Hebrews chapter 6, we're looking
at verses 9 through 12 this morning. The title of the message this
morning is, Five Responsibilities of Every True Believer. Five
Responsibilities of Every True Believer. Now, in verses 1 through
8, the apostle warns us concerning this matter of apostasy. All along in his epistle, he
had been encouraging the believers to continue in the faith, encouraging
them. He says, in many places, if you
continue, I believe in chapter 3, in verse
6, he says, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing
of hope to the end, that's how you know that you are in his
household. He says in verse 14 of chapter
3, for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast to the end. He is encouraging them
to continue in the faith. But listen, no matter a man's
experiences, no matter the experiences of those who closely mimic the
experience of true grace, no matter how their past profession
of faith, their faithful attendance to church, their obedience to
the ordinances of Christ. Listen, if a man professed to
believe Christ and fall away, and fall away, It is impossible,
the apostle says, to renew him again to repentance. If they shall fall away, seeing
they reject the truth which they knew. These are men who know
the truth at least mentally. At least they give consent in
their minds to the truth of the gospel. But to fall away is then
to reject those truths. They crucify to themselves again
the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. That means
those who profess to believe and then turn from the truth,
they put the gospel and the church to shame. They're causing other
men to ridicule. They open up the opportunity
of the lost to blaspheme the gospel. Apostasy, listen, is
a very sad but true fact in the church. It is a fact that many who begin
the race well fall by the wayside. These are those whose hearts
receive the Word on stony ground." Our Lord gave that parable about
the seed falling on the stony ground. The seed received what
received quickly. The plant grew up quickly. But because it had no depth of
earth, when the persecution for the Word came, they wither away. Others among those thorny grounds,
they hear the Word, and anon, the weeds and the thorns of this
world, choke the Word. So then it's not profitable.
It's not fruitful. These are men who only have a
superficial knowledge, a carnal knowledge of the truth. Their
faith is not a work of God, but rather an act of their own will
and power. And because of this, they can't
continue. You wonder why men won't continue.
You wonder why men won't hear the gospel for only a short time
and they can turn away from it. It's puzzling to us who know
the truth and love the truth. It's puzzling how that men could
turn away from the truth. But yet the apostle gives that
illustration. When the rain descends, only that which is in the earth
is brought out, whether it's herbs or thorns. You see, when
the gospel comes down and it hits the heart of man, only what's
on the inside comes out. And this is only a manifestation
that they were not believers in the first place. Often those we call brother who
were named among the saints, honored as brothers and sisters
in Christ, they may abandon the gospel and his people. But this
falling away is not that they were saved and then lost, but
it only proves that they were lost to begin with. John said,
they went out from us. Why? because they were not of
us. If they were of us, they would
have no doubt continued with us, but that it may be manifest. Why did they go out? That it
may be manifest to you, that they were not of us. Now remember, the apostle's purpose
is not to cause fear. His purpose is to warn us, but
not to cause such to where we would be discouraged. But rather,
His purpose is to motivate or to encourage true believers to
continuance. And these warnings, that's what
they do. They motivate only true believers. His purpose is to encourage the
saints then to spiritual growth and his method first is to rebuke
and warn. We don't necessarily like this
method. It can be painful. It can be
hard and it can feel hurtful. But it is necessary. It's necessary. He does this because we all prove We all are prone to such wonderings
and errors as these saints that the apostle is exhorting. We all need to be alerted of
the dangers of spiritual shipwreck. We all need to be warned of the
dangers of leaving the path of righteousness. Rebukes are profitable. They're painful, but profitable.
