Chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 6, the title of the message, Let
Us Go On to Maturity. Let us grow up. That's what I'm
saying. Let us go on. I turn on. Let us go on to maturity. Back in chapter 5, the apostle
wrote, You are dull of hearing, or you have become dull of hearing,
and that through lack of exercise, the lack of exercise of faith.
Remember James said, Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers
only. Do what the Word says, and not
just hearers only. And through lack of exercise
of faith, they had become dull of hearing. And from giving the
false preachers their ear, they remained like babies, immature
in faith, immature in conduct. They became immature. They never
grew up. They were like babies. And I
thought of this today, is that they grew up under Judaism, they
could see the sacrifices, they could see the high priest, they
could see these things, but under Christianity, they had to live
by faith. It never dawned on me until I
was sitting in my study today and I thought, they had to leave and it said leaving the principle,
they had to leave the very thing they grew up on, their parents
grew up on, their grandparents, that's their history. And they
could see these things, they could see the sacrifices being
offered, they could see the high priest, they could see all these
things going on. But when it comes to Christianity,
true Christianity, It's all of faith. The just shall live by
faith. We don't live by sight. We don't
live by what we see. We take God at His Word and that's
how we live. We live by His Word day by day. That's how we live. Day by day. They had never seen Jesus Christ
in the flesh. I've never seen Him in the flesh.
But I believe God. And I believe God because I can't
help it. That's exactly why you believe God. When God works faith
in the heart, you cannot help but believe. It's spontaneous. Listen, it's
the response of life. It's the response of spiritual
life born in you. That's what it is. That's what
faith is. It's the response of life. Now, in chapter 6 verses
1 through 3, He gives us six principles of
truth that have been laid down in the beginning, and they were
well acquainted with them. And he calls them foundation,
not laying again the foundation. These are foundational truths.
Now, what do you do on a foundation? After you poured a foundation,
what do you do? You build on it. Don't you? You build on it. You don't stand
there and look at the foundation, nor do you tear it up again and pour
it again and tear it up again and pour it again. You build
on the foundation. You start building a house on
it. And this is where he's talking to us and to them back at that
time, but to us now. This is where we build on this
foundation. of growth in grace, growth in
faith, growth in Christ, growth in knowledge. I'll get to these
things toward the end of the message. I'm getting ahead of
myself. In verse 1, Therefore leaving the principles, the word
of the beginning, of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection. And that word perfection means
maturity. Maturity. not laying again the
foundation, not having to go over the ABCs over and over again. Now listen, we're not abandoning
them. If I didn't know my ABCs, if
I forgot them, I couldn't spell. Could I? We don't abandon them
because there's always lambs with the sheep. The Lord said
to Peter, He said, Feed my lambs, which are the first principles
of the oracles of God, and feed my sheep." So we don't abandon
them, but we don't keep trying to lay a foundation. How many
times do I have to tell you that I've been here for years? You've
believed the gospel for years, Doug and Judy. You've been here
for years. How many times do I have to tell you that we are
not saved by works? How many times do I have to say
that? I shouldn't have to say that
over and over and over and over and over. There's a time when
we grow up and we know that. We know that. But what we do
grow in is grace, love, faith, hope, happiness in Christ, joy
in the Lord. These are the things we grow
in. So if we laid a good foundation,
we don't need to keep laying it again. If Christ and Him crucified
has been preached, and that foundation has been laid, how God can be
a just God and save people like you and me? If that foundation
has been laid in Christ and Him crucified, then let's build on
it. That's why I said, let's start
building on it. He said, not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works. How many times does
that have to be repeated? How many times do I have to be
told that? How many times do I have to be told that I'm not
saved by my works? If God's in it, you're told one
time and you're going to understand it. You're going to get it. Now,
that's not to say that self-righteousness will not raise its ugly head.
It'll grow in any soil. But it's not something we just
keep... It's not a foundation we keep laying because once it's
laid, it's laid. Repentance from dead works and the faith toward
God. of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and
of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. Now
he speaks here of repentance. Let me deal with some of these.
He speaks of repentance from dead works. Now we know that
repentance is a change of mind. Most of the time when you hear
of repentance, and I believe this comes from Arminianism,
But most of the time, when you hear repentance, all you think
of is, most of the time, unless you've been taught, you think
of this thing of mourning and crying and weeping. Repentance,
simply put, is a change of mind. It's a turning from and a turning
to. You're turning from sin, you're turning from idols, you're
turning from your ignorance, and you're turning to Christ.
