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.
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 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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