["Pomp and Circumstance"]
You
Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church
Can I please have everyone find their seat and grab their songbook and turn to page number 146
We're gonna start the service off singing a shelter in the time of storm
Come on in find your seat and grab your songbook and turn to page number 146 a
Shelter in the time of storm. That's page 146 and let's go ahead and sing it out on the first
Lord our rock in him we hide a shelter in the time of storm
You're whatever
They'll be tied a shelter in the time of storm
Jesus is the rock in a weary land a weary land
A shelter in the time of storm
Page 146 let's sing it out on the second
A shade by day defense by night the shelter in the time of storm
No fears alarm no foes of pride a shelter in the time of storm
Oh, jesus is a rock in a weary land
The weary land
A shelter in the time of storm
Let's sing it out on the last Oh
Rock divine Oh
refuge dear the shelter in the time of storm
Thou our helper ever near my shelter in the time of storm
Oh, jesus is a rock in a weary land
A weary land
Oh, jesus is a rock in a weary land
A shelter in the time of storm
Great singing welcome to Verde Baptist Church in the Wednesday evening Bible study. Let's open up in a word of prayer
Father God, thanks for this. Thank you so much for this church Lord. Thank you these people coming out here to serve you
I pray they're singing would glorify you Lord for you to bless the service and the preaching come in Jesus name. I pray
Amen. I turn your song books page number 83 and
This is the first service of the year and we're actually gonna be singing a new song
83 it's called I'm going higher now, if you know this song sing it out. It could really help the crowd out help me out, too
so page 83
I'm going higher and let's sing it out on the first
Often I've watched the clouds up in the sky
Always I've heard they were many miles high
Then as they sailed out of sight far away
I said I'm going far higher someday
I'm going higher, yes higher someday
I'm going higher to save
Over the clouds and beyond the blue sky
Going where none ever sicken or die
Loved ones to meet in the sweet by and by
I'm going higher someday
Page 83 now I know it's new but let's make an effort to sing it out on the third
Moses went up in a mountain and prayed
Glory came down while alone there he stayed
But he came back he just went there to pray
I'm going higher, yes higher someday
I'm going higher to save
Over the clouds and beyond the blue sky
Going where none ever sicken or die
Loved ones to meet in the sweet by and by
I'm going higher someday
Let's sing it on the last, you guys are doing a great job
Soon will the Savior appear bless His name
Someday this earth will be all wrapped in flame
Then as I see the fire mounting so high
I'm going higher beyond the blue sky
I'm going higher, yes higher someday
I'm going higher to save
Over the clouds and beyond the blue sky
Going where none ever sicken or die
Loved ones to meet in the sweet by and by
I'm going higher someday
Great singing
Amen and we want to welcome you of course to this
midweek service here at Verity Baptist Church. We're glad you're with us and of course it is the first
service of the year so we're glad that you are spending it in
the house of God. Let's go ahead and take our bulletins this evening and we'll go over
some announcements real quickly. If you need a bulletin just raise your hand and one of our ushers
can get one for you. If you need a bulletin just put your hand up and we will get one for you. The verse this week
2nd Corinthians 5.17, Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature
old things are passed away behold all things are become new. If you open up your
bulletin you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10.30 am
and of course we do invite you to be with us on Sunday morning on the Lord's day for church
the first Sunday of the year and we'd love for you to be here for that. And then we're back
to our regular schedule Sunday evening 6 pm Wednesday evening of course
7 pm. If you look at our soul winning times our main soul winning time is on
Saturday mornings at 10 am. We'd love for you to join us for our soul winning
rally and then we have an additional soul winning time on Sundays at 2 pm as well.
We of course are a family integrated church. What that means is that children
and infants are always welcome in the service. We do not separate children from their parents for any reason.
We do have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience so please make sure you use
those rooms as needed. If you need to be baptized you can let us know on your communication
card on the back of the card. You can check off that you'd like information about baptism and we'll
follow up with you and talk to you about that. And then of course if you
look at the announcements and upcoming events we have the workdays coming up
this this weekend Thursday Friday and Saturday 8 am to
8 pm. There's three shifts there in the main foyer there's three
clipboards for three shifts and we need help with
electrical drywall and mudding sanding and paint prep
and carpentry and also setting up a
mechanical projector arm. So if you're going to help with any of that
we would appreciate it. And if you can't I've already announced
the move in date so we're moving in whatever either way. I figure
on the mission field they meet in huts and whatever so we'll make it work.
But if you can help us that'd be great. And we have of course
the clipboards over there make sure you go by there and sign up for that.
At our New Year's Eve service that was great. Nine chapters a day. I hope you have been
sticking with it and you're at it. Today is January 3rd so if you're like
oh man I completely forgot you're fine because you had two grace period days
you just have to go home and read after the service and you're right on track alright.
But hopefully you're not that irresponsible and you've been staying
with it and I hope you will read nine chapters every day in the month
of January. It's not going to hurt you it's going to help you and I would love for you to be a part
of that of course. Make sure you don't forget that. And then there's other things there
for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service.
I'm not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries
for the month of December for this last week. First week
of January we had brother Aiden and Miss Ruby Roldan's anniversary on December 31st.
Brother John and Miss Irene Reid's anniversary on December 31st.
Brother Ron Edwards had his birthday on January 1st and then
Myra Holland had her birthday on January 2nd
and Yasely the Dios has a birthday later this week on January
26th. Praise report all of those things are there for you to
look at and tonight we are not going to go through our prayer list
tonight but we do want you to have a prayer sheet so if you did not receive a prayer
sheet on your way in would you please raise your hand and one of our ushers will come by
and we will get one for you. We want you to have a prayer list and we want you to
take it home and pray for the church family. Tonight we're going to skip it
and we'll get back to it next week but we do want you to have one in
hand and there's just one prayer request that I'd like you to add in and notice there
and it's for my parents, Felix and Grenis Jimenez. They're going to be traveling
to Venezuela tomorrow and of course they're going to be gone for a little while, be coming back
so please be in prayer for them as they travel for traveling mercies.
I also want you to notice there's a prayer request there from my parents to please pray for
Maria Felicita Flores and she's a sister in Christ
from Canada but she's hospitalized in Mexico. She's a new IFB
listener and we're just praying for her recovery so if you would just make a note of that
be praying for her and be praying for my parents as they travel
we would appreciate the help with that and I think that's it for all of the announcements.
We're going to go to page number 288, page number 288
and we're going to go ahead and sing
I Am Resolved as we prepare to receive the offering this
evening 288. Let's go ahead and sing it out on
I Am Resolved as we prepare to receive the offering this evening
288, we're going to sing it out on the third
I Am Resolved to follow
the Savior
lead what He saith
do what He willeth
I Will
hasten to Him
so glad and free
Jesus, greatest, highest
I will come to Thee
Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time
and let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love You
we thank You for allowing us to gather together tonight. Lord, we thank You for our church family
that would come together at the midweek service. We pray that You'd bless the offering, the gift, and the giver
we ask that You would continue to meet our financial needs here at Verity Baptist
Church and Lord of course we pray that You'd bless us and be with us as we open up Your Word and the
City of the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Please open your mouths to Hebrews 6. Hebrews chapter number 6 if you do not have a Bible
please raise your hand and unless you can read your Bible
Hebrews chapter number six,
just keep your hand up and we'll come by you.
Hebrews six, we'll read the entire chapter as our custom.
Hebrews six, speaking of verse number one.
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection,
not laying again the foundation of repentance
from dead works and of faith toward God.
The doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands
and of resurrection of the dead
and of eternal judgment.
And this will we do if God permit.
For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift
and are 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.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain
that cometh off the pond it
and bringeth forth herbs meat for them by whom it is dressed
receiveth blessing from God.
But that which bear thorns and briars is rejected
and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned.
But beloved, we are persuaded by the 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.
They be not slothful but followers of them
who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to Abraham
because he could swear by no greater,
he sware 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.
For men barely swear by the greater
and an oath of confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein God willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel
confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things
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 is an anchor of the soul
both sure and steadfast
and which enter into that within the veil.
Whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus.
Meet an high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father thank you for this evening.
God, I thank you for our church and for your word.
For everyone that's here,
please give us all a tender heart to the message.
And I say please be with our pastor.
Please strengthen him and from your spirit.
We love you.
We just say and pray.
Amen.
All right.
Well, we're there in Hebrews chapter number six.
And of course on Wednesday nights,
we've been going through a study in the book of Hebrews
verse by verse, chapter by chapter.
And tonight we find ourselves
in this infamous portion of scripture,
Hebrews chapter number six.