You're turning to truth. You're turning to God. That's
what true repentance is. It's turning from and turning
to. It's a change of mind. It's a change of the way I think
of God. I do not think of God like now, like I used to. Used to, I could read the bumper
sticker of the man upstairs, and it didn't bother me. Used
to, I could hear, Jesus is my co-pilot, and it didn't bother
me. I hate it now. I hate it because I understand
who God is. And that's nothing but blasphemy.
That's all it is. But that's what repentance is.
And what's dead works? He speaks here of dead works.
Dead works is anything we do to add to Christ's work. That's
dead work. That's dead works. Judaism was
dead works. That's why those sacrifices...
Listen, if they turn to the sacrifices, if I turn to my old ways, in
religion. That's dead works. They're no
good at all. They're dead. They're dead. There's
nothing in them. Anything we do to advance our
position in Christ, to make it better or make us more secure,
that's dead works. Look over in Philippians chapter
3. Here's a good example. Philippians
chapter 3. Let me read a few verses, starting
with verse 1. Finally, my brethren... I'll
wait until I quit hearing the papers rattle. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord, to write the same things to you, to preach the
same gospel to you, to me indeed. It's not grievous. But for you
it's safe, the safest thing for you is for me to stand here and
preach Christ every week. That's the safest thing for you.
Now beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision,
for we are the circumcision, we are the true Israel of God,
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of the Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, that's dead works. Dead works
are what things are gained to me. Let me tell you what I have
done, or what I'm going to do. That's dead works. What things
were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. I rode out by
that spiritual rubbish. That's what that is. Spiritual
rubbish is all that is. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things, even the things I've not mentioned, things I don't
even recognize in real, don't even remember or don't even know
of. Yea, I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done." Why? Because they're just dead works,
that's all. Just dead works. That's what
it is. And then faith toward God. Repentance
without faith is not of God. And repentance without faith
is not repentance. It may be, as Paul called it
one time, repentance of the world, worldly sorrow, troubled conscience,
but it's not of God. It's not of God. But faith and
repentance go together. And where there's true repentance,
you will find true faith. You'll find somebody that believes
God. Where you find one, you find the other. And faith toward
God is nothing more than believing on the Lord Jesus Christ who
is God. It's believing on Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And the doctrine of baptisms,
he says, and I believe he's speaking here basically of two, the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, where you're baptized into Christ, into his
death, as it speaks of, I believe it was over in Colossians, and
water baptism, which is identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. I
told you this the other day. It is a true way of confessing
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then of laying on of hands.
This was done in the early church. We don't do this anymore, but
this was done in the early church. It symbolized, first of all,
if you go on back to the Old Testament, And they laid their
hands on that goat, that scapegoat at Priestwood, and it was a symbol
of a transference of sin to that sacrifice, that substitute, and
then it was slain. And then Paul practiced it because
it was a way of showing approval of a person. And of course they
didn't have the word as we have it, and it was a way of transferring
gifts. It was showing that this person
was approved and gifts were given, but we don't do that anymore. And then of the resurrection
of the dead. This is the message. These are foundational truths
of the resurrection of the dead. The theme of the message, the
apostles preached was the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read
the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, it was always
about the resurrection of Christ. He's not dead. He's risen. A dead Christ cannot save anyone. A risen Lord, He can. And He does. He does. So the message of the apostles
was the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Him
first being raised from the dead, and then the believer being raised
in Christ. We are resurrected in Christ.
You know right now that every believer is seated at God's right
hand? Every one of them. And there's
a time when God saves a sinner, that sinner is raised in Christ. He's made alive in Christ. He's raised from the dead of
corruption and this world and himself, and he's made alive
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then someday there's a bodily
resurrection. Christ raised from the dead.
We are raised in Christ spiritually. And one day, one day, every person
in this room is going to die. Every person is going to die.
And one day, everybody that's buried, everybody out here in
this cemetery, everybody that's ever been buried on this earth
is going to be raised from the dead. And Paul said, we preach this.
We preach this. And then eternal judgment. We
preach the judgment that fell on the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. God's wrath... God's wrath fell on Jesus Christ. The hell that I would have taken,
He took. He took my hell. He took my torment. He took the hatred of God's wrath
against me, and it fell on Him. It fell on Him. He's the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, and He's the Lamb
that was slain on Calvary's tree. And then the final judgment of
the wicked. There are judgments coming. Judgment is coming. The whole world is going to stand
before God. Let me see if I can find this over in Revelations.
