All right, we're here in Hebrews chapter 6, and the name of the sermon is Hebrews chapter
6 verses 4 through 6 Explains.
Now Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6 is one of the most controversial passages in the entire
Bible, and it's an important passage for us as soul winners because outside of James 2,
I think Hebrews 6 is probably the biggest thing people will tell us about soul winning,
like yeah, but the Bible says you can lose your salvation in Hebrews 6.
And I would say probably of questions about the Bible I've had over the last six years
of ministry, Hebrew 6 is probably the number one thing that people have asked me about
like pastor, you know, I ran into somebody out soul winning, and this is what I told
them.
Is this a good explanation?
What do you think this is about?
And so since I get asked about this a lot, I just wanted to preach a whole sermon on
it, just to kind of explain to you what my view is about this topic.
And so obviously when people say you can lose your salvation, we know that's wrong because
the Bible says I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
So before I really show you what this is actually talking about, I want to try to help us figure
out how do we explain to somebody out soul winning if they bring this up, okay?
So let me just read you Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6 and then we'll talk about it.
Verse 4, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted 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 again
unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an
open shame.
And people turn here and say, well see, they're going to be somebody saved, and then they
fall away, they lost their salvation.
And this is a common passage people often turn to to bring this up.
They'll say, well it says they can fall away after being saved.
Now of course we realize you cannot lose your salvation, but when I'm going out soul winning,
I'm not going to spend an hour explaining what I believe this passage is about to somebody
at the door.
I'm going to give them a quick and simple explanation where if they just have an honest
question I can basically just answer that and they can still get saved, right?
I mean if I have to spend an hour on this one verse, you're never going to finish the
Gospel.
And so the first thing I've said to people before in the past when they bring this up,
and if they just want to argue with me, I'm not going to waste my time, but if they just
have an honest question about this passage, I'll say, well you know I showed you clear
verses like John 3.16.
You know we saw a lot of clear verses, John 3.16, Romans 6.23, these are very famous and
clear verses, and I said this is a passage there's a lot of different opinions because
it's not the simplest passage.
So I said we ought to stick to what's clear, whosoever believeth has everlasting life according
to the Bible.
But I will say to them that if this is saying you can lose your salvation, it's also saying
that you can never get that salvation back.
Because if this is saying that you lose your salvation by falling away, it says in verse
4, it is impossible.
So if somebody falls away, verse 6, it's impossible to be renewed again under repentance.
So basically you're saying if you can lose your salvation, that's saying you can never
get saved again.
Is that what you believe?
And they're like, well no, of course you could be renewed again under repentance.
It's like okay, well then maybe that's not what this passage is talking about.
Because if this was saying you could lose your salvation, it would also be saying you
cannot get saved again because it's impossible to be renewed again under repentance.
And obviously nobody believes that.
Everybody who thinks you can lose your salvation thinks it's possible to come back to God.
But if this is saying you can lose your salvation, it's impossible to come back to God.
And nobody believes that.
Now obviously we know that is the wrong interpretation, that you can lose your salvation.
It's probably the most common interpretation out there.
But obviously we realize that's wrong because we know you cannot lose your salvation.
Outside of that, I'd say that I've heard basically three interpretations.
And one of those interpretations that I kind of liked when I first got saved, because when
I first got saved I wanted to be able to answer questions on salvation, and I didn't really
necessarily care what everything in the Bible said.
I just wanted to be able to answer those that were saying you could lose your salvation.
But you know what I heard people say is, well, this is just a hypothetical situation
that if it were possible to lose your salvation, then you would never get it back.
So it's actually proving eternal security.
And I like that explanation when I first got saved, but that's not a good explanation to
this passage because it is possible to fall away according to this passage.
And so I would say that, you know what, I don't think we should read the Bible just
to try to be able to answer certain things.
We should really just stop and ask ourselves, what are these passages actually saying?
What does it actually mean, rather than just trying to come up with the best answer for
whatever our goal might be, right?
So this passage, Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6, that kind of leaves us with two big interpretations.
One interpretation is that they're saved people.
A second interpretation is that it's referring to reprobate.
So saved or reprobate, so very different interpretations.
And of course there can be kind of subsets or different opinions and certain verses or
phrases within this.
But what I've heard basically from people is either it's saved people or it's referring
to reprobates.
And what I would say is that a lot of good people have different opinions on this.
I know people on both sides of the fence here, and I don't think it's the clearest passage.
And so, you know, I'm not trying to be critical of other people that have a different opinion.
In fact, you might hear this sermon here today and search the scripture for yourself and
not agree with me, and that's perfectly fine.
Because honestly, this is not really a difference in a doctrinal opinion.
It's just a difference of an interpretation of a couple verses.
I mean, all of us here, we believe salvation is by grace through faith, and we believe
there's strong warnings to Christians that live godly.
And you know, if you're at this church for a while, you probably believe in the reprobate
doctrine too.
So we believe the same doctrines.
It's just a different interpretation in this one passage.
Now, in this passage, I believe this has saved people.
I do not believe Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6 is referring to reprobates.
And I'm going to give you kind of the other side during the sermon, kind of, you know,
the arguments they would give, and I'll admit, I do believe that there are good arguments
on the other side.
I've heard people preach sermons, and I think they make a lot of good points.
It's just not the conclusion I've come to.
I believe this is referring to saved people.
Now, before you're looking at a certain passage, Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6, you probably
need to start before the confusing passage to get the context, right?
So let's start back at verse number 1 of Hebrews 6.
Verse number 1, therefore.
Okay, well now, we've got to go back to chapter 5, because therefore connects whatever was
being talked with, and the context is still going.
When the Bible was written, there were no chapters and verses.
There was basically just, you know, the book of Genesis, the book of Exodus.
I love the chapters and verses, but I think one mistake people make sometimes when they're
reading the Bible or studying it, they think that the end of the chapter is the end of
the thought.
Now, that's true with a lot of chapters, I mean, it's true for books like Psalms and
Proverbs and certain books of the Bible, certain chapters are like that, but a lot of times
the thought is still going on as you start the next chapter, and when the first word
is therefore, the context is still going on.
Can we agree on that?
So the context at the end of chapter 5 is the same context at the beginning of chapter
6, okay?
So let's go back to chapter 5, and let's start at verse number 10.
The Bible says, called of God and high priests after the order of Melchizedek, of whom we
have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing your dull of hearing.
Now, I believe when he says that things that are hard to be uttered, I don't think he's
saying it's hard to be uttered because they're confusing.