And of course Hebrew six,
for those of you that are not aware,
is a very controversial passage.
Not controversial in the sense
maybe how you would normally think of it,
but controversial in the sense
that there's a lot of arguments
as to what Hebrew six is talking about.
It's a cryptic passage.
It's a misunderstood passage.
It's definitely a difficult passage.
And that's not just me or preacher saying
that the writer of the book of Hebrews tells us
before he gets into Hebrew six
that he's going to be dealing with some difficult things,
things that are hard to understand.
And many people have many different views
regarding Hebrews chapter number six.
We're going to look at this tonight.
But before we do that,
let me just kind of give you
just some introductory statements.
First of all, let me say this.
There's lots of different beliefs
that people have about Hebrew six.
But let me just quickly go over a few
of just the more mainstream or the ones
that we would care about the most.
One, which is very popular and it's very wrong,
and one belief is that Hebrew six is teaching
that you can lose your salvation.
And I am, of course, we are against that.
We don't believe that.
The Bible doesn't teach that.
I'm not going to spend much of any time debunking that
because that should be obvious.
And we've preached lots of sermons on internal security,
and that shouldn't be something that you're struggling with.
And I hope it's not.
And if you are, please talk to us so we can get you saved
so we can explain it to you.
But even within the new IFB,
there's a lot of different beliefs about Hebrews chapter six.
Some believe that this passage is referring to
and talking about Christians,
and it's simply referring to the blessings
and cursings on a believer.
Others believe that this is a teaching,
that this teaching has to do with the reprobate doctrine,
that Hebrew six is about the reprobate doctrine.
And like I said, just by way of introduction,
let me just up front and say,
this is a difficult passage of Scripture.
And because of it, I want to give it a lot of time.
In fact, you may have not noticed,
but I kind of rushed the beginning of the service,
as we sing a few last stanzas,
and had skipped the prayer time,
to give myself a little extra time
to deal with this passage,
because I do want to be thorough with it.
And it is a difficult passage.
It's cryptic, it's obscure.
The wording can be difficult, it's ambiguous.
And for this reason, there's lots of different interpretations
about the passage.
And I just want to just right up front say,
I have friends within the New IFB,
pastor friends who I love and I respect,
and they may take different positions
than the one that I hold, and that's okay.
I don't have a problem with that.
I don't have a problem with anybody
having a different position on this,
even within our church.
As long as you're not teaching heresy,
or believing heresy,
as long as you're not teaching
that you can lose your salvation,
which none of our friends are teaching that,
then that doesn't bother me.
But obviously, I'm gonna teach you,
and I'm gonna show you what I believe
the Bible is teaching about this passage.
Since there are so many different positions
on this passage, I really spent a lot of time debating,
kind of going back and forth,
not on what I believe about it,
but how to approach it, how to teach it to you,
how to outline it, because I felt like
maybe I had to answer all these questions.
But to be honest with you, ultimately,
I decided not to worry about explaining
or debunking what others believe in.
I just want to go through the passage with you,
and explain it to you, and show you
what the Bible is teaching here,
and hopefully that makes sense.
My job as a pastor is to take things that are complicated,
my job as a teacher is to take things that are complicated,
and to make them simple.
And that's what I'm going to attempt to do tonight.
So just to give you the kind of headings in advance,
we're gonna look at this passage tonight
from three different angles.
And you can write these down if you'd like.
Obviously, I always encourage you to take notes,
and on the back of your course a week,
there's a place for you to take notes.
We're gonna begin by looking at the context of Hebrews 6,
and then we're going to look at the construct of Hebrews 6,
and then we're gonna finish with the concept of Hebrews 6.
And for each one of these headings,
I'm gonna give you five statements,
and I'll do the best that I can to be clear,
and to move as quickly as possible,
but I want to make sure you understand these things.
And so we're gonna begin here with the context,
and to really understand the context of this passage,
because I believe that context is key
to understanding this passage,
we have to start back in Hebrews chapter five
to get the context.
So I'd like you to just flip back to Hebrews chapter five,
if you would, and let me just say this about the context.
I've already thoroughly preached through every verse
leading up to where we are right now.
So I'm gonna give you context,
and we're gonna go through the context,
but it's gonna be a quick overview and review,
because I've already thoroughly gone through.
The reason that I didn't squeeze this sermon
into last week's sermon,
and I preached the whole sermon
just out of verses one through three in Hebrew six,
was because I wanted to make sure that we understood
the context leading into really not just this passage,
all passages, but for tonight specifically this passage.
So we've already dealt with it thoroughly,
and if one point on context is not enough for you,
then feel free to go back and listen
to the however many 12 sermons
I've already preached out of the book of Hebrews,
because we've been dealing with this book in its context.
And I wanna just build the context back up
and help you see it and remember
what we've been looking at as we lead
into Hebrews chapter six,
and specifically verses four through eight.
And I want you to look at Hebrews chapter five and verse one.
And let me just, I'm not gonna read
all of these passages for you,
I'm just gonna remind you of several things.
In Hebrews five and verse one, the Bible says this,
for every high priest taken from among men
is ordained for men in things pertaining to God,
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
Like I said, we've already preached through Hebrews five,
but let me just remind you that the writer
of the book of Hebrews is teaching
about the position of the high priest
here in Hebrews chapter five.
In fact, in verses one through four of Hebrews five,
he's dealing with the position of the high priest.
And if you remember the context of the entire book,
the purpose of the book of Hebrews
is to help the intended audience.
We know that all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and it's profitable for all of us,
but the intended audience
is the first century Jewish believers,
these individuals that had grown up in Judaism
and had gone saved, and the purpose of the book of Hebrews
is to help them understand how to transition
out of the Old Testament into the New Testament,
and how the Old and the New Testament correlate together.
And as a result, the writer of Hebrews
has been going through the book of Hebrews
and showing us how Jesus is better,
and specifically how Jesus is better than the Old Testament.
We've learned about how Jesus is better than the angels,
Jesus is better than Moses, Jesus is better than Joshua,
Jesus is better than Aaron, and here we're seeing
that Jesus is a better high priest.
He's better than the Old Testament covenant,
and that's what he's talking about
in verses one through four of Hebrews chapter five.
The writer of Hebrews has been teaching
about the position of the high priest.
And then in verses five through 10,
he continues to talk about the high priest,
but he specifically begins to talk about
a specific high priest, and that is Melchizedek.
Look at Hebrews chapter five and verse 10,
and again, it begins in verse five.
I'm not gonna read all of it,
but right at the end of this little portion,
notice what he says.
He says, called of God and high priest
after the order of Melchizedek.
So we see that the writer of Hebrews
in verses one through four of chapter five
is writing about the position of a high priest,
and then in verses five through 10,
he begins to get into the subject of Melchizedek
and Melchizedek as a high priest.
Now let me just stop here for a moment and say this.
This is very important, and I need you to grasp this,
because what we have in this passage in chapter six,
what we have is the writer of Hebrews,
he's talking about Melchizedek.
He's been talking about the high priest.
He's now talking about Melchizedek specifically,
and he is going to now take a break
that'll lead us through the end of chapter five
and the vast majority of chapter six
up until the last verse of chapter six,
and then he's gonna get back to the subject of Melchizedek.
The subject of Melchizedek as the high priest
actually bookends both of these on the front
and on the end, the section that is controversial
regarding Hebrews chapter six.
I want you to notice that because that is by design
and it is for a reason,
and here's what you need to understand.
The writer of Hebrews is talking about Melchizedek,
and he actually just kinda takes a break,
and he goes on a little rabbit's trail
that we call Hebrews chapter six
and then comes back to Melchizedek in chapter seven,
and he goes on the rabbit's trail for a reason
within the context of Melchizedek.
Look at verse 11.
Here's where the rabbit's trail begins.
He says, of whom?
The word whom there is referring to Melchizedek.
Remember, whom can always be replaced with him.
Of him, we have many things to say.
He's talking about Melchizedek.
In verse 10, he said, called of God and high priest
after the order of Melchizedek,
of whom we have many things to say.
He says, I've got lots of things
that I want to say to you about Melchizedek,
and then notice these words.
He says, and hard to be uttered,
seeing ye are dull of hearing.
So I want you to notice that the writer of Hebrews,
we're looking at the context.
The writer of Hebrews explains
that there are some things about Melchizedek
that he would like to teach them,
of whom we have many things to say.
But he says to them, these things are difficult.
They are difficult to communicate.
He says, hard to be uttered.
This is why I say to you that this is a difficult passage.
I didn't say that.
The writer of Hebrews said that it is hard to be uttered
seeing ye are dull of hearing.
He says it's hard to communicate,
and he says you're also not ready or able to hear it.
