Christ the True and Better - Hebrews 6:1-8 - The True and Better High Priest - Maturity in Christ  pt.4

Alright, if you guys would, I'm going to read, this is not from the Westminster Confession,

this is just the issue of one of the solas.

So we know there's five solas.

This is Sola Scriptura, and so I'm going to read that question and you're going to read

the answer.

What is the doctrine of Sola Scriptura?

Sola Scriptura means that the Bible is written about the Lord God, and that all church traditions

and interpretations are subject to correction by the scriptures, and the scriptures alone

may be final, perfect, and faithless.

Nice.

That's a great definition.

So, get to know these things.

These are some very important truths that we carry with us, and I can't help but think

as we continue to see things deteriorate, which has been deteriorating for a while now,

how many will fall away from that because they're not grounded in the mature faith of

Christ.

That's really what we're going to be dealing with here.

When we're stuck in the milk, you really can't deal with the meat, and so it's important

that we move from milk to meat.

So these are going to be some very, three very important principles that we'll deal

with, some truth statements that will go along with that, and you know we go verse by verse

and word for word, and I hope you grasp the importance of this chapter.

The letter to the Hebrews is a difficult letter.

It's not an easy letter.

It's something that I think we need to spend more time in in these difficult letters because

it really grows and challenges the faith.

So let's pray, and let's dig in.

Father, I want to thank you so much for your goodness and faithfulness.

You are holy, righteous, sovereign, and true, Lord, that there is nothing in all of creation

that your sovereignty and your providential hand is not in, and all things are done for

your glory and for your name to be proclaimed throughout all of creation that you are God

and God alone, and that you in the three persons of who you are, Father, Son, and Spirit, have

accomplished salvation for man, that we may be with you forever, and that you have for

all eternity have placed us in Christ, and that we are his and we will be with him as

he reigns as king forever over all the things that you have placed in his authority.

So Lord, guide us as we spend time in your word.

I pray that the full counsel of your word is spoken and that we learn some very important

truths of who you are as God and the importance of understanding our practice of maturity.

Lord, we praise you and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen.

So we want to read chapter 5 verse 11, and we're going to go right in to verse 6.

It says, about this, we have much to say.

About what?

Salvation.

We know that in verse 7 through 8.

He's talking about salvation, specifically in verse 9.

And he says, so about this salvation, we have much to say.

And it's hard to explain since you have become doll of hearing.

It's an interesting term he uses here, doll of hearing.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic

principles of the oracles of God.

You need milk, not solid food.

For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a

child, but solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment

trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

That's important.

So when we get into chapter 6, as we're going to get into next, I want you to understand

something.

You cannot discern real good from evil if you don't know the word.

You have to know it.

You've got to spend time in it.

And so verse 1 says, therefore, because he said all this, therefore is therefore, therefore.

It sounds kind of funny.

That's why it's there, for.

Just trying to be more funny.

It's not working.

Let us, thank you, whoever laughed for me, appreciate it.

Let us therefore leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying

again a foundation of repentance from dead works or of faith toward God and of instruction

about washings, the laying on of the hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal

judgment.

So there is this list that he says are elementary truths.

In other words, what he's saying here is these things you should be absolutely convinced

of.

This should not be something you're going back to because you need to learn something

new.

These should be settled.

These are doctrines within the Christian faith that it's a done deal.

You move on and you grow in faith.

You grow in the full stature of Christ.

And so principle number one, basic truths of the Christian faith are to be known and

understood, not repeated over and over again for the believer as if it is needed to ensure

your faith.

In other words, I keep going back to it because I am not sure if I know.

If you're not sure that you know, you have to question if you really know.

These are things that we should not be sitting down questioning.

They're basic understandings of facts for the believer.

How do we know this?

Every believer must press or move to a deeper understanding of Christ.

I like the word press better than move.

We must press to a deeper understanding of Christ.

Here's the scriptural proof of that.

Here's the context with context and here's the precept for precept.

Ephesians 4.13, until we attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son

of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

In other words, what God has for you is to be like his son.

That is it.

Not to be stuck crawling as spiritual infants, spiritual newborns.

Should be beyond this stuff.

And so, Paul clarifies and I believe this is Paul who wrote Hebrews, but some would

argue.

Therefore, let us leave.

Now this word leave is not meaning that we completely abandon.