I think he's saying it's hard to be uttered because it is a hard truth, it's hard preaching,
and basically it's very offensive because what I believe in Hebrew 6 is it's a strong
warning on saved people to get right with God and start serving God, and so he's saying,
hey, you know what, it's hard to be uttered, why?
Because you don't want to hear what I have to say, okay?
Now, I do believe it's a deep passage, I just don't think that's what Hebrews 5 and 11 is
actually referring to.
I think it's referring to the fact that it's a hard truth that's coming out.
So let's go to verse number 12.
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye need that one teach you again, which be
the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk,
and not of strong meat.
So he's saying to this group of people, he's like, you ought to be a teacher, but you still
need the principles of the oracles of God.
He said, you have need of milk and not of strong meat.
And what he's bringing to our mind is like a newborn baby, right?
A newborn baby, physically speaking, what is it that they eat or drink when they're
first born?
Milk.
They survive on only milk, right?
You're not going to put a piece of chicken or piece of steak in front of a newborn baby,
they're not going to be able to eat it, right?
And they're exclusively on milk, at least for a time period, and at certain stages,
every parent has different opinions when you introduce other foods into their system.
But even when you introduce other foods, it's not like you can just throw a piece of chicken
in front of them, and they're going to hold the fork and the knife and start cutting it
themselves.
You've got to do that and cut it into really small pieces, right?
And then you've got to make sure you're giving them water, make sure they're chewing and
swallowing and all those things.
They're not ready to digest the meat, physically speaking.
Well what he's saying to them spiritually is, you're not ready for the meat of the Word.
He's like, you've been saved for a long time, you ought to be a teacher because you've been
saved for a long time, but you're not ready for the meat.
You still need the milk, you still need the basics that you should have learned years
ago.
It'd be like, for example, if you were at this church for 10 years and you're still
like a spiritual babe in Christ, it's like, man, it's time to move on to the meat.
It's time to grow spiritually mature.
Because physically speaking, if a child is still exclusively on milk when they're 10
years old, something is wrong.
Something did not go right.
Or if a child cannot take care of themselves, you expect them as they get older to start
taking care of themselves, right?
And of course that happens where kids have disabilities and everything, I get that, but
here's the thing, what he's saying spiritually is, you know what, if you've been saved for
a while, it's time to quit being a babe in Christ.
It's time to be spiritually mature.
It's time to move on to the meat and not just be a spiritual babe in Christ.
Then he says in verse 13, for everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe.
A babe meaning a babe in Christ.
But strong meat belongeth to them who are of full age, even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
What is the context at the end of Hebrews 5?
I think there can be no doubt it's baby Christians.
I mean, I think we would all agree on that, right?
It's clearly baby Christians, newborn babes, they've been saved for a while, but they're
spiritual babes because he's saying you ought to be a teacher because you've been saved
for a while, but you're not, right?
It's kind of like if somebody first starts coming to our church, of course everything's
new.
They start off as a silent partner.
They're figuring out how to read the Bible, develop a prayer list, and all those things.
But if you've been here for a while, you know, you don't want to be a silent partner for
years and years and years.
You want to start being able to teach the other people that are with you, hey, this
is how you explain it, this is what you do, and you're the one talking, not being the
silent partner.
You ought to be a teacher at some point, right?
That's the context at the end of Hebrews 5.
And of course my contention is that context never gets broken as we're in Hebrews 6.
That is still about baby Christians as you get through verses 4 through 6.
Verse number 1 of Hebrews 6, it says, therefore, okay, so the same context, therefore, the
context of being a baby Christian, so he's kind of moving on from this idea, baby Christians,
therefore, as a result of me talking about baby Christians, therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go under perfection.
He's saying instead of just being on the very basic and fundamental things, it's time to
go under perfection.
It's time to go under completion.
It's time to go under maturity.
It's time to be more well-rounded and be more spiritual.
Then he's going to give us a big list of foundational or principle doctrines, okay, things that
you learn at the very beginning.
Verse 1, he says, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith
toward God.
When a person gets saved, what do they do?
They quit trusting in their dead works, and they change their mind and believe on Christ,
right?
So verse 1 is telling us getting saved.
That's as foundational and as principle of a doctrine as you can possibly have, because
if you're not even saved, how are you going to understand the rest of the Bible, right?
So it starts with salvation, right?
I mean, that's the principle doctrine.
You repent of your dead works.
You quit trusting in your works that could never save you, and you repent of that and
put your faith on God.
Now, it's not saying that you quit drinking and quit smoking.
It's saying that you quit trusting in these things.
You quit trusting in these dead works, and you put your faith on Jesus Christ for salvation,
right?
Now, of course, that is, of course, the big foundational doctrine, because the Bible says
when you get saved, other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is
Jesus Christ.
So that is the foundational thing.
You get saved, and you've got that foundation of Jesus Christ.
And you've got a foundation that is perfect.
You've got a foundation that has no problems.
You've got a foundation that nothing will ever go wrong, because in Jesus Christ, you
know you are eternally secure no matter what you do in the future.
Whether you're good, whether you're bad, whether you stay faithful, whether you don't, you
are eternally secure.
You've got a perfect foundation, okay?
Another very basic doctrine that you learned pretty early on is of the doctrine of baptisms.
And baptism is a pretty foundational doctrine, a pretty early doctrine that you learn.
So the first step of obedience after getting saved, we say, is what?
Baptism.
And, you know, here's the thing.
When people first get saved, they don't usually understand what baptism is.
You know, I grew up Protestant where you get sprinkled as an infant.
So I remember it was maybe eight months after I got saved, and my pastor said, he's like,
hey, did you want to get baptized sometime?
And I was like, oh, I was baptized as a baby, right?
I just didn't have any idea because nobody had ever taught me.
And then he explained, he's like, oh, no, this is what the Bible says.
I was like, oh, I need to be baptized.
Why is it I didn't know that?
Because I was a babe in Christ, right?
I didn't know that much about the Bible.
My pastor showed me.
It's like, well, you need to be baptized, right?
Not to be saved, obviously, but why do we get baptized?
Well, the reason why you get baptized, the reason why you go under the water and come
up is because you're showing the world, I believe in the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus, right?
Now the Jehovah's Witnesses, they don't believe in a bodily resurrection of Jesus.
So you know, if they took that logically forward with their baptism, it would be they believe
in the death, burial, and then they just keep them there, right?
But we do believe in the resurrection of Jesus also, okay?
And so the Bible says of the doctrine of baptism, of course, baptism is a very basic, foundational
thing you learn after you get saved.
I'm sure everyone would say, hey, that's one of the first things I learned after I got
saved.
It's like, oh, I should get baptized to show the world I believe, okay?
And of laying on of hands.