He says these are things that are hard to be uttered,
and they're made hard because of the fact
that ye are dull of hearing,
is that you are not ready to hear,
you are not ready to receive what I need to show you.
Are you following the context?
Look at verse 12.
For when, for the time ye ought to be teachers.
Now again, I've already preached through these verses,
but I just want you to understand the context.
The writer of Hebrews is not going to explain to them
why they are not ready to hear these things
that he wants to teach them.
He says I have things I want to say
of whom we have many things to say about Melchizedek,
but they're hard to be uttered,
and you're not ready to hear them.
And he said, here's why you're not ready.
For when the time ye ought to be teachers,
ye have 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.
For everyone that uses milk is unskillful
in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
He says the reason that you are not ready
to hear what I have to teach you,
he says because, he says for, you are spiritually immature.
He says you're a babe, and you are not ready
for the strong meat of the word.
Look at verse 14.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,
even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.
Now here's what I want you to understand.
And we've already talked about this earlier
in the book of Hebrews, but when the writer of Hebrews,
who I believe to be the apostle Paul,
wrote the epistle of Hebrews, it was written as a letter.
The chapter divisions and the verse divisions
were added later for our benefit,
and we're thankful for them and praise God for them.
But I want you to understand that the writer of Hebrews
did not get to the end of what we call verse 14,
and said all right, that's the end of chapter five,
and now I'm gonna start chapter six.
This is only continuous writing.
He says, but strong meat belongeth to them
that are of full age, even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews chapter six, verse one, therefore.
Now the word therefore is connecting us back
to Hebrews chapter five.
The word therefore means for that reason.
And he's saying for that reason, for what reason?
He said because the fact that, what's the context?
I have some things I want to explain to you
about Melchizedek, but you're not ready to hear them
because they are honestly hard to be uttered,
and you're also not ready because you are dull of hearing.
You are a babe in Christ for the time
when you ought to be teachers.
You have need that one teach you again,
the first principle, you have need of milk
and not strong meat, you're a babe in Christ.
He says because of all that, verse one,
therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection.
He's saying look, let's go on to perfection.
The word perfection, again, already preached on it,
means completion or maturity.
He said therefore, let's leave the principles,
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on to perfection.
He said let's mature, let's grow because I need you to grow,
I need you to get off the milk and on the strong meat
because you're not ready to hear some things
that I need you to understand.
The writer of Hebrews explains that for the reason
that the audience is immature spiritually,
he needs them to go on unto perfection
so that they can be ready to receive these difficult things.
Notice there, verse one, therefore.
Now here's what I want you to understand.
And if you're taking notes, let me just say this.
That's the context.
I want you to understand the context because the context,
we cannot arrest the text from the context.
We need to make sure we understand what is being said
and spoken about leading into the passage
that we're going to look at.
And those are five statements that I gave you
regarding the context.
I just want you to understand them.
He's teaching them about the high priest.
He specifically teaches them about Melchizedek
as the high priest.
And he then tells them there are some things
I want you to know about Melchizedek,
some things you need to understand about Melchizedek,
but they're difficult to communicate.
He says that they are hard to be uttered
and you're not able to receive them
because you're dull of hearing.
He says you're dull of hearing
because you're a spiritual babe
and I need you to go on to perfection
so that you can understand these things.
That's the context.
Now let's look at the construct.
What is this passage saying?
And let me just say this just for a minute.
Let's forget anyone's interpretation of this passage.
Any sermons you've heard in the past,
anything you've heard me say in the past,
just forget that for a minute
and let's just look at what the passage is simply saying
in its context.
Let's read the passage.
I refer to this section as the construct
because what I want us to do
is to simply look at the words,
look at the syntax,
look at the sentences,
look at the phrases,
look at the structure,
and let's just build and construct
what it is that the writer of Hebrews
is trying to say to that.
We understand the context now.
Hopefully you were able to get caught up with that
and understand that.
Now let's look at the construct of this passage.
And there are five things that I need you to understand
regarding the construct,
regarding what is being said.
And these are things that you may want to jot down.
Number one, the group being spoken about
in Hebrews chapter six verses four through six
or four through eight
is different than the group being spoken to
in Hebrews chapter six verses one through three.
I hope you understood that.
The writer of Hebrews is speaking to his intended audience.
He's been speaking to them the entire time.
He's speaking to first century Jewish believers.
Notice that this is highlighted
in the pronouns that he uses.
Lotus Hebrews chapter six,
look at verse one.
Therefore, for that reason,
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let, I want you to make note of this word,
let us, see that word?
Let us go on unto perfection.
He identifies himself with them.
He says, let us.
In fact, if you don't mind writing in your Bible
or underlining your Bible,
I would encourage you to circle that word us.
He says, let us go on unto perfection.
Not laying again the foundation of repentance
from dead works and of faith toward God
and of the doctrine of baptism
and of the laying on of hands
and of the resurrection of the dead
and of eternal judgment.
I preached through all of that thoroughly last week.
Look at verse three.
And this will, notice this word, we do, if God permit.
Circle that word we.
In verses one and verses three,
he uses these pronouns in which he identifies himself
with these individuals.
He says, let us go on unto perfection.
Verse three, and this will we do if God permit.
But from verse three to verse four,
and verse four is where the controversial,
cryptic, misunderstood passage begins.
From verse three and verse four,
I want you to notice that there is a shift,
there is a change in the pronouns.
He goes from saying, let us go on to perfection
and this will we do if God permit.
And then he begins to talk about a different group.
Look at verse four.
For it is impossible for us, is that what he said?
For it is impossible for those, different pronoun,
who were once enlightened and have tasted
of the heavenly gift and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come if,
notice these words, they, not us.
Verse one he said, let us.
Verse three he said, this will we do if,
he says this and this will we do if God permit.
But now he's saying those.
In verse six he says, if they, notice,
circle that word they.
If they shall fall away to renew, notice this word,
them again unto repentance, seeing, notice this word,
they crucify to themselves the Son of God of fresh
and put him to an open shame.
I just want you to notice, I'm not trying to tell you
what is being said here or give you my thoughts
or interpretation, I just want you to notice
the construct and the grammar of the passage
that it's clear that there is a shift in the pronouns.
In verses one, two and three he's talking about us and we.
In verses four, five and six he's talking about
they, them, they, those, a different group.
Look at verse seven, for the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs
meet for them which by whom it is dressed
receive blessings from God, but that which beareth thorns
and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing
whose end is to be burned.
Don't worry, we're gonna come back to all that
here in a minute.
I just want you to notice that there is yet again
a shift in pronouns, verse nine.
But, beloved, we.
So notice he says in verse one, us,
he says in verse three, we, then in verses four, five
and six he's talking about a different group.
He says they, those, them, they.
And then in verse nine he goes back to
but, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you
and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak.
So here's the first thing I want you to see
when we look at this very difficult passage.
And maybe this is, maybe will just serve as
an example of how to study the Bible
when you are studying the Bible for yourself.
And it is this, that the group being spoken about
in Hebrews chapter six, verses four through six
is different than the group being spoken to
in Hebrews chapter six, verses one and three
and back again in verse nine.
In verse one we said us, he said us.
In verse three he said we.
In verse nine he said we are persuaded
better things of you.
But in verses four and five and six
he says those and they and them and they.
So the first thing I want you to notice is this.
The group being spoken about in Hebrews six,
verses four through six is different
than the group being spoken of,
or being spoken to, excuse me,
in Hebrews chapter six, verses one through three.
Then here's another thing I want you to see.
Just as we dissect this passage,
before we start making applications,
let's just look at the construct.
I want you to notice that the group being spoken about
in verses four, five, and six has lost their ability.
The phrase used here is it is impossible.
Has lost their ability to be renewed again unto repentance.
Look at verse four, Hebrews chapter six, verse four.
The first word is this, for, for, meaning because.
Here's what he's saying.
We need to go on to perfection because.
I want you to notice that that word
connects these two groups.
They are different and distinct groups,
but there is something that connects them.
There's a reason why he's bringing this up.
He's not just randomly, you know,
I haven't talked about the reprobates for a while,
let me just kind of bring that up for no reason.
He's bringing this up for a reason.
He's talking to them and he says,
look, I need you to go on to perfection
because I need you to understand some things
about Melchizedek and you're not ready to hear it yet,
but here's what you need to understand.
You need to know this because it is impossible.
That's the context.
It is impossible.
Now here's what I want you to get,
and this is what makes this passage difficult,
is that what we have in verse four is these words.
For it is impossible for.
And right at the word for, starting with the word for,
we have a list of descriptive prepositional phrases.
