Hebrews 5:11-14, 6:1-12 “Heart Check”

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

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We're returning this morning to our study through the book of Hebrews,

! where the writer has been telling us over and over about the greatness of Jesus, right?

So that we will not drift away from Him, but we'll hold fast to Him.

In fact, he's just started talking about Jesus as our great high priest, the one who brings us to God.

And he has mentioned that Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

And he wants to explain that big unfamiliar name to us and all that that means about who Jesus is.

It's rich teaching in the rest of this written sermon.

But first, before he dives into that more, he stops and he wants to speak as a pastor to these early Christians.

He loves them enough to say some really hard things.

Some of them are famously hard to understand.

Others are hard to hear, hard to embrace.

There's a challenge with immediate urgency.

There's a warning this morning with eternal ramifications.

And thankfully, there's also a comfort full of hope for us.

And it is important to the writer that everyone in the church hears all three of them.

All for everyone.

So we're going to read them and we're going to talk about them one at a time after we pray.

Let's ask for God's help to hear from Him.

Father, we need that to hear from you as we open your word.

We're so grateful for it.

And I'm just so aware this morning that I don't have the skill to explain it adequately.

They don't have the attention span to hear it as they need.

We together don't have the wisdom on our own to know everything it means for us in our lives.

And so we need you.

You know this, Father.

We need your spirit.

We need you to speak through your word that we might hear your voice and know your love.

And we ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

First, a challenge.

Hebrews 5 and verse 11.

About this, this Melchizedek and Jesus being a high priest.

About this we have much to say.

And it is hard to explain since you have become dull 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.

Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity.

Not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

And this we will do if God permits.

Imagine being in a graduate level seminar to discuss Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Or the U.S. Constitution.

Or Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

And you get together with everybody in the class and all the students can do when they get together is sing the ABC song.

It's a good song.

I mean, you need to know the ABCs.

But you need to be able to put them together.

You need to be able to read in order to discuss your thoughts.

Or imagine the Von Trapp children who learn Do, Re, Mi, and so on.

And then they say, well, that's a very good place to start.

But what else do you sing?

Imagine if they had stopped there and never built on that foundation of those notes.

We'd never hear the inspiration to climb every mountain.

Imagine if after pouring the foundation of the Eiffel Tower, they never built anything that went above ground level.

Or if in your home, all you had was a rock foundation that was just poured over and over.

Imagine all that you'd be missing out on if you just had a concrete slab.

The foundation is important.

Very important.

But how much beauty and goodness would we miss out on if we didn't build on it, right?

You see that?

That's the challenge spiritually in these verses.

Don't stop growing.

Or if you prefer, grow up.

No one wants to be called a baby, right?

Right?

The immaturity.

The immaturity.

The lack of growth is coming here from a spiritual dullness.

A laziness.

A laziness in this case of the ears, he says.

You're not listening to God's word.

To the truth about Jesus.

That verse 13 says is a word of righteousness.

To help you know how to live all of life with Jesus.

Many in this church, it seems, they're settling for just a little bit of Jesus.

Not making a priority of their faith every moment of every day.

But, you know, stopping in for Jesus on an occasional Sunday.

More than a couple of times, I've had a version of this conversation.

Pastor, I gotta be honest with you, man.

I really like you.

But I really struggle with coming to church.

I've been around a while.

I basically know what I need to know, man.

I'm going to heaven.

And I know enough to know that there's nothing else I can do to earn anything else.

So, it's just not all that exciting.

Right?

I mean, I see a few people there, but I could see them somewhere else.

They're good friends.

I just have a hard time wanting to be there.

Have you thought that before?

Maybe around minute 34, 35 of the sermon.

Have you felt bored reading the Bible?

Has your heart quit responding for a season to the worship of God's people when you gather?

And you're there, but there's just nothing?

That's a dullness of hearing.

That you hear blessed assurance and you think, blessed assurance, I guess.