I'd imagine in the early church there was a lot of churches being started as Christianity
is skyrocketing, and of course there would be the need to explain, hey, this is how churches
get started.
You have someone who's biblically ordained, and they lay hands on someone and then ordain
them for that position to send them in the ministry, whether ordained as an evangelist
or a pastor, whatever it may be, but it's by laying on of hands.
It's not just, hey, I'm going to start a church on my own, right, or I'm going to go to Bible
college for four years.
No, it's by laying on of hands.
That's a pretty foundational doctrine, especially if a lot of churches are getting started where
if you're at the church you're seeing people being ordained in the ministry, right?
And of resurrection of the dead.
I mean, this is a very foundational, basic thing.
I mean, I don't believe this is really referencing Jesus rising again, but the fact that Jesus
rose again teaches us that we are also going to get the glorified body.
We have that promise, Romans 8 talks about that, and we're going to get that glorified
body at the rapture.
And if you've been in our church for years, you already know that.
You realize, you know the Bible teaches, at the rapture, the dead in Christ shall rise,
right?
We sing songs that are based on this.
So it's a very foundational doctrine.
It's like, you know, when you die, it's your soul that goes to heaven or hell, but then
one day you're going to get that glorified body, and that takes place at the rapture.
Whether you're dead or alive, we'll meet in the air and we get the glorified body.
And of eternal judgment.
And you know, eternal judgment, you can think of the fact there's obviously hell you could
think of.
You could also think of this as the great white throne judgment, where unsaved people
one day will be judged for all the sins they committed, and they'll be tormented more based
on the more sins that they committed, right?
I think we'd all agree that verses 1 and 2 give us very basics in Christianity, right?
And then it says in verse 3, and this is what we do if God permits.
What will we do if God permits?
We will go on to perfection, right?
That's the context that we're talking about.
What we will do if God permits is go on to perfection.
You say, well, why does it say God permit or God allow?
Well, it's kind of like we say, hey, you know, we're going to have soul winning this afternoon,
Lord willing, or if the weather permits, right?
And you know, it's what you always do.
We're going to have a soul winning marathon, you know, the Lord willing, God willing, you
know, I'll be at church next Sunday, God willing.
But we realize sometimes things can come up or whatever, so it's just kind of like a part
of speech that you use, that's what it's referring to, that we're going to go on to perfection
if God permits, if God allows.
And of course, God wants you to grow, so God wants you to be in church and grow and learn
these things and become well rounded, okay?
Now you know, I've listened to several sermons from people that look at this passage that
we're going to look at as referring to reprobates, and I'm not sure if they all believe the exact
same thing, so I don't want to try to misaccurately represent them.
I don't know if they all believe this, but a lot of them would agree with everything
I just said, but what they think is verse 4 is the change of context to reprobates,
whereas I don't believe that there's a change.
I don't know if everybody who teaches that believes that.
I know a lot do, though, that in verse 4 there's a change of context where basically, let us
go into perfection, let's not talk about basic things, now let's just talk about the reprobate
doctrine that's really deep.
Now first off I would say this, that I think that would be the most random writing style
ever in any book of the Bible.
If you've got one congruous thought, let's go on to deep things, let's just talk about
this doctrine called reprobates, which it doesn't fit with the context of anything we're
looking at.
I think that would be very strange, personally, but if you disagree, that's perfectly fine.
But I think the context is still about baby Christians.
What I believe takes place is that in verses 4 through 6, you have reason number 1 why
you should go into perfection, and starting at verse number 7, you have reason number
2 you should go into perfection.
You say, well, why do you say reason number 1?
Well, what's the first word in verse 4, or verse opot, 4, f-o-r?
That is also a word that connects what's being talked about, and I think the logical, simple
way to see this connection is, okay, here's a reason, 4, why should I go into perfection?
Here's reason number 1.
And then verse 7, what's the first word of verse 7?
4.
Here's reason number 2.
I think a mistake people make is they think verses 4 through 8 is referring to the exact
same thing, but it's not, because you have that word for them against verse 7.
That's reason number 2.
Reason number 1 is starting at verse number 4, okay?
And so the other side would say this when it says, for it impossible for those who were
once enlightened, they would highlight that there's a change from this will we do if God
permit to for it is impossible for those, making a distinction between we and those.
What I believe is in Hebrews chapter 5, Paul is basically criticizing them for being baby
Christians, and then he is referring to Christians, those saved people, and he lumps himself in
and he talks about, you know, let us go into perfection, because all of us need to become
more spiritual and more mature, and then basically as he's talking to these people, he's given
an example of saved people that are not going on to perfection, and he's like, it's impossible
for those.
Later on he says, I'm persuaded better things of you, but I think that's an exhortation
and encouragement, saying, hey, I'm confident you will start reading the Bible.
I'm confident you will start growing in your faith.
That's the way that I see the distinction being made here, but the other side would
say there's a distinction there in verse 4, and now it's talking about reprobates.
So let us read these phrases here in verse 4.
And actually before I read all of these phrases, I want you to realize the context of what's
being said, because we can get bogged down by verse 5 and most of verse 4.
This is really what's being said in verses 4 through 6, for it is impossible if they
shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance.
Do you see that?
So basically you take the first four words of verse 4, and then he goes on and on with
examples, being enlightened, heavenly gift, partakers of the Holy Ghost, taste of the
good word of God, the powers of the world to come, but what he's really saying is it
is impossible if they shall fall away, this group that he mentioned, to renew them again
unto repentance.
But there's all these phrases that kind of go in more detail about what he's saying.
As I said, I believe this is a reason why you should go into perfection and become spiritually
mature.
And reason number one that he's giving here is because of the fact that foundation is
not going to be relayed.
You have a perfect foundation of Jesus Christ, essentially you only get saved one time, and
so there's no need to try to relay the foundation over and over again.
Let me help you understand what I'm saying.
Let's say somebody's at our church, and they backslide, they become a drunk, and they get
kicked out of church, and they decide they want to come back to church.
Okay?
They used to go soul-willing, they used to read the Bible, they become a drunk and leave
church, and they say they want to come back, and I tell them, okay, you know, you've gotten
rid of this sin.
They say yes.
They're like, okay, well let me just have a short conversation with you before you come
back to church.
So I sit down and talk to them, and I say, okay, Romans 3.23, for all of sin to come
short of the glory of God.
Did you know that we're all sinners?
We come short of God's glory.
Romans 3.10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
You know, nobody always does right.
And because we sin, there's actually a punishment after we die, heaven or hell.
They're going to look at me like, why are you explaining this?
Because there's no point of laying the foundation when the foundation's already laid.