I know you know it, but we need to go over the Word of God as
much as possible. But let me see if I can find
what I'm thinking of. Turn to Revelation 20. Now what I'm going to read to
you is very real, and it's going to happen. In verse 11, And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. I've got written out by that
verse because it's so comforting to me. What did our Lord say
in John 14 to His disciples? I go and prepare a place for
you. And these, it is written, and
there was found no place for them. Our Lord said in one place,
Depart from Me, I never knew you. And I saw the dead, small
and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and
another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works, And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. They got exactly what they deserved.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is
the second death. and whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." As the writer says here, "...and
of eternal judgment." Paul is saying you should be
very aware of, you should already know these things, you should
be very sound in these things. We shouldn't have to lay these
foundations again and again. But he says here in verse 3,
And this will we do, if God permit. We are at God's mercy. We're
at His mercy. Now, who's the apostles talking
to? And what's he talking to them about? Well, he's talking
to his Hebrew brethren that believe the gospel. This is not written
to unbelievers. as to the Hebrew brethren. And
he's talking about apostasy, the dangers of it. It's like
how many times you're told when you're young, don't play with
fire. You're going to get burned. You're going to get burned. Don't play with fire. Now in
verses 4 and 5, there are six things mentioned that every one
of these have experienced. And this is what every believer
experiences in these next couple verses. He says, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and of the
powers of the world to come. The ones he's writing to, he
said, you were once enlightened. They were given an understanding
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How God can save sinners
and be God. What we are by nature. As Paul
said, O wretched man that I am. I've been enlightened to my need
of a Savior. And Jesus Christ is that Savior. His blood is the atonement for
my sins. You and I have been enlightened.
They were enlightened. Been enlightened to His person
as God and man, who He is. Now listen to me. There is a
real difference in being informed and being enlightened. Big difference. Some people are just informed.
and some God has enlightened. He's revealed the truth to them.
He's revealed Christ in them. And he says to these Hebrews
here, and you have tasted the heavenly gift. Who is that? What is that? The
heavenly gift is Jesus Christ. He's the heavenly gift. and you've
tasted Him." Peter said, if so be that you've tasted that the
Lord is gracious. Now, to taste something, you
have to what? You have to put it in your mouth. Christ said, He that eats my
flesh and drinks my blood. And that's what we do by faith.
We eat His flesh and drink His blood. We've tasted. We've tasted
Him. You've tasted the heavenly gift,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you're partakers of the Holy
Ghost. You've been made partakers of
the Holy Ghost. When a sinner is saved, that sinner is sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1, look in
verse 13. Speaking of Christ, in whom,
that is, in Christ you also trusted, after that you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after
that, you believed, after you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise. You've been made a partaker of
the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit of God is in
every believer in this room and every believer in this world.
That's why I can say that you and I are never alone. The Holy
Spirit doesn't come and go. You're sealed with Him. You're
sealed with Him. He's the one who guides us into
all truth. He's the one who reveals the
Lord Jesus Christ in us and to us. He's the one who gives us
understanding. And the Holy Ghost is God Almighty. He's God. You're sealed with
God. You are sealed with God. You're
sealed with Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul says over in Romans 8 and
9, But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. You are in
the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. You're in the Spirit, you walk
in the Spirit, you believe God, Because the Spirit of God is
in you. He dwells in you. He lives in
you. He lives in you. Now he says,
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His.
He's none of His. When does a believer get the
Spirit of God? The day God saves him. The day
that sinner is saved, he's sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
It's not some time down the road. No, it's the day God saves that
sinner. He or she is sealed with the
Holy Spirit. And you've tasted, he said, you've
tasted the good Word of God. Have you found this Word to be
good? David said, it's more than my
necessary food. The Lord's Word is more than
my necessary food." You've tasted the good Word of God. You've tasted the living Word,
the Lord Jesus Christ and His quickening power. You've tasted
the written Word and its sanctifying power. You've tasted the living Word,
and the written Word, and the power, and how it works effectually. Paul said the Word of God works
effectually in you. If it's in you, it'll work in
you. It'll work in you. It'll guide
you. You'll have understanding. You
know, the Holy Spirit, listen, the Holy Spirit never works apart
from the Word of God. He does not work apart from the
Word of God. That's the reason I don't go
by my feelings. I try not to. I try not to. But I go by His Word. I go by
His Word because the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and
He teaches us, He reveals them to us, and the things of Christ
are right here in this book. It's in this book. You've heard the gospel, the
word of the gospel preached, and you've heard it in power.