This rebuke and warning of apostasy causes us to fear and consider
our own standing before God. Every time I read this passage,
the first question that pops into my mind is, am I in Christ? When I read these passages of
apostasy, the first thing that comes to the mind of a believer
is this, am I in the faith or am I apostate? Well, remember when our Lord
said to his 12 disciples, one of you shall betray me. Did all of those 11 apostles
look to Judas and say, ah, there he is? Where did the apostles
look first? Lord, is it I? They looked inward. They knew themselves. Judas was
only mimicking. He said, is it I? Not out of
sincerity, but he knew that he would do that. So it was not
a question of sincerity. Everyone else was asking sincerely,
is it me? Is it me? You see, the true believer
always looks first at self. Is it me? This is because the
true believer understands and knows his own nature. Yet in Peter's case, we are made
to see how prone we are to such sins. After he had been told
that one would betray him, and Peter said, is it me? The next
thing we hear, Lord, I will die with thee. And then we hear him
say, I don't know the man. See how prone we are to sin? Believers are prone to sin. David
was prone to sin, committed adultery and murder. Lot proves that we can be allured
away from the gospel by the world and by the flesh. But what does
Peter, David, and Lot all have in common? They were not allowed
to continue in that way. They were brought back, you see? An apostate can never be brought
back, whereas the believers may wonder, the believers may fall,
but the believers always are brought back. And so the Holy Spirit, knowing
our proneness to sin and unbelief, does not leave us to wonder about
our state. Isn't that good that He doesn't
just throw out the warning of apostasy and then leave it to
yourselves to figure out? No, He makes you to know. How
many times in 1 John do you read this? That you may know. I like that because I want to
know. I want to know. And true believers
want to know. This is no matter of trivial
things. This is not a trivial matter
to me. I must know if I am in Christ. I must know that I have
His blood to cleanse me of my sin. I must know that I have
His righteousness to clothe me, else I die. That's how vital
this is to me. And so, thank God that the Spirit
of God does not leave us in our text to wonder, but rather He
gives us these marks, He gives us several marks of things here
that we may know. He does not leave His children
to pine away in doubt and despair, but instead gives us a word of
encouragement. Look at verse 9. After He had
given such warnings of apostasy, He says, But beloved, We are persuaded better
things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we
speak thus." He said, though I had to speak this morning,
though I had to tell you and warn you of this, and I know
that you'll feel despair. I know you'll feel your depravity. I had to do this. Though I had
to do this, yet I desire to encourage true believers. Paul, like every
preacher, because we care for you, we must warn you, but it
is also our place to encourage you. For in every true saint, true
believer, there are evident tokens, what Paul calls things that accompany
salvation. You see, you may know if you're
in the faith. So as not to be presumptuous,
you may know that you are secure. and that all is well. You may
know the things that accompany salvation. Salvation, we know
this, is a complete and absolute work of God. The Father purposed
to save us from eternity. The Father chose us The Father ordained the means
of our salvation, namely union with Christ and by His righteousness
and offering. So all of salvation, when we
talk about salvation, we are talking about the whole thing.
It was purposed of God, decreed of God from eternity. The Son
of God, we know, accomplished salvation. Accomplished salvation. He did this by His own perfect
obedience to God and by His offering for sin upon the tree. You know, I like Hebrews chapter
9 and verse 12. Having obtained eternal redemption. Obtained eternal redemption by
His one offering. The Holy Ghost then now at the
appointed time gives this salvation to dead sinners. He gives life,
He creates in us a new nature, though He does not destroy the
old, but dethrones it. and sets up the throne of Christ
in our hearts. He gives us faith to believe
on Christ after we have heard His gospel. For faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So, all that are
saved are new creatures. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. There is therefore of necessity
a change. This salvation God ordained,
Christ accomplished, the Spirit has come and given to us, of
necessity there is then things that accompany salvation. There's things that go along
with salvation. I'll tell you this, if a man
claims salvation but there is no change, I tell you there's
something wrong with that salvation. We have by grace been saved. We now forsake our thoughts,
we forsake our ways, and we cleave to Christ with all our soul and
heart. Listen, that is not natural.