If you remember learning how to dissect a diagram,
a sentence in high school,
you might remember about prepositional phrases.
A prepositional phrase is a group of words
that begins with a preposition and describes nouns,
pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.
They describe and they modify the noun.
Here's what you need to understand.
The subject of the sentence never changes
or is never changed by a prepositional phrase.
And you need to also be aware of the fact
that prepositional phrases can be inserted back to back.
You can have back to back prepositional phrases.
And a prepositional phrase is simply pointing back
to the subject and describing the subject
or modifying the subject.
And what we have in verse four,
beginning with the second word for,
for it is impossible for,
that second word for is a prepositional word,
it's a preposition,
that begins a list of prepositional phrases
that are descriptive and that are explaining something,
but they're not required to understand the subject.
Look at what it says.
For it is impossible,
and here's where the prepositional phrases begin,
for those who were once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and have tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come.
Here's what he's saying.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened
and for those who have tasted of the heavenly gift
and for those who were made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and for those who have tasted of the good word of God
and for those who have tasted of the powers
of the world to come.
Do you understand?
All of that is pointing us back, describing something,
but here's the reason I bring this up is to say this.
To understand the subject of the sentence,
you can ignore all that.
Now we're gonna come back to it
and I'm gonna talk about it,
but for now I want you to just ignore it
just so you can understand the subject.
Notice when we cross out the prepositional phrases,
they're important, we're gonna come back to them,
but when we cross them out,
just to make sure we understand the subject,
here's how the sentence reads.
For it is impossible, verse six,
if they shall fall away to renew them again
unto repentance.
Or you could read it this way.
For it is impossible for those if they shall fall away
to renew them again unto repentance.
What the writer of Hebrews is telling us,
though he added all these descriptions
about who he's talking about,
he's telling us that this group
that's different than the first group,
that it is impossible for them
to be renewed again unto repentance.
That's what he's saying.
Now when you look at the word repentance there in verse six,
let me just say this.
The word repentance in the Bible,
and we talked about this last week,
so I should be able to deal with this quickly
and not spend a lot of time on it.
The word repentance in the Bible
can be used in two different ways.
It can be used about salvation,
and it can be used about sanctification.
Obviously when the Bible is telling you
to repent of your sins,
that is not talking about salvation.
That is for a believer.
Christians need to be repenting of their sins every day.
When it comes to salvation,
their repentance is involved
in the sense that we turn from dead works
and have faith towards Christ,
have faith towards God.
We turn towards God.
That's repentance for salvation.
The question is, what is this repentance referring to?
And that can be highly debated,
but I'll just tell you my thoughts.
My thought is that the word repentance there
is referring to salvation.
Now here's why, look at verse six,
and if you disagree with me, that's okay,
we can be friends.
Hebrews six, verse six.
If they shall fall away,
to renew them again unto repentance.
Now how do we know what repentance he's talking about?
Well, we can know based off the context.
Notice the very next phrase,
which is by definition the context.
The context of the word repentance here is this.
Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh
and put him to an open shame.
This repentance is connected
to the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified.
What is that?
Salvation.
That's not repent of like trying to live a good life.
What does that have to do with him being crucified
and them crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh?
The cross has to do with salvation.
Not only that, but if you go further in the chapter,
and we're gonna go through the whole thing here tonight,
but let me just skip down to verse number nine.
Why don't you notice that salvation is brought up
within the context of this book, Hebrews six, verse nine.
But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you
and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
Notice he brings up salvation in the context.
Specifically, when he comes back to the original group,
he says, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.
He's contrasting them to the group being spoken of
in verses four, five, and six, and seven, and eight,
and he says, we're persuaded better things of you
and things that accompany salvation.
What is he telling us?
You're saved.
But this group, it's impossible if they shall fall away
to renew them again unto repentance.
And then he brings up the fact that
in order for that to happen,
they would have to crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh.
So I believe the repentance there is a reference
to salvation, and the group being spoken about
has lost their ability.
It is impossible to be renewed again unto repentance.
Number three, look at verse four.
For it is impossible for those who were.
Now here's our list of phrases that are descriptive.
Who were once enlightened,
and have tasted of the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
and have tasted of the good word of God,
and of the powers of the world to come.
He tells us that this group,
which is different than the group that he's talking to,
that he's writing the book to,
and that has lost their ability
to be renewed unto repentance,
he tells us that this group being spoken about,
not spoken to, but spoken about,
he tells us that they were once enlightened,
they tasted of the heavenly gift,
they were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
and they tasted of the good word of God,
and of the powers of the world to come.
Now I'm gonna come back to that.
I'm gonna come back to it later on in the sermon.
We're just gonna leave it there for now,
but I do want you to notice that he did say that
about that group.
That group was once enlightened.
That group tasted of the heavenly gift.
That group was made partakers of the Holy Ghost.
That group tasted of the good word of God,
and the powers of the world to come.
And then in verse six,
and we've already talked about it a little bit,
he says this, if they shall fall away.
Remember, the context is this.
For it is impossible, if they shall fall away,
to renew them again unto repentance.
And then he says, seeing they crucified to themselves
the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
The group being spoken of,
according to the writer of Hebrews,
cannot be renewed again unto repentance,
because doing so would be like crucifying to themselves
the Son of God afresh.
Now again, if someone is saying,
well, no, these are Christians, and they're backslidden,
well then, are you saying that they can't get right with God
because they would have to crucify the Lord afresh?
Because the Bible says that if we confess our sins,
these faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and the contents from all unrighteousness,
as many times as we need.
That's the whole point of eternal security.
So here he's saying, this group,
if they were to be renewed,
it would be like crucifying to themselves
the Son of God afresh, and put him on an open shame.
So let me just ask you a question.
Keep your blazer in Hebrews chapter six,
and go to 1 Thessalonians chapter two if you would.
You go backwards, you go past the book of Hebrews,
Philemon, Titus, 2 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians,
1 Thessalonians.
You go backwards, Hebrews, Philemon, Titus,
1 Timothy, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians.
Let me just ask this question,
because here, the writer of the book of Hebrews,
who's writing to first century Jews who are believers,
and he's explained to them how to transition
out of the Old Testament into the New Testament,
and how to correlate the Old Testament into the New Testament
tells them, I need you to understand something
about a group, not you, but another group.
Who, it is impossible for them to be renewed,
and he says, if they could be renewed,
it would be like crucifying the Son of God afresh,
and putting him to an open shame.
So let me just ask you one real quick Bible question.
Who crucified the Lord Jesus Christ?
First, let's look at 1 Thessalonians chapter two.
Many people say the Romans.
The Romans were a tool used to crucify Christ.
Obviously, they took part in it.
But according to the Bible,
who crucified the Lord Jesus Christ?
1 Thessalonians two, look at verse 14.
Notice what Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians.
He says, for ye, brethren,
became followers of the churches of God,
which in Judea are in Christ Jesus,
for ye also have suffered like things
of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews.
He's talking to the church in Thessalonica,
and he's saying, you have been persecuted
like we have, like your own,
he says, for ye also have suffered
like things of your own countrymen,
is that you've been persecuted by your own countrymen
like we have been by the Jews,
even as they have of the Jews.
Look at verse 15, who both killed the Lord Jesus
and their own prophets, and have persecuted us,
and they pleased not God, and are contrary to all men.
Another list of prepositional phrases, by the way.
He's got quite a few things to say about the Jews.
He says they killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets,
and have persecuted us, and they pleased not God,
and are contrary to all men.
So, the Bible is clear that it is the Jews
who killed Jesus.
Go back to Hebrews chapter six.
Look at verse seven.
Let's just review real quick.
The group being spoken about,
being spoken about in Hebrews six versus four and six,
is different than the group being spoken to
in Hebrews six versus one and three.
The group being spoken about has lost their ability.
It is impossible for them to be renewed again
unto repentance, and the group being spoken about
was once enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift,
was made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
tasted of the good word of God,
and of the powers of the world to come.
The group being spoken about cannot be renewed again
unto repentance, because doing so would be
like crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh.
And then, number five, I'd like you to notice
that the group being spoken of was rejected,
and they were rejected because they produced
thorns and briars.
Look at verse seven.
Four.
Now, the word for here, again, is pointing us back
to the context, because, and what he's going to do
in verses seven and eight,
he's going to give a little parable.
He's going to give a little analogy.
And he's hoping that this analogy helps them
to understand what he's talking about.
Now, remember, there's two groups being spoken about here.
The group being spoken to, verses one through three,
and the group being spoken about,
verses four through six and four through eight.
In verses seven and eight, we again have two groups.
Notice what it says, Hebrews six and verse seven.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain
that cometh oft upon it.
