Turn back with me to Hebrews
chapter 6. Hebrews 6. 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, of
faith toward God, of doctrine of baptism, of the laying on
of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permit. In this passage of scripture,
we have six foundational truths of the gospel. The gospel is
the doctrine of Christ. Christ as God is the author of
it. As the mediator of it, he received
it from his father. And as a man, the Lord Jesus
Christ became a man. He was a preacher of it. He is the sum and substance of
it. And truly, He is the foundation
of it. That's what we read here. Scripture
says there's no other foundation than Christ. And He says from here, let us
go on unto perfection. Well, perfection can only refer
to one, and that's Him. the Lord Jesus Christ who is
perfection. First Corinthians 3 verse 11,
we read this, of the foundation can no man lay than that which
is laid, the Lord Jesus Christ. There must be a foundation. In any building there must be
a foundation. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
7. Matthew 7. Look beginning with verse 24
of Matthew 7. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man which built his house upon a rock. And scripture says
the rain descended And the floods came, and the winds blew, and
they beat upon that house. And it fell not. It endured. How is that? For it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, What's that man liking to? A
foolish man. A foolish man which built his
house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and
it fell. And great, great was the fall
of it. And it came to pass when Jesus
had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his
doctrine. For he taught as of one having
authority. And truly he does have all authority,
doesn't he? Not as the scribes. There must
be a strong foundation. It's a necessity. Well, what
are these foundational truths? What are these foundational truths
found in God's Word? We read them right here in this
passage from Hebrews 6. No other foundation can any man
lay than that which is laid. Now listen, we don't lay a new
foundation. There is no new. There's only
one. But we need to be reminded, we
need to be reminded of it. I heard a man recently say that
these foundation of truths are the ABCs of the gospel. I was thinking of that on the
way here this morning, that little poem they taught you in school. Everything, everything I needed
to know, I learned in kindergarten. And you know, no matter how old
you get and no matter how much you learn, it all goes back to
those foundational skills. Well, let's look at these here
this morning. The first one is this, repentance
from dead works. repentance from dead works. Scripture declares that our best
works, our moral works, our religious works, our best works, what are
they? They're nothing. They are filthy
rags. Scripture says, not by works
of righteousness which we have done, Paul speaking to his brethren,
he said, my heart's desire and prayer for Israel is that they
might be saved. What was the problem? They were
ignorant of God's righteousness. They went about trying to establish
their own righteousness. They had not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of Almighty God. Repentance from dead works. Man cannot earn. Man cannot merit
acceptance by his works, by his duties, by his religious deeds. You know, righteousness, it isn't
earned. Righteousness is received. You know, a gift wouldn't really
mean much if you had to earn it, would it? It'd simply be
a wage. We don't produce righteousness. We receive it. We don't produce
life. We receive it. repentance from
dead works. Now, look here still in Hebrews
6. What's another one of these foundational
truths? Faith toward God. Faith toward God. No longer looking to myself. No longer looking to the priest. No longer looking to the ordinances.
looking to God, believing God. In Hebrews 11 verse 8, we read
this, by faith. Abraham, when he was called to
go out to a place which he should later receive as an inheritance, he obeyed and he went out not
knowing whether he win. By faith. By faith, he win. God told Abraham back in the
Old Testament, back in Genesis 12, it said, the Lord had said
unto Abram, get out of thy country. Just think about that. For 75
years, after this amount of time, the Lord came to him and he said,
get out of your country. Leave. Leave your father's house,
that place where no doubt he was comfortable, right? Probably
at ease. Get out from thy father's house,
and he didn't even tell him where he was going. He said unto a
land that I will show you, and I'll make you a great nation.
and I'll bless thee, and I'll make thy name great, and thou
shalt be a blessing, and I'll bless them that bless thee, and
curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed." We don't read where Abraham sat
around and said, well, let me think about this. That's what
we do, isn't it? Let me think about this. Sometimes
we labor over things for years. Abraham went. Abraham departed
as the Lord had spoken to him, and he was 75 years old when
he departed out of Haran. Abraham believed God, and it
was counted to him for righteousness. a firm belief, a strong belief
in the nature, in the existence, in the power of God as He is
revealed in Scripture. Believe the record that God has
given concerning His Son, concerning the redemption that is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, Listen, repentance toward God
and faith, those two things, you can't separate those. They
go together. Paul said this in Acts 20. He
said, I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have
showed you and taught you publicly from house to house, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. Repentance toward
God. and faith, faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do you still have Hebrews 6?
