Well, if we can go to a Baptist church and have a baptismal service, then surely we can sing a good old Baptist hymn, so very good. I want to ask you to turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter six, Hebrews six. We're gonna begin reading in verse number nine. Our focus this morning is gonna be verses nine to 12, although considering other parts of the chapter along the way. Hebrews six, and beginning the reading in verse number nine. But beloved, we're 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 you have showed toward his name, and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that you be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise. Amen. We'll end the reading there at the end of verse 12. Now let's seek the Lord in prayer before we come to consider these verses more closely. Let's pray. Our Father, as we come to this passage, we very freely confess that we need your help. We come to very difficult things this morning that we pray that you would untangle for us and teach us what these things mean. Make this to be a very profitable word to every heart. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Have you ever bought one of those little rubber toys that you're supposed to put in a bathtub or a big thing of water. And you leave them overnight. And they're supposed to absorb all the water. And they're supposed to grow. And they get like, it advertises at the dollar store, they grow 10 times their size. I've never had one get quite that big. But you know what I'm talking about, right? They grow. And it just gets bigger and bigger and mushrooms out. That's kind of the way that I view this passage of scripture that we're going to look at today. We're going to focus on verses 9 to 12. But it's impossible for us to understand these verses without dealing with the whole chapter. We have to expand our view a bit. I sat out my original goal was to preach to you on this phrase, but we are persuaded better things of you. That's where I started. And just like that little rubber toy, I got into it and things kind of got out of control. It's a big passage. Now, I already knew when I turned to Hebrews 6 that Hebrews chapter 6 ranks up there as one of the most difficult passages of scripture in the entire Bible. I'll show you why in just a moment. But it's one of the Gordian knots of the Bible that we have to untangle. Look with me at verse four. 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 the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame." Paul warns here. about the reality of apostasy from the truth. It's possible for a person to know truth, to be surrounded by truth, to be impacted by truth, even to have an emotional response to truth, but yet fall away from that truth. And the warning that Paul gives here is that if someone has tasted the good word of God and they fall away from that, it is impossible for them to be restored again unto repentance. Just ponder that for just a moment. There's a sense in which I hope that you hearing that scares you to death, that you could be so surrounded by truth, immersed in truth, and yet walk away from it. This warning is something that we have to take very seriously. But on the heels of that heavy weight, and even an illustration, look at verse seven and eight. He gives a parable. For the earth drinketh in the rain that cometh often upon it, and bringeth forth herbs, meat, for them by whom it is dressed, those people receive the blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursings, whose end is to be burned. So there's a parable just to illustrate what he just said. This land that it's rained on, but yet it just brings up briars and thorns? It's cursed and rejected. Serious. Can I use the word scary? words from scripture. But right on the heels of that, verse 9, but beloved, we are persuaded better things of you. So he tells the Hebrew believers that he has a higher opinion of them than what he's just communicated about these unbelievers in verses 4-8. He said, I've got a higher opinion of you. He says, in essence, in verse number nine, I paraphrase, although I've spoken this way and I've warned you so seriously about falling away, I don't believe that applies to you. I don't believe you are the ones that are going to fall away. And so he's persuaded of better things. I'm going to say Paul. Paul, I believe, wrote Hebrews. One of the big arguments against Paulian authorship of the book of Hebrews is here in verse 9, where he says, but beloved. It's actually the only place in the entire book that Paul addresses, or whoever the writer is, but I believe Paul. It's the only place in the entire book that he uses this term beloved. It is one of Paul's more favorite words. And so Paul uses that in the epistles often. but it only shows up one time in the book of Hebrews. And that's one of the things that people point to is like, well, Paul didn't write this because Paul normally addresses the believers this way. But he only does it the one time if Paul's the author. But I'm going to say Paul for convenience and also because I think he wrote it. But here Paul's persuaded better things concerning these Hebrew believers because he is persuaded that they possess the true qualities that accompany true conversion. And so the subject that I want to preach to you on this morning is that phrase that I originally intend to preach on. We are persuaded better things of you. So that's a title of my message this morning. We are persuaded or persuaded of better things. I wanna show you three specific reasons why Paul could tell these believers that he was persuaded of better things concerning them. In verse 10, we have the first one. And the first reason that Paul could say that he's persuaded of better things is because of the character of God himself. The very character and nature of God. In Sunday school, we've been dealing