What does that mean in our little parable here,
in our little analogy?
Here's what he's saying.
The rain comes upon the earth.
The opportunity for the earth to receive rain
comes upon the whole world.
It doesn't just rain in one section of the world.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain
that cometh oft upon it, and then he says,
there's two different things that happen
when the rain is brought unto the earth.
One thing that happens, he says here in verse seven,
and bringeth forth herbs, meat,
the word meat means suitable,
for them by whom it is dressed
receiveth blessings from God.
He says when the earth receives the rain,
receives the water, and it bringeth forth,
it produces herbs, then that, that group,
receives blessings from God.
But, verse eight, here's the contrast.
Here's the compare and contrast.
Here's the second group.
But that which, notice this word,
beareth.
Beareth means produces.
Beareth means this is the fruit.
That which beareth thorns and briars.
A briar is like a prickly shrub.
Here's what he says.
But that which beareth thorns and briars
is rejected and is nigh unto cursing
whose end is to be burned.
Now remember, and I want you to look down at this,
and I want you to remember these words.
Thorns and briars.
Now, a lot of debate can be stated
about these thorns and briars.
And when people preach about Hebrew six,
oftentimes we like to find passages
that talk about thorns, and passages that talk about briars,
and passages that talk about these types of things.
But I want you to notice that when he's talking to
these first century Jews who grew up in Judaism,
but are believers now, and are saved.
And he says, let me tell you a little parable.
A parable about the earth drinking in the rain,
and bringing forth herbs, meat for them
by whom it is dressed.
But also, that which beareth thorns and briars
is rejected and is nigh unto cursing
whose end is to be burned.
To a first century, and maybe to you too, I don't know.
But to a first century Jew,
who's saved but grew up in Judaism,
that little phrase, thorns and briars,
is gonna stand out to them.
Especially within the context of a story or a parable.
You say, why?
Well, let me show you.
Go to Isaiah chapter five, if you will.
Isaiah chapter five.
If you open your Bible just right in the center,
you're more than likely to fall in the book of Psalms.
Right after Psalms, you have Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Song of Solomon, Isaiah.
Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah.
We talked about the context.
What's the context?
He's talking about the high priest
and began to talk specifically about Melchizedek.
But then he had to take a break
from talking about Melchizedek
and he had to go on a little rabbit's trail
because he said, I have a lot of things
I want to say to you about Melchizedek,
but they're hard to be uttered
and you're not ready to hear them.
You're dull of hearing.
And the reason that you're not ready to hear them
is because you're a babe in Christ
and I need you to grow up and get on the strong meat.
And he says, let us go unto perfection and this will we do.
He said, I need you to grow
because I need you to understand something
about a different group, another group,
not us and we, but them and they and those guys.
But those guys are closely connected to you.
And they're closely connected to your understanding
about Melchizedek.
But I don't think you're ready to hear.
So I'm going to explain it to you
and he says, let me use this little story.
For the earth drinketh in the rain
and cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs,
meat for them by whom it is dressed,
receiving blessings from God.
But that which bury thorns and briars is rejected
and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned.
Go to Hebrews, excuse me, Isaiah chapter five.
Hopefully you're there.
We talked about the context.
We talked about the construct.
Now let's talk about the concept.
What's being taught here?
What's the whole point?
Hebrews chapter, excuse me, Isaiah chapter five, verse one.
By the way, let me just say this.
Isaiah chapter five, famous, well-known parable
by the prophet Isaiah.
In fact, it's so well-known that Jesus kind of
teaches his own version of this parable in the gospels.
I'll show it to you.
Isaiah five, verse one.
Now will I sing unto my beloved a song of my beloved.
This is the prophet Isaiah.
He said, let me sing you a song.
Let me tell you a little story.
He said, now will I sing to my beloved a song
of my beloved touching his vineyard.
Make note of that word vineyard.
My beloved hath a vineyard and a very fruitful hill.
And he fenced it.
What is that?
That's protection.
And gathered out the stones thereof.
What is that?
That's preparation.
And planted it with the choices vine.
What is that?
That's provision.
And built a tower in the midst of it
and also made a wine press therein.
What is that?
That's production.
And he looked that it should bring forth grapes.
What is that?
That's reproduction, that's fruit.
And it brought forth wild grapes.
See, he had a vineyard and he fenced it
and he gathered out the stones thereof.
He planted the choices vine, the best vine,
the best quality vines, organic, right?
He built a tower, he made a wine press
and he did all this and he looked
that it should bring forth grapes.
He wanted it to bring forth grapes.
The problem is it brought forth wild grapes.
He didn't want wild grapes.
Wild grapes were unusable.
Wild grapes were sour or rotten,
not something he could use.
Look at verse three.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge I pray you.
Notice who he's talking to.
The inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah.
He's telling them, judge, Isaiah's telling them,
judge I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard.
What could have been done more to my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
Said, what else could I have done?
I fenced it, I gathered out the stones,
I planted the choices vine, I built a tower,
I built a wine press.
He said, what else could I have done?
What could have been done more to my vineyard, verse five,
that I have not done in it?
Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes,
brought it forth wild grapes.
He said, I wanted it to bring forth grapes
and it brought forth wild grapes.
Again, unusable.
Verse five.
And now go to, I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will, notice these words, take away the hedge there.
And it shall be eaten up.
And break down the wall thereof,
and it shall be trodden down.
And I will lay it waste, it shall not be pruned,
nor digged, but there shall come up,
please don't miss it, I want you to see it,
verse six, briars and thorns.
He said, what's gonna come up to this vineyard?
What are you doing to this vineyard?
I'm rejecting it.
He says, I'm gonna take it away, I'm gonna break down,
and I'm gonna lay it to waste.
And there's gonna come up briars and thorns.
Remember Hebrews 6-8?
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected.
And I will lay it waste, it shall not be pruned, nor digged,
but there shall come up briars and thorns.
I will also command the clouds,
that they rain or rain upon it.
He said, what is he talking about?
Verse seven.
Verse seven is the spiritual commentary
to this little story.
Verse seven, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel, the nation of Israel.
It's about the Jews, and the men of Judah,
his pleasant plant, and he looked for judgment,
but behold, oppression for righteousness,
but behold, a crime.
Go to Matthew chapter 21, if you wouldn't.
You say, okay, the concept of Hebrews, what is it about?
Well, I want you to know that it's about the Jews.
He says, I'm going to reject it,
because I gave it water and it wouldn't bear what I wanted.
It bore, he says, it beareth thorns and briars,
and as a result, it is rejected and nigh unto cursing,
whose end is to be destroyed.
And Isaiah has a famous song, a famous parable,
about a vineyard, which is about the house of Israel,
where he says, I'm going to reject the house of Israel,
because it's producing briars and thorns.
Now this parable is kind of retold by the Lord Jesus Christ
in the New Testament, not exactly, but it's very similar.
Matthew 21, look at verse 33, notice what Jesus says.
Matthew 21, verse 33, this is Jesus speaking.
Hear another parable.
There was a certain householder, notice these words,
which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about,
doesn't that sound familiar?
And digged a winepress in it, doesn't that sound familiar?
And built a tower, doesn't that sound familiar?
And let it out to the husband men
and went into a far country.
Doesn't all that sound familiar, like Isaiah 5?
I'm not going to go through this whole parable,
I'm not going to take the time to do it.
Let me just quickly explain what happens here
and you can read it in this context if you'd like.
In this parable, the householder,
which we meet in verse 33,
sends his servants, which we meet in verse 34,
to the husband men, which we met in verse 34,
to receive the fruits of the vineyard.
We see that in verse 34.
The husband men, from verse 34,
beat one in verse 35, killed another in verse 35,
and stoned another in verse 35,
and eventually the householder, from verse 33,
sends his son, in verse 37,
and they kill him too, in verse 38.
That's the story.
Look at verse 40.
Here's the application, Matthew 21, 40.
Did you get the story?
He has a vineyard, he gave it to husband men,
he wanted fruit.
When it was time to get fruit, he sends his servant,
he sends his servant, they beat one,
they kill another, they stoned another,
eventually he sends his son,
he says they will reverence my son,
but they kill him too.
That's the story, verse 40.
When the Lord therefore of the vineyard cometh,
what will he do unto those husband men?
They say unto him, he will miserably
destroy those wicked men,
and will let out his vineyard unto other husband men.
You know what we call that?
We call that replacement.
Replacement theology, right here.
He will let out that vineyard unto other husband men,
which shall render him the fruit of their season.
Look at verse 43, same passage, same context.
Just to be clear, Jesus talking to the Pharisees says,
therefore say I unto you,
the kingdom of God shall be taken from you.
