Music
Song number one hundred and forty-five. I know it's early, but let's get a little enthusiastic and we'll have the ladies sing the first part of the chorus.
The first, it is well, we'll have the ladies sing and the men will all sing together the second part.
It is well with my soul, song number one hundred and forty-five.
Music
Everybody singing out together on the first.
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet,
Though trials should come,
Let this blessed assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed his own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross,
And I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
And Lord, haste the day,
When my faith shall be signed,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound,
And the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
With my soul, it is well,
It is well with my soul.
Song number 224.
There shall be showers of blessings.
There shall be showers of blessing,
This is the promise of love.
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need,
Mercy drops round us our falling,
But for the showers we plead.
There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again,
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need,
Mercy drops round us our falling,
But for the showers we plead.
There shall be showers of blessing,
Send them upon us, O Lord,
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come and now honor Thy word.
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need,
Mercy drops round us our falling,
But for the showers we plead.
There shall be showers of blessing,
O that today they might fall,
Now as to God we're confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call.
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need,
Mercy drops round us our falling,
But for the showers we plead.
As well as our church stats.
Also we have the list of expecting ladies.
Please be in prayer for all of them.
And then we have our prayer list that you can email into us.
And we will try to add you to the bulletin.
And we do a prayer as a church on Wednesdays.
Also upcoming events,
We have the wedding of Brother Suhail and Ms. Lori May.
Please see Brother Suhail about RSVPing that on the back.
We have several church reminders.
And then we have the note about the soul winning marathon that happened yesterday.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this.
I think we had around 60 soul winners go out.
And we ended up having 73 salvations for the day.
So praise the Lord on that.
Usually I kind of judge a soul winning trip by about how many soul winners you have.
And then about how many salvations you have.
And if it's usually about the same number it's pretty receptive.
So if you have more that's actually a pretty big indication that it's very receptive.
And of course we take whole families and a lot of people out there.
But boy that was definitely encouraging to see that Shreveport is still very fruitful.
Also there's another church that came and met us out there.
And they're really excited and zealous for soul winning.
And so it's great to encourage them and to see them out there as well.
And so thank you again for participating in that.
We're going to go to our third song, Psalm 67.
One note, and again you don't have to.
But I am going to be drawing a lot of things or having things written on these boards.
And you guys might not be able to see it very well this morning.
And there is still some seats over here.
So if you want to make a move, I'm just giving you that option.
You don't have to, okay?
All right, Psalm 67, come lead us.
All right, that was Psalm chapter 67 in your King James Bible or in the handout.
Psalm chapter 67.
God be merciful unto us and bless us.
And cause the space to shine upon us.
That thy way may be known upon earth.
Thou his saving health among all nations.
Let the people praise thee, O God.
Let all the people praise thee.
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
For thou shouldst judge the people who righteously govern the nations upon earth.
The nations upon earth see law.
Let the people praise thee, O God.
Let all the people praise thee.
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
Then shall the earth increase.
And God, even our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us in all the ends.
Of the earth shall fear him.
Let the people praise thee, O God.
Let all the people praise thee.
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
Hebrews 6, the Bible reads,
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,
of 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 were once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come,
if they shall fall away, to renew them 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 upon it
and bringeth forth herbs, meat for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing,
whose end is to be burned.
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love,
which ye have shewed toward his name, and that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister.
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end,
that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made 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 verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the airs 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 as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, I pray, Lord, that you would fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit now,
and help him to teach the Bible to us this morning with clarity of mind,
and help us, Lord, to soak in the message, and apply the message to our lives, Father God,
so that we can serve you better, so that we can glorify you better, Lord, and be more useful for you and the cause of Christ.
We love you, and in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
We're here in Hebrews chapter number 6, and the title of my sermon this morning could just be called Hebrew 6,
or I kind of titled it, Why It's Important to Grow, Why It's Important to Grow,
and that's really the emphasis of this chapter of the Bible, is that it's important to grow,
and of course we're talking about, spiritually speaking, why it's important to grow,
and I think sometimes because Hebrew 6 is a really difficult passage,
the passage for a lot of people that seem to be confused, some of the language is kind of hard to be understood,
that people miss the whole context of this chapter by trying to explain all the nitty-gritty,
but we don't want to lose focus of the context of Hebrew 6, and the reason why I'm preaching this sermon,
I've preached sermons on Hebrew 6 before, but there was definitely portions of the Bible
that I've been meditating on in the last few months and thinking about,
and there's some verses that I've never really used in talking about this particular subject,
and so I thought it would be really beneficial to preach on it.
Also, last week, if you remember, I preached a sermon on the heart of a soul winner on Sunday morning,
and we talked a lot about Luke chapter number 8,
and that's strategic because I believe that's going to help us today in understanding Hebrew 6 very well,
and having the right application to those things.
So if you haven't heard that sermon, I just recommend please at least listening to last week's sermon as well
on the heart of a soul winner, which also kind of goes into depth on Luke chapter number 8.
But before we get into chapter 6, let's go to chapter 5 for a moment, okay?
And I believe it's important to understand that while I like the chapter divisions,
chapter divisions are a post-addition to the Bible.
They were originally written as just a single epistle.
It's not like the apostle Paul is like, oh, chapter 6, okay.
He's just writing a straight through cohesive narrative,
and in chapter number 5, he brings up in verse number 10,
called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
He brings up the fact that Jesus Christ is the priesthood of Melchizedek,
and the foreshadowing of Melchizedek was the foreshadowing of Christ, and how they're related.
And he wants to talk about this, but look at verse 11.
Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered seeing your duel of hearing.
Now it's not my personal opinion that the book of Hebrews or this section of scripture is hard to be understood.
The apostle Paul already told us that it was hard.
The apostle Paul is saying, hey, a lot of things that I want to say are just too hard to be uttered.
They're very difficult to even comprehend, or they're very advanced subjects of the Bible.
But he says, you guys, I can't really explain this to you because you're dull of hearing.
Meaning that it's like explaining adult concepts to children.
It's just going to go over their head. They're not really ready for that.
They can't really understand it.
It says in verse 12, 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 it becomes such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
So he's saying, you guys have been learning so long, and you've had an opportunity to learn for so long.
By now you should have already grown up, spiritually speaking, and you should have already been a teacher.
But for some reason, you guys are still on the basics.
You guys are still on essentially the foundational doctrines of the Bible.
And as a baby spiritually, babies spiritually need milk.
Just like a physical baby needs milk, spiritual babies can't handle strong meat
because they don't have all the components of the Bible.
They don't know all the stories, and they don't know all the doctrines,
and they haven't lined up every single piece yet.
So then it's hard to build upon that foundation because they don't really have a foundation yet.
Just like someone that needs to build a house, you have to first lay certain elements of the basic foundation
before they're going to understand the rest of the construction.
The same is with Christianity.
You're not going to get saved and then just understand all the Bible.
It will not happen. It's impossible.
Just like any job that's out there, you know, if I showed somebody,
if I took someone that's never done computer programming in their life,
and then I showed them the work that I'm doing, none of it would make sense at all.
Because they just wouldn't have any concept.
They would have to first learn a lot of the foundation
and then start learning even what coding is and the programming.
Just like someone that just started learning a foreign language.
If someone starts blabbing at you, you're going to understand none of it.
It's going to all go over your head.
It's going to sound like just a loud cymbal or something, you know,
just like clanging cymbals or something because you can't comprehend it.
You have to first learn the alphabet and then first learn a few phrases
and then first learn how to pronounce words, and then you'll learn a little bit as you grow.
The same is with Christianity.
You cannot just instantly learn everything in the Bible and everything in Christianity.
It takes a lot of layers, the foundation, and then adding to that and adding to that.