with the attributes of God. We just this morning came to a conclusion of our study on the attributes of God. But here the apostle points the believer's attention to God's character. And so verse 10 opens with this massive understatement. God is not unrighteous. Well, of course he's not unrighteous. If there's anything true of God, is that he is righteous. It's the word that we use when we talk about God's justice. God is just. Now in the previous verses, Paul gives this very serious warning about falling away. It's possible for those to fall away. But in verse nine, he's encouraging the believer and the first line of argument that he uses is the fact that God is just. You've all been to Gullions, and you've all looked for, well, maybe even not looked for plaques, but I don't think a one of you have a plaque hanging on your wall at your house that says God is just. You've got a plaque about God being merciful. You know, you send a card of encouragement to a friend, and you go and you find a card that talks about God is love, God is gracious. He's merciful. He's kind. He's gentle. He's caring. He's compassionate. That's normally the attributes we make a beeline to when we want to encourage the heart of our friends, right? We normally don't make a beeline to justice. But that's what Paul does. He goes straight to God is just. He says it in the double negative, but God is just. And that's his first line of argument. And what do we learn from that other than the fact that God always keeps his promises? He's just. He's going to do the right thing. He's not gonna deviate from doing the right thing. He's gonna judge rightly. Those who are not genuine believers, but merely false perfectors, they're going to fall away. And they will not be restored. They will be punished in the end. They will receive the just punishment for their unbelief and their rejection of Christ. They're going to get what is due to them because of their sin. The fact is, they never really trusted Christ in the first place. These are the people from verses 4 to 8. They never really trusted Christ in the first place. They were not genuine believers. Though they were surrounded by the church, though they were surrounded by Christian experience, they were false. Many of you know I like coffee. I don't know if you've ever seen a video of coffee tasting. It's quite a silly kind of thing, I guess. But they have these little cups. And they take a spoon and they put the spoon into the cup. The real coffee tasters, they use a gold spoon because the metals don't react. But they scoop and they slurp it into their mouth. And then that liquid in their mouth, they swish it all around like you would do mouthwash. And then they have another cup and they spit it out. Kind of gross. They slurp it. It aerates all inside their mouth, swish it all around, and they spit it out. They experience coffee, but they don't drink it. They don't take it in. It doesn't become a part of them. They enjoy the experience of it. They can talk to you about all the nuances of the flavor compounds that are there and everything else. But they don't swallow the coffee. They spit it out. And that's these in verses four to six. They are all around the church. They volunteer for VBS. They help in the nursery. They're here, but they're fake. And Paul warns against this. God is just, and those will be punished, eternally so. But there are those that have genuine faith. and God is also just, and that he will give the full reward that Christ has earned for those that trust Christ. You will receive all that Christ has earned for you because God is just. That's what Paul's communicating. God is righteous to forget your sin, but he's also righteous, this verse tells us, to remember your works. Yeah, this is a difficult passage. Look at verse 10 again, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and your labor of love, which you have showed toward his name. This thing, this means that God is going to remember all of these things. He's going to remember everything you have ever done for the Lord. And you'll be rewarded for all of those things. These are things that the Bible tells us here in this verse that accompany salvation. The word accompany there in Greek is where we get our English word echo. In fact, the Greek word is echo. These are the things that echo salvation. They echo the truth of what saving faith really is. And so when Paul says that he's persuaded of better things, he's obviously making a comparison. Better than what? Well, better than the false professors that are in verses 4 to 6. He believes that those that he's writing to are not false professors. He's encouraging his readers by telling them, I don't believe that you're part of that group. I believe that there are things about you that convince me you're not part of that group. You're part of this other group that echoes salvation. And so God will not cast away those that truly are his because God is just. And so the character of God is the first reason that he points his reader's attention to. But verse 10 also has a second reason. The second reason, I've alluded to it already, but the second reason is because of the evidence of true conversion. He says, I see in you the evidence of true conversion. And God is righteous to remember these things. He's not going to forget what you've done. The evidence of true faith. And so Paul, obviously, is not teaching any merit-based salvation here. And so we just jump right to the end, and let's just clear the decks of any confusion here. You are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. You're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. But there is always fruit that accompanies salvation. There's always fruit that goes along with, there's evidence of saving faith. Look at verse 12. He talks there about that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise. They