It's not that they weren't saved, I mean, they're saved, and it's like, there's no need
to lay that foundation.
You know, and so on an individual basis, one way you should take this is, in your life,
realize you've got to move on to more things.
You've got to become spiritually mature.
Don't be the person that's constantly being spoon-fed by Pastor Stuckey to learn things.
You need to read the Bible and learn for yourself.
And I mean this with all sincerity that most of what you learn in the Bible should be from
your own personal time with God.
And I have learned great things from a lot of great men of God, but I can honestly say
that most of what I've learned in the Bible is from my own personal study and reading
it.
And you're only going to get so much in sermons, and you're only going to hang on to so much
information.
You might hear something, like, that makes a lot of sense, and then you forget it six
months later.
But if you do it in your own personal study, it just kind of sticks with you, right?
Because on an individual basis, you need to go into perfection.
But in terms of me being the pastor of this church, I don't believe somebody can lose
their salvation.
If I thought that you could lose your salvation when you live a sinful life, you know what
I would do every single week?
I would preach on salvation.
I would relay that foundation because of the fact it's like, well, you might have lost
to this last week.
I've got to explain the gospel again.
And isn't that true with a lot of churches?
Because a teacher can lose your salvation, they lay their false foundation every week.
They give the gospel every single sermon is about somehow tied or another with salvation
pretty much.
But the thing is, I'm not worried about your salvation.
Yeah, obviously in a big church there might be a couple people that maybe they're just
visiting, maybe they're not saved, or maybe they're phonies or whatever.
But the vast majority of people in this room are saved, so I don't need to just preach
a 20-part series on salvation.
From time to time I preach on eternal security, from time to time I preach on salvation, but
not that often because of the fact we lay that foundation every single week.
We're going to be laying that foundation in about two hours, as long as the sermon is
not, you know, very long, right?
We'll be laying that foundation.
We lay it every single week, so I'm not worried about your eternal security.
So you know, as the person who's preaching and leading, it's like, hey, I don't need
to lay that foundation every week because it's impossible to lay that foundation again
because you've already repented from your dead works and put your faith in Christ, right?
But let's look at all these phrases that are mentioned.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, okay?
Obviously being enlightened is a good reference to a person getting saved.
You know, you're lightened with the gospel, Jesus Christ, that lighteth every man that
cometh into the world, but it's a great terminology for a person who gets saved.
It says here, 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.
Now two of these references mention taste or tasted, okay?
Now obviously when you're reading verses four and five, if you were to look at each of these
references alone, it would sound like somebody getting saved.
I don't think anybody would dispute that.
I mean, it sounds like somebody getting saved or sounds like someone who is saved.
It's like, tasted of the heavenly gift, sounds like somebody that received eternal life.
Sounds like they received the gift of eternal life.
Made partakers of the Holy Ghost.
It sounds like someone that's indwelled with the Holy Ghost because they got saved.
Have tasted the good word of God is, you know, basically like hearing preaching.
If you're at a church, you've tasted the good word of God, because he's saying you need
to go into perfection.
You've had the opportunities to grow, you just haven't.
And have tasted, and the powers of the world to come.
Now what's often said from the opposing view is that each of these phrases on their own
could be referring to someone who doesn't get saved.
I don't necessarily agree with that, but here's what I would say, that if you look
up taste, tasted, tasteth, or tasting every time in the Bible, that there's without dispute
and over 95% that you would arrive at the same conclusion that these are people that
got saved.
It's kind of like earlier in the book of Hebrews that he tasted death for every man.
That doesn't mean that he's like, I'm thinking about dying for everybody, but no.
And if you look up every reference in the book of Hebrews, there's not a dispute with
the definition of taste.
And even if you tasted the heavenly gift for a short time, you still had the heavenly
gift the way that I see that.
But here's the thing about this, you can look at verse 5 where it says, and have tasted
the good word of God.
Well, if you're hearing sermons, you're tasting the good word of God.
Now you might decide that you don't want to keep listening to the preaching, but you got
a little bit of the word of God when you're hearing the preaching or when you read the
Bible.
So you tasted of it at least for a time period.
I would say the same thing with the heavenly gift, that you had it at least for a time
period.
If you had it for generations forever, it's like you had it forever, even though you're
not growing.
And so I believe what he's saying here is, hey, you were enlightened, you were saved,
you tasted the heavenly gift, you're indwelt with the Holy Ghost, you have the eternal
salvation, the gift of eternal life, you're indwelt with the Holy Ghost, and you're hearing
the word of God preached and the powers of the world to come.
You know about the soul winning, you're learning all these great doctrines, and yet you're
still a babe in Christ.
And it's like a strong warning to those that are hearing good preaching and are saved,
where it's like, hey, you need to grow spiritually.
Now obviously, we can't see how tall or big any of us are spiritually, but it's like if
you've been saved for 20 years and it's like you look like a newborn infant spiritually,
it's like it's time to grow up.
It's time to become spiritually mature and you're saved and you've tasted the good word
of God, you've heard these sermons, it's time to be a doer of the word and not a hearer
only, okay?
And we're made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and actually, let me just, you know, when
it comes to taste, Hebrews 2.9 is a reference to tasting death for every man, which clearly
means he died for everybody.
You don't have to turn to Hebrews 2.9, you can write that down.
But when it says Jesus tasted death for every man, he clearly died for everybody.
We're not Calvinists, right?
When you look at the phrase, and we're made partakers of the Holy Ghost, yeah, it's true
that the Holy Ghost does try to draw people to salvation that are unsaved, and he has
a work in people getting saved, but if you were to look up the word partaker, any form
of that word, every time it appears in the book of Hebrews, which is Hebrews 2.14, Hebrews
3.1, Hebrews 3.14, Hebrews 12.8, and Hebrews 12.10, then you're gonna come to the conclusion
that partakers of the Holy Ghost is referring to people that are saved, right?
Now here's the thing about this, obviously when we compare spiritual with spiritual,
we can look at the entire Bible, but a better way is to start with the same book that you're
in.
And what I would say is, if you want to study this out, you know, you should really read
the entire book of Hebrews, and really look for the wording and terminology, look at the
context.
Because I gave you the basic context leading into Hebrews 6, but if you really want to
get like an overall good view of what the context is, then you're gonna read the whole
book.
And what makes it tricky is Hebrews is not the simplest book, it is a bit of a confusing
book, right?
Now I will say this, I'm not gonna go there for the sake of time, but this is not the
only warning in the book of Hebrews that is a really strong warning to Christians.
Remember where the Bible says, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins?
And it talks about the fiery judgment, so it talks about fire in reference to save people.