Here's another foundational truth. The doctrine of baptism. Baptism. Baptism, we witnessed
that last week. Baptism is a picture. It's union
with Christ. The believer is joined with Christ
in believer's baptism. It's a public confession. I'm resting in Him. I trust in
Him. I believe Him. He that is joined to the Lord
is one spirit. There's a union, a vital union. Turn to Romans chapter six with
me. Romans chapter six. Look at verse 3, Romans 6, verse
3. Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death. We go down into the water. A
picture of his death. And that like as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we don't leave them
under the water, do we? They're brought up out of the
water. A picture of life. For even so, we also should walk
in the newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, We shall be also in the likeness
of His resurrection. When He died, I died in Him. When He was raised, the believer
is raised with Him, raised in Him. Ephesians chapter 4, turn
there with me, Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians 4, look at verse 5. Union. We're one. See, Ephesians 4, look at verse
5. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father of all who
is above all. and through all, and listen to
this, in you all. We're one. Christ dwells in his
people. And baptism, it's a public declaration
of faith. And it's a symbol of that union
between Christ and his people. Dead with him. Risen. Risen with Him. Well, back to
Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6. Here we read in verse 2, again,
of the doctrine of baptism and of the laying on of hands. the laying on of hands. Back in the Old Testament, there
was a scapegoat. A scapegoat. Turn there. Turn to Leviticus
16. Leviticus 16. Look at verse 21, Leviticus 16
verse 21. And Aaron shall lay both his
hands upon the head of the live goat. And while he's doing that,
he's going to confess over him all the iniquities of the children
of Israel. and all their transgressions
and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the
hand of a fit man into the wilderness." Now you picture that if you can,
that scapegoat, all the sins, all the transgressions of the
people, by the laying on of hands. That's what that was. That sin
was transferred, okay, from the people onto that scapegoat. Can that be anything but a picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ? You know there were two goats.
There were two goats there. The one goat that was to be slain
Again, a picture of our Lord and the scapegoat. And that slain
goat, it points to the Lord who was sacrificed for our sin. And the scapegoat reveals Him
as the sacrifice that is accepted. The scapegoat is a picture of,
think about that, all of our sins and iniquities removed from
us. But they got to be put somewhere,
don't they? They were put on that scapegoat. Our sins. The sins of his people,
the complete removal of the sins of his people were laid on Christ. The laying on of hands, our sin
put away. Put away. Scripture says this,
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was made
sin for us. Our sins. We deserve to be charged
with them. They're our sins, but they were
taken and they were placed on that scapegoat. Our sins were
taken and placed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Charged to Him. They were His. He bore our sins
in his body on the tree. Our sins taken away. That ought to be one of our,
we got a lot of favorites, right? But we sing that, our sins. Do
we really think about that when we say those words? Our sins
have been taken away. We ought to just about shout
when we sing that song, shouldn't we? Taken away. Taken away. Laid on that scapegoat and then
led by a fit man and taken out into the wilderness. Something tells me that scapegoat
was never seen again. Gone. Gone. Our sins put away. My sins, black and vile as they
might be, taken away. My transgression, my sins, forever
gone. How's that? We just read here,
by the laying on of hands, sin transferred. Read on in Hebrews 6. Back to
Hebrews 6. The resurrection of the dead. Let me just read this to you
from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which were alive and remain under the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air and so shall we be ever, ever, forever with
the Lord." The resurrection, the soul and the body are going
to come back together when Christ comes and he's going to change
Listen to the description. Our vile body. That's a pretty
good description, isn't it? He's going to change our vile
body and it's going to be fashioned like His glorious body. Perfect. Sinless. And then we read of eternal judgment. Eternal judgment. There is going
to come a day when God is going to judge all men. Scripture's clear on that. God's
going to judge all men. And the wicked, they're going
to be judged by their works, and they're going to be found
wanting. Remember Belshazzar of old, remember
what was said to him, you've been weighed into balance. No
doubt he thought he was something. You're going to be weighed into
balance and you're going to be found wanting. You're going to come up short.
But what about the believer? How will the believer be judged? in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What's the result of that? Eternal
life. Eternal life. Foundational truth. That's what these are, foundational
truths. And again, we don't lay them
again. There's no new foundation here,
huh? It never changes. But listen. Just as we read that
parable, without a strong foundation, whatever's built upon it's gonna
fall, isn't it? Who is that foundation? Any question
about who that foundation is? Peter said this, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. And our Lord said upon this
foundation, I'm going to build my church. And in closing, let
me say this. This foundation, it has a seal. A seal. Turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 2, look at verse 19.