You've heard it in power. Let me go over to 1 Thessalonians
and see if I can find something. Let's go over to chapter 1, I
think it's 1 Thessalonians. Look in verse 4. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only. You were not just informed, you
were enlightened. But also it came to you, not
in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake. And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so
that you became your examples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia, For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not
only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your
faith to God were to spread abroad, so that we need not to speak
anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve
the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven,
whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us
from the wrath to come. But you heard the Word of God,
the Gospel, in power, and look what it does. It turned from
idols. Every one of us worshiped something
besides God. Whatever it was, it was an idol.
Whatever you worship, if it's not God, it's an idol. It may
be your job, it may be your kids, it may be some... You know, we
worship a lot of things by nature, we do. We set them up, they take
place in our heart. What you treasure is your heart
is. But when the gospel comes in
power, it changes your life. You will not be the same again. You won't be the same again. And listen, and the powers of
the world to come. It says over Colossians 1 that
God has delivered us from the power of darkness. Scripture
says sin shall not have dominion over you. Satan doesn't have
dominion over you. You're not under the power of
darkness no more. You're children of light. You're
children of light. And this kingdom, the powers
of the world to come, he's talking about the kingdom of God, is
very real. It's very real. The older I get, the older I
get, and I'm not saying I'm not having any kind of interest whatsoever
in things that goes on, things that are going on. You know,
when it comes time to vote, I go out and vote. But I said this
to Vicki, I think, yesterday or day before, I said, this is
not my world. This is not my world. I live in it. But God's
kingdom is my world, it's my concern. Let the dead bury the
dead, let the dead run the dead. And pray that God will give us
peace while we pass through this life. I pray God bless this country. that you and I can continue to
meet together like this. That we can continue to have
some freedom where we can come together, preach the gospel,
and go home without any terror. I do. But I can tell you, this
world is not mine. It's not mine no more. It's not
my concern no more. Sinners are. Sinners are. I tell you, the principles of
this world is never going to change. False religion will never
change. You'll never change false religion.
It'll be false always to the end. Now, God may save someone
out of it. He probably saved most everybody
here out of it at one time. But God's kingdom is a very real
kingdom. It says in 1 Corinthians 4.20,
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. In one place our Lord said, The
kingdom of God is in you. It's in you. I believe it was
Luke 17. You've tasted of the good word
of God and of the powers of the world to come. You've tasted
of the power of faith. You've tasted of the power of
hope. You've tasted of the power of love. You've tasted this. You and I just have a taste.
And listen, we just have a taste of what the love of God is. What's
it going to be like when we get to sit down without sin and experience
the full-blown love of God without interruption, without sin? See,
right now we have a taste of it. We have a taste of the world
to come. You know, you go over to Olive
Garden. Every time we go to Olive Garden,
they come around and bring a bottle of wine and say, you want a taste?
He's want a taste. They want to pour you about this
much. Just enough to give you a taste. And that's what we have
here. We have just a taste of what's
coming. Just a taste. But we have tasted
it. As believers born of God, you
have tasted it. You have tasted the power of
love and the hope that you have in Christ. You've tasted it. The love that God has to you
in Christ, you've tasted it. Now, here's the scenario he's
been coming to in verse 6 and 7. He just gave us the experience
of a believer. Now, these are believers who
have experienced this. I know some of the commentators say it's
not, but it is. I don't have to agree with everybody. This is right. Not everybody
who writes a book or a commentary is right. But these are believers,
because you've not tasted the world to come. You're not made
a partaker of the Holy Spirit and wind up lost. It's just so. But what he's giving us here
is, I guess you'd call it a hypothetical. He's saying here, if you've experienced
this... Now, if you fall away... And here's the point that's very
important. It does not say, if they fall, to renew them again
to repentance, because we all fall. Abraham fell. David fell. You go back and look
at any, any of them, any saint in the Old Testament, they all
fell. He said, if you fall away, if you fall away from the grace
of God, if you leave it, that's why he said, if you leave the
gospel, if you leave it, it's impossible to renew them again
to repentance, seeing they crucified themselves the Son of God afresh."
If you have done all of this, if you've experienced all what
I just said, and what the apostle just said, and if you fell away,
if you leave that, it's impossible to renew to repentance because
where are you going to go? There's no more sacrifice for
sin. Jesus Christ is it. And if you leave Jesus Christ,
He's saying that you have apostatized and there's no hope. Because
He's not going to come back into this world and He's not going
to be nailed to Calvary's cross again. He's not going to do that.