So here it talks about fire, that doesn't mean that they're going to hell, because the
Bible uses that terminology and that reference as a warning to quit being a useless branch
or a twig that needs to be burnt up because you're doing nothing, right?
But it says here in verse number 6, if they shall fall away, and you know, by the way,
at the end of the sermon we're gonna look, there's actually a parallel passage with Hebrews
6, and you're gonna see a lot of the same wording, and you're gonna see that same phrase
fall away.
But the Bible says here, if they shall fall away, that's a synonym to backsliding, right?
So for example, if somebody backslides, they fall away, that's the terminology that we
would use for backsliding of a saved person.
If they shall fall away, to renew them again under repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh and put into an open shame.
Now I would say that, you know, the way I understand this and the way somebody who has
the opposite view would understand this, they would both congruently fit in verse number
6, because when it says seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, well
if we're saying you're not laying the same foundation, you're only getting saved once,
if you were getting saved a second time or you had to have a second foundation laid because
you lost your salvation, well Jesus would have to die for you a second time, right?
And so if it's only one time you're getting saved, then forever you got that foundation,
and if you were gonna get saved a second time, then you'd be crucifying the Son of God afresh
because he's like dying for you twice.
The way that other people see this is it's saying someone who gets all the opportunities
to hear the Word of God, they hear the gospel, they hear the preaching, they think about
it, they consider it, they taste of it, but they decide not to take it, and then basically
they become a reprobate and it's impossible to be renewed again under repentance, meaning
they have no chance to actually end up believing on Christ and getting saved.
Now I don't see that from the context, but that is the view that they have.
I would say that verse 6 you could take either way and it would fit congruently because here's
the thing, if they became a reprobate, for them to get a second chance to be saved, Jesus
would have to die for them again, basically.
So I certainly understand where they would say, crucify themselves the Son of God afresh.
So verses 4 through 6 is reason number 1 that you should go into perfection quite simply
because the foundation gets laid one time.
You get saved one time.
But reason number 2 mentioned in verses 7 and 8 is because of the fact you want to be
blessed by God and not cursed by God.
A lot of people get very confused on this because they think verses 7 and 8 they're
trying to connect it to verses 4 through 6, when in reality the first word of verse
7 is f-o-r-4, which is a connecting word which means that you're actually looking at something
a little bit different.
So verses 4 through 6 is one reason, verses 7 through 8 is a second reason.
Let me just read verses 7 through 8 and then we'll talk about it in more depth.
Verses 7 and 8, For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh off the pond and bringeth
forth herbs, meat for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God.
For that which bear thorns and briars is rejected, is not unto cursing, whose end is to be burnt.
Now the Bible says in verse number 8 it says, you know, whose end is to be burned and a
lot of people immediately when they see burned they think hell.
And I understand that because oftentimes when you look at illustrations like this it's referring
to hell.
But if you're familiar with John 15 you don't have to turn there for sake of time.
But John 15 the first six verses is commonly used by people to say you can lose your salvation
and it talks about burning as well to save people.
Because the example being given in John 15 is the fact that you don't want to basically
be a useless branch or tree that's just getting in the way where basically they gather up
all the useless parts and burn them.
And what God is saying is quit being useless where you have no function.
Actually do something.
There's no doubt in John 15, I don't think any saved person would dispute this, that
that is referring to save people but it uses the terminology of burning up.
It's not referring to hell just because it uses that terminology.
It uses that terminology because if you're cleaning up a field what you do is you gather
together all the useless stuff and then you burn it at the same time.
That's what you do.
Right?
So that's the example being given.
So just because it says burned that doesn't mean that it's referencing hell.
It can refer to hell sometimes but just because it mentions fire or burning that doesn't mean
that it's referring to hell.
Later on in Hebrews when it talks about, you know, fiery indignation it's not referring
to hell.
I mean it's a judgment and warning towards save people.
So it's not really a shock.
It would be the same thing here in Hebrews 6.
So the way I look at this, verse 7 is one person, verse 8 is a second person.
And verse 7 is the person that is saved and serving God.
And verse 8 is the person that's saved and not serving God.
Now the opposing view would be that verse 7 is the saved person and verse 8 is the reprobate.
Okay?
Now, I believe verse 7 is referring to someone who's saved and actually serving God and here's
what it says in verse 7.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs
meat for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God.
And so the Bible uses the example of earth which is bringing forth herbs and the result
of that is it is blessed by God.
The earth is blessed.
So this is the example of the person that's actually doing something for God and what's
the result?
He's going to receive blessing from God.
And of course, you know, the Bible says that if you obey Him and read His word and serve
Him, He's going to bless you.
But doesn't the Bible say that God can also curse you in this life?
I mean, there's the blessings of God and there's the cursings of God, okay?
Verse number 8, but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing
whose end is to be burned.
Now it is true that sometimes when it mentions the burning of thorns, it is referencing reprobates,
but it is not always referencing that.
We're going to look at a parallel passage at the end that is not referring to unsaved
people.
But here in verse 8, it says that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh
unto cursing.
And look, if you live your life and don't obey God and don't do what He says, you know
what your life's going to be filled with?
A bunch of thorns and briars and problems.
That is what your life is going to be filled with.
And you know what you're going to end up needing to do?
You're going to need to chop down those thorns and briars and get rid of them, and it's going
to take a lot of work.
I mean, if you have a field and you have just a bunch of thorns and briars growing in it
and it's preventing you from getting the apples or the fruits or whatever, you've got to take
the time to get rid of the thorns and briars.
And you know, you burn them, you get rid of them, right?
And the Bible's saying that, you know what, the person that is not living for God, you're
going to have all these thorns and briars in your life and the result is also that you're
going to be cursed by God.
And what's the end of those thorns and briars?
You burn them, you get rid of them, right?
Verse 9, 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 He has showed
toward His name, and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.
So in verses 9 and 10, verse 9 he said, we're persuaded better things of you.
Now the way I interpret this is he's saying, hey, I'm persuaded that you're going to actually
do what's right and grow and be a godly person.
The other interpretation would be, well, there's a difference between saved and reprobates.
I'm persuaded you're not going to be like them that are not actually saved.
But wait a second.
In verse 10, he says, for God is not unrighteous, and he's connecting back to this thing mentioned
in verse 9, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love.
Does every saved person do works?
No.
Does every saved person love God?
No.
The Bible says, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Do we have to do works to be saved?
No.
Do good works prove our salvation?
No.
If we don't have good works, does that mean that we're not saved?
No.
You can be saved and do nothing for God.
But he makes a distinction here.