Now, he says in verse 13,
For everyone that useth milk is unskillful and the word of righteousness, for he is obeyed.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,
even those who by reason of use of their senses exercise to discern both good and evil.
Now, as just kind of a visual aid, you don't necessarily have to see this,
but just to kind of help us as we're going through this,
I wanted to just kind of summarize really in just like a few words or just a short phrase
the verses that we've been talking about and we've been seeing.
Notice in verse 13 it says that if you use milk, you know, you're obeyed.
But a strong meat is someone that's of full age,
meaning someone that can only ever expound the most basic, simple doctrines is considered obeyed.
Someone that's able to go a little bit above that and teach more advanced doctrines,
that's someone that's of full age.
That's what the Bible's kind of indicating.
So, just to give us some kind of an idea, verse 11,
it was saying he had some hard sayings that he wants to deliver to us, okay?
I hope you can kind of see this.
See, this marker's going a little dry.
Let's see if I have another one.
Hard sayings.
So he had some hard sayings to be uttered about Melchizedek.
Let me move the blue.
Here we go.
You probably see that better.
He had some hard sayings about Melchizedek, okay, that he wants to tell them.
Does everybody remember that?
Okay.
And then he says, but I can't, because you guys are in need of milk.
You guys need milk.
Verse 13, he says, babies are the ones who need milk.
Babes are the ones that use milk, and babies are the ones that need milk.
So basically we have, babes need milk.
And in verse 14, strong meat is for those of full age, right?
Those who have strong meat are of full age, okay?
Everybody kind of with me so far, right?
We're just trying to take this real slow and just trying to understand where we're at.
So as we build the context, I want to explain something that's strong meat.
That's what he's trying to say.
I want to explain something really difficult to be understood about Melchizedek.
But before I can even explain Melchizedek, you would have to understand a lot of basics
for that to even make sense for you to be able to handle that, for that to even be comprehended to you.
And the problem is a lot of you guys only, you guys need milk still,
and that means you're a baby because strong meat is only for those of full age.
So who's the only people that are going to really understand what he's going to say
in a lot of these chapters of the book of Hebrews?
Only those of full age.
Only those that have already understood a lot of the basics.
That's why you see a lot of people screwing up the book of Hebrews
is because they don't even have the basics down.
And a lot of the time it's because they're not even saved, okay folks?
And a lot of unsaved people, they love to go to the book of Hebrews to prove really bad false doctrines, okay?
Now, let's go to chapter 6 now.
So we're moving in.
The word to start chapter 6 is therefore.
You know why a therefore is there?
Because it connects the previous thought.
It's saying it's there for a reason.
What's the reason? What it just said, okay?
Therefore, therefore based on what?
Based on the fact that you guys are in need of milk and you're not of full age yet.
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,
of the doctrine of baptisms and the laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.
So in verses 1 and 2, he makes it very clear that he wants them to leave that baby doctrine
and he wants them to go on to perfection.
That's his desire for them, isn't it?
Is he basically wants them to go on to perfection.
What is perfection in this context?
Perfection is completion.
It's like as an adult, an adult male probably hits the full maturity at around 25 years old.
That's give or take, but essentially that's when they finally have hit full maturity.
They're not going to grow anymore.
We all are growing as young children and as young men.
You can continue to grow, but once you hit about age 25, you're not going to grow anymore.
That's sad for me, okay?
I wish I could keep growing a little bit more.
But you know what, I'm kind of stuck at this.
Now I just age, right?
Now I just get older and sore and everything hurts.
It's just like, oh man, I can't imagine what it's like when I get really old.
But, you know, yeah, just wait.
But I've already hit maturation physically speaking.
So the same as what he's wanting you to do spiritually, he's wanting you to hit that adult spiritual age.
Now obviously when it comes to wisdom and knowledge, we could probably never get to a place where we've stopped learning or we've stopped growing spiritually.
But he wants us to still just be mature.
So there's a difference between an adult and a child.
Regardless of the fact that a 25-year-old probably still doesn't have as much maturity as a 55-year-old or a 75-year-old, I understand that.
But we understand the difference between a 25-year-old and a 5-year-old is just an order of magnitude difference.
So that's what he's trying to get us to do.
Let's go on to perfection where we're adult, mature people.
That's the whole context. That's what he's trying to get us to do.
And notice the baby doctrines.
Repentance from dead works.
What's repentance from dead works?
Well, that's every false religion that exists teaches work salvation.
It doesn't matter what you're talking about.
Catholic, Islam, atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, Presbyterian. I don't care what it is.
If it's not biblical Christianity, it's work salvation.
Every other religion teaches works.
But here's the thing.
All of those works are dead in the sense that they will not get you to heaven.
They will not give you eternal life. They will not give you anything.
So in order to be saved, you have to repent from dead works and put your faith towards what?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
So you look at Cain.
Cain's trusting in his works.
What would he have to do?
He would have to have repented and put his faith in Jesus Christ.
That's what would have saved Cain.
But you know what?
Cain trusted in his dead works and his offering and God had not respect unto his offering.
Why?
Because God will not save you by your works.
And you have to change your mind.
You have to believe in Christ.
You can't believe in yourself.
Verse 3.
The Bible says,
In this we will do if God permit.
Okay?
So what is it that we're going to do?
Well, we've been staying with our context.
We're going to go on to perfection if God permit.
It's just basically God willing, right?
How many times does the Bible say something to that effect of, hey, this is what we're striving for and if God allows us to get to that place, then great.
Okay?
So we've got through this section.
I think that it's really important that we understand this no matter what interpretation we take on the next portion of scripture.
Because, again, we don't want to lose the context.
What is the important aspect being driven home so far?
Grow, grow, grow, grow, grow.
Have we seen anything different?
It says grow, grow.
You need to grow.
And, again, that's what's being hammered here in this section of scripture so that you can then handle the hard saves.
Okay?
Now, let's move on a little bit further.
Sorry, this is a little bit, you know, after a move.
It gets a little funky.
All right.
Now, for sake of time this morning, I'm going to skip verses four through six and seven through eight.
All right?
We're just going to skip it for a second.
Okay?
We don't care what it says.
Because so far we've learned what every other verse said and we understood the context that made sense to us, right?
Let's just skip to verse number nine.
Okay?
Now, this is not the best way to study your Bible.
But I'm just, for this morning, I'm going to explain this and I just don't want to double explain it.
So I'll explain it later, all right?
Verse number nine.
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
What does this verse sound like it's trying to explain?
How about just things that accompany salvation?
Isn't that what it says even?
We're persuaded better things of you.
We don't know what that means yet.
We'll get to it.
But things that accompany salvation.
So if we look at verse nine, we can say, hey, this is saying there's things that accompany salvation.
Things that accompany salvation.
Whether or not you understand the context, can't you at least admit there's things that accompany salvation?
Because the phrase exists in the Bible.
So, therefore, there must be something that accompanies salvation, right?
And then he said, though we thus speak.
All right, verse 10.
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.
Verse 10.
What is that saying?
God's not going to forget your work, okay?
If I misspell something, tell me so I don't look like an idiot.
All right.
Verse number 11.
What does the Bible say?
And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Notice also this.
I'm not going to dwell on this point for really long, but verse 12.
Notice what he says in the last word.
Promise is.
Do you notice there's an S there?
Who noticed the S?
All right.
Some people are paying attention this morning.
All right.
There's more than one promise that God has to us.
Now, what's the most important promise?
Eternal life.
And, I mean, you can't stop talking about that.
But if he's talking about promises, then that must be something other than eternal life, too, isn't it?
And let me tell you something.
There is something other than eternal life that God has promised us and that God promises us, okay?
So when we're talking about this chapter, notice that we're talking about people who inherit the promises.