That is supernatural. That is a mark, that is a thing
that accompanies salvation. Faith in Christ is an evident
token of our salvation. Because this is the work of God
that you believe. Do you believe on Christ alone? Oh, then I am persuaded better
things of you who believe, who trust in Christ alone. And this
faith Does it abide alone? Does our faith, is it something
private? You know, people want to talk
about, you need to keep your religion private. You need to keep it
in the closet. And everybody be fine with your religion you
keep in the closet. One thing about true faith, it's not silent. It can't be silenced. But it
is evident not just with our words, but with our life. You
can't silence a man's life. You see, faith, this work of
faith, it accompanies salvation. Look at this, what he says, for
God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love,
which you have showed toward his name in that you have ministered
to the saints and do minister. I want to show you a couple of
passages to show you faith is actually a work of love. Go to
1 Thessalonians 1. We'll just read these together
and see these things. 1 Thessalonians 1. Look at verse 2. We'll start
there. We give thanks to God always for you, making mention
of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing. Notice this,
your work of faith. Now we know this, faith is a
work of God. But listen, faith is also your
work. What I mean by that is this,
God gives you faith, does not believe for you. You must believe. Well, I do. Well, that's right. Of course,
because you believe God worketh in you both to will and do of
His good pleasure. You see, faith is a work of God
wrought in you, but it is a work exercised by you. You believe. And that is a work that we must
exercise. Go to 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse
11. Wherefore, also we pray always
for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and
fulfill all his good pleasure and his goodness and the work
of faith with power." The work of faith with power. See then that faith is an evident
token of our salvation and this faith works. It's fake works. James said, show me your faith
without your works. You show me a man who has faith
and has no works, then I'll show you a dead man. Show me a man that claims to
believe in Christ, but does not love to hear the gospel, and
I'll show you a dead man. Show me a man that claims to
believe on Christ, but does not love the saints. I'll show you
a dead man. Now, show me a man that says
he believes in Christ and that one that loves the saints and
loves to serve God, and I'll show you a man's life. Why? Because faith works. Faith works. And it works by love, the Scripture
says. See, I don't do this because
I have to. I do it because I love to. Why are you here? Why are you here? Do you have
to be here? Or do you love to be here? I
love to be here. I love to be here because He's
here. And where He is is where I want
to be. Is there any other reason for
us to assemble together? I'm here because I love you.
I'm here because I know you need to be fed. I'm here because God's
called me for this one purpose, to preach the word to you. And
God has called you for this purpose, to hear the word and witness
of it. Is that not why we're here? We're
here because we love to be here. True believers. True believers. We not only confess with our
lips, but the labor of our love and life shows forth that we
are true believers. True believers are people who
labor together in the kingdom of God for the glory of God,
seeing Christ's love toward each other. Toward us, we love each
other. We are motivated to the service
of God, not by law, not by threats, but it is the love of Christ
that constraineth us. Isn't that it? That why we're
obedient unto God in every possible means and method? Yes, because
the love of Christ constraineth us. It is Christ's love. It is the love of God for us,
His eternal love. You think often of His eternal
love. You think often of how He chose
you and passed by so many others and loved you. Why would He love
you? Something only God can answer.
We are unlovable. And yet He did. The Son of God
came down so low as to die in your place. Love of Christ constraineth us. True believers freely then serve
God. We serve Christ and we serve
one another. You who believe on Christ, is
it not our heart's desire to love God, to love Christ, and
to love one another more? Are you content with your love
and service. One thing about it, believers
are never content. Look at what he says about true
believers. He said, God is not unrighteous to forget your work
and labor of love which you have showed in His name, in that you
have ministered. Is that not past tense? Shown
in the past, ministered in the past. But notice this. to the saints and do minister."
True believers, this is a mark that our faith loves the service
of God, loves to do the work of God. And not only so, but
we continue in this. If a man ever quit, it is because
he's apostate. You see, true believers continue.
And now then, I'm just going to move on. I need to move a
little quicker. Paul's desire, this was Paul's
desire, is that they continue. This has been his desire from
the beginning of this letter, is that they continue. And this
also, as I've said before last week, there is often a tension. in the Scripture between responsibility
and sovereignty. And Paul here is really emphasizing
our responsibility as believers to grow up in the things of God,
to grow in the grace and knowledge of God, and as evident tokens
of this. There are five evident tokens
in the next verse. that Paul gives as our responsibility. If we are true believers, these
are responsibilities that are laid out for us. And the first
one is this. Verse 11, We desire that every
one of you do show the same diligence. There's the first responsibility
of every believer. You should be diligent. Diligent. The second is this. that you
should be diligent to the full assurance of hope unto the end. The third is that you should
persevere unto the end. The fourth is that you should
be not slothful, verse 12, that you be not slothful, but followers
of them. And the fifth one is imitators,
but followers, imitators of them who through faith and patience
inherit the promise. So first of all, let us be diligent.