A dullness of hearing that has settled for spiritual immaturity.

I've got more for you, God says.

Moving beyond the ABCs to building something beautiful in your spiritual growth, your maturity.

Now, don't read this wrong.

He's not against foundational things.

The things listed here in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 6.

He just wants them built on beautifully.

Now, there's debate here about whether this list of things, this repentance, faith, washings, laying on of hands, resurrection, and judgment.

Whether those are Jewish teachings that are in that sense the beginning of the word of Christ.

That's literally what it means there in verse 1.

The beginning of the word of Christ.

In the sense of there being the shadow.

The background that Jesus fulfills the reality of.

That's one possibility.

Or whether these are six foundational aspects of early Christian training.

Perhaps for those about to be baptized.

I think that there is a really good case in this context for the former.

For these being aspects of the old covenant that Jesus is fulfilling now in a fresh way.

But regardless of which one of those is correct.

These are good things.

Good things that must not be stopped at some just basic intellectual understanding of them.

But applied to life in light of the greatness of Jesus.

Right?

It touches everything.

So when you read this, don't hear him saying you have to be a graduate level Christian in order for God to love you.

That's not what it means.

He's not saying, well, Jesus is nice.

I mean, faith alone in Christ alone.

Yeah, yeah.

But then you need to get to the real meat of Christianity.

No.

No way is that what he's saying.

It's more like what Scotty reminded us last week when he was here with us.

There's nothing more than Jesus.

But there's always more of Jesus.

That's what he's saying.

Pastor Andrew Murray says it this way.

That's what 514 means.

This is not demanding that we know more truth to impress Jesus.

But rather that we apply more truth to enjoy Jesus.

To share Jesus.

Take the ABCs and the do-re-mis of Jesus.

His incarnation.

His life.

His death.

His resurrection.

His ascension.

His return.

Cling to those things.

Cling to a relationship with him by faith that forgives your sins and grants you eternal salvation.

And clinging to those things, use them to build something in every area of life.

In every moment of your day.

That's maturity, he says.

Always more of Jesus.

Like receiving his peace in your anxiety.

Stewarding his gifts for his kingdom.

Finding his comforting presence in the valley of the shadow of death.

Reflecting his image in your workplace.

Sharing his hope with your neighbor.

Following his will for all of your life decisions.

I mean, has anyone in here exhausted the areas and places and relationships where God has called you to a Christ-centered walk with him?

Anybody just taking care of all of those?

No way.

Endless opportunities.

But just think of how much we would be missing.

If Christians didn't learn to apply, for example, the image of God in every man and woman to abolish the African slave trade.

To apply the priesthood of Jesus to prayer in the very presence of God in the midst of my pain.

To apply love for neighbor to hospitals or aid for refugees or orphanages.

It would be like missing out on the Eiffel Tower or Edelweiss.

Right?

Don't stop growing in Jesus.

That is the challenge for every one of us here.

So how do I respond to that challenge?

How do I not just brush this off like, hey, I'm already a teacher, so he's not talking to me.

Yes, he is.

How do I receive this word that is for all God's people?

Let me urge you, no matter how long you've been learning or how much you've grown,

there's always more of Jesus, amen?

Always.

Trust me.

Don't move past him, but go deeper into Jesus.

That's maturity that begins to grasp the ocean-sized greatness of Jesus.

You're never going to plum it all, are you?

Ask him to show you a part of your life that you've kept him out of.

Your work, your marriage, your money.

You're not praying.

You're not evangelizing.

You're not discipling someone else.

What is it for you?

I don't know, but no matter how many times you've read through the Bible, read it again.

You'll learn something new.

I always do.

Every time I open God's word, it's one of the reasons it's such a gift to me to get to preach it.

What a privilege.

Maybe one last thought on how to listen and receive this challenge.

If you're concerned that your ears are growing dull, sluggish, if you sense that, you're just not motivated or excited about the things of God,

don't keep that to yourself in shame.