It's not that kind of an abandonment.

It's not even like a departure.

It's like, you know when you grow up, you don't go back to crawling.

I could clarify this a little bit better in first service.

I don't want to crawl again.

One, I'm too old and my knees get bruised.

So we don't go back to crawling.

Once you learn to walk, you keep walking and eventually you run.

Now I know the older you get, you end up back in the same position.

I get it.

You're like, speak for yourself, Pastor Joe.

So he says, let us now go back to the elementary doctrine of Christ.

Elementary the simple.

These doctrines that are listed here.

And he gives a really good clarifying list of what these elementary doctrines are.

But he says, and we must leave, but go press on to maturity.

We must work it out.

We must drive ourselves to know him more.

And he gives this list at this point.

Let us leave elementary doctrines, move to maturity, not laying again a foundation of

repentance.

This word foundation is the understanding of beginnings.

The beginnings of things, the first principles, the system of truth.

What is the system of truth?

We are sinners and you must repent and believe the gospel.

That's what Jesus says, right?

Mark 1 15, pretty simple.

That's what he's saying here.

So let's not go back to the first principles of repentance.

What are the first principles of repentance?

I'm a sinner.

You know, you keep going back to repent because you think you aren't saved.

You keep going back to thinking you've lost something that God can't keep.

There are many churches in our day today that keep pushing to this idea that you have to

repent to come to faith all the time.

Like as if the first time you truly repented and were truly changed wasn't strong enough.

So he deals with this issue of foundation, this system of truth, of repentance.

The word repentance here is matronia or matronia, the change of mind.

I want you to think about that.

Don't go back to the simple first principles of the changing of your mind.

From what?

Changing your mind from dead works.

This word dead works means a life lived destitute of power, inactive, inoperative and faithless.

What happens to dead people?

Their brains are what?

Inoperative.

They're dead.

They're fruitless.

They, they do nothing.

Let's not go back to this foundation of repentance which was from a life that was destitute of

power.

And then he says end of faith toward God.

This word faith toward God means the conviction that God exists and is creator of all things,

the provider and bestower of eternal salvation.

I mean how many times do we have to be convinced that God is the creator of all things?

Do you want to know why we're struggling with this idea here?

I mean this idea has crept into the church.

If you guys ever listen to Ken Ham, Ken Ham fights against this ideology of creationism

slash evolutionary theory.

This understanding that God spoke and over time it evolved to be what it is today.

That's not the understanding here.

It's not, it's not even that God spoke and bang.

There it is.

I even fight against that idea.

That God spoke and banged it.

There it is.

That's a simple very foolish way to think about it.

When God spoke every detail was intentional.

Every detail has his signature on it.

Every detail has his fingerprint.

When he spoke he spoke for the glory of himself.

So the very atom that is created was intentionally created.

It wasn't like I'm going to create it.

Bang there it is.

He lovingly brought it into existence.

It's a lot more than that stuff.

We simplify God to a thing that we can mold.

But when you think about God and his intentionality and everything he does you can't help but

think he's much bigger and stronger than that.

This is an important truth because if he is the creator of all things and the provider

and bestower of eternal salvation and he gives it then he has to be the one to keep it.

And we deal with this issue.

And then he says after this verse two end of instruction about washings.

This word washings is the word baptismo and it means baptism.

Let us not go back to baptism.

In other words when you are baptized you're baptized out of an heart of obedience towards

Christ and that your baptismism is a proclamation of what Christ had done on the cross and that

you yourself have been crucified with Christ yet I know that only you live but Christ lives

in me.

During Bible study today we actually went through this in Romans 6 and this clarifies

a little bit more.

This truth of not returning back to the issue of baptisms like baptisms can make you right.

Can you imagine how many times you come to Christ you walk away from the faith because

of some really bad teaching because you sin.

Then you have to go back in repentance again.

You have to ask for forgiveness again.

Christ has to be crucified again.

Then you have to go to baptism again.

That's what the writer is saying here.

Look what it says in chapter 6 verse 1.

What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin that grace may bound?

By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into

his death and we were buried with we were buried therefore with him by baptism into

death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead we too may walk in newness of

life?

I mean think about that.

Is the work of Christ on the cross enough?

And if it is why do we continue in the elementary doctrines of Christ?

We should be beyond this and that's what the writer is saying here.