He's like, I see your work and labor of love.
You say, say, why is that?
Because he's making a distinction between living godly and not living godly.
He's saying, I have confidence that you are going to work and have this labor of love.
He's not saying, I have confidence that you will always believe in Christ.
No.
He's saying, I have confidence in your work and labor of love.
I have confidence you're still going to go soul winning.
I have confidence you're still going to read the Bible.
I have confidence you're still going to serve God.
I have confidence you're still going to obey the commandments.
He's not saying, I have confidence that, you know what, you actually did get saved.
No.
He's saying, you know what?
work and your labor of love because the distinction between those that are saved
and serving God and those that are not and he's saying hey I'm persuaded better
things of you that you are going to serve God, that you are going to grow
spiritually. This is the way that preaching is done. Reprove, rebuke, exhort.
You reprove or rebuke and you make people feel guilty and then you give
them an exhortation at the end that gives them confidence that they can
overcome what they're struggling with. This is what Paul is doing. In Hebrews 5
he criticizes them. What is that? It's reproving and rebuking. But you don't
just reprove and rebuke and it's like you're all just wicked people. Let's pray.
You got to end with an exhortation and Paul's saying you know what I'm
confident I'm persuaded better things of you because Paul knows these you know a
lot of these people that he's writing to he's thinking hey I'm confident that
you're gonna serve God and he's like you know that you are gonna do what's right
and God's gonna see that work that you do and what's the result you're gonna be
blessed by actually obeying and doing what God says and so I would say that
when you realize salvation has nothing to do with works when it mentions work
in verse 10 if you're trying to make a distinction between save and reprobate I
just don't understand how you correlate that together I don't really know how
you would explain that and look and let me just say this this this is a deep
passage and I do believe that every pastor is gonna get to heaven and find
out they were wrong on some of the things they believed and I don't think
I'm wrong on this I mean it makes sense to me but maybe this is gonna be one of
those things I get to heaven I'm wrong on because there's a lot of godly people
that have different opinions and with something like this it should teach all
of us search the scriptures for yourself because the Holy Spirit is your best
guide and your best teacher if two people I mean I've memorized the entire
book of Hebrews I don't know the pastor's memorize the entire book of
Hebrews with the opposite opinion so it's kind of like well two people that
have memorized the same book have a different opinion and so I would just
say your face should stand on what the Bible says and not what anybody says
don't just believe things well you know this is true because Pastor Stuckey said
it that is a bad answer if you and look I would love it if you search this and
you come to the same conclusion but you know what if you search it and study it
for yourself and look over this and you you have a different opinion that's fine
this is not a salvation issue or a church splitting issue it's the reason
why this is a big topic is simply because out so many people bring this up
but in reality there's a lot of books I mean I'm sure if we opened up the book
of Ezekiel here and we took votes on various verses what is this referring to
we're gonna have a lot of opinions on stuff it's okay if people have different
opinions that's perfectly fine but what you should do if you really want to know
this is search it for yourself figure out read the book of Hebrews study it
and I would say also if you're kind of newer in the faith I wouldn't suggest
this being the first thing that you dive into because you're in need of milk and
not of meat but if you've been saved for a long time then yeah this is something
and you've been saved for a while you know the Bible we've heard great
preaching you've gone so yeah this is something that hey maybe dive into it
and you know what search for yourself to see whether these things are so some
things in the Bible you got to spend some time studying to figure out verse
number 11 and we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the
full assurance of hope on to the end now if you were to take that phrase by
itself the full assurance of hope on to the end the way in our modern vernacular
this being said it would almost sound like oh someone could lose it but of
course you know the thing is we know a hope is a sure thing it's not something
that it's like well I hope I'm going to endure it's a confident we know it's
true hope in the Bible is something that you're sure about but it's not something
that is actually manifest or seen so we know we're saved and he's saying we
desire that everyone you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
on at the end that you be not slothful but followers of them who through faith
and patience inherit the promises now here's the thing do we have to hold out
faithful on the end to inherit the promise of heaven or eternal life or
salvation no I got saved 20 years ago and I already got my ticket to heaven I
already got born again I already have eternal life I don't have to wait until
the end to receive these promises because notice what it says in verse 13
through 15 for when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no
greater he swear 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 this is not saying that Abraham patiently endured and as a
result boom he's in heaven now it's saying that God blessed him
specifically with a child with his wife those past childbearing years he
patiently endured though right so the promise is not about going to heaven the
promise is about the great blessings of God because here's the thing if you are
the earth which is bringing forth the herbs what do you receive from God
blessing a lot of these blessings we might have to patiently endure if we're
gonna see they're not necessarily gonna come immediately but what it's saying
this is all going back to starting at verse 7 it's like you will receive
blessing from God just like Abraham if you you you keep doing the work your
labor of love you patiently endure and then you inherit those promises look did
you know that God has a great plan and a future for every single one of us and we
have great promises ahead of us but we have to do the work to get it it's not
just going to come like this no matter what we do I mean if you live a sinful
and ungodly life you're gonna lose out on a lot of the blessings that God
actually has for your life but if you live a godly life and patiently endure
you are going to obtain those promises that he talks about so this is the way
that I see Hebrews chapter 6 but there's actually a passage in the Bible that is
basically parallel to Hebrews chapter 6 now there are chapters in the Bible like
2nd Peter chapter 2 and Jude where it is so obvious they're parallel nobody's
gonna deny that I mean there's a lot of the same examples and wording the
parallel passage to this you know things are worded differently but you see the
exact same words keep popping up and that's where you can see that okay we're
referencing the same thing that's being mentioned here and Hebrew 6 is like more
in-depth talking about this subject now let me turn to Hebrew 6 myself because I
wrote down the wrong verse here to show you certain words that I want you to
look for as we see them in another passage okay Hebrews chapter 6 and verse
number one you see the word perfection right let us go on to perfection so keep
that in mind perfection okay verse number six fall away you see that phrase
fall away in your Bible so you see the word perfection in verse 1 you see fall
away in verse 6 in verse 8 it mentions thorns okay so you've got perfection in
verse 1 you've got fall away in verse 4 you've got or verse 6 I should say fall
away in verse 6 you've got thorns in verse 8 and then the Bible mentions
patience in verse number 12 right so you see that verse 1 perfection verse 6 fall
away verse 8 thorns and verse 12 patience okay turn to Luke chapter 8
Luke chapter 8 Luke chapter 8
now Luke 8 the parable of the sower is also a highly disputed passage and I
don't have time to fully go into it in one sermon in fact in Sacramento I
preached a sermon series along with brother Oliver we had five sermons on
just the parable of the sower it's a very important parable because Jesus
said if you don't understand this parable how are you know everything else
because it's a very basic thing that we need to be aware of and so maybe you've
never heard of the parable of the sower maybe you've never studied it out but in