Now, what was it that got them to be able to inherit these promises that we're talking about?
Well, it says in verse 11 that they were showing diligence, didn't it?
So it's important to show diligence.
Now, when we talk about a free gift, okay?
When we talk about a free gift, how much diligence do you have to show for a free gift?
None, otherwise it wouldn't be a free gift, would it?
Okay?
So if we're talking about someone having to show diligence in order to get a specific promise,
does that sound like we're talking about eternal life?
No, because we're not.
We're not talking about eternal life.
We're talking about other promises that take work, okay?
Promises that take work are rewards in heaven.
They're not salvation.
They're not eternal life, okay?
Look at verse number 13.
The Bible says,
For when God made 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.
What promise is it that we talk about Abraham inheriting?
Is this eternal life?
Is this salvation?
Or was this blessing and multiplication?
Blessing and multiplication is the promise that he gets for doing what?
What did Abraham do?
Well, he patiently endured, okay?
So in verse number 13 through 14,
God promised,
and he swore specifically,
verse 15,
Abraham patiently endured,
okay?
Verse 16,
For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is with them an end of all strife.
Okay?
So this is just kind of an explanation verse.
Not really doing much.
It's just saying that men swear by the greater.
What does that mean to swear by the greater?
Now, of course, the Bible tells us not to swear,
but swear means to make a promise,
or to make some kind of a commitment,
but you're making a commitment on an authority that's greater than yourself.
So, oftentimes, people would swear on their parents,
or they'll swear on their life,
or they'll swear on God,
or they'll swear on something above them,
or something that's really important to them,
because they're trying to make it seem as if they're being honest.
But the reality is,
when men do this,
we're doing it to try and convince somebody,
and it's usually coming up from a place of evil.
That's why God said, or Jesus specifically said in the New Testament,
to swear not at all.
Now, that's not talking about using four-letter words, folks, okay?
All right?
I know you get really offended by them,
but that has nothing to do with what he said.
And he's also not saying don't make promises.
What he's saying, if you understand the context,
is that you don't make a promise with an over-the-top statement
of, I swear to God,
or, I swear on the temple,
or, I swear on my life,
or, I swear on my mother's back.
You just say, yay.
Let your yay be yay, and let your nay be nay,
but don't go over the top,
because that's usually coming from a place of an evil heart.
You're lying.
You're being exaggerative for some reason, okay?
So, verse 16, men swear by the greater.
Verse 17, okay?
Let's read this next sentence,
and I've broken this out basically in sentences,
is how this is structured, if you wanted to understand that.
Verse 17, 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 as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil.
Whether the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus made in high priests forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.
So, verses 17 through 20 is a sentence,
and it's telling us what.
What is 17 through 20 telling us?
It's saying a lot, but just kind of,
I boiled it down to the essence
of what we're trying to understand from this sentence,
is that we need to lay hold
we need to lay hold
upon what?
The hope set before us.
Okay, that's what the verse says.
That we want to lay hold upon the hope set before us.
And what's our anchor?
What's the anchor of our soul?
What's keeping us steadfast?
What's allowing us to continue to persevere?
It's the example of Jesus.
It's saying that Jesus is the one
that's helping us do this.
And then, who is Jesus?
Well, it says that he's the high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.
Notice that where we started
was a Melchizedek statement, right?
And now we've finished with what?
A Melchizedek statement.
So we have a Melchizedek sandwich, all right?
Melchizedek was what?
Melchizedek was our hard saying, wasn't it?
Melchizedek, he really wants to say something about that.
And then finally, when we get to the end of this chapter,
we've talked about Melchizedek.
If you notice in chapter number seven,
look what it says in verse one, for this Melchizedek.
And then it just goes on and explains
a whole bunch about Melchizedek.
So it's really clear that from chapter five,
verse number 11, all the way to here
was one caveat before explaining
the Melchizedek thing in great detail.
What's the whole point?
They need to grow, they need to grow,
they need to grow, they need to grow, right?
God willing, we'll grow, okay?
And what's something that accompanies salvation?
Growth.
Why would we grow?
So that we have works and God won't forget it.
Showing diligence to grow.
God promised us all kinds of things.
It will continually grow and patiently endure.
And then we lay hold upon the hope set before it.
Doesn't it seem like we've just been hitting
the same context the whole time?
The importance of growth.
Why?
So that you'll understand hard things.
So that you'll continue to produce fruit and do works.
And that those works are what we're looking for,
the reward and the promises that God has for us
when we patiently endure.
I mean, who's with me on the context so far?
Okay, yeah.
I mean, it's really clear, isn't it?
So then we have these few verses in between
that we didn't talk about, did we?
Okay.
Now, why would you paint such a context, Pastor Shelley,
before you talk about these verses?
Because it's always important to understand the context
of any passage before you interpret it.
Because if you try to put a square peg into a round hole,
then you get weird and goofy doctrine, okay?
Your doctrine should always fit into the context
of the scripture itself, okay?
And that's why it's really, really important.
Now, let's talk about verses four through six for a moment.
Okay?
So, what was the context that we left off?
We're leaving the principle doctrines.
We're going on to perfection.
And we're gonna do this, if God permit,
look at verse four.
Four.
Now, what does four mean?
Okay?
Four means a couple different things.
Four isn't actually a pretty universal word.
One possible interpretation of four
is because of the previous statement, right?
Because of the previous statement, this is true, right?
Another thing could be in an effort to attain something, right?
In an effort to obtain something.
But it's pretty clear in this passage,
it's just saying because, okay?
So, because of the fact that we want to what?
Leave the principles and go on to perfection.
Because of that, it is impossible for those
who were once enlightened and have tasted
of the heavenly gift and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come,
if they shall fall away to renew them again
under repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame.
This is one sentence, okay?
So, it's telling us a few things.
Notice it's saying something's impossible.
That's the whole point of this sentence.
Something is impossible, okay?
So, I don't really care how you interpret this verse.
The first word you have to put here is it's impossible.
Okay?
This red really sucks.
I think this one's better.
All right, here we go.
It's impossible.
Is anybody gonna dispute that?
I mean, I've never really actually even heard.
Probably anybody dispute that, but you have to at least,
we're just slowly filling,
this is how you solve algebraic equations, okay?
You slowly just do each piece at a time.
Something's very impossible, okay?
Now, there's a group of people that we're talking about.
For those, who's the those?
I don't know, it gives us a bunch of descriptions of people.
Now, for sake of my argument, I'm not even gonna go into it
because every single one of these points
goes exactly with my interpretation,
so I'm not even gonna go and explain this,
but it really sounds like a saved person, okay?
I'm just saying, it sounds like someone that got saved
because notice it says they were enlightened,
they tasted of the heavenly gift,
and notice that tasted has a D at the end of it,
meaning it happened, okay?
It's not like they attempted to taste it,
they actually tasted it.
Notice that, okay?
Notice they were made a partaker of the Holy Ghost.
Somehow they're a partaker of the Holy Ghost, okay?
Sounds like they got sealed.
Tasted the good word of God.
The good word of God.
It means they've heard the Bible, okay?
And the powers of the world to come,
meaning they've heard about prophetic future events,
which would also go in parallel, if you think about it,
verse number two, notice what it says in verse two
of baby doctrines, of the resurrection of the dead
and of eternal judgment.
Aren't those things to come?
So again, it's kind of saying like,
this person got a lot of this first principle stuff, okay?
Now, it says in verse number six,
if they shall fall away.
So we're talking about a group of people
that have all these attributes that end up falling away,
and then it says to renew them again under repentance.
So what's impossible?
It's impossible to renew them again under repentance.
That's what it says.
I don't care how you interpret this,
this is what it says, okay?