And then he says the laying on of hands because you know the next step of every believer is

one they act in obedience get baptized.

They are associated with the crucifixion and death and resurrection of Christ through baptism.

It's a proclamation of the gospel and then they come they're part of the family.

And the family brings them and lays hands on them and asks God's blessing to be given

to them in ceremony.

That's what the laying on of hands means.

And for those who are called to position of leadership many times as ordination.

Either way do we go back to the laying on of hands?

Because we think that it's not good enough that the work of Christ isn't good enough?

Do we go back to the resurrection of the dead?

Do we have to do we have to argue over the fact that Christ raised from the dead?

If he didn't raise from the dead we might as well just go home because it's a waste

of time.

Should we go back to the resurrection of the dead?

And should we go to eternal judgment?

Should we go back to the reality that God will judge everyone?

And the writer says here and this we will do if God permits.

So elementary truths principle number two.

The doctrines of renewal, renewal meaning renewing the mind continually and the doctrine

of regeneration meaning to make alive that which was dead are only done by the power

and the work of the spirit.

An impossibility for anything that the spirit does to be undone.

That's the idea here.

It is impossible to be made alive in Christ to be brought back to death and corruption

and to have our minds changed and continually renewed in the truth to return to knowing

nothing of his goodness.

Now I want you to get that.

If we are radically changed, made completely brand new by the power of the Holy Spirit

and regenerated, made alive a new creature in order for us to have to go back to repentance

means we would have to become back what we were.

We have to become the old creature.

So is that what we're saying?

That the work of Christ isn't enough to keep us from being the old creature?

My argument is there are denominations that teach that.

Eternal security is real.

I am secure eternally in Christ forever, his forever.

I am in him.

All that the father has given me I will not lose.

And he says if we are in him, he is in the father.

That's like a double lockdown.

You can't get any more lockdown than that.

And so what happens to many, to our charismatic friends is they miss out.

They miss out on the sureness of knowing Christ.

And so here it is.

Verse four through six.

For it is impossible.

What's impossible mean?

Not possible.

All right.

I'll say it in good old, you know, street language ain't gonna happen.

And ain't is a word because it's in the Webster's dictionary.

Okay.

For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened.

Now who are those?

Us.

The believer.

So it's impossible concerning the believers who have once came to the saving knowledge.

That's what the word enlightenment here means.

The saving knowledge of Christ who us who have tasted experience the heavenly gift,

the heavenly gift, eternal life.

Us who have shared partook in the Holy Spirit and have experienced tasted the goodness of

the word of God and the powers of the age to come to and then having to fall away from

all that to be restored, to restore them again to repentance.

It's an impossibility.

Here's what I mean.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon the heart and he starts the process of regeneration

in their lives, which is instantaneous, his illumination of the truth of the gospel so

enters the mind in the heart of man that he's impactfully changed forever.

He is literally changed.

Okay.

He is waken from the dead, made alive in Christ.

His mind is completely changed.

He recognizes the creator of all things, the one who bestows salvation.

He in response to that repents of his sin and say, Jesus is my Lord and savior.

I am not going to live this life anymore because of the work of God in his heart.

He then after that in obedience to him comes to repentance.

Do you see the process?

In his repentance, he baptizes out of obedience to him is recognized to be like Christ in

crucifixion, being buried and resurrected into newness of life.

The Holy Spirit, if our sin was powerful enough to rip us from his hand, the Holy Spirit would

then have to reconvert us back to what we were and then we'd have to start the whole

process over again.

Now I want you to think about that because if we have to go through all that process

in order for us to be deconverted, to be reconverted, there's one more part of the process that

has to happen in order to make it right.

Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

And then what they're going to say is, well, the Bible says Jesus's blood is once for all.

Oh really?

If it was once for all, then how come it's not strong enough to keep?

It's strong enough to once for all, but it's not strong enough to keep you.

So what does that mean?

He has to be crucified all over again and that's exactly what the writer says here.

If you have to deconvert the whole thing, if you have to change everything back to what

it was originally, then guess who has to come and die again?

And that's exactly what he says.

For it is impossible in the case of those who have been enlightened, who have come to

the saving knowledge of Christ, who have tasted and experienced the heavenly gift of eternal

life and have shared and partook in the Holy Spirit, to have tasted and experienced the

goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away

to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the Son of

God to their own open shame, to their own harm.