the parable of the sower you're going to see four groups of people and in the
parable of the sower everybody would agree that the first group are unsaved
and the last group are saved in the parable of the sower the dispute is in
the second and the third now if you're a soul winner and you've studied your
Bible there is no dispute the second and the third person are saved but they're
not actually living a godly life and bringing forth fruits okay and so I
don't have time to fully go into that I'll explain it as we look at these
verses but you know if you've studied this out you know this that the second
and the third are people that are actually saved okay now Luke chapter 8
verse 11 and Jesus is going to explain this parable he says now the parable is
this the seed is the Word of God those by the wayside are they that hear then
cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts lest they
should believe and be saved so he's saying these are people that hear the
Word of God and they don't get saved and of course we go soul winning and
sometimes we are so warning and not so winning we give somebody the gospel and
they don't believe it or they're not sure or they need time to think about it
and you know hopefully they will end up believing in the future maybe later that
day they'll think about it and get saved I heard the gospel and I got saved a
couple hours later I thought about it and it's like you know what I believe
this some people maybe we talked to them in a seed is planted and maybe later on
we give them the gospel again or somebody else does and then they hear it
and they get say I know people that have been saved through our ministry that
heard the gospel several times as we went out so winning someone said yeah
you know I talked to someone they said they talked to you before talked to
somebody else before it's like yeah they didn't get saved and they weren't before
you know they weren't sure they were going to heaven and then someone talked
to them and then they end up ended up getting saved because that seed was
water they ended up getting saved nobody disputes this verse 12 they're not save
people verse 13 they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the
word with joy now to be saved we have to receive the word we have to receive
Jesus Christ but as many as received him to them gave me power to become the sons
of God right and the Bible speaks about receiving the word of God or joyfully
receiving or glad fully here it says receive the word with joy but here's
the thing we don't have to actually receive the word of God with joy to be
saved we have to receive the word of God and what that means is some people get
saved and they're very excited about their Christianity in fact in this room
probably most people when you got saved you felt a desire I want to start
serving God and over time you started making changes and here you are today
making changes in your life but just because you did that does not mean that
everybody we talked to does that most people we get saved are not going to
grow much ever that's just the way that it is I mean I wish that were not the
case and we should strive to get people in church and try to help them along as
their babes in Christ as we can help teach them as they're at the beginning
stage where they don't know a lot of these things most people are never going
to grow these people do actually receive the word with joy meaning they actually
do something with it a similar cross-reference and you don't have to
turn here but in Acts 2 it talks about you know they were glad and the result
is they got baptized why because they didn't just get saved they were really
glad to be saved they're very thankful to be saved and they proved it by their
works and if you are actually really joyful and thankful to God for your
salvation what's the evidence of being really thankful works the thing is you
don't have to be really thankful to be saved you don't have to receive with joy
you just have to receive the word right as these people are saved and then after
the word joy you see that you see a semicolon right and here's what he says
about these people and these have no root which for a while believing it's in
time at time of temptation fall away he says they have no root what he's saying
is they were not firmly rooted and grounded in the things of God and when
he says which for a while believe that does not say which for a while believe
the gospel okay you have to realize that salvation was already settled before the
semicolon what he's saying is that basically they start to grow so they
start going to a good church they're hearing the preaching and they're
starting to make changes and they're believing these doctrines and everything
but what takes place if you backslide fall away and get out of church well
you're gonna stop believing a lot of the things that you believe right now you're
gonna stop being I mean look if you quit church when you backside I promise you
all your old music's gonna come back all your old movies are gonna come back all
the sudden pastor Stuckey should be more loving or whatever that's the reality
right and so they believe for a while but in time of temptation fall away now
if you cross reference to the other Gospels talking about this parable this
is referring to the time of time of persecution so basically someone is you
know in church they're serving God and then their Catholic relatives make fun
of them a lot of people quit church for something like that don't they and they
say they believe these things but as they leave due to peer pressure they're
no longer gonna stand for the same things they did when they were at this
church so they believe for a while and time temptation fall away now there's no
doubt that this group is save people in my opinion and I do actually want to
preach a whole sermon series here in the future on this parable because a very
important parable but this phrase fall away appears two times in the entire
Bible Hebrew 6 and Luke chapter 8 verse 13 I understand there's the great
falling away and similar terminology the exact phrase though fall away appears
two times in the Bible and as I said it's a synonym for backsliding and in
time of persecution they backslide they get out of church so fall away there's a
phrase we saw in Hebrew 6 we see it in Luke 8 verse 14 and that which fell
among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth in our choke with
cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection
doesn't that just seem to really line up with Hebrews chapter 6 I mean this is
the field that is not doing what's right it's filled with thorns and briars and
instead of actually bringing forth the herbs and the fruit is bringing thorns
and briars and it doesn't bring any fruit to perfection I mean that works
perfectly with Hebrews chapter 6 thorns was mentioned in Hebrew 6 perfection was
mentioned in Hebrew 6 now a lot of people look at this parable and say well
this group is unsaved because they did not bring forth fruit to perfection and
well here's the thing about this I mean you don't have to be a sole winner to be
saved or to prove your salvation I mean the fruit of the rights to the tree of
life and he that winneth souls is wise but most people get saved they don't
really do much of anything for God but here's the thing if you really actually
want to get a lot of people save and do something big for God you really have to
go all out I don't know if you're like me but when I when I really started
making major changes in my life I've been saved for several years but the
preaching really was motivating me and making me feel guilty and stuff and you
know I'm going soul winning and I just had this this this terrifying thought in
my head that you know what people are going to hell because I'm not more right
with God and if I would actually get rid of all my worldliness and stupidity and
quit wasting my time people would be saved from hell hey what that's true
it's a terrifying thought because it's a reality you know what you got to be
moved with fear as Noah was to build that arc I mean people are dying going
to hell and the fact is the more righteous you are for God the more
you're gonna help save from going to hell right and so the Bible says bring
forth no fruit to perfection why because they're choked by all these cares and
riches and pleasures they have too many things in their life that are just
drowning them out from actually serving God then it says in verse 15 but that on
the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart having heard the
word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience and here it says the good
ground but in Hebrews chapter 6 it talked about the field you have the one
that is the good field producing the herbs and the one that's the bad that is
producing thorns and briars pretty similar to verse 14 and they fall away