You got it? 2 Timothy 2, 19. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, certain, having this seal. A seal is something by which
something is confirmed or proved or authenticated, okay? It's a token. It's proof of something. There
was a time when a king would, maybe the king would write a
letter and before he sent it out he'd fold it up and he'd
melt a little wax on it and there'd be a signet on his ring and he'd
stamp that on that envelope and you could rest assured that that
was written by his hand. This isn't counterfeit, right?
There have been people that counterfeit things, right? They'll write
something and pretend it came from somebody else, but that's
not the case here. This wasn't written, you knew
for sure, this wasn't written by someone pretending to be the
king, but by the king himself. It was written by his own hand.
It was signed by his own hand. It was sealed. It had this seal. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure having this seal. What is that seal? Read
on. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. The Lord knows. You know, we've seen trouble. We've experienced trouble. We've
seen, I guess for lack of a word, scandal. We've seen those who
we thought certainly, certainly were God's people that fall away. But not his church. Nevertheless,
There's no reason. You know, when those things happen,
we tend to, I don't know, we lose belief, don't we? I mean,
I think if we're honest, we just think, gosh, how could that happen? Those things disturb us. They
trouble our hearts. But you know, we ought to be
strong. The foundation of God standeth
sure. The faith, which is of God's
elect. That's the operation of God.
It's the gift of God. Christ is the, listen, He's the
author of it. He's the finisher of it. That
foundation, it's immovable. It's firm, it's a foundation
that standeth forever. How? By man's power? No. But by the power of Almighty
God. By the intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ and it can never be overthrown. Not by Satan, not by false teachers,
not by the trials of this life. Will men fail? That's a silly
question, isn't it? Will they disappoint? Will we bring reproach on our
Lord? Ain't no doubt about that, is
there? How many men do we know of in
God's Word? And I'm so thankful that these
are written in God's Word. that fell into sin? Lot, David, Abraham. We could just go cover to cover,
couldn't we? You know they fell into sin,
but they never fell away. We read this, a just man falleth
seven times. and yet he rises up again. How is that? By the power of
God. What about those who would not
just fail but deny Christ? To deny Him. Can that man fall away? Peter denied Him three times. But he came back, didn't he?
The Lord brought him back. I often think of that prodigal
son. Remember that? He departed from his father.
He went to him and he said, give me everything that's due to me. He departed. He's gone for a
while, wasn't he? What happened? Scripture says
he returned to his father. And you know an amazing thought
about this, is in all that time, he never ceased to be a son. When he was there in that barn
eating husk with the pigs, and when he was sitting there
in the mansion eating of that fatted calf, He's still a son,
never ceased to be a son. And listen, Scripture says, the son said
unto him, Father, the Lord never ceased to be our Father. Father, I have sinned against
heaven and in thy sight. I'm not worthy to be called thy
son, but the Father said to his servants, He'd heard enough,
hadn't he? Bring forth the best robe. Not some stuff we got laying
up in the attic that nobody's wearing. Bring forth the best
robe. And put a ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet and bring forth the fatted calf and kill it and
let us eat and be merry. My son was gone, but now, now
he is returned. He is. And that seal, that stamp,
that signet, that proof put on the elect of God is this, the
Lord knoweth them that are whose? His. His. He chose them. He wrote their names in his book. And he will never suffer them
to perish. All that the Father hath given
me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will,
with the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will, which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me."
How many is that? I don't know, but I know this.
All that He's given me, what did He say? I'll lose nothing,
but I'll raise Him up again at the last day. This seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. And he says this, let everyone
that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. This foundation,
it doesn't have to be laid again. It's a sure foundation. It's a true foundation. It's
a tried foundation. Well, back to Hebrews 6. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, of
faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptism, of the laying on
of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit."
This will we do, go on unto perfection. Listen, the ceremonies and the
ordinances, all those things put aside and have a perfect
knowledge of Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Resting, resting in Him. David wrote, although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure. And this, it's all my salvation. It's all my desire, though he
maketh it not to grow. And the man, the woman, the young
person whom the Lord is pleased to save, is eternally secure in Him. Let me close with these words
from John 10. Our Lord spake these words. He
said, my sheep, my sheep, they hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give them eternal
life. They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." All
right.