Walking Away

 

 

 

 

"⁹ But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. ¹⁰ For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. ¹¹ And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, ¹² so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

Hebrews 6:9-12

 

 

Good Morning my beloved,

 

Welcome to worship this Lord's day!

We're so glad to have all of you here. Welcome to all of our beloved brothers and sisters, from all around the world. I am so grateful that God has been continuously using this ministry to reach more and more people in more countries around the world. All praise and glory to God.

 

Some Christians seem to expect the Word of God to hit them like a bolt of lightening every time they read it. Although the "jolt" may well hit us periodically, the benefits of the Word of God act more like exercise. People who exercise regularly do so because of their long-term benefits, not because every time they pick up a weight their muscles instantaneously grow, however, over a period of time, they feel new strength surging through their bodies. They have developed a habit of consistently exercise because they have been told that, in the long haul, it will have a beneficial effect on their physical health, resistance to disease and, general well-being. The same is true of reading the Bible. At times it will have a sudden and intense impact on us. However, the real value lies in the cumulative effects that long-term exposure to God’s Word will bring to our lives.

Or if you prefer, let's consider the difference between a strong and a weak cup of tea. The same ingredients water and tea are used for both. The difference is that the strong cup of tea results from the tea leaves’ immersion in the water longer, allowing the water more time to get into the tea and the tea into the water. The longer the steeping process, the stronger the cup of tea. In the same way, the length of time we spend in God’s Word determines how deeply we get into it and it gets into us. Just like the tea, the longer we are in the Word, the "stronger" we become!

 

Let us bow our heads in prayer.

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Father, thank You for Your Word. You have promised in Your Word, that if we pray and ask, You will grant us wisdom, I depend not upon wisdom I have, but depend upon what the Spirit of God is providing to penetrate the hearts of all of us. Lord, my own heart is convicted, that I may be more like Jesus Christ. I pray that as Your church, that we might set such a pattern for unbelievers that we become irresistible, that they would see Christ in us. Father, pray that would be the day, that You would touch their hearts, may Your Spirit bring them to salvation. Lord, we don't want to leave anyone behind, especially those we love and care about, those in our midst, those in our own families, our friends, our co workers and neighbors, we pray You would draw them unto Yourself.

In Christ's name we pray

Amen

 

Today's Message: Walking Away

As we continue our study in the book of Hebrews, we come to this passage, which deals with the issue of falling away, and I believe that its critically important that we understand to whom this applies. Anytime we study any passage in a book, we must understand the main theme of the book. Before we can interpret a passage, we must first draw a very large circle and that’s the book circle. Then we need to draw another circle around it and that’s the chapter, and then we draw the third circle in the center and deal with the passage itself. 

 

However, you’re never going to be fair with the passage unless you’ve covered the whole intent of the book. You must understand what the writer is writing about, what the purpose of his theme is, what his theme is in the chapter, and then you can dig deeper, down to what the theme is in the passage. I believe that this is the only fair way to interpret the passage. Otherwise, you’re guilty of ripping particular verses out of their context, and in doing so, you can make them mean whatever you want them to. There really are no boundaries. We see a lot of this occurring in the church today. This has even become a common practice among non believers, using verses like "Judge not, less you be judged," in defense of their sin. But before you can just throw a verse or passage at someone in defense of your position, you must rightly understand the context in which it was written.

One example that often comes to mind, is a guy who preached that the Bible says that women had ought not to tie their hair up on top of their head, because the scripture says "top notch come down." That is not what the verse is talking about! What it really says is, let those on the housetop come down. Well you might be tempted to say, nobody would do that; well this man did. However, nobody in their right mind would do that, because that’s an exaggerated form of taking something out of context and trying to make it fit the narrative, but people do this all the time. That’s why we have cults, because people take the Bible out of its context. And, I believe that we certainly cannot do that with the book of Hebrews. The issue here in the book of Hebrews, is not simply a contrast between two Christians, but whether one is a Christian or not a Christian. The issue is concerning the one who receives the revelation of Jesus Christ and chooses to either move into the maturity of the new covenant, the full and final revelation or walk away from the truth, turning away from Christ. This is a serious warning to anyone who has heard the Word of God, who knows the truth and has never fully become committed to its teaching. That’s the issue.