So that's the essence.
It's impossible to renew them again under repentance.
So all we have to do is we just have to define
what to renew under repentance against,
and we've solved verses four through six, okay?
Now, what do you think the word repentance means?
All right, well, you go to a fundamental Baptist church
that actually has a Bible, so you know that
repentance is turning, isn't it?
It's making a turn.
What if we let the repentance in this chapter
define what it means?
Because you know the word repentance
is actually used twice in this book.
What does it say in the first verse?
Repentance from dead works and a faith toward God.
So what are we talking about?
If the repentance means the exact same thing
as it meant in verse number one,
then we're talking about salvation, aren't we?
Repentance.
Now, I've heard some people say,
well, it's talking about just the knowledge to get saved.
But I don't agree with this.
Number one, let's say we met a Catholic.
We go out, we knock doors today, we run into a Catholic,
and this Catholic believes in work salvation.
So he has his faith in what?
Dead works.
Okay, he believes in catechism.
He believes in penance.
He believes in confession and the sacraments.
He believes in dead works.
And then I show him from my Bible
everything necessary for salvation.
Hey, actually the Bible says salvation's a free gift.
It's just by faith.
You can't lose it.
It's all in Jesus.
And he says, you know what?
I understand everything that you're saying.
I understand your viewpoint.
I understand you're saying that salvation's a free gift.
It's just by faith that you can't lose it,
and that's different than what I believe.
I see that.
And you say, oh, do you believe that?
No, I still believe in works.
Would you say that person repented?
They didn't repent.
The only way to say that that person actually repented
was for them to say, I'm now changing my mind.
I no longer believe in dead works,
and I'm putting my faith in Jesus Christ.
That person repented.
And when that person did that, you know what they did?
They got saved.
Now notice what it says in verse number four,
or sorry, verse six.
It says to renew them again under repentance.
So notice what it's saying.
They can't do this process again.
Why?
Because when I turn from dead works to Jesus Christ,
I don't need to turn again,
because if I turned again, now I'm back to works.
Okay?
I only turned once to Jesus Christ,
and I believe on him, and I got saved.
Now here's the thing.
Once you're saved, how long are you saved for?
Forever.
So if renew them again under repentance means salvation,
what would this sentence say?
It's impossible to what?
Get saved again.
Or, another way to word this,
it's impossible to lose your salvation.
Now let's think if this makes sense with our context so far, okay?
All right.
I want to teach you a bunch of hard stuff in the Bible.
You guys need milk.
The babes need milk.
Strong meat blings on to those of full age.
But you know what?
We need to leave these basic doctrines,
like salvation, and go on to perfection,
and we'll do this God permitting.
Why?
Why would I leave the doctrine of salvation?
Because none of you can lose your salvation.
Doesn't that actually make sense?
Now if you guys could lose your salvation,
how much importance would it be for me to teach you advanced topics,
rather than just trying to make sure you stay saved?
Like I should probably just be like John MacArthur,
and just preach salvation every single week, shouldn't I?
Let's not leave the basic doctrine,
because why would we want anybody to go to hell?
Okay?
But if you can't lose your salvation,
and you've already learned it, there's no point, right?
If we show up to algebra, college algebra class,
say, all right class, we're going to learn today 2 plus 2 equals 4.
It's like, no, everybody in here knows this.
Well, what if someone forgets?
No one's going to forget.
They already know that 2 plus 2 equals 4.
We're going to leave the basic doctrine.
We're going to leave the principles of math,
and go on to perfection.
Okay?
So, if we interpret this, now again,
I would ask this, if you don't believe me,
or if you disagree with my interpretation so far,
what did, let's say this person wasn't saved,
in verse number 4 through 6.
What did that person repent of?
Now, let's say the person, let's say someone got saved, okay?
I believed on Jesus Christ, and I got saved,
but then I fall away, and now I'm not saved.
What would I need to do?
I would need to get saved again, okay?
But in order for me to get saved again, what would have to happen?
Jesus would have to go back to the cross,
and what Jesus did wouldn't have actually paid all of my sins, wouldn't it?
And notice what it says,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and put him to the chain.
So, in the Old Testament, and you have to understand,
the book of Hebrews is written to a bunch of Jews,
because they used to have the Old Testament, okay?
And he's trying to get them off the Old Testament.
If I sin today, and then I go and do an animal sacrifice tomorrow,
but then I sin next week, what do I have to do?
I have to go do another animal sacrifice, don't I?
I have to constantly do an animal sacrifice every single time.
So here's the thing, they're saying, okay, those who got saved,
they got that sacrifice of the Lamb of God, okay?
But then they sin later, what do they have to do?
If they try to put the Lamb of God back on the cross,
because they have to get saved again,
it's like they're crucifying them all over again.
They're sacrificing them all over again.
They're doing the Passover all over again.
And then that would put Jesus to a shame,
because it means his sacrifice wasn't actually the true sacrifice,
it wasn't the once for all sacrifice,
and so by trying to get saved over and over,
you're actually re-crucifying Jesus every time.
And you know what, there's a lot of fundamental Baptist churches,
and plenty of other churches, that are re-crucifying Jesus all the time.
I've had plenty of people come to me and say,
hey, all the teenagers in my church get saved every year.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Who knows where you see people getting saved like every year,
or they're walking the aisle every year, and they come down.
And it's like, what's happening here?
Did you trust Christ or not?
And it's because work salvation creeped into that church, usually.
But, notice that they don't really believe in the once for all sacrifice,
they're not teaching once saved to always save,
they're not hammering in that it's a simple faith alone,
and so they're actually, what they're really doing is
they're like re-crucifying Christ every single time,
by getting these people saved over and over and over again,
rather than teaching them, hey, you're just a crappy Christian.
Hey, you're backslidden.
Hey, you need to learn why it's important to follow God's commandments.
And so, usually what they do is they start feeling bad as a teenager,
like, oh man, I didn't live a very good life this year.
Like, I guess I gotta get saved again.
But it's like, that's not salvation.
If someone falls away, we don't teach them how to get saved again.
I mean, imagine if Ben just stopped coming to church,
and then we all go knock on his door and are like, hey, Ben,
let me preach you the gospel.
You must not believe the gospel.
That would be weird, right?
I mean, we don't do that to that person.
Why? Because he can't lose his salvation.
We would be like, hey, let me show you some other,
let me show you Hebrews, chapter 10.
Hey, let me show you 1 Corinthians, chapter number 5.
Hey, let me show you some other parts of the Bible
that will maybe motivate you to serve God.
You know what I'm not gonna show him? John 3, 16.
Oh, you stopped coming to church?
Hey, did you not hear the gospel before?
What's going on?
You know what?
That's what he's trying to really hammer home here.
And if we go to verse number 7 now, okay.
Now, I'll make a couple statements about this.
Number 1, it's a parable.
It's not a clear statement.
Nothing in verses 7 and 8 is a clear statement, okay.
So, you know what I would not do?
I would not reinterpret every clear statement
that we've had in this entire chapter based on a parable, okay.
Just a tip for all Bible interpretation, okay.
Now, verse number 7, notice it says,
for the earth which drinketh in the rain.
So, we're talking about several different elements.
We have the earth, we have rain,
and then we have two results from that earth.
One result is what?
Bringing forth herbs, okay.
Meat for them by whom it is dressed
receiveth blessing from God, okay.
So, once producing herbs and getting blessing,
what's the other one?
Another is bearing thorns and briars and it's rejected
and it's near cursing, okay.
So, I'll just tell you what I believe
and then I'm going to prove it a little bit here in a moment.
I believe what it's trying to say is that you reap what you sow, right.
You bear fruit, you reap blessing.
You bear thorns and briars, you're reaping cursing, okay.