We can do that in the church.

Feel like, well, I just must be the only one.

Now listen to what God wants for you.

God wants to grow you to maturity.

Ask someone to join you in praying for that renewal.

You're asking for something he delights to give.

Maybe ask that person to open God's word together so you can borrow one another's zeal.

He does that to encourage our hearts.

Southwood, we long and we pray to be a church that loves the word of Jesus and lives life with Jesus.

We long for that.

Don't stop growing ever.

See, there's a specific danger in becoming spiritually stagnant.

Why is it so important to keep growing in grace?

More of Jesus.

Living with him in every area of life.

Here, the writer says it's because if you don't stand firm, you might stand away.

That's literally what the word in verse 6 we think of as apostasy.

That's what it means.

You might actually stop believing.

This is one of the most severe and most debated warnings in the whole Bible.

Let's listen to it and then we'll look at it carefully.

It's verse 4.

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

who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit

and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

and then have fallen away.

I'm going to read it off of this.

To restore them again to repentance.

Since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm

and holding him up to contempt.

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it

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

receives a blessing from God.

But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed

and its end is to be burned.

If you were reading out of the Pew Bible and it seemed a little bit different,

which is why I got lost,

the translation has been slightly updated.

This is an updated version.

It says the same thing.

It just moves some of the words around, okay?

Don't get lost.

Because those are hard words, aren't they?

What do they mean?

There's a lot of stuff in their language.

We don't talk like this very often.

What he's clearly talking about is people who appear to be saved.

People who live among God's people,

who sit in churches like this,

hearing sermons like this one to the Hebrews,

and yet fall away from Jesus.

If you want more details on some of those phrases and descriptions,

email me.

I'll send you something I got.

But just briefly,

it says they've been enlightened.

They've been taught the truth about God

and not just heard it, but liked it.

They've tasted the heavenly gift,

actually experienced the blessings of God.

They've shared in the Holy Spirit personally

or by participation in the covenant community.

They see the Spirit at work.

They tasted the goodness of the Word of God

and the powers of the age to come.

In other words,

they've learned from the Bible extensively.

They've even witnessed,

perhaps in some cases,

performed miracles.

From everything that anyone can tell,

these people look like Christians.

Any one of us would be very grateful

to be described in such a way.

But then,

in the same description,

it says these same people have also fallen away.

Deliberately,

completely,

and finally

rejected God.

in fact,

to the point of crucifying Jesus again,

as it were,

being like the Jewish or pagan unbelief

that sent Jesus to his actual death

by the public rejection

and contempt

that they place on this so-called

crucified Messiah

that they no longer believe in.

This is not a one-time struggle with sin,

a wrestling with doubt,

but a determined rejection of salvation.

Such a person,

it says,

it is impossible,

jump down,

to restore to repentance.

So firm

is their rejection of Jesus,

it's impossible to restore

to repentance.

In fact,

as the image he then gives points out,

they may have received a lot of good rain.

It looked like good stuff was coming in,

but they produced thorns and thistles,

perhaps hear Jesus' parable of the sower.

And they end with being cursed

or burned.

Wow.

Are there any people like that in the Bible?

Anything we could think of

that would help us understand

what could be going on here?

Well, the author of Hebrews

has already pointed us to

the cautionary example

of Old Testament Israel

who learned about God

from a great teacher,

Moses, right?

Who experienced his powerful spirit,

his miraculous work

all the way up to and through

the Red Sea itself.

Amazing.

Who tasted his daily blessing

and manna and water.

They were a part

of his special people.

And yet,

how many

did not reach

the promised land?

Paul tells us

the example of these idolaters

is for us.

So that anyone

who thinks he stands

should take care

lest he fall.

Don't think you're above this.

Paul warns.

These were wonderful people.

Special people.

Watch out.

You might think of others

like Judas.