And then you're holding him up to contempt.

Now I want you to understand that.

Every time you claim that Jesus isn't good enough to keep you, guess what you're doing?

Do you forget the shame that he experienced on your behalf?

Do you forget the reality of him being crucified without clothing, being beaten to the point

that he was unrecognizable?

Are you willing to put him through that again?

Of course you are, because your God's not big enough to keep you.

See, your salvation is based upon your dead works.

That's what the writer's saying here.

So some very important things I think we need to mention here concerning the powers of the

age to come.

I did some deeper research on this particular statement.

It's like, what powers of the age to come?

What is he talking about?

Well specifically he's talking about what's to come for the believer.

What are we believing in?

The goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come.

We experience God's word and we also are going to experience what's to come.

What's to come for us?

Eternity with Jesus.

What else is to come?

The ultimate rain on the earth with him forever.

He takes the earth, he refines it in fire and behold, out of the heavens come a new

heaven and a new earth.

Revelation 21.

Isn't that the point?

What's our hope?

Our hope is that we get to reign with him forever.

We are his forever.

That's the point.

And so Revelation, this age to come, this age of hope, of eternal reigning with Christ

on the earth and enjoying him forever.

What else is there to come?

The judgment of all things.

Very important truth here.

Turn to Revelation 20.

So not only do we experience in Revelation 21 the amazing new heaven and new earth, and

we've got to remember Jesus says, behold, I make all things.

There's also a clear understanding here concerning the judgment seat of Christ.

That God does not let the evil go unpunished, nor does he take away our reward who is him.

So part two of this age to come is seeing the God who reigns.

Verse 11.

Then I saw a great right throne and him who was seated on it.

From his presence the earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne.

And books were opened.

What books?

Books were opened.

How many books?

A whole mess of books.

I'm thinking all of them.

God be all of them.

Not just one book, it's all the books.

The books were opened.

Then another book was opened.

A. You get that?

There's a whole mess of books.

And then there's this one book.

Just the mess of books, wide road.

One book, skinny road.

I like the skinny book.

Then another book was opened which is the book of life.

And look, he opens both books.

Why?

Because the dead are raised.

The dead are now before the throne.

The wicked and the good.

Doesn't that make sense?

Wait a minute, Jesus said something about that, didn't he?

He says those who are on his right, well done my good and faithful servants.

Those on his left, depart from me I never knew you.

Oh, it's right here.

Here we go.

And then he says, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according

to what they had done.

And the sea gave up the dead that were in it.

And death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them.

And they were judged, each one of them according to what they had done.

And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death in the lake of fire.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the

lake of fire.

A judgment seat.

That's it.

Pretty amazing.

So this is the powers of the age to come, the thing we look forward to.

Our eventual reign with Christ forever.

And the reality is the day has come that that judgment of God for anything contrary to him

has been thrown into hell.

Verse six, we're back in the Hebrews chapter six, verse six, and then have him falling

away.

This word falling away means reject or willingly denounce what you once had.

This word restore means to renovate, to renovate them, to renew them again to repentance.

You notice he takes you back to where you first began.

That's they are crucifying the son of God all over again to their own shame.

That's what it means to their own harm means put to open shame.

Now last principle and we're done for the day.

The person whose heart receives the gift of salvation produces the fruits of faith in

their life.

But the person whose heart did not receive the gift of salvation continues to produce

bad fruit.

And I use this analogy because this is what Jesus says, a good tree produces good fruit,

but a bad tree produces bad fruit.

So here's a statement, Matthew 13 verse 23, says it this way, as for what was sown on

Matthew 13:23

good soil, this is the one who hears the word, understands it, he indeed bears fruit in yields,

in one case a hundred fold and another 60 and another 30.

Either way he produces fruit.

The writer in Hebrews verse seven through eight says it this way, the land, the ground,

this word land is ground suitable for growing.

Is your heart suitable for growing?

Has God cultivated the land of your heart?

Because the land that is suitable for growing that has drunk the rain that has that often

falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives

a blessing from God.

They produce fruit.

Here's what it means.

You ready?

God is the cultivator and when he cultivates the heart and he reigns upon the heart of

man the truth of his gospel, Paul plants Apollo's waters, he produces in that person a crop

that is useful because the heart has been cultivated.

The cultivating thing is the gospel.