So, blessing and cursing.
So, you reap what you sow.
All right.
So, let's just pause for a moment
and let's just think about our context, okay.
I have some really hard things to say to you,
but you know what, you guys need milk.
So, you still need to grow, okay.
Babies are the only ones that can handle milk.
Strong meat is those who have matured.
So, if I was going to take this section,
and summarize it another time, okay.
This is just saying grow, okay.
Verses one through three,
we're leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, okay,
because we want to go unto perfection.
So, we need to grow spiritually,
therefore we're going to leave basic doctrine, okay.
So, we need to grow spiritually,
therefore we are leaving basic doctrine.
Everybody kind of understand our sentence so far?
Why are we leaving basic doctrine?
Because you can't lose salvation,
and you're going to reap what you sow, okay.
And then if you summarize this,
because God's going to reward you according to your work.
So, let's think about our sentence.
If we were really just to make a sentence,
we would say we need to grow spiritually,
therefore we are leaving the basic doctrines like salvation,
because salvation can't be lost,
and you're going to end up reaping what you sow,
and God's going to reward you
according to those works you had after you get saved.
Doesn't that seem to be a pretty cohesive narrative?
Doesn't it seem to just kind of flow and make sense?
Now, here's what the vast majority of Christianity teaches, okay,
and I'm saying especially Pentecostals,
especially a lot, they'll take this chapter,
and this is what they'll say about verses four through six and verse seven through eight,
is that they will say that you're going to lose your salvation,
okay, so think about the context here, okay.
We need to grow spiritually and leave the doctrine of salvation
because you can lose your salvation,
and then God's going to reward you according to your works.
What? That's stupid, but here's another thing that makes it even sillier
if you think about it.
Everybody that believes you can grow spiritually
everybody that believes you can lose your salvation,
you know what they don't teach?
That once you lose it, it's impossible to ever get it back again,
but remember that sentence?
It started out saying it's impossible.
You have to have a sentence here that says something's impossible, okay,
and that you can never get it back again or it can never change.
Whatever happens can never be altered,
so it's like if you believe you could lose your salvation based on Hebrews six,
you would have to then teach that that person could never get it back either,
but you know what, these Pentecostals never teach that
because everybody that lost their salvation
needs to get re-saved again in their church.
They're not throwing them out, okay.
If they truly believed this doctrine based on Hebrews six,
they would have to say, hey, you got backslidden?
You're never welcome again because you already lost your salvation
because you're already done with, okay.
But you know, why am I taking the time to kind of build this
so that when we get to just the one sentence of this chapter,
we can see how these things just don't make sense.
They start sounding silly, don't they? Okay.
Now, if someone believes they can lose their salvation based on this passage,
they're not saved.
It's damnable heresy.
It's wicked false doctrine.
That's why I think it's important to understand this passage.
Okay, that's one reason.
Now, there's other interpretations than what I showed
that are not damnable heresy.
They're not even necessarily false doctrine.
They're just a different interpretation, okay.
I just personally don't agree with that interpretation.
Those who teach it, you know,
it's funny because I agree with them on their doctrine.
I just disagree with this chapter saying it, okay.
Because there's lots of times where somebody will go to a passage
and they'll say, hey, does this prove that Jesus died on the cross?
And it's like, well, I believe Jesus died on the cross,
but I'm like, I just don't see that with that passage, okay.
So there's times when people are right on doctrine,
wrong on interpretation, okay.
So what I've heard from other people is they would say,
this is teaching that people who end up hearing the gospel
and end up rejecting it over and over
end up becoming reprobate
and that those reprobates will never get saved,
that they never have a chance to get saved.
Now, here's the thing.
I agree with that doctrine,
and that's what the Bible teaches, okay.
Romans 1 teaches that.
There's plenty of places in the Bible
where you can learn that specific doctrine.
John chapter 12, there's places in Revelation
when it talks about the mark of the beast.
Yeah, reprobates are damned.
Like, there's no question.
Plus, Romans 1 clearly teaches
that they hold the truth in unrighteousness.
So they have the truth, okay.
I fully agree with that doctrine.
You see this example with Pharaoh
hardening his heart over and over,
and then God hardens his heart, okay.
So there's no way to deny that doctrine.
That doctrine's biblical.
I just don't think it fits our sentence, okay.
So let's just try it though,
just to see what it would sound like, okay.
We need to grow spiritually, okay.
We need to grow spiritually,
therefore we're gonna leave
the basic doctrines like salvation
because reprobates will never get saved
and they're gonna burn in hell for all of eternity.
But God will reward you according to your works, okay.
I'm just saying it doesn't really fit the context, okay.
Now, you can disagree with me.
I have no problem with you.
If you disagree with me,
I'm not saying anything negative about you.
I'm just saying I don't really see it,
and what I don't like about that interpretation
is I feel like it kind of underminded
the whole context of this chapter.
This whole context of this chapter wasn't really,
I mean, wasn't really trying to get us
to just believe reprobates can't get saved
because that doesn't really motivate me to serve God.
I'm just saying like personally,
I'm not motivated to serve God
because a reprobate will never get saved.
But what does motivate me to get to like work and serve God
is the fact that I'm gonna reap what I sow.
That actually does.
So to me, my personal interpretation of this verse,
I think is more rewarding.
Even if I were wrong, I think it's more rewarding,
but I don't believe I'm wrong at all.
I obviously believe I'm right.
I wouldn't teach this to you if I didn't think so, okay.
And it's not a passage that I changed my mind on
any time recently.
In fact, I've never changed my mind on this doctrine.
I believe this since before I'd even heard of the new I.B., okay.
But this passage, since these verses are a little dense,
I have another drawing, okay,
that I want to go to here for a moment.
But here's some objections or here's some things
that some people might bring up
is they would say, oh, well, fall away
is like people that are unsaved, you know.
Not really.
Let's go to 1 Peter 5 for a moment.
Let's go to 1 Peter 5.
And I'm going to get to my drawing over here in just a minute.
But go to 1 Peter 5.
Now, when we talk about if they shall fall away, okay,
in order to fall, you had to be somewhere first.
Now, here's the thing.
Unsaved people aren't falling into being unsaved.
They're already unsaved.
You can't really fall into unsaved.
They're just unsaved, okay.
But someone who is saved could definitely fall, okay.
The Bible tells us this.
Look at 1 Peter 5, verse number 9.
The Bible says, whom resist steadfast in the faith,
knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in you, I'm sorry,
in your brethren that are in the world,
but the God of all grace who hath called us
unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect,
established, strengthened, saddle you, okay.
Now, the reason why I go to this passage first
is I want to connect two words, okay.
I want to connect the word perfect with steadfast.
Now, if you remember from Hebrews chapter number 6,
we were going on into perfection,
and then we have an anchor of the soul,
which is what steadfast ensure.
So the same way to go into perfection in chapter 6
was being steadfast.
The same way to be going under perfection
in 1 Peter chapter 5 is being what?
Steadfast, okay.
That's why we're steadfast, all right.
Go to chapter 2, I'm sorry, 2 Peter chapter 3,
2 Peter chapter number 3, and look at verse number 16.
The Bible says, as also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things
in which are some things hard to be understood.
Peter says, hey, some of the things that Paul wrote
are hard to be understood.
You know what that triggered in my mind?
When the apostle Paul said in chapter 5,
hey, I have some hard things to be uttered, okay.
And I think that Paul wrote Hebrews, okay.
I'm sure Peter knew who wrote Hebrews, okay,
because he's a Hebrew, all right.
And it says, in which some things are hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest,
as they do also the other scriptures under destruction.
That's everybody that teaches you can lose your salvation
from Hebrews chapter number 6.