 

My heart is burdened, because I am deeply concerned, that there are many people in the church of Jesus Christ today, who attend church regularly, who have heard the Word of God time and time again, who have adopted to a form of Christianity, but have not the reality. Those who are neglectful of the truth which they have received. Those whose hearts have become hardened to the truth.  Those who are in grave danger of falling away and never being able to come to repentance again. I fear that there are many walking around, who are fooling themselves, believing that are safe from hell, who are actually in grave danger.

So, I remind you that in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness."

 

Before we get into our study today, there two things that I want to begin with. Allow me to read again verses 1 and 2, "Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment."

 

I'd like you to notice that He says "leaving" and "let us go on to maturity." This becomes the crux of interpreting these two verses. He says, in other words, "You’ve got to move on, and you’ve got to move on right now."

As a footnote, if He was talking to Christians who needed to grow up spiritually, He couldn’t say it that fast, because it would take a long for them to grow up. But because He is talking to Jews and the maturity is an instant thing, for He’s referring to the maturity that salvation brings, and the reception of the new covenant, He can say, "Leave it and let’s go." It’s not a process; it is an instantaneous miracle that He’s talking about. The maturity of this passage is that of leaving the elementary teaching of the old covenant to come to the full revelation of Jesus Christ.

The word "leaving" here is very important. In the Greek, leaving is the word aphiēmi, and it means this is a strategic thought, it means to forsake, to put away, to let go of, to let alone, to disregard, to put off. It is a total detachment. It does not mean to build on something; it doesn’t mean to add to something; it means to cut it off completely and move away from it. The preposition at the beginning of the word is aph,  in that form implies separation. To leave behind in order that we may go another. In other words, leave here and go there.

Allow me to give you an illustration of this in Mark 1:19-20, "Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him." What Jesus is saying is drop what you’re doing, follow me, and do something else. 

This is important for us to understand, because it can only be a reference to an unbeliever, because at no time would the Word of God ever say to a Christian, "Drop the basics of Christianity and go on to something else." So, we need to understand that, because a Christian is never to depart from the basics of Christianity. As Christians, we are never told to abandon the principles of the New Testament. In fact, Paul says in Galatians chapter 1, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!"

In I Timothy 4, we read that "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."

I'd like to point something out, something I believe is important, its very relevant, when they want to immunize you to a disease, they give you a little bit of it. That’s what a vaccination does. If you want to be vaccinated against Christianity or become immunized against it, get just a little bit of it and do nothing about it. And that’s the problem with so many people in the church today, they have had a Christian vaccination so that they’re insensitive to it. 

 

Open your Bibles with me to the book of Hebrews, the sixth chapter,  we come to our text, verses 9 through 12, I realize that was a long introduction, but I believe that we needed to set things up to understand this portion of God's Word. We needed to lay a proper foundation by reviewing what we've studied and elaborating on it a little, so that we can get the meaning of our text today.

I invite you to follow along with me as I read to set today's text in our minds as we prepare our hearts for what the Holy Spirit has for us today. Hebrews 6:9-12. 

"But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

In verse 9, the Holy Spirit adds the example. I believe that is a wonderful technique in any kind of teaching or preaching is after you have given all the doctrine, after you have given an illustration, as He has done so beautifully in verses 7 and 8, but then He gives an example. In other words, after all the preaching is done, I believe that's important to help someone to see what they ought to be, all of the teaching can best be boiled down to a life. You know, that is what the Apostle Paul did, he would and preach, he preached the great doctrine, and he would fire it out, and it was heavy. Then, he would simplify it by saying "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." All of the teaching comes down to the example that is demonstrated by ones life. 

And, that is exactly what the author says in verses 9 through 12. To the unbelievers, to those whose hearts are so hardened, to the point of being in danger of falling away, He says, "Now, let me introduce you to the Christians in your midst. Plug into them, see what they are, then be like them." 