The nation of Israel, the Jews.
You're gonna be rejected and given to a nation.
And we know that nation is a nation of Gentiles
bringing forth the fruit thereof.
But that which bear thorns and briars
is rejected, Hebrews 6.8.
So what is Hebrews 6 about?
Well, it's about the Jews.
But it's not just about the Jews.
Go to Matthew chapter seven.
It's about the Jews, but let me just be clear,
because I do believe this,
Hebrews 6 is about the reprobates.
You say, well, how do you figure?
Well, remember Hebrews chapter six and verse eight?
You remember verse eight?
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected.
That which beareth thorns and briars is rejected,
and is thine unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.
In Matthew chapter seven, we have a story that Jesus gives,
and here's what Jesus says, Matthew chapter seven, verse 15.
Beware of false prophets,
which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Notice verse 16.
Ye shall know them by their fruits.
It's funny to me that today,
liberal Christians like to quote that,
and you shall know them by their fruits,
and they don't look at the context.
Context is key.
It's about false prophets.
He says you shall know them by their fruits.
And then notice what he says.
Do men gather grapes, like the vineyard in Isaiah five,
the vineyard in Matthew 21?
Do men gather grapes of thorns?
Here's what he's saying.
Do thorns produce grapes, or figs of thistles?
Do thistles produce figs?
Verse 17, even so, he says, that's just an illustration.
That's just the parable.
Here's the application, even so, or in the same way.
Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit.
But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.
Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
What's he saying?
He's saying a false prophet cannot produce anything
but thorns and briars.
An evil tree cannot produce good fruit.
And a good tree cannot produce evil fruit.
Verse 19, every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Remember Hebrews 6 eight, whose end is to be burned?
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
This is why I believe that Hebrews six
is talking about reprobates.
Because here's the thing, we can argue
about what the phrase once enlightened means.
We can argue about what the phrase
tasted of the heavenly gift means,
or made partakers of the Holy Ghost means,
or tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world.
We can argue about what those phrases mean.
But here's something we cannot argue about.
That Hebrews six and verse eight says
that these individuals beareth thorns and briars.
They produce thorns and briars.
And Jesus said a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.
So therefore these people are not a good tree.
They cannot be.
They say, well, I'm a little, I'm tracking with you,
but I want to make sure I understand.
Is it about the Jews or is it about the reprobates?
Go to 2 Peter if you would, chapter two.
If you get to a place in Hebrews,
or if you have your place in Hebrews,
after Hebrews you have James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter.
Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter.
Is it about the Jews or is it about the reprobates?
And here's the answer to the question, it's both.
Here's what I believe is happening here in Hebrews six.
Hebrews six is the Jews and the rejection of the Jews
being used as an example of the reprobates,
the rejection of the reprobates, or vice versa.
The rejection of the reprobates being used
to explain the rejection of the Jews.
And let me just say it this way.
And this is why context is key.
If you remember when we started the book of Hebrews,
we talked about the fact that I believe
that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews,
and I went through a whole list of why I believe that,
and I think everyone that pretty much agrees with that,
anyone that matters at least.
And I'm sorry if you don't believe that.
I'm not talking about you, I don't know that.
The book of Hebrews was written anonymously though.
Because if you remember, who had the most to gain
with the book of Hebrews being published?
What did you say to the apostle Paul?
What was the major fight of the first century?
Of course, the persecution came from unbelieving Jews.
But what was the major fight in the first century?
When you're reading nine chapters a day this month,
and you get to the book of Acts, I want you to notice this.
I want you to notice that there's all these issues
within believers, within the believing community
of the Jews and the Gentiles.
In Acts chapter six, the Greeks and the Jews
are arguing about their women, the women,
the widows not being taken care of.
In Acts chapter 15, Pharisees who believed
are trying to make Gentile believers
follow the Mosaic law, and they have to have
this big Jerusalem council in Acts chapter 15.
When Paul comes back to Jerusalem, James, who's saved,
James who's the brother of Jesus,
James is telling Paul that there's thousands of Jews
that believe but follow the Mosaic law.
In the first century, there was all these individuals
in these local churches who were Jewish,
Judaized individuals raised in the Jews' religion
who had gotten saved, and they were having trouble
leaving it, and they were not fans of Paul.
Why were they not fans of Paul?
Well, we just went through the book of Galatians.
He comes at them really hard.
Galatians, Ephesians, he's coming at them really hard
and fighting against them, and what I believe
we see in the book of Hebrews is Paul writing anonymously
in the nicest possible way, trying to help
these Jewish first century believers understand
they don't have to keep the Mosaic law.
Jesus is better.
They need to transition out of the Old Testament law.
They need to transition into the New Testament,
and in Hebrews 6, let me say this, in Hebrews 5
and in Hebrews 7, he's brought up Melchizedek,
who Jesus is the high priest of the order of Melchizedek,
and he knows, and he's gonna bring it up later in the book,
we're gonna see it, that their argument to him
is going to be, well, wait a minute,
how can Jesus be a high priest if he was
the tribe of Judah and the priesthood comes from Aaron
and the tribe of Levi?
And the answer to the question is this,
the Jews have been replaced.
The Levitical priesthood has been done away with.
There is no Levitical priesthood.
There is no priest of the sons of Aaron.
That's how Jesus can be the high priest
of the order of Melchizedek.
That's how you and I, when the Bible says
that we are kings and priests unto God and our father,
we're not Levitical priests.
We're of the order of Melchizedek.
But they're not ready to hear that.
This is difficult for them.
They've grown up as Jews their entire life,
and it's hard for them to understand
that the Old Testament has been done away with,
the nation of Israel has been rejected.
So what does the writer of Hebrews, what does he do?
He says, let me talk to you about something
that you don't have an issue understanding.
Let me talk to you about reprobates.
Let me talk to you about how someone
can cross a line with God and be rejected.
Here's what he's doing.
He's getting them to nod their heads.
He's getting them to agree.
He's getting them to say, yeah, I understand.
I understand how somebody can come close to,
be exposed to, understand things,
and not get saved, and then lose their ability.
I can understand that.
And he's using that as an example to say,
well, that's what happened to the Jews.
Thorns and briars.
Look, that's the only way any of this makes sense.
What does any of this have to do with Melchizedek?
Now you say, well, I don't know.
He's using reprobates to explain the Jews.
Now here's the thing.
I did the opposite because we're not
first century Jewish believers.
We're 21st century Gentile believers.
So the big debate with this passage
is they're talking about reprobates.
So I started with something we can all agree on, the Jews.
And I showed you how, look, it's about the Jews.
The Jews have been rejected.
And doing what the writer of Hebrews is doing,
and the opposite, saying in the same way
that the Jews were rejected,
there are individuals that can be rejected.
Now hold on a second.
Look at this.
Go to 2 Peter 2, but I want you to go
to Hebrews chapter six and verse four.
Because verse four is the controversial part.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,
and have tasted of the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
and have tasted of the good word of God,
and of the powers of the world to come.
It is impossible for those individuals,
verse six, if they shall fall away
to renew them again unto repentance,
seeing they crucified to themselves
the Son of God afresh, to put him in an open shame.
And people look at these statements,
and they say, well, how can this be about reprobates?
This has to be somebody who's saved.
But wait a minute.
Think about the Jews.
Doesn't all of that apply to the Jews?
They were once enlightened.
They tasted of the heavenly gift.
They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.
They have tasted of the good word of God,
and the powers of the world to come.
They were given the oracles of God.
The glory of God descended upon
the tabernacle and the temple.
They were given the priests.
Look, they were enlightened.
They tasted of the heavenly gift.
They were partakers of the Holy Ghost.
All that, if you look at it, and you say,
can that apply to the Jews, and the answer is yes,
and the Jews, have they been rejected,
and the answer is yes, then that should help you realize
that they can also be applied to an individual.
Because that's what people struggle with.
Now, this is done throughout the Bible.
Throughout the Bible, God will use groups of people
to help us understand the reprobate doctrine.
That's what the writer of Hebrews is doing
in Hebrews chapter six.
Let me just, to prove the point, show you
how this is done elsewhere in the Bible.
Go to 2 Peter chapter two.
2 Peter chapter two.
You're saying, it's about the Jews being rejected,
and that's used as an illustration
to help us understand the reprobates.
Yes.
Or about the reprobates being rejected,
and that helps us understand the Jews.
The answer is yes, because the way that he words it
is so ambiguous, it can apply to both groups, vice versa.
I believe that he's teaching them
about the reprobate doctrine, moving them along,
getting them to agree, getting them to knock their heads.