Verse 17, ye therefore, beloved,
seeing ye know these things before,
beware lest ye also being led away
with the air of the wicked, notice this,
fall from your own steadfastness.
So what would be the goal of Hebrew 6?
Go under perfection by being what? Steadfast.
But what could be the problem?
Some people end up falling from their steadfastness
and they don't do what?
They don't go under perfection, okay.
Are we seeing that same connection here?
And notice that it told us in 1 Peter chapter 5
that steadfast was connected with being perfect again.
What would be the solution then?
Well, what is verse 18?
To grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What did Paul want you to do?
He wanted you to grow.
So what's the solution?
Growing, being steadfast.
What is the antithesis?
Falling away.
Why?
Being led away with the air of the wicked, okay.
So you're not going to grow spiritually.
Now, if we think about that,
that fits perfectly with verses 4, 5, and 6
that we talked about, doesn't it?
That it would be impossible for someone who fell away,
even though they were saved,
but then they got led away with the air of the wicked
and they fell from their steadfastness.
They're still saved.
We believe that, okay.
But we're not going to get them saved again.
It's impossible to get them saved again.
But then what's the warning for this person?
Because you think like, well,
then what's the point of serving God?
Because you're going to reap what you sow.
Okay, that's the motivating factor to keep growing
is because you're going to reap what you sow.
In verses, go back to Hebrews 6,
in verses 7 through 8 in this parable,
some people get hooked up or caught up
on this word thorns and briars, okay.
And for good reason, because frankly speaking,
a lot of times, really wicked people
are discussed as being a thorn in the Bible.
It's often a picture of a reprobate.
Why?
Because a thorn has no purpose.
A thorn is just a sharp thing.
In fact, you have to handle it special with gloves
and the whole goal of it is just to be burned.
It's worthless, it's meaningless.
But just because a reprobate fits that description perfectly
doesn't mean there couldn't be other things
that are also worthless and have no purpose, okay.
And I want to show you something.
Keep your finger here in Hebrew 6.
Go to Proverbs chapter 26 for a moment.
What you don't want to do is ignore
other references of a particular word
to where you would create a doctrine
that is disproven with other scripture.
And what I mean by that is sometimes people say
if you see the word thorn, it's always a reprobate
or it's always talking about an unsaved person.
But wait a minute.
Let's just look up every time the word thorn
is used in the Bible just to make sure that's even true
before we come up with that particular definition.
Just like repent.
Some people say repent just means repent of your sins.
Well, you know what?
I could find some place in the Bible
where the word repent's used and it's used in that context,
but are we going to just start plugging and playing that
every time, like when God repented?
No.
So you don't want to just get these over-the-top definitions
and apply them to everything.
Is a thorn always a reprobate?
Well, let's just let the Bible decide for us.
Proverbs 26, verse 7.
The legs of the lame are not equal,
so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
Okay, so we're talking about a parable.
Being in the mouth of fools is like legs, right?
Look at verse 9.
As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard,
so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
So what is the thorn actually in reference to in this verse?
The word of God.
The word of God is like a thorn to a fool
because it's just going to hurt him, it's going to harm him.
So it's actually taking other attributes of a thorn
and applying them in a different context.
So we can't just say the word thorn
just always means a reprobate
because, frankly speaking, this is a completely different context.
Okay, so go back to Hebrews chapter 6
where I had you have your finger.
Let's just take the time to get really slow
because we went pretty slow on this.
Let's get even slower for a second, all right?
On verses 7 and 8
because I think this is a big hang-up for people, okay?
So you got my other drawing.
And I don't want anybody to get left behind, all right?
But you'll still get raptured if you're saved, right?
Okay.
Verse 7, for the earth.
Okay, so we got an earth here
and of course it's got a curve, all right?
Just make sure you understood that, all right?
I didn't draw the whole thing just for sake of the thing
but it's not flat down here, okay?
Just imagine it keep going, all right?
If you think it's flat, you can leave.
No, I'm just kidding.
But seriously, you might think about it.
All right, so we have the earth which drinketh in the rain.
So we also have rain, don't we?
All right?
So I'm just gonna write up here rain
just so we can stay together, okay?
I already pre-drew the earth, the word earth for you.
And it says that cometh oft upon it
and bringeth forth herbs,
meat for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing.
So in one side, we have rain coming down
and herbs are growing out of the earth
and this person's receiving blessing.
Okay?
This person's getting blessing.
I wanna make sure I draw everything that I thought of.
Now, what does verse eight say?
But that which beareth thorns and briars,
so we have another thing bearing thorns and briars,
is rejected and is nigh unto cursing, okay?
So then we have cursing over here.
But notice it's saying that the earth
is what's bearing these things
and then this is the product or the fruit, as it were,
of the rain.
The rain's gonna come down no matter what.
It's coming down on the whole earth, okay?
So just saying in the process of time
and through just your life's course,
something's gonna be produced.
It's basically impossible to not produce something.
Just like, you know, if you go to Arizona,
even in the desert, there's cactus.
I mean, everywhere on this earth,
something's being produced, right?
You just go out in the middle of nowhere,
grass or hay or weeds or trees or bushes.
There's something, right?
And in some parts of the earth, it's corn.
It's apple trees.
It's food that could be.
In other places, it's just briar patches
and thorns and thistles.
It's a terrible place, like West Texas, okay?
No, I'm just kidding, but somewhat being true.
All right, so here's the thing.
This is just like you.
You will produce something in your life.
Now, let's go to Luke chapter eight
because I said I was gonna make this connection.
Let's go ahead and make it.
Let's see, does the Bible have another story,
another parable that has any of these same elements?
I will argue it has all the exact same elements
because it's a parallel parable, okay?
So what is Luke chapter number eight tell us?
Well, I'm not gonna necessarily go in order for a moment,
but let's look at verse 15.
But that on the good ground.
So in the parable of the sower,
because I've already explained this in detail,
so you guys check back last week, all right?
This is strong meat sermon.
The parable of the sower, he was sowing seeds on the what?
Ground.
Another word for ground?
Earth, okay?
So on the good ground, all right, seeds are being planted.
Seeds are being planted on the ground.
You know what?
Seeds are being planted everywhere, okay?
The seeds are coming everywhere.
And what was the seeds?
The seeds is the gospel, okay?
Now, the gospel is going to have some kind of a reaction.
In our story of the parable of the sower,
the first group, it just kind of comes on the surface
and then birds and whatever come and take it away
and never gets into the earth and never grows.
Nothing grows, ever, okay?
But the three that grow are the same.
One grows among sturdy ground and then just dies
and nothing ever really happens with it, okay?
So you really don't see it.
The second one grows, but then something grows with it,
chokes it, and it dies.
The good ground, okay, which I'm just fast-forwarding to,
notice, which are in an honest and good heart,
having heard the word, notice this phrase, keep it.
Keep it.
Does that sound like the people that were being steadfast,
patiently enduring, going on to perfection?
Yeah, so these people have a good heart, okay?
And notice what they end up doing?
They end up bringing forth fruit with patience, don't they?
That's a good word, patience.
Like, patiently enduring, okay?
So these people have the good heart.
What does it say in verse 14?
And that which fell among thorns, okay, are they which,
when they have heard, go forth and are choked
with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life
and bring no fruit to perfection.
So there's a little bit of green here
because they started growing,
but then something grows with it, thorns and briars, okay?
Now you say, why do you say thorns?
Well, go back to verse number seven.
And some fell among, notice this word, thorns, thorns,
and the thorns sprang up with it.
Notice that the thorns are growing.
Thorns are being produced.
Thorns are springing up.
What are the thorns?
What does the Bible say the thorns are?
In Luke chapter number eight, the thorns are
the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches,
and those things end up choking the word.