His teacher pretty decent.

Pretty good miracles he saw.

I'd say so.

Simon Magus

who did powerful things

in the name of Jesus

but

perhaps for the sake

of his own name.

I think of the scribe

talking to Jesus.

He heard from him

the sobering words

that I pray

bore fruit

in his heart later.

You are not far

from the kingdom of God.

He knew so much.

He got so much right.

Seemed like everything.

But did he actually

place his faith

in the Jesus

that he learned

so much about

and valued so highly?

See being baptized

is not magical.

Giving 10%

is not enough.

Neither is 100%

for that matter.

You can't buy it.

Assuming you're a Christian

because you're southern

or white

or American

is deceptive heresy

that can't bring you to God

but it can keep you from God.

Warning in my words.

Knowing a lot about Jesus

is not the same

as knowing Jesus.

Teachers,

Presbyterians,

beware.

Knowing a lot about Jesus

is not the same

as knowing Jesus.

Kids,

you know we love you.

But being born

in Southwood Church

is not the same

as being reborn

into life

with Jesus.

In fact,

rejecting the blessings

of the covenant family

of God

is dangerous.

In other words,

understanding the truth

of your need,

seeing the solution,

the provision of grace

at the cross of Jesus

only to turn away

in pride

from such a salvation

is a sobering choice.

Dear ones,

young and old,

don't make that choice.

Please don't live

not far

from this pulpit

and not far

from the kingdom of God.

No,

no one.

So how do you hear

this warning

and not say

what many of our hearts

naturally do,

which is,

oh,

that's not for me.

It's not talking to me.

Well,

if you're hearing it,

don't fall away

means that you haven't yet.

Right?

It's a good place to start.

A great place

for us to start

would then be

taking all of the warnings

of Hebrews seriously

with the directives.

What does he tell us to do?

What he keeps warning us?

Hold fast to Jesus.

Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Pay much closer attention

to the Bible's message

about Jesus.

Draw near to God

afresh through Jesus.

Find rest for your soul

in Jesus.

Grow up bearing fruit

in Jesus.

That's what we mean

by talking about

faith priority

around here so much.

You probably heard

those words this year.

what we're talking about

is to take ownership

of your relationship

with God.

The relationship you have

through faith in Jesus.

Making a priority

of learning what that means

for every moment

of your life.

Not just for one day,

someday in heaven,

but a priority now.

At the same time,

don't assume that you're

above falling away

because you've been around

long enough

or you've done enough.

Don't assume that

about someone

who used to sit next to you

regularly

and now you don't see them

and they can never make

grace group.

Love them enough

to reach out

and check in.

Would you pray?

Pray for God's

preserving grace

for yourself

and for your whole

church family.

Reminding one another

of the greatness

of your need for Jesus

and the greatness

of Jesus.

Those are ways

to heed this warning.

Before we move on,

I want to assure you

that it is God's grace

that you can trust

to secure for all time

your relationship

with Him.

This passage

was written

pastorally

to direct our hearts,

I believe,

to challenge us

to a heart check.

Okay?

That's the motivation

behind these words.

But many of you know

the big theological debate

centers around

whether or not

it teaches

that someone

truly saved

can actually lose

his salvation.

salvation.

I'm convinced

that it does not

teach that.

Happy to send you

more on that.

I'm convinced

of that

both from this passage

itself

and from many others

in the Bible.

Once saved,

always saved

or the perseverance

or the preservation

of the saints

is true.

It's biblical.

You can count on it.

But I didn't want

to let our hearts

off the hook

so simply

with a theological

reassurance

from our systematic

theologies.

Hebrews wants us

to go somewhere else

for that assurance.

Have you figured out where?

Hebrews wants us

to run to Jesus

for that assurance.

not some system

of theology

that you've heard taught.

The people

described here

are best understood

as those who

very much

appear saved

but when they

go out

from us

they reveal

that they were not

actually

of us.