And besides, if it didn't work the first time, why would you
think it worked the second? He said, if that were possible,
if you could fall away, it would be impossible to be renewed to
repentance. Because where are you going to
go? Jesus Christ is the only one. He's the only Savior. If
you leave Him and go back to Judaism, if you leave Him and
go back to any kind of ism, you're going to perish. You're going
to perish. And he gives us two examples
here in verse 7 and 8. This is interesting. He's going
to give two examples, and these two examples represent two people. They represent two types of people.
He says, For the earth which drinketh in the rain that comes
oft upon it, and brings forth herbs, meet for them by whom
it is dressed, receives blessing from God." And the rain here
is a good example of God's grace, it's a good example of the gospel
coming in power, and it falls upon good ground. You know the
good ground here, you remember that. It falls upon good grounds,
it brings forth good fruit. And where there's good ground,
there's going to be fruit. And where there's fruit, there's
life. And where there's fruit, there's the Spirit of God. That
person is born of God, saved, and that person cannot apostatize
because that person will bring forth good fruit. That's what
he's saying. It will bring forth good fruit.
But, in verse 8, here's the evidence of a background. But that which
bears thorns and briars is rejected, and neither cursing whose end
is to be burned. Background, stony ground, brings forth nothing.
Nothing. If you leave it, you were bad
ground. That's what he said. It's that simple. If you leave,
you were bad ground. You're a stony ground here. This
is why we're told in the Scriptures to examine ourselves whether
we be in the faith. Not examine your feelings. It's
not my feelings I'm examining. How do we examine ourselves? Right here, with the Word of
God. We examine our faith in Christ, our love to Christ, our commitment
to Jesus Christ. Am I really committed? Am I really?
And I ask myself, am I really committed? Am I sold out to Him
lock, stock, and barrel? It's evident if any go back,
they were bad ground. Because he says in verse 9, I'm
going to wind this up. But beloved, we're persuaded
better things of you. He said, I think better things
of you. I'm just convinced of better things of you and things
that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Though I write
like this and I speak like this, I'm persuaded better things of
you. What are these things that accompany salvation? These better
things. What are these better things?
These things that accompany salvation. Let me just give you a few. I'm
going to give these to you briefly, because I've already spent too
much time. Well, these things that accompany
salvation is genuine faith. You believe God. You truly believe
God. Hope. You truly have a hope of
the resurrection. You have a hope of standing before
God accepted. You have a hope of forgiveness.
You have a hope of pardon. You have a hope that when this
life is over, He's going to say, enter in, thou good and faithful
servant. Even though you don't feel faithful,
but you're taking Him at His word. And then love. You have a genuine love for God,
a genuine love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and a genuine love for
one another. You love being here. You love being in each other's
presence. Now, if you love being somewhere
else or running around out there with somebody else, you've got
a problem. Really. I'm telling you the truth. You've
got a problem. Because love, the love that was spoken of in
the Scriptures, is the thing that bonds us together here.
It's family. It's family love. And this is
the family above all our earthly families. This is it. I'm telling
you the truth. This is it. And patience, patience,
waiting on God, especially in trials, waiting on God under
trials. You know, it's not hard to wait
on somebody if you're sitting over at the house and they're
coming to pick you up, take you to the beach. But when you're hurting, Your
heart's broken, you're devastated, and you quietly, patiently wait
for the Lord to bring you through it. You wait on Him. And then kindness. Kindness. These are the things that accompany
salvation. These are the things that are evident. These are the
things, listen, the things I've given you right now, these are
the things we grow in. These are the things they did
not grow in. They were not growing in these
things. Kindness, kind to one another,
kind to the people in general, just kind, you're a kind person. Do you know anybody that when
you think of them, you think of kindness? I do, I know some
people when they come to my mind, a description of kindness is
just written all over. Meekness. Meekness. Not arrogant. Not arrogant, not an ego problem.
You know what? Meekness is nothing more than
walking before God humbly. It's true humility. Things that accompany salvation
is the fruit of the Spirit. Now, let's go on Let's go on
and grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ. Let's go on and grow
up in these things. We don't need to lay the foundation
again and again and again that you're not saved by work. You're
not. But we're not going to not say that no more, because there
are going to be people coming here that doesn't know the gospel.
They don't know the gospel, but you do. You do. I may be talking
to them, but for you, it's growing grace and the knowledge of Christ.
It's growing love, growing spiritual fruit, growing spiritual maturity. Let us go on and grow up. All right.