don't inherit the promise by their works. They inherit the promise through faith. And so we just clear the decks of any confusion there. But Paul gives four specific evidences of one who is truly born again. And I want to show you those four. The first one there in verse 10 is good works done in the name of God. So verse 10, God is not unrighteous to forget your work. done that you have shown toward his name. He's not unrighteous to forget your work. These are not good works to be seen of men. These are good works that are just done for the glory of God. If you're truly born again, you have a desire to do something for Christ. You just want to do something for Christ. You're not looking for praise or recognition from men. You don't care if anyone ever finds out what you've done for the Lord. You just want to do something for the Lord. There's a sense of innocence. And you're naive. and just wanting to be used for God, however He would use you, wherever He would use you. You want more than anything else in this world just to be used by God. You want your life to count for Christ. That's what you want if you're born again. The last thing you want to do is just warm a pew on Sunday morning. You despise the very idea of just showing up, warming a pew, and going home. That's not what you're after, because you're born again. It's the reprobate described in verses 4 to 6 that is very happy to just show up on Sunday, play church for an hour, check the box of religion, and go home. Consumers who really never do any work for God. You don't do any work for God because you don't have any heart to do any work for God. You don't have any desire to do any work for God. Because you're just not saved. You've never been born again. Though you're surrounded by religion. Though you have a Bible in four rooms of your house. You're not born again. You have no desire. for the things of the Lord. The American church is full of these types of false professors. But the person who's truly born again, they want to be like that alabaster box of ointment that's just broken and poured out for the Lord, regardless of the cost. It doesn't matter what it costs you. It doesn't matter where the Lord would take you. It doesn't matter where the Lord would send your kids. You don't want to hold on to them and keep them here. You want the Lord to take them up with wings and let them fly to the other side of the world to serve Jesus. Because you're born again, you work for God. J.C. Ryle commenting on another passage in the Gospels, he said, few Christians need the bridle so much as we need the whip. There's very few Christians that you have to pull the reins back and say, hey, slow down. You're serving Jesus too much. That's kind of not a thing. You need the whip. And we need that. But that's the evidence. That's the first evidence of true conversion. You work for God. You have a burning desire in your soul to do something for Jesus. But the second one is you love God. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. If you don't have an authorized version on your lap, the word labor's not in your Bible. It just says love. Labor of love, I believe, is the correct reading. The word kapos. translated as an exhaustive physical exertion. That's the Greek word. An exhaustive physical and mental exertion. It goes beyond the simple word for work that's used earlier. You can work for somebody that you don't care about. You go punch a clock, get a paycheck, and you don't love them. But if you love them, You bend over backwards to get the job done. If you love them, you go the extra mile. If you love them, you'll work yourself to the bone for that guy. But if you don't love them, you're not going to do much. The people in 4th and 6th, like I mentioned earlier, they volunteer for VBS just fine. But to pack up their family and sacrifice everything to move to Africa to serve the Lord? Nah. That's too much. They'll volunteer for nursery, but they're not going to do anything else that will inconvenience them in any way at all. There's no labor of love. There's no heart that loves God, no matter the cost. I wonder if any of us really understands really what it means to demonstrate love for God in this way that Paul's talking about. A love that's so overwhelming that you literally don't care what it costs you. Do anything God tells you to do. You don't care where it takes you. You don't care what it costs you. You're going to serve Jesus. A love that's willing to be inconvenienced A love that's willing to be wronged and slandered without seeking revenge for it. A love that's willing to give up. Paul gives us a description of this at the end of verse 10. in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. You don't really see this in English what's going on, but the first one is past tense. The first word minister is past tense. You have ministered to the saints, to the holy ones. And you continue to minister to the holy ones. You continue to minister. You have an ongoing ministry. This is your heart. This is who you are. This is your character as a believer in Christ. It's the word underneath all of it is the word for a deacon, deacon service. A service in even menial tasks that never... That's what Christ says in Matthew 5, you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. This is what he's talking about. This is evidence. These are the things that echo saving faith, that portray, that demonstrate, that picture true conversion. This kind of work and this kind of love, these are the first two evidences of genuine conversion, genuine faith. And if these things are not true in your life, you're not You're not born again. You're in four to six. Truth. Fall away. That's the point. Verse 11 gives us a third evidence, though. Verse 11. I'll give you the point and then I'll read the verse. The point is the third evidence, a diligent zeal to demonstrate a full assurance of hope. A diligent zeal to demonstrate a full assurance of hope. I lift that point, I just lift it right out of verse 11. