto a love for you, God, and a love for others, which is the true sign of maturity, Lord God. And I pray that it would be in each of us, Lord. I pray that we would go on to maturity, Lord. that we would have true assurance and a full assurance and a hope until the end. And I pray for those here, Lord, who do lack assurance. I pray, God, if those here who are not saved, that you would save them, Lord. And for those who are saved and need assurance, I pray, Lord, God, that you would give it to them. Lord, that they would have this great hope and joy and zeal because of the expectation of the riches that we have in Christ. And I pray that that would be for each of us, for your glory, in Jesus' name, Amen.