So this person has kind of a broken heart.
And because they allow things to, you know,
infections or whatever, to grow out of it,
they let the love of money grow out of this
and then it turns into a thorn, okay?
Whereas this person is just a life vein into the fruit
and is producing the fruit.
But what is the ground?
What is the ground in Luke chapter eight?
It's their heart, okay?
What is the fruit?
It sure works, okay?
But both of these people are saved in Luke chapter eight.
Who's going to disagree with me that Luke chapter eight,
both people are saved?
You say, I think that both people and Luke eight are saved.
How about that?
Raise your hand.
All right, in Luke eight.
Both people are saved, right?
So then if we go back to Hebrews chapter number six,
okay, we're going back to Hebrews chapter number six.
Let's think about this passage again.
If you take my interpretation that it says in verse number four,
for it is impossible for those,
so we're talking about a group of people,
who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift
and were big takers of the Holy Ghost
and have tasted the good word of God
and the powers of the world to come,
if they should fall away.
So we have, if you take my interpretation,
a group of people that were saved,
but they fell away for them to get resaved.
Now what does it say in verse number seven?
Four, okay?
Now, why would it say four?
This is how I interpret this,
and this is what I want to make clear,
because I don't want to leave any word untouched here.
He's giving two reasons why we're leaving
the principle doctrines, because these are two sentences.
I say, hey, why would we leave basic doctrine?
Number one, it's impossible to lose your salvation.
Number two, because you're going to reap what you sow.
All right, that's why the four is there.
For the earth, which drinketh in the rain,
so if we go to the earth, which drinketh in the rain,
so the earth is the good heart,
the good heart that drinketh in the rain,
bringeth forth herbs, meat for them by whom it is dressed,
and receive a blessing from God.
So hey, you actually produce fruit,
God's going to bless you in this life, all right?
But that, what's the that?
It's the heart that's not as good, okay?
But it's still a saved person.
But that which beareth thorns, who beareth thorns?
Well, in Luke 8, it told us the guy that let
the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches,
that's the bearing of thorns.
What happens to this guy?
Well, it tells us he's rejected and is nigh into cursing,
whose end is to be burned.
Now, some people get mad about this end to be burned thing.
But let me tell you something.
If you don't like that language,
you're not going to like a lot of places in the Bible,
because the Bible talks about Christians
also being burned in certain contexts, okay?
Now, are we talking about hell?
In my interpretation, of course not.
There's no way to interpret that way,
because you can't lose a salvation, you can't go to hell.
But what would you do, if you went out to your field
and it's full of this, what would you do with this?
You would scrape all this off the ground and burn it.
You'd either gather it up to burn,
or you'd just burn it right on the surface.
Okay, so when it's saying whose end is to be burned,
I'm taking that interpretation to the thorns and the briars,
obviously not to the heart, okay?
But obviously the soil is going to get a little singed too,
all right?
Now, let's think about this.
Is that biblical, or does that happen in the Bible?
Cursing, because we're talking about getting cursing from God.
Okay, we'll go to John chapter 15 for a moment.
Go to John chapter number 15.
Let's see what the Bible says.
I'm not even going to go there,
but 1 Corinthians chapters 2 and 3
are kind of talking about the rewards
that you would get in serving God,
and it says when you lay up wood, hay, and stubble,
it's going to be burned.
But you're going to be saved, okay?
So that's a perfect parallel to what we're talking about.
But I just want to show you as a Christian
the danger of not having that good heart, okay?
John chapter 15.
Let's start in verse number 5.
I am the vine, you're the branches.
Either abideth in me, and I in him.
The same bringeth forth much fruit.
Without me, ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch,
and is withered, and men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Another passage that, again,
people that think you can lose your salvation,
they would go to this passage and say,
oh, look, see, people are plucked out of the vine,
and they're burned, and they go to hell
because they lost their salvation.
But those of us that understand you can't lose your salvation,
we have to interpret this another way.
And we understand what the right interpretation is this,
that whenever you become good for nothing,
God will destroy you.
God can cause you to be destroyed,
and that would be nigh unto what?
Cursing.
Now, I'm going to prove this even more, okay?
Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 3.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Now, if you take the New Testament only,
I don't believe that you can ever find the word curse
specifically attached to a believer
in the New Testament alone.
You know what?
Praise God, I have an Old Testament, okay?
And you know what?
The Old Testament brings a lot of curses
for those that are even saved with the children of God.
You know, the Bible, a pretty famous verse
is that you're cursed with a curse
when it talks about Malachi,
people not bringing in the offerings
and the tithe unto the Lord.
I don't think that's limited to the Old Testament.
I believe in the New Testament.
The same curse applies to the same group of people.
Plus, you just read the Old Testament law,
and it's just curse after curse after curse.
Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife, okay?
There's all these, like, curses.
It's not like, well, in the Old Testament, that was bad,
but in the New Testament, it's great.
It's like, no, the same kind of cursing applies.
Here's another word, though, that means
basically the same thing that we see
in the Old Testament a lot, condemnation,
or being condemned, okay?
They're very similar.
I'm not gonna say they're the exact same,
but it's the same concept, okay?
First Timothy chapter three, look at verse six.
Not a lot novice, lest being lifted up with pride
befall into the condemnation of the devil.
Doesn't that sound like everything we've been talking about?
Where we talk about people who fall away?
And what happens?
Now they're in the condemnation of the devil.
So why would you not want to,
or why would you want to continue to grow?
So you're not like this guy who ends up falling away,
and what does he fall into?
Cursing into the condemnation of the devil, okay?
Go, if you would, to James chapter five.
You say, well, that's a pastor.
Sure, but it's showing you that at least one person
that can happen to you, right?
Let's go to James chapter number five.
James chapter number five.
And this is a doctrinally heavy sermon,
but you know what?
I don't want to reserve those
only to Sunday night and Wednesday night, all right?
So every once in a while,
you Sunday morning onlys need to wake up, all right?
Get some meat.
You're like, well, I want the fun sermon.
Come tonight, okay?
James chapter five, look at verse 12.
But above all things, my brethren,
swear not neither by heaven, neither by the earth,
neither by any other oath,
but let your yea be yea and your nay, nay,
lest ye what?
Fall into condemnation.
Notice again, the Bible keeps bringing up the same thing.
Every time we see fall,
are we talking about saved people or unsaved people?
I keep seeing saved people.
Saved people falling into condemnation,
falling into condemnation.
Now, you want to talk about someone who's cursed.
Let's go to First Corinthians five for a moment, okay?
And let's read what the Bible says about this person.
First Corinthians chapter number five.
But be it known, every doctrine I'm teaching this morning
and everything I'm saying can be proven
from every other place of scripture.
So even if you just say, you know what, Pastor Shelley,
I don't agree with you on this,
you have to at least agree with what I'm saying
because everything I'm saying is just coming from the Bible.
And what's important?
We need to grow.
We need to grow so that we don't fall away.
We need to continue to be steadfast on our course.
And you know what?
A grown man can't live on milk alone.
A grown man needs milk, okay?
So we don't want to just only learn salvation
and only learn the basic doctrines like baptism
because once you've been saved and baptized, we're done.
Let's talk about some other things, right?
Let's talk about Hebrew six, all right?
Now, look at First Corinthians chapter five, verse five.
To deliver such an one unto Satan
for the destruction of the flesh.
Wow, that sounds like a nice thing.
That sounds like his end is to be burned.
I mean, and in fact, you literally have in Job
the devil killing people with all kinds of methods.
Some of them are fire.
So it's like a hailstone and the thing's collapsing
and he's destroying all kinds of,
you're gonna tell me the devil
is gonna destroy someone with fire.