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, to the very end, to your dying day. They would continue to demonstrate something that they were already demonstrating. They would continue to do this. Remember, Paul is saying, I'm persuaded of better things of you. I've seen you demonstrating this, and you're going to keep doing it. You're going to continue to demonstrate this hope. This evidence of true conversion, it's a zeal to demonstrate this. You have a very healthy fear of verses four to six. You read v. 4-6. And you feel the weight of it. It's heavy to you. Because you don't want to fall away. And you take this so seriously. And you're careful to make sure that you are demonstrating that your hope is in Christ alone. You're not trusting in self. You're happy for everybody to know that you're relying on Jesus. If you could hold up a sign and walk around with a sign all day, you would hold a sign, I'm trusting in Jesus. You want to demonstrate to everybody you're trusting in the Lord. You stand on top of the mountain and you holler to everybody that'll listen to you, I'm trusting Christ. I have a full assurance of hope in Christ. You say, well, I'm shy. Baloney. If you trust Christ, you are diligent to show to everybody that'll listen, I love Jesus. I'm following Jesus. I'm a child of God. No such thing as undercover. There's no behind the scenes undercover Christians. You're either one or you're not. You pick. Paul tells these people that he's persuaded of better things because he's seen this in them. He's seen this love. He's seen their work. He's seen this diligence and this faithfulness to demonstrate a love for Christ. And then v. 12, a zeal to follow those that have gone on before. That you be not slothful. The word there is for lazy. Don't be lazy. imitators, mimics, that's the word, but mimics of them that through faith and patience inherit the promise. Book of Hebrews, Paul's going to give many examples. The most famous is in chapter 11, that hall of fame of faith. But in this chapter, he's going to drill down our attention and focus specifically on Abraham. So look at verse 13. For when God made promise to Abraham, Because God could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, surely, blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. The true believer is motivated and encouraged by those that have gone on before. They've seen that generation of believers ahead of them. And they're following those that they know to be faithful. And they want to keep following those that they know to be faithful. A little bit different application, but how about we all put this in our pocket? Live a life worth imitating. Live a life for the Lord that's worth following. One day you're going to be the guy up front of the pack. and be the one that people want to follow as you follow the Lord. I know a lot of people I don't want to be like, but I know a lot of people I want to be like. I know fathers in the faith that I look up to, that I see them serving the Lord and owe to serve the Lord like that. Not putting men on a pedestal. That's not what we're talking about here. But just as Paul said, you be a follower of me as I follow Christ. And one of the marks, one of the evidences of true conversion is you have a zeal to follow the Lord and you're following those that follow the Lord. They're your teachers. They're your examples as you follow him. We have evidence of true conversion. We come to a third point here. So Paul has said he's persuaded of better things because of God's character. He's not unrighteous. God is righteous and just to remember your work, your love that you've done for him. These evidences, all these evidences, God is righteous to remember these things, take note of these things. These are the fruits that accompany real salvation. They echo real conversion, is what he's saying. But then there's another reason why he is persuaded of better things, and that is because of the promise of God himself. Now these two points really serve as bookends. We're in many ways overlapping ourselves in talking about the character of God. God is not unrighteous to remember your work. So we're looking at the character of God. Well, on this end, we're also looking at something of the character of God, because God has made a promise. And so we need to go down to these verses 13 to 20, not to read all of them, but we read this already in verse 13 about Abraham and God couldn't swear by anybody greater than himself. There's nobody higher for God to appeal to. And so he swore by himself and Abraham received this promise. Verse 18, look there. that by two immutable things, well, the two immutable things are up in verse 17, God's counsel. Well, that's another word for the purpose of God. So God's purpose and then God's oath. Those are the two things that are immutable. They're unchangeable. His purpose and his oath in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, in which entereth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered. Even Jesus made an high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And so what is this promise? The promise that Paul is appealing to, that causes him to be persuaded of better things concerning these Hebrew believers than the false professors he's already talked about, the promise is the promise of Christ serving as our high priest. That's where he comes to the promise of Christ serving as our high priest. And that's a Paul could be persuaded of better things because everything rests on the certainty of God keeping his promise. And Christ being the sure hope that that promise will be fulfilled. That's what he says in verses 18 to 20. Christ is the sure hope that that promise that God has made will be fulfilled. What