This word means with all speed and earnestness and care. Believer,
in our walk and labor of love, we should be most diligent. How diligent are we in our regular
profession? If you job, you're diligent.
If you're any good at all, you're express. You want to do the best
job that you can possibly do for those that pay you, and that
is right. Believers should be the best
at whatever they do. If they're a janitor, their floor
should be the cleanest floor possible. We should do the best,
and that's good. How much more then should we
be diligent in the things of God? And I want you to know that
those are It's not that you should go to work and neglect your boss
so that you should witness to others. That's robbing him of
his money and time. You shouldn't do it. But what
I'm saying is, if you are being the best employee you are, don't
you know that you're doing this in the service of God? You should
be doing it for Him. And so be diligent. Diligence
is the attitude by which we trust Christ and labor and serve our
God and his people. Peter said, give all diligence
to add to your faith virtue. And to virtue knowledge and to
knowledge, self-control and to self-control, perseverance and
to perseverance, godliness and to godliness, brotherly kindness. So then we should be diligent
to grow in the things of God. We should be diligent to serve
God in every capacity possible. Diligence. What is the opposite of that? Careless. Careless. Apathy. Indifference. Is that not the case of the Church
of Laodicea? They were rich and increased
in goods and had need of nothing. The Lord said they were lukewarm. He said, I would that you were
either hot or cold, but you're lukewarm, and because you are,
I vomit you out of my mouth. That's how much the Lord hates
a believer that is not diligent in the things of God. So it is
our responsibility that we should be diligent. Now then, does this
mean that our diligence is merit before God? No, by no means. It is what Paul calls our reasonable
service. You being diligent does not give
you... We're not going to hand out awards for diligence, okay? No merit badges, no awards for
diligence. Why? Because it doesn't do anything.
We as believers know that our best is but filthy rags as far
as merit is concerned. But we do it out of love. We're
diligent out of love and service to God. So that's the first one. Be zealous, be careful in the
things of God. Second, be careful for this,
that you have full assurance of hope. I want that. Full assurance of
hope. You realize there's no other
kind of assurance but full assurance? Because if you're assured, then
you're full of assurance. If you're not, then you have
no assurance. Now believers, I want you to
understand that assurance is not salvation. Many times believers
are without assurance. They don't feel safe. They don't feel secure. But it
should be your diligence to make that assurance known. You should desire it. You should desire to have it. Because of our sin that remains,
our nature, our circumstances, suffering, illness, sorrow, and
pain, believers, though genuine and real believer, we may struggle
even doubting our very union with Christ. Remember Asaph.
Was he not... I'm so thankful for that man.
I'm so sorry that he felt all those troubles and pains. But
I'm so thankful that it's written for our learning and understanding.
He was a man of God and yet he said, I know God is good to Israel. But as for me, my foot almost
slipped. I was envious of the wicked.
He doubted God's goodness to him. He was without assurance. Even so, believer, let us see
such doubt. Though it may be common, let
us see that it is not honorable. It's not good. It is not a badge of honor that
you're without assurance. I know some people go around
and think that. Well, I must be a believer because
I don't have any assurance. It's no badge of honor to run
around doubting your Lord and Savior. It's no badge of honor. That is a false humility is what
that is. It's a false humility. You assume that you're being
presumptuous to say that you have full assurance. It's no
presumption. You have it, believer. You have
full assurance of hope. Why? Did Christ put away your
sin? Was he successful? Was he victorious? Any doubt of that is nothing
but sin. Nothing but sin of unbelief. You are to make your calling
and election sure, Peter says. And I'll tell you, you will never
have any assurance by looking to yourself. If you have no assurance,
it's because you're looking to self. I want you to understand,
if there's doubts, if there's fears about your union with Christ,
believer, know this, it is because you are looking to yourself,
your faith, your labor, your love, in order to merit that. And, of course, you're never
going to have any assurance there. Your faith is weak, your love
is low. What then gives us full assurance
of hope? Is it not looking fully on Christ? Be diligent then to look fully
on Christ for full assurance. Look diligently on Christ. The
third responsibility is this, that you should persevere to
the end. You should persevere to the end. God gives us life. Christ has put away our sin.