In verse 9, "But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way."

 Here He is speaking to the Christian, and you know that because we can see an obvious change right there, He begins with "But, beloved." I say this because nowhere in the Bible are apostates ever called beloved. He goes on to say "we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation." In other words, the prior things did not accompany salvation; they accompanied revelation. They knew the truth, they had the knowledge, and they still weren’t saved.

So He says "But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

He is speaking to the Christians. And, then, He switches back and says, "Now look, you unbelievers, you follow those, who through faith and patience inherit the promises. And you pattern your life after them." Notice that He uses the phrase "We are convinced," it essentially means persuaded. I love that word "salvation." The New Testament word used itself, and its derivatives, some 50 times in the New Testament. It speaks of our deliverance from danger, from death, from hell, from Satan, and from sin. It’s the whole word for deliverance, freeing us from all that sin and Satan can do.

So, in contrast, to the non-Christians who have been really the object of His message from chapter 5 verse 11, He turns to the Christians. They are real, they stand as an example of what the others had ought to be. I believe that is important to mention, that they had the same background. They have come out of the same Judaism as the non believers, they’ve come through to the same point of repentance. They’ve seen the beauty of Messiah, they’ve had the very same revelation, except they have taken that tremendous one step further, of faith and total commitment of Jesus Christ. 

And that, is the exact difference between the wheat and the tares. Or as the old saying goes, "The same sun that hardens the clay melts the wax." The bearers of thorns and thistles will be rejected, they will be cursed, they will be burned. And, that is the point of verse 8, allow me to quickly read that to you, "but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned." Both groups of people came right up the point of decision, who group drew back unto perdition, to hell, to lostness. The other group believed unto the point of salvation, they came to the point of saving faith of Jesus Christ. So, we can know that He is speaking to Christians, because they characterize a believer, we can see three things that they have: faith, hope, and love. 

We can see that in verses 10, 11 and 12, which says "For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." They had faith, hope and love. In other words, they were Christians, they were beloved.

As a footnote, the term "beloved" is the Greek word "agapētoi," which is the highest kind of love, from agapē or agape. This word is used 60 times in the New Testament, and never once is it used for apostates. The first nine times it’s used, it’s used of God to Christ, His beloved Son, where God speaks to Christ and calls Him His Beloved. From that point on, all throughout all of the New Testament uses, 60 times it’s used only of saints: sometimes Jews and sometimes Gentiles, but it is always used of saints. 

For example, in I Corinthians 10:14-15, the Apostle Paul says "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say."  This term speaks of the sweet bond of loving fellowship that belongs between believers. In the book of Hebrews, He does call the unbelieving Jews brethren in a racial sense, but they are never referred to as beloved. The reason is because this is the kind of love that is only reserved for those who are in Christ, "the beloved." He is saying, and I'm going to paraphrase here, "Beloved, we are convinced, because of the evidence, because we've seen the proof, concerning better things of you and things that accompany salvation."

I have been frequently asked, what are the things that accompany salvation? And I could certainly preach forever on that.There is much to say regarding the subject. In fact, that's Romans chapter 5, isn't it? That’s the entire collection of epistles in the New Testament. However, relating it to this text, let's go back to verse 10. "For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints."

These are the things that are in contrast to all the previous characteristics of the unsaved. For example, accompanying salvation is infancy, its not infancy, but maturity; its not milk, but solid food; not inexperience in righteousness, but perfectly righteous, these are the things that accompanies salvation, the righteousness of Christ. Accompanying salvation is not repentance from dead works, but repentance toward God unto life through Christ. It's not the simplistic truths of the resurrection and judgment, but full revelation of our blessed hope, which is in Jesus Christ. It's not just partaking of the Holy Spirit, but having the Holy Spirit indwell within you. That's the difference!