stronger ground of assurance can you have than that? Well, there is none. There is no more sure ground of assurance. There is no reason for Paul to be more persuaded than that by itself. that Christ is our forerunner. He's the surety of that promise. Christ has already entered into that place that one day we will enter. Christ is better than all those Old Testament high priests. This morning when we were finishing up Sunday school, we talked about the tabernacle. and the holy place and the most holy place and a little bit of that structure. Well, the high priest in the Old Testament economy, he went into that holy of holies, but he went to a place that no one could follow him there. He could only go there by himself. Nobody could go in there with him until That veil was rent in two. And that middle wall of partition was removed. That Old Testament high priest went where no man could follow. And he went only as a representative of the people. He didn't go as a forerunner. Nobody else was allowed in there. But Christ has entered into the presence of God the Father as our forerunner. And we will follow him into that place. And that's the surety of the promise. And what Paul can say, I'm persuaded of better things of you. You've trusted Christ. He's your great high priest. And he's already entered in. Christ has gone to prepare a place for us. that where he goes, we may go also. It's the only time this word forerunner, it's the only time it's used in the whole New Testament. It's not used anywhere else. In secular Greek, the word was used for a scout army troop that would go ahead of the main army as kind of a reconnaissance team, if you will. They were referred to as the prodromos. The prodromos would go ahead. They would scout the land. They would spy on the enemy camp. How many troops are there? You know, what do we need to do? Well, that word prodromos was also used in the port cities For a smaller boat, something on the order of a rowboat type of a boat, it was referred to as the prodromos. Well, when ships would come to harbor to unload their goods, if the tide was low and more rocks were exposed and it was more difficult for the ship to get into the safety of the harbor, the prodromos would come out and would meet that ship, and the ship would lower its anchor into the prodromos, and it would be taken into the harbor. Obviously, the rope tethered out, you know, however far, whatever it was. But the anchor of that ship would be rowed into the harbor, and then they would throw the anchor off, and so the anchor was in the harbor. The ship was not in the harbor, but the anchor was in the harbor. And the anchor was attached to the rock. And when the tides do what they do and the ship could come in, then the ship would come in safely to the harbor. Or if there were rough seas, whatever was presenting the ship from coming in, the ship was as good as safe because its anchor was already in there. because of the work of the prodromos. Well, Christ is referred to here as the prodromos, that one who is the forerunner, that one who has gone before, that one who has gone before to secure the safety of all those who will come after. And so we have an anchor that's mentioned here, an anchor of the soul. that is both sure and steadfast, that's already anchored into that most holy place where God himself already is. And we follow him there. We will enter in there. And there's the promise. Real picture of what Christ has done for us. You're not safely in heaven yet, but your anchor is. It's already there. And you're safe there. Will your anchor hold in the storms of life? When the clouds unfold their wings of strife? When the strong tides lift and the cables strain, will your anchor drift or firm remain? We have an anchor that keeps the soul. steadfast, sure while the billows roll, fastened to the rock which cannot move, grounded deep and firm in the Savior's love. That's the promise. And that's why Paul can say, brethren, those beloved and persuaded better things of you than those false professors. There's a hope to lay onto. There's an anchor already cast, and so Paul is persuaded of better things. We can rejoice in the character of God, we can rest in that promise, but do you see those evidences in your own heart? Or this morning, would the Lord's convicting voice be, You know, I'm up there in verse four to six. I'm really just playing around. I'm really just playing around. I've tasted. But I walk through the doors and I spit it out. And I come back next Sunday and take a little slurp. And then spit it out. And it's not real for me. Don't fall away. Don't fall away. Keep looking to Christ. You're not gonna see him perfectly. You're not gonna work for him perfectly. You're not gonna love him perfectly. You're not gonna show this diligent display of hope perfect. You're not gonna do any of it right. But heed the warning and don't fall away. Keep looking to Christ and keep trusting him. And by doing this, you and your own heart can be persuaded of better things and confident that you possess Christ. You echo these truths of salvation. You possess Christ and Christ possesses you and you're in him and your anchor is sure and you will not fall away. Persuaded of better things. Amen. Let's close in prayer. My father, this morning we do ask that you would take up your word and write it on our hearts. We pray that you would give us a greater zeal and passion for the things of Christ, that our lives would count for him, and that you would solidify our hearts in this great promise that you have made We're trusting Christ and Christ is already there with you, interceding for us, pleading his merits on our behalf. And so we pray that you'll bless us in this day. Give us the rest our bodies need. Give us the rest our souls need and bring us back again this evening to praise and glorify your name again. We ask in Jesus name, amen.