Yes, yes, we understand, we understand.
What does that have to do with us?
Thorns and briars, oh.
Isaiah five, yeah.
Oh, I see what you're saying.
Now, God using groups to help us understand reprobates,
is that done in scripture?
Well, let me give you some examples.
2 Peter two, look at verse four.
For if God, look at this, spared not the angels that sinned.
Now, the fallen angels, are they reprobates?
Well, kinda.
They've been rejected.
They can't be renewed unto repentance.
They're not human beings that came to the point
where they rejected Christ, or they chose
to go down the reprobate road.
But notice here in 2 Peter, by the way,
2 Peter chapter two and the book of Jude
is all about reprobates.
And he's using a group, the fallen angels,
to help us understand reprobates.
For if God spared not the angels that sin,
but cast them down to hell and delivered them
into chains of darkness to be reserved into judgment.
He says, look, you wanna understand the reprobate doctrine?
Here's an illustration to help you understand it.
How about the fallen angels?
They crossed a line and they cannot be renewed
unto repentance, they are reserved unto judgment.
And God spared not the angels.
That's a group representing, symbolically helping us
illustrating the reprobate doctrine.
You want another example?
Look at verse five.
And spared not the old world.
Talking about the world that was killed in the flood,
but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.
And you asked the question, are you saying that those,
all those people that died in the flood,
that they were reprobates?
Kinda.
God gave up on them.
He killed them all.
Their opportunities were done.
When he closed the door on the ark,
he saved Noah and the rest were rejected.
He's using them as an example of a reprobate.
Here's another group, verse seven.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now does God, do homosexuals today get reprobated
and destroyed all in one city?
You know, San Francisco maybe, hopefully one day.
But is this, this isn't common,
but he's using this as an example.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah,
in the cities about them in like manner,
giving themselves over to fornication
and going after strange flesh, that's queers,
are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
He's using groups to help us understand
how an individual can become a reprobate.
He says in the same way that God spared not the angels,
in the same way that God spared not the old world,
in the same way that God turned the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
that can happen to an individual.
Hebrews is telling us in the same way
that the nation of Israel was once enlightened
and tasted of the heavenly gift
and was partakers of the Holy Ghost
and had all those things that's true of them
and yet they were rejected,
that can happen to an individual.
Still not convinced?
Let me give you another example.
Go to Jude.
Verse six, one chapter in Jude, verse six,
right before the book of Revelation.
Jude one, chapter one, only chapter, verse six.
Jude is all about reprobates as well.
Notice what it says.
And the angels which kept not their first estate
but left their own habitations,
he hath reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness and to the judgment of the great day,
even as Sodom and Gomorrah
and the cities about them in like manner,
giving themselves over to fornication
and going after strange flesh,
are set forth as an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Look, he's wanting to teach them about replacement theology
but he says, what's so difficult?
Have you asked yourself,
what's so difficult about Melchizedek?
Well, nothing for you.
You're not a first century Jew
that grew up in Judaism,
that is being taught something
and your whole world's being flipped upside down.
But to them, he says,
I have some things I need to explain to you
about Melchizedek of whom we have many things to say
but you're not ready to hear it yet.
He said, I'm gonna have to go on this little rabbit's trail
and explain some things to you
before you can understand
that Jesus is a high priest of the order of Melchizedek
because I know you're gonna ask me what about Levi
and you need to understand that Levi's done.
Levi's gone.
Levi's rejected.
The Levitical priesthood is done away with
but you're not ready to hear that.
So let me tell you about the reprobates in Rome
and the reprobates in Greece
because you'll nod your head at that,
you'll understand that, you'll agree with that
and then when I tell you,
yeah, and that's what happened to the Jews,
you'll have your lesson.
Go back to Hebrews chapter six.
Keep your place in 2 Peter.
We're gonna come back to it.
Look, I skipped the prayer time
and I made the song leaders sing only two stanzas
to give myself some extra time, all right?
So we're still doing good on time
but I'm probably gonna go over, you know, whatever.
I'm not charging you overtime.
You're getting a good deal.
Hebrew six.
Let's talk about these really controversial phrases.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened.
Look, enlightened simply means illuminated.
It means to see something clearly.
If you're a soul winner and you're a good soul winner,
you've seen this where the light bulb just goes off.
Where you're talking to someone,
you're making the points, you're making the applications,
you're doing the illustration and it's just like,
ah, oh, like I get it.
Who was once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift.
And here's the thing, I'm not gonna sit here
and argue with you about these phrases
because I can show you a verse
where Jesus tasted of vinegar and would not drink it.
And then you can show me a verse
where the Bible says that Jesus tasted of death.
And we can argue back and forth.
But here's the thing, the word taste simply means
to experience something.
When it says that he tasted of death for all men,
it doesn't mean that he like received death
like we received salvation.
It means that he experienced death.
And these people, I do not believe got saved,
but I do think they experienced the heavenly gift.
They got it.
Now they rejected it.
But if I offer you a gift and I say,
here, this gift is for you.
Even if you reject it, couldn't you say
that you experienced me giving you a gift?
So it says that they tasted of the heavenly gift.
They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.
I can show you unsaved cuyaphas,
having the Holy Spirit come upon him.
I can show you John 16 eight where it says,
where Jesus says that the Holy Ghost
will reprove the world of sin.
And that the Holy Ghost has a ministry
even in the unsaved, which is why we pray
before we go soul winning.
Every Saturday before we go soul winning,
I pray that the Lord will send the Holy Spirit before us
to prepare the hearts of the people
that we'll be speaking to.
That he'd begin to work on their hearts even now.
Because the Holy Ghost, though he doesn't indwell them
and doesn't seal them, there is a ministry
even to the unsaved of the Holy Ghost.
Jesus said, if I be lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all men unto me.
And the one that's doing that drawing
is the Holy Spirit of God.
We talked about it with the Christmas sermon
about the wise men that God is doing a work
on the other side, on the other side of the door,
on the other side of soul winning,
on the other side of you and I fulfilling our duty
of the great commission.
God is doing a work with the Holy Spirit
where he's moving in the hearts of man
and he's preparing their hearts
and he's changing circumstances around
and he's bringing them to the place
where they would be willing and ready to hear the gospel.
Isn't that what we pray?
Tasted of the heavenly gifts and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God.
The Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good.
That just means that they read the Bible
and they understood it.
How did they understand it?
Because they were enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
But wait, but they weren't saved.
Because unsaved people cannot discern the scriptures.
But they can when a soul winner
that has the Holy Spirit of God explains to them
the scriptures and opens up the scriptures unto them.
So they tasted of the good word of God
and of the powers of the world to come.
They understood eternal judgment.
They understood heaven and hell and the fact
that there's a consequence for sin.
And look, we can go and go to all these passages
but here's the whole point and here's just the answer
that I want to explain to you is that all these phrases,
once enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift,
made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come,
all this is simply stating that they knew,
they understood, a soul winner explained it,
they saw it from the Bible,
the Holy Spirit illuminated it,
they understood it and they rejected it.
That's it.
And you say, well, I struggle with that
but isn't all that true of the Jews?
They are once enlightened.
They tasted of the heavenly gift.
They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.
They tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come and they got rejected.
Go to 2 Peter chapter two.
Let me show you this about reprobates.
2 Peter chapter two.
2 Peter chapter two, look at verse 20.
2 Peter two and verse 20.
2 Peter 2, 20 is about reprobates.
You can study it in the context,
we already saw verses from there that showed that
but look at verse 20.
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world,
we're talking about reprobates.
Notice these words.
Through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
These people had knowledge of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
What does that mean?
It means they were once enlightened.
By the way, they were once enlightened, past tense.
And tasted of the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and have tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come.
For if after they have escaped the pollution of the world,
through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end.
Notice the latter end is worse with them
than the beginning, verse 21.
For it had been better for them.
Does that remind you of Judas Iscariot?
Who's also a reprobate.
For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness.
So they knew the way of righteousness.
What does that mean?
It means they were once enlightened.
They tasted of the heavenly gift.
They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.
They tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come.
It means that somebody explained it to them
and showed them from the Bible
and the Holy Spirit enlightened it and it clicked.
They got it.
For it would have been better.
He says, for it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness
than after they have known it.
Is there any doubt that these people knew it?
Then after they have known it,
to turn from the holy commandments delivered unto them.
They knew it, but they rejected it.
But it has happened unto them
according to the true proverb, the dog,
which represents a homosexual in the Bible,
is turned to his own vomit again
and the sow, which represents a Jew, I think,
that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Romans 1, the most important passage in the Bible
about the Rev. 8 doctrine says in verse 21,
when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.