I love this little phrase at the end of verse 9, "though we are speaking in this way." That’s actually a kind of a condescension, because the poor Christian who has been reading through this, by the time they got to verse 8 would be pretty rattled. And I’m sure, this is true of many who read it today, would be wondering, "Is He talking about me?" And so, He throws this little statement, "though we are speaking in this way." Beloved, we’re persuaded to better things of you, though we’ve been saying all this. I love that. In other words, He says, to the Christians, "This warning is for them. So, don’t take the words to apostates to refer to you. But I putting this in this letter to you all, because I know that they are in your midst."  

This is exactly what Jesus is teaching us in the parable of the Tares among Wheat in Matthew chapter 13, "Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn." The same is true whenever the Holy Spirit is writing to the congregation, He says, "I’m saying this to you all, though I know that it doesn’t apply to all of you, but because there are non believers among the believers." He is setting a pattern for all of us.

It is the same whenever I preach it as the whole counsel of God and allow the Spirit of God do the applying. And that’s what he’s saying, "Beloved, I’ve said this, not because it applies to you directly, but because it applies to all within your congregation; I speak to you all." That's why He says in verse 10, "For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints." In other words, "There isn't any question in God's mind who is real, He know that you are a real Christian. Your name is in His book, He's not going to forget you. So just relax." 

You know, there are a lot of Christians today, who when they hear about God’s message of judgment, they become disturbed, they're shaken. They are concerned about the coming of Christ lest they be not ready. I believe the reason is, that they do not understand what it is to trust in their positional standing before God. They're like the people in Malachi chapter 3, when God was raining down the prophet’s word of judgment. If you are a true believer, God always knows His faithful. He always knows His own. God is not unrighteous.  Therefore, the sovereignty of God secures it.

James says in James chapter 2 verse 18-20, "But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that  God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?"

In other words, God can spot the ones who have the fruits of righteousness  God cannot forget your works that result from your love in the name of Christ. And, this takes us right back to the fantastic concept of the glory of God. We see that at the end of verse 10, they ministered to the saints and do minister, not because of love for the saints, but because of their love for Christ. 

So in verse 11, notice it, "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end." He's saying, to all the rest of you, "Look at the beloved, look at these true believers and follow the kind of pattern they’re setting," We want you to come to the same assurance of hope, and the only people who really have hope are in Jesus Christ. There is no hope apart from Jesus Christ.

Then, in verse 12, He says "so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Here is where I believe that the King James translation does a great disservice, because this is exactly the same word  used in chapter 5, verse 11, and there it’s translated dull of hearing. It’s the same word "nōthroi," it’s the same word, and it's used the same form identical. In other words, "Follow those who are saved, those who have had the same persecution as you have had, but they have patiently endured it because their faith is real."

As we come to the end of our text, we have a warning, it doesn’t have to be confusing. It’s a warning that we can share with everyone hearing this message, every person who is here with us today, either for his own life or to pass on to someone else, because of its urgency.

If you’ve come all the way to the edge of the decision to receive Jesus Christ, and you’re still standing on the edge, but you’ve never made that decision, you’re going to learn that the longer you reject, the longer you neglect, the harder your heart becomes, and you are in grave danger, as He said in an earlier warning of falling away, having an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. You’re in danger, as He said here, of becoming spiritually stupid and then not understanding anything. And then finding that you’ve lost a grip on the basics, to the point that you can’t handle the truths that the Spirit of God would wants to teach you to bring you to Christ. You’re in danger of falling away and never being able to be redeemed again because you rejected against the full knowledge and wisdom of the truth of God and He cannot give you any more revelation than what you have already been given. That's a very dangerous place to be!

In Closing..

What a beautiful thing it is to express our love toward God, by serving the saints. That's the key to a real life of service, that is the burning love for the Lord.  And, let' be perfectly honest, some people just are not always that lovable. are they? But we can love them anyway, because we have a great love for God. That's the key! To love His name means to have a burning passionate desire for the glory of all that God is. Therefore, we can love others, even those who are not always lovable, because we have an overwhelming love for Him. The love that we have for others, is proportionate to love that we have toward our Lord, Christ and our God. 

 That's the truest measure of the Christian life.

May it be so..

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

 

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