The Spirit quickens us. Yet, the evidence of this is
our diligence to persevere in the faith. What separates true
believers from the false? What is it? We've just been over
it. They go away. They don't persevere. True believers
always persevere unto the end. until the end. Jesus said, he
that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. Paul says,
the reward of God is given to them who by patient continuance
in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, life
eternal. Is that what you seek for? I
seek the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I seek
the reward that only Christ has obtained for me. I seek eternal
life that is only found in Jesus Christ. Is that not an evident
token? And this we will do, we will
persevere. I know this, I will persevere
because I am preserved. Now my confidence and my perseverance
does not rest in my perseverance. It rests in the fact that I am
going to be preserved, kept. That's how I know I'll make it
to the end. Looking to anything else, I won't have any assurance
at all that I'll make it. So let us persevere. If you are
a true believer in Christ, persevere. Persevere through sickness, persevere
through trouble, persevere through any circumstance, and always
persevere looking to Christ for strength. You won't make it any
other way. The fourth responsibility is
avoid sluggishness. He says this in our text, that
you be not slothful. Slothful. The word means dull,
slow, and indolent. which are always signs of poor
spiritual health or disease of the soul and neglect of the things
of God. Being slothful is a sign of spiritual
sickness." How often are believers as sluggish
to open to Christ as the bride of Solomon, chapter 5. You remember
the Shulamite, she was asleep. Our Savior comes knocking at
the door, open to me my love, my dove, my undefiled. And she says, how can I? I've already put off my robe,
my feet, I've put off my shoes. How can I put it on again? How
can I defile my feet to get up to open the door for you? Alright,
who is not sluggish then in things concerning prayer? How can I pray? I'm just so tired. And yet He beckons you to come. I cannot read, there are too
many other things. Yet He beckons you to read. And you know what sluggishness
results in? Separation. He left her there. And believer, you and I both
know that is the worst chastisement. is to not be able to feel His
presence. It is the worst. Yet we have this hope that as
that Shulamite bride, even so with us, he often draws us to
himself again. So patient. Let us not be sluggish. And fifthly, let us be imitators
of those who through faith and patience inherit the kingdom
of God. The Word of God is full of God's
saints. God has carefully detailed their
lives and revealed minuscule things about them, both good
and bad. That's one thing about most all
other religions is that they try to hold off their prophets
and exalt them and try to hold out all the bad stuff. God paints
His saints warts and all. for a very express purpose, that
you should imitate what they did well and avoid what they
did wrong. Is that not simple? That's what
they are there for. That you should imitate them.
And what is said of them, they believed God. Isn't that what
it says of Abraham? He believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness. Isn't that what it says of Moses?
That he forsook the treasures of Egypt. Not fearing the wrath
of the king, Pharaoh, but counted the riches of Christ more. Is
that not a good example to follow? When Abraham had to offer his
own son and yet he hesitated not? Staggered not at the promises
of God. Is that not a good imitation
to follow? Yes. Follow these men who have gone
through. Serve as they served. Believe as they believed. This
is your responsibility, believer. Believer then, let us not be
sluggish, but diligent. Let us cling to the promises
of God. Let us give all zeal to keep our eyes on Christ, to
enjoy the full assurance of hope. Let us do this unto the end,
not being sluggish in our zeal, but rather fervent, even as the
saints of old. And as Paul is going to show
us in the next part, this responsibility is not weighted as merit. But he's going to show the immutability
of God in this. These things that God gave you
to do, He will give you power to do. He's not going to leave
you without it. Why? Because these are the promises
of God. These are promises of God that
you will endure, you will persevere to the end. May God give us such
strength and wisdom as to not be sluggish in those things we're
responsible to do, in obedience to God. Obedience. May God bless
us.