So look, don't let this mess you up.
They were enlightened, yeah.
They tasted of the heavenly gift, right.
They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, sure.
And have tasted of the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come, yeah.
They had the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and for them not to have known the way of righteousness
would have been better than after they knew it to reject it
because they knew God and they glorified him not as God.
And here's the point, Hebrews 6, here's the point.
He's trying to help them with something
that is hard for them to understand,
which is the Jews being rejected.
He uses the reprobate doctrine to help them understand that.
You maybe are struggling with the reprobate doctrine,
so let me help you with the Jews being rejected
and help you understand that in the same way
that the Jews were rejected of God,
an individual can become rejected of God.
Now please don't misunderstand this.
We're not saying that every Jew is a reprobate.
Obviously the Bible doesn't teach that.
But the nation as a whole, them as the people of God,
that's done away with, that's been rejected.
And today Jews can get saved,
but they have to individually come to Christ
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ just like anyone else.
Go back to Hebrews chapter six.
We started with the context, let me end with the context
and we'll be done here in like two minutes.
I said regarding the concepts, Hebrews 6 is about the Jews,
Hebrews 6 is about the reprobates.
It's the Jews illustrating the reprobates
and the reprobates illustrating the Jews.
This is done all throughout the Bible,
the Old World represented a reprobate,
Sodom and Gomorrah represented reprobates,
the fallen angels represented reprobates,
and the nation of Israel represents reprobates
because all of these, here's what they all have in common.
They've all been rejected.
And the difficult passages, in my opinion,
are purposely ambiguous so that they can be applied
to both Jews and reprobates.
And they're simply just saying that these individuals
had the knowledge, they knew God
and they glorified Him not as God.
Here's my last statement, we'll finish up.
Hebrews 6, and I think this is the most important part
of this whole message, this whole sermon.
If you didn't get anything or you're just like,
I really don't care, just get this, understand this.
Context is key.
And nothing else, in my humble opinion,
nothing else makes sense.
Because what does the reprobate doctrine,
and this is the argument, right?
The reason that people say no,
it's gotta be something else,
because they'll say what does the reprobate doctrine
have anything to do with Melchizedek?
You're right, it doesn't.
But what does blessings and curse things
have anything to do with Melchizedek?
It doesn't.
But when you understand that he's bringing up
the reprobate doctrine because he's really trying
to get them to understand that the Jews have been rejected,
that has everything to do with Melchizedek.
Because them understanding that the Jews have been rejected
is key to understanding there is no Levitical priesthood,
there is no high priest of the order of Aaron,
and we need to get on the high priest
of the order of Melchizedek.
And this is why the passage begins and ends with Melchizedek.
It is one big rabbit's trail, one big break that he takes.
Says, I wanna talk to you about Melchizedek,
but I have some things that I need to explain to you first,
and then notice how he gets back to Melchizedek.
Look at verse nine, we'll just read this context.
I'm gonna preach probably through this next week,
but I just want you to see it.
Hebrews six, verse nine.
But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.
You're different than that group.
Why are you different than that group?
And things that accompany salvation, because you're saved.
Though we thus speak.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work
and labor of love which ye have showed toward his name,
in that ye 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 the hope unto the end,
that ye be not slothful but followers.
Say, well, what's all that about?
That's all about the things that accompany salvation.
He just said it.
Look, God did not save you to sit there,
he saved you to serve.
He said, work and labor of love, minister to the saints,
and do minister, be not slothful but followers.
That all has to do with the fact that he said,
we are persuaded better things of you,
because you're saved, but not just because you're saved,
and things that accompany salvation.
But then notice how he gets back,
notice how he gets back to his point, verse 12.
That ye be not slothful but followers of them,
who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Key word, promises.
For when God made promise to Abraham.
Why does he just randomly bring up Abraham?
None of this is what he says.
For when God made promises to Abraham,
because he could swear by no greater,
he sware by himself, saying, notice this quote,
surely blessing I will bless thee,
and multiplying I will multiply thee.
That is a quote of the Abrahamic Covenant.
Why is he bringing up the Abrahamic Covenant?
Here's why, because he just got done telling them
the Jews have been rejected.
But please understand this,
the Abrahamic Covenant still stands.
Because the Abrahamic Covenant, the Jews being replaced,
doesn't affect the Abrahamic Covenant.
We learned that in Galatians.
Because the Abrahamic Covenant is fulfilled in Christ.
Saying, surely blessings I will bless thee,
and multiplying I will multiply thee.
And so, after he had patiently endured,
he obtained the promise.
For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them,
an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise.
He's talking about people that are saved,
like faithful Abraham, to show unto the heirs of promise.
Notice this word, immutability of his counsel.
Immutability means the unchanging of his counsel.
Why is he saying these things?
He's not just bringing it up
because he wants to say fancy words.
He's saying, look, I don't want you to think
that God rejecting the Jews
is somehow God changing his mind.
God made a promise to Abraham,
and to show unto the heirs of the promise
the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed by an oath with two immutable, unchanging things
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,
and which entereth not into that within the veil.
Verse 20, whither the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus made.
Notice how he gets back to the context,
made an high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.
And then, just real quickly,
chapter seven and verse one,
because there is no chapter seven and verse one
in the original writing,
for Melchizedek, king of Salem,
priest of the most high God,
said, let me tell you something about Melchizedek
who met Abraham,
returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him.
He goes in, and he starts in chapter seven.
We'll get to it in a few weeks.
He starts in chapter seven.
He said, let me tell you a story about Melchizedek.
Melchizedek met Abraham.
Melchizedek was before Abraham.
Levi was in the loins of Abraham.
So God getting rid of the Levitical priesthood
is not changing the immutability of God.
Melchizedek was before Abraham
because Melchizedek is greater than Abraham,
because that's the theme of Hebrews,
Jesus is greater.
And here's what we're getting.
We're getting to this point.
The high priest order of Melchizedek
is better than the high priest order of Aaron.
Say, well, why didn't you say that to begin with?
Well, because you don't struggle with that.
But first century Jews would.
They would not be able to understand that.
They would not be ready to hear that.
They would be dull of hearing.
It would be difficult for them to understand.
And the writer of Hebrews, trying to be very kind,
says, let me explain something to you.
You know how a reprobate can come to the place
where they knew, they understood, they got it, it clicked,
but they rejected it, they produced thorns and briars,
and they were rejected?
Yeah, we get that.
Well, that's what happens to the nation of Israel.
That's how we get it to Melchizedek.
That's the only thing that makes sense.
And I think if you just look at it, it's clear.
It's by our heads in our world of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you.
We thank you for your word.
We thank you for the Bible.
And Lord, I ask that you'd help us
to just understand Scripture.
And Lord, help us not to use these passages
to try to fight with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
People can have different opinions and different thoughts,
and that's fine.
There's nothing wrong with that.
As long as we're not teaching heresy
or teaching damnable heresies,
then there's no need to argue with other friends,
and people can have their own thoughts.
But Lord, I pray that you would just help us
to study the Bible and to be convinced of ourselves
of what is being said here.
And help us to see that things
are not just brought up randomly in chapters,
just for no apparent reason.
The context is key to telling us what is being said here
and what is the purpose of this passage.
Thank you for giving us the Scriptures.
Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, we're gonna have Brother Moses come up
and lead us in a final song.
Just wanna remind you a couple of things.
First of all, don't forget that we've got
the workdays this weekend.
Three clipboards, three days.
If you can help with electrical or drywall
or mudding or paint prep or cabinet work
or mechanical, the projector thing,
then please help us with that.
We would appreciate your help with that.
And please stay with nine chapters a day.
Don't give up, don't quit on it.
Stay with it.
If you didn't start or if you're already behind,
use a grace period day.
It's gonna be great.
And look, if you're like, this is really hard,
once you get past the book of Acts,
it's just downhill, all right?
The chapters get shorter.
So even if you get behind, you can get caught up.
Once you start reading Ephesians and Galatians
and those Philippians, you can start reading
more than nine chapters if you get behind.
So just stay with it, stick with it, don't give up.
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
We'll have Brother Moses come up
and lead us in a final song.
Turn to your song books, page 131.
Page 131, we're gonna sing, Christ is All I Need.
Now, this is a newer song as well.
So if you know it, sing it out.
If not, then we can learn it together.
Page 131, Christ is All I Need.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
Christ is all I need.
All, all I need.
Christ is all I need.
All, all I need.
See, it's pretty easy, so let's sing it out
on the last page, 131.
He was crucified for me.
He died on Calvary.
That's why I know he loves me so.
He's all I need.
Great singing.
Could I please have Brother Keith
close us in a word of prayer?
Amen.