Have you ever heard of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
How did he try to destroy those people with fire, okay?
Now, of course, they were right with God,
so God delivered them,
but what if you weren't right with God standing there?
That would be kind of dangerous, wouldn't it?
Because the devil could just toss you into the fire.
And you know what?
God's saying, hey, when you're not profitable anymore,
I might just let the devil destroy you.
But wait a minute.
Does that mean he's going to hell?
What does it say?
That the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
So it's not like the guy went to hell,
but you know what?
He got some serious cursing in his life.
So is it important to have a good heart?
Yeah.
Now, I'll say this.
God is very long suffering and merciful.
And notice even in the parable,
it said that they were nigh unto cursing.
That means you're close to it.
So I would just say, you know,
if you're someone that's struggling
with the cares of this world,
the deceitfulness of riches, and these problems,
why don't you do some pruning yourself
so that God doesn't prune it for you?
Because you're close to being cursed.
And I don't even want to be close.
I want to be over on this side.
You know, just a happy little tree.
You know, producing fruit.
And being steadfast.
I don't want to be the guy that's, you know,
burying all this other junk.
And look, you say, well, what's the test?
Well, are you even going soul winning at all?
You know, and I don't, you know,
a lot of people in our church are even silent partners.
Hey, I put you in this category, okay?
Because, you know, not every branch has an apple on it.
But you're still part of the same tree, okay?
And you know what, praise God for silent partners.
But you know what, woe unto the guy that says,
I don't want to be a silent partner.
I'm just going to go do my own thing.
I'm not even going to go to church.
I'm not going to read the Bible.
I don't care about ever preaching the gospel
to anybody ever, because I'm good.
You're nigh unto cursing.
You know, that's, and that's a hard truth.
But you know what, if I know that,
I would be a bad preacher to not tell you that.
Even if that makes you a little uncomfortable.
Even if that makes you a little bit squeamish.
That's just the reality.
And I don't want you to have these problems.
And let me say this, I'm persuaded
that you're going to actually be this person.
I'm persuaded that you're going to be steadfast.
Now go back to Hebrews chapter number six.
Because we pretty much did this whole,
we did this whole section, but we left out a phrase.
Now we're going to connect those, okay?
We talked about it, we needed to grow.
We're going to leave the basics,
because it's impossible to lose your salvation.
You're going to reap what you sow.
What does verse nine say?
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.
You know what?
Hey, some people are going to be burned,
but, beloved, I'm persuaded better things of you.
And notice this next phrase.
And things that accompany salvation.
This is a really important word.
Though we thus speak.
What does the word thus mean?
Thus means as a consequence of what was previously stated.
So you have to connect verse nine to verse eight.
He's saying, though we thus speak.
Why does he say thus?
Because, think about it.
I'm persuaded better things of you,
but I did bring up this could happen to you.
Though we thus speak.
I just brought up destruction and falling away
and bad things happening to Christians,
but I'm persuaded better things of you,
even though I just said that.
Even though thus I just spoke.
Even though thus I just said this is a problem.
And notice, when he talks about this,
what is the whole context?
Things that accompany salvation.
Is he talking about salvation?
No.
He's talking about things that accompany salvation.
Like falling away.
Like bearing fruit.
Like your works.
Now if he's just hammering, works, works, works,
doesn't that then also make sense in verse 10?
For God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love.
You know what's another motivating factor to serve God?
That he's gonna reward you for your work.
So let us go on to perfection.
Because look, if you plant a little baby tree,
a little baby apple tree, and it starts growing,
you don't get any benefit from that
unless it gets to full maturation
and then apples start growing on it
and then you rip the apple off and you eat it.
That's when you actually get the benefit from the apple tree.
Otherwise, you could have planted a tree
that doesn't do anything, some pine tree, worthless,
and the pine tree would have been the same result
if it didn't get to maturation.
So he's saying the only thing that matters
is for us to get to full maturation
and to start producing fruit
so that we can have this benefit,
so we can benefit other Christians,
so we can benefit God.
Because he's the husbandman.
Jesus Christ is the vine.
We are the branches.
And we're supposed to bring forth much fruit.
And you know what?
Sometimes God will even purge us a little bit
so that we'll bring forth even more fruit.
Maybe you're somewhere in between.
Maybe you're like this guy,
but you've got a couple thorns coming over here.
And it's like, which way are you going?
And God's saying he wants to get rid of this
so that you can just start getting fruit everywhere.
That's what he wants.
And that's the whole point of this chapter.
And here's an extra benefit.
Whenever you start doing all these things,
then you start learning
and understanding the whole Bible too.
And you can't really understand.
And look, people that don't go soul winning,
people that don't go soul winning
and don't read their Bible,
how much of the Bible makes sense to them?
When you start explaining things to them,
when you start explaining persecution,
they're like, oh yeah, the other day
they got my Starbucks order wrong.
Persecution, brah.
You're like, you don't even know what persecution is.
It's like, have you ever been to our church?
It's like, you'll figure out what persecution is real fast.
And then you'll start learning
about all these imprecatory prayers.
They're like, why would I have our imprecatory prayers?
It's like, everybody loves our church.
It's like, dude, you don't have the right church.
It's like, everybody loves me as a Christian.
You must not be preaching the gospel.
So it's like, when you're not really a doer of the work,
you're gonna be a forgetful hearing.
None of the Bible makes sense to you.
The more you work and the more you do Christianity,
the more the Bible just starts like, whoa.
It just makes so much sense to you.
Every verse, every line, every experience,
you can relate with all the characters of the Bible,
and you just feel like you're there with them in the battle.
And the Bible just comes alive to you.
Because the Bible is alive.
But it's not alive for those who are just
choked with the cares of this world,
deceitfulness of riches,
and just like I preached last week,
hey, we need to have a good and honest heart.
And it's not really a different message.
It's just coming from a different angle.
And I just thought it was beneficial to kind of preach both.
So if you didn't hear my sermon last Sunday morning,
please listen to it as well.
It'll kind of help you with some of that other parable.
But let us go unto perfection.
Let us grow spiritually.
Let us be those who produce the fruit for God
and are pleasing unto Him,
and we get all the benefits of the knowledge
and the grace and the rewards,
and we get to be the ones who inherit the promises.
Let's go to some prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for giving us
these strong, neat passages of the Bible
so that we could study them.
I pray that we would study them carefully.
I pray that we would always really pay attention
to the important commandment, instruction,
or directive that you're giving us.
It's very clear the Bible is telling us
to grow spiritually, to have a good and honest heart
so that we can produce fruit
and we can reach other people with the gospel,
we can get other people saved,
we can help them to get baptized,
we can help them to also produce fruit in their lives.
And I pray that we would see the importance of our life,
that you have a really important job for us,
that you want us to continue to grow up
and to become spiritual adults
and to not just stay babies.
I pray that our entire church would be motivated
to read their Bible more, to go out and preach the gospel,
and to live a life that's pleasing unto you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
198.
Joy Unspeakable.
198.
Song number 198.
Sing it out real loud in the first.
I have found His grace is all complete,
He supplyeth every need.
While I sit and learn at Jesus' feet,
I am free, yes, free indeed.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
yes, that hath, hath never yet been told.
I have found the pleasure I once craved,
it is joy and peace within.
What a wondrous blessing I am safe
from the awful gulf of sin.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
glory, oh, that hath, hath never yet been told.
I have found that hope so bright and clear,
living in the realm of grace.
Oh, the Savior's presence is so near,
I can see His smiling face.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
oh, that hath, hath never yet been told.
I have found the joy no tongue can tell,
how it waves of glory roll.
It is like a great or flowing well,
springing up within my soul.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
full of glory, full of glory.
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
oh, that hath, hath never yet been told.