Those are the words

of 1 John.

But y'all

that's not

a reason

just to take

a deep breath

and disregard.

That's sobering.

All of us

should be

sobered.

But neither

the author

of Hebrews

nor God

himself

wants you

to be sobered

into fearful

despair.

So I want to

make sure

to talk about

this for just

a second.

I had this

experience

as a young

boy.

I remember

reading passages

like this one

and another one

I believe

is connected

to it

about the

unforgivable

sin.

I don't remember

exactly how old

I was.

I remember

exactly how

scared I was

by that.

To the point

that one night

I couldn't

go to sleep.

I remember

going and

calling my dad

to come back

and saying

dad I'm

just so afraid

that I've

committed

that unforgivable

sin.

I loved

Jesus

but what

if I had

done that

and didn't

know?

He very

helpfully

told me

that the

fact

that I

was

concerned

about

that

that I

didn't

want

to do

it

that I

loved

Jesus

and his

grace

and his

forgiveness

that those

were really

good

indications

that I

had not

fallen away

to where

it would

be impossible

to be

forgiven

to be

restored

to repentance.

Don't

let this

drive your

heart to

that kind

of despair.

Don't

ignore

the concern

in your

heart

that you

might feel

this morning

but let

any

concern

that you

feel about

apostasy

drive you

not to

despair away

from Jesus

but drive

you where?

Drive you

to Jesus.

That's the

one that you're

worried even

this morning

you might be

falling away

from.

Don't

let that

fear drive

you to

Jesus

himself.

He promises

to save

you and

keep you

so that no

one can

snatch you

out of

his hand

not even

you.

So that

nothing

can separate

you from

his love

not even

your sin.

That's

the Savior

you have.

Run to

him.

That's where

Hebrews ends

this section

with comfort.

There's a

little bit

now and

there's a

whole boatload

of it next

week before

he turns back

to Melchizedek

and Jesus.

Listen to

what he's

going to

say especially

if you're

discouraged

right now.

Don't

stop listening

to God's

word.

He's not

finished yet

with this

communication

that he's

giving them.

He's going

to say

don't

stop

hoping.

Don't

stop

growing.

Don't

stop

believing.

Don't

stop

hoping.

Verse

nine.

Though

we speak

in this

way

difficult

hard

things

yet in

your case

beloved

we feel

sure of

better

things.

Things

that belong

to salvation.

For God

is not

unjust

so as to

overlook

your work

and the

love that

you have

shown for

his name

and serving

the saints

as you

still do.

And we

desire each

one of you

to show

the same

earnestness

to have

the full

assurance

of hope

until the

end

so that

you may

not be

sluggish

but imitators

of those

who through

faith and

patience

inherit

the promises.

The warning

is really

clear

but to

everyone

who hears

this

warning

he also

writes

that his

confidence

with them

is of

things

that belong

to

salvation.

In fact

believer in

Jesus

he wants

you to

have the

full

assurance

of hope.

Don't

stop

hoping.

Remember

last week

Scotty said

hope is

not

here

a

wishful

feeling

pie

in

the

sky

but

a

certain

reality

grace

on the

ground.

Hope

is

something

firm

that you

can

hold

on

to

and

that

you

can

count

on

to

hold

on

to

you.

Notice

the source

of our

hope.

In

your

case

these

salvation

things

for

God.

God's

character

promises

God's

promises

and

look

verse

10

again

God

is

the

one

producing

fruit

in

your

lives

together

as

his

people.

You're

loving

one

another.

You're

trusting

God

in

hard

seasons.

You're

enduring

with

patience

when

the

world

says

you're

missing

out

and

God

can't

be

counted

on.

You're

doing

those

things.

He's

encouraging

you

keep

it

up.

Grow

in

grace.

To

maturity.

Not

sluggishly

avoiding

God's

word

but

eagerly

earnestly

shaping

your

life

around

it.