you know from the earlier one mentioned Hebrews 6 verse 6 but the Bible says for
the person that is actually going to do something big for God it's going to take
patience to bring forth that fruit and serve God your whole life right so you
know I'm not saying it's an exact parallel to Hebrews chapter 6 I I find
it too big of a coincidence that you have all of the same wording and they're
very very similar to not say that these are being linked together it's
representing the same thought now I'm going to quickly just explain to you
verse 15 because a very powerful verse is going to kind of help drive home when
we talked on Hebrew 6 also but that on the good ground this is what our goal is
you're saved praise God for that but you can be saved be a baby Christian how do
you become the person on the good ground are they which in an honest and good
heart what does it mean to have an honest heart you know if somebody is
trying to quit drinking the first step they always say is you have to admit
that you've got a problem you got to be honest that you've got an issue hey
here's the thing about this getting saved is step one of your spiritual
journey but if you want to draw close to God it's going to take a lot of work and
effort and here's the thing you're at a good church where you're hearing the
Word of God preached and every time you hear sermons you've got an opportunity
to be honest about what you hear or to lie to yourself to make yourself feel
better right preaching hurts everybody and look I preach sermons it's not like
I'm never guilty of anything that I preach on or I'm perfect I don't try to
claim that I hope you understand that I'm trying my best to draw closer to God
and you know what for me maybe the way you could look at is when I read the
Bible I'm reading what the Bible says and what is the first reaction when
you're guilty you try to defend yourself you try to give an excuse it's like a
kid that gets in trouble they get caught and the first thing out of their
mouth when they're caught red-handed they want to try to blame their brother
or their sister that's I mean isn't it I mean if you're a parent you raise young
kids this is what they do right and this is what we do as adults when we're in
trouble the first thing in my head it's like you know you're a husband and you
accidentally you know like broke a glass that was on the table you knocked it off
and then your first thought is if my wife hadn't have put it there I would
have never knocked it over it's like right in your head an excuse is building
up you know what that's called it's called not just being honest with your
responsibility for what you did and you know that's a foolish thing to do but
this is what people do with preaching all the time they just don't want to be
honest with themselves they don't want to admit hey you know what they want to
say well I have a reason it's not fair I mean I'm in a different situation you
don't understand it's like okay you're forsaking your mercy as Jonah said
because you're not willing to admit your faults so first step is honesty but
then it says which in an honest and a good heart so it's not just being honest
it's also having a good heart meaning you actually do what the Bible says be
doers of the word and not hearers only so the thing is you can be honest you
could be a drunk and say I got a problem it doesn't mean that you're actually
gonna make a change though right you have to have an honest and a good heart
and it says having heard the word now having heard the word is not referencing
having heard the word in terms of when you got saved because getting saved is
not automatically guarantee you serving God it's saying every time you hear the
Word of God you have an honest and a good heart okay so the thing is this is
not a salvation parable this is a soul winners parable it's a parable to show
us you know when we go soul winning different groups of people but also to
teach us those that end up serving God and those that don't and so here's the
thing serving God means you hear the Word of God and you do something with it
in verse 14 they hear but the problem is they're not doing it in verse 15 they
are hearing the word they're actually doing it having an honest and a good
heart and then it says keep it so basically you hear something at church
you apply it to your life you make the change and then next week you hear
something else well you don't disregard what you heard the week before and then
just go on to that no you keep what you just learned and you do it and then you
keep adding on won't you won't eat just little by little right you know
sometimes when people are newly saved or they're newly at a church like this it
might be a bit overwhelming it's like man I showed up at college and I walked
into the wrong classroom it's like the entire class is being taught in Mandarin
Chinese it's like what I thought this was you know 101 or whatever subject
Chinese 101 yeah and I get that sometimes this is a deeper sermon but
here's what you have to understand you know honestly if you just stick at
church and you read the Bible every day for yourself you just learn a little bit
little by little by little by little by little and it's not gonna seem so
complicated I mean if I put a calculus problem up here it'd be very confusing
to every child in a room but many of those kids are gonna fully understand
that ten years down the road you say why because then they learn algebra then
they learn geometry then they learn you know just little by little they learn
these things right so it says having heard the word keep it and bring forth
fruit with patience and look if if we're gonna be a fruit-bearing tree or an
entire lives it's gonna take patience we're gonna have to patiently endured I
mean the Bible Bible gave us the example of Abraham who was extremely patient to
receive the promises that God had for him and here's the thing I don't know
what the future holds for you or it holds for me what I do know is that God
has a lot of blessings and great promises in our future if we patiently
do what's right and read the Bible and obey so for me when we're looking at
Luke 8 and comparing it with Hebrew 6 I I think they line up perfectly Hebrew 6
is a really really really strong warning about get right with God serve God do
what's right grow spiritually don't be someone that's just a baby Christian
your entire life and look it is very possible for someone to be in church for
years and years and years and years and years and they're still a newborn babe
in Christ because they've never grown spiritually and they're really at the
beginning stages they just you know they're not reading the Bible for
themselves they're being spoon-fed they don't really know much about the Bible
they're not going soul-winning but because you know one of the distinction
the distinctions between a baby versus a child that they get bigger is being
self-sufficient I mean I think we'd all agree a baby is completely reliant on
mom and dad and most specifically mom right and of course that's understandable
that's expected okay if you're a baby Christian yeah you're probably learning
most of what you know from church right but eventually it gets the stage where
it's like you know I don't want to be feeding my kids you know forever you
know I want them to eventually figure out how to feed themselves and it's the
same thing spiritually where you shouldn't be here for 20 years and it's
just like I'm spoon feeding you everything it's like man it's like I
Hebrew I'd never even knew there was a book called Hebrews and it's like it's
time for you to start reading the Bible for yourself and learning these things
for yourself rather than just everything you knows for me say why cuz honestly I
can only I can only teach you so much in a short amount of time and you're only
gonna grow so much and you know what I'm thankful for everything everybody that
God has blessed us with at church but the reality is we all need to take heed
to grow spiritually on our own let's close the word of prayer your Heavenly
Father thank you for allowing us be here today and thank you for this deep
passage in the Bible thank you for the simple passages that are easy to
understand but also thank you for the deeper passages that we have to kind of
study and search the scriptures and figure out God and thank you for the
warning you give us here in Hebrew 6 about the need to live a godly life and
go into perfection and quit being a baby Christian God we just pray these things
in Jesus name amen now before brother Rafi leads us in this last song I just
want to mention we do have a baptism coming up now and if anybody else would
like to be baptized or saved and not baptized that's it's a good principle or
foundational thing to get down right if you've been with us for a while but you
know we're gonna have a baptism here in a little bit so I brother Rafi lead us
in a song