The gospel cultivates the heart.

God uses it.

Sometimes that rain and cultivation if you ever know, if you guys know when it rains

here does it rain on the farmland?

Does it rain also in the woods?

Anybody like to go out in the woods and plant some corn?

Why can't you plant corn out there?

Someone says sunlight?

Why else can you plant corn?

I know you guys are going to say it a little.

There's also rocks and thorns and there's also thistles and there's stuff that killed

the plant.

You know when you want to do farmland there's two ways to deal with the land of farmland.

One to deal with the issue of the farmland is what?

To rip it up.

And typically it takes about two years to rid the ground of all of the pestilence that's

on it.

Insects and vines and all this other junk.

Most times they'll go and they'll rip it up.

And then what do they do?

You ever get grubs in your grass?

What do you do to your grass?

You burn it.

Burning refines.

Okay?

Now this is what the writer says here.

See the rain falls on both the good and the bad.

The wicked and the righteous.

But only the heart that's been cultivated will produce a crop.

But there are hearts that will not be cultivated.

Because they can't be cultivated, because they're not supposed to be cultivated.

That's what he says here.

But if it bears thorns and thistles after the rain falls on it, it's worthless and near

to being cursed.

Interesting term here.

It's near to being cursed.

And what is its end to be burned?

That's a hard statement.

In other words, there are hearts that will receive the rain and produce a crop.

Then there's hearts that get rain but it doesn't take the rain in.

It just produces stuff like that way out there in the woods.

Useful is that?

What kind of use is that?

It's no use at all.

So here's my translation.

The ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and is tilled produces crops and

herbs and receives a blessing from God.

The ground that produces thorns and thistles, even though the rain has fallen on it, that

ground is worthless and cursed and its end is to be burned.

It's useless.

Well that's not fair.

I thought God says, my desire is that all men would come to repentance.

That's not fair.

You know what's not fair?

That he rains on the bad ground anyway.

That's not fair.

Why does he give rain to the ground that doesn't deserve it, doesn't want it, doesn't like

it, rejects it?

Now I'm sure you look at the trees and the thistles and stuff.

You're like, you know, I cultivated you and tilled you and you're still not producing

good stuff.

Like that's not fair.

Like why am I working so hard?

But people, we have a tendency not to look at things I think as God sees them.

He says, I give grace to everyone.

I put rain on everyone.

It rains on the good and the bad.

But blessed are those who receive the blessing of God because God has tilled the land and

that land has received the water from the rain that has fallen on it.

How come we can't see that grace?

How come we always got to point out God must be a bad God if he doesn't save everybody?

The fact that he saves one is a grace that's beyond measure because the scripture says

for all have sinned, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

No one seeks God, no not one.

All have turned aside.

All have venom that come from their lips.

All of us are desperately wicked.

There's no one righteous.

The wages of sin is death.

We're all dead and are trespassers in sins.

The fact that God saves one is a grace beyond measure.

But God just didn't save one.

He saved many.

And that's what we're going to read in the next couple of verses starting next week in

verse 9.

So I want us to really understand that the grace of God is beyond measure and that this

amazing doctrine of renewal, regeneration, election, and doctrine of righteousness, doctrine

of justification is all saturated through this chapter.

Very important to understand God's grace is beyond what we can ever imagine.

We all deserve one thing.

It's interesting, and it's about to be the only political statement I'll say it this

way okay.

It's interesting after listening to Trump's speech at the RNC, you know, as you guys know

where I stand as a in my politics.

Everybody was claiming it was a miracle.

You know what Trump said?

I shouldn't be here.

I'm here only by the providential hand of God.

You know what?

He was absolutely right.

The only reason why he was there is because God providentially had set it in time for

him to be there.

And for that to happen the way it happened was not because God took his head and just

turned it just a little bit.

It's called providence.

A power you can't see that does not break nature, but it's so affected through time

that at that moment God knew and so it happens.

Providence is not a miracle.

Providence is a power unseen.

That's an amazing thought.

So let's thank God for opportunities to see him at work and for someone to finally say

God is providential.

So let's pray.

Father, I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness and goodness.

To you be honor and glory and power and might forever.

Lord, we praise you and thank you for your word.

We thank you that we need to move away from milk and move into solid food that we may

grow in a full stash of maturity of Christ for your glory.

In Jesus' name.