So

that

when

you

see

a

self

driven

person

submit

to

God's

word

when

you

see

a

selfish

person

love

his

neighbor

and

sacrifice

when

you

see

a

self

centered

person

show

up

at

a

church

to

listen

to

a

pastor

who's

preaching

he really

doesn't

love

to

grow

in

love

for a

savior

he wants

to love

and to

show

his love

to people

he doesn't

even know

if he

likes.

When you

see that

you can be

certain

God's at

work

that's

what he's

producing

among

you.

So

God

wants you

to have

the

full

assurance

of hope

that

blessed

assurance

Jesus

is

mine

Christ

is

my

hope

in

life

and

death

I

don't

have

any

other

and so

that

as

that

becomes

your

hope

even

the

weakest

of us

indwelt

and empowered

by his

spirit

become

heroes

of the

faith

just by

clinging

to Jesus

when we

become

Eiffel

Towers

displaying

the wonders

of his

love

the glories

of his

grace

in every

moment

of your

life

if that's

going to

happen

with us

we'll

need

Jesus

for that

won't

we

and that's

why he's

come

that's

why

Jesus

is here

to eat

with us

to remind

us

that he's

the one

who loves

us

and gives

us

everything

that we

need

for life

and godliness

it's why

he sat

with his

disciples

that night

that he was

betrayed

and he took

bread

and he broke

it

and he gave

it to them

as I

ministering

in his

name

give this

bread

to you

he said

take and eat

this is my

body

given for

you

do this

in remembrance

of me

in the same

way after

supper

he took

the cup

and said

this cup

is the new

covenant

in my

blood

shed for

many

for the

forgiveness

of sins

drink from

it all

of you

for as

often as

you eat

this bread

and drink

this cup

you proclaim

the lord's

death

until he

comes

I'm aware

that it is

certainly

possible

that a

passage like

hebrews 6

has some

of us

confused

this morning

about whether

or not to

come to

the lord's

table

let me try

to simplify

it

for those

of you

who have

been

baptized

into

Jesus

as

members

of his

church

this one

or any

other

if

that's

you

and if

in

considering

your

weakness

your

immaturity

your

need

today

you look

here

and you

see

Jesus

as the

one you

need

as the

one who

meets

those

needs

and that's

what you

see here

then you

come

you come

even come

confessing

more sin

come

seeking

more grace

come

praying

for more

growth

but come

to the

one who

gives

those

things

in

himself

if

on the

other

hand

you

maybe

you

usually

take

the

lord's

supper

but

even

as you

listen

to this

passage

you

realize

that

your

confidence

on the

one

hand

or

perhaps

your

fear

on the

other

hand

is

based

entirely

on

your

performance

or

your

lack

of

performance

if

that's

what

you

look

up

here

and

see

just

another

religious

ritual

to

kind

of

mark

you

as

a

Christian

instead

of

something

else

I

would

urge

you

not

to

come

take

these

elements

this

morning

come

running

to

Jesus

make

sure

first

that

your

heart

is

actually

running

to

him

he's

the

only

one

who

can

remove

from

you

that

need

to

perform

to

be

good

enough

who

can

cover

over

the

ways

you

failed

to

do

that

come

and

run

to

him

we

would

love

to

pray

with

you

ask

him

for

fresh

faith

come

receive

from

him

fresh

ears

to

hear

and

long

for

his

truth

and

grace

we'd

love

to

share

more

about

him

with

you

let

me

pray

and

then

we'll

celebrate

together

Jesus

would

you

by

your

spirit

direct

our

hearts

to

our

desperate

need

but

also

your

grace

that

abounds

all

the

more

oh

how

we

need

it

and

would

we

taste

of

you

as

we

eat

with

you

use

common

elements

for

holy

purposes

because

we

so

need

you

to

we

ask

in

your

name

amen

for

more

information

visit

us

online

at

southwood.org

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