Well, good morning. Good to see you this morning. That's a great, great, great, great song.
Love that song. Just that last chorus. Some super things to be able to sing from the heart, I hope.
It's just such great truth. One of the great things about visiting other churches,
you get some really innovative ways of doing your announcements.
So I'm going to take some thoughts back with me to the Corubbers this morning
and see if I can change my clothes and make all the intimations the way you guys did here this morning.
Okay, great. Hebrews chapter 5. If you turn to Hebrews chapter 5, you're in a series here in Hebrews.
I want to thank John for giving me what could be perhaps one of the most difficult passages in the Bible
to preach through and for being so generous and giving me 30 minutes to do it.
Okay, so we need to move. Okay. We need to really move.
I think John popped onto the Corubbers website at some point and found out that it took me,
I think, three 45-minute messages to get through probably just a bit of this section.
So we are going to have to work through here. It's a great book, isn't it?
You guys have been in Hebrews now. I assume for a while it is a great epistle of the New Testament.
One of, I think, one of the most incredible, what is Hebrews?
In its essence, what is Hebrews?
I think it has to be one of the most incredible expositions of the greatness of Jesus anywhere in the Bible, isn't it?
You probably have gotten some background on this.
You'll know by now, I'm sure, that there are different ideas and different approaches to the book of Hebrews.
I think it's important to study hard before you even get into Hebrews
because I think that depending on your view of the audience,
we're not quite sure who wrote the letter,
but depending on who you think the audience of the letter is,
helps you, I think, to understand something of what the writer is saying here
and to interpret some of the really difficult passages
like this one here this morning in the book of Hebrews.
But regardless of what you think about the specifics of the difficult warnings
and those kind of things that come in the book of Hebrews,
it is one of the most incredible expositions of how great Jesus is, isn't it?
I mean, again and again and again and again,
the author just comes back to the greatness of Jesus.
So keep that in mind as you wrangle about some of the specifics.
Keep in mind that overarching in this whole thing is how great Jesus really is.
The letter is written, it seems to me, to a group of people
who are somehow gathering around this great gospel message
of the greatness of who Jesus is and what he's done.
They're gathering around this great message
in some horrendously difficult circumstances.
Things are hard for these people.
That's obvious.
If you just sense and feel the background radiation in the book of Hebrews,
you'll recognize that things are really hard for these guys
and they need to be hugely encouraged to continue to trust in Christ no matter what.
So it's a really good epistle for us, isn't it?
Because times get hard no matter where we're at or who we are.
Life is just a varied mix of highs and lows and good and bad, right?
Ins and outs.
I mean, we're going to get it.
We're studying Job just now at Grubbers.
So, you know, we're in the thick of it.
But life is just like that.
That is what life is like in a fallen world,
in a sinful world, in a broken world.
Life is just hard.
Life is hard.
This isn't all that there is.
This isn't the end of the story,
but this is the here and now.
And we can't avoid the fact that even as followers of Christ,
there are difficult times that come.
And so this is a great epistle for them.
It's a great epistle for us.
It is an exhortational masterpiece.
It is an exhortational masterpiece,
both to believers who need to hang on
and who need to move on in Christ.
But it's also an exhortational masterpiece
to those, I think, who aren't quite there yet.
They're not quite there yet.
Many years ago, I went to Israel
on a short-term missions trip.
And one of the books that we used again and again and again
with Jewish people,
we went down to the kind of holiday resort of Eilat,
down at the very bottom of Israel,
by the border of Egypt.
And we shared the gospel with Jewish people.
And one of the books that we used again and again and again
was the book of Hebrews.
This is an epistle written as well,
I think, to those who aren't quite there yet.
They need to fully trust Christ as the fulfillment.
Listen.
The fulfillment of what the writer says
are all of those shadowy insufficiencies
of the Old Covenant.
They had a purpose.
They were there.
They told a story.
They prepared the world for what was to come.
But they were shadows, the writer says.
You'll get there more as you go on in the book of Hebrews.
They were shadows.
And not only that,
they were shadowy insufficiencies.
They weren't sufficient.
The Old Covenant,
the Old Testament sacrificial system
wasn't sufficient to deal fully and finally with our sins.
Right?
So one of the things that is being exhorted here
is to trust fully in Christ
as the fulfillment of all those shadowy insufficiencies
of the past.
There's a massive contrast here
between those shadowy insufficiencies of the Old Covenant
and the glorious fulfillment
of all those shadows in Christ
in the New Covenant.
And as we get to this passage now
in Hebrews 5,
the end of Hebrews 5 and Hebrews 6,
I think we come again to one of those exhortations.
And it's kind of,
it's a double-edged sword.
The exhortation can be for those of us trusting in Christ
to hang on and to move on
and to not get stuck
and to take all that God has for us,
but it could be an exhortation as well
for those who are not quite there yet.
They know something of who Jesus is.
They've been informed in some way
as to what Jesus has done
to fulfill all those shadowy insufficiencies of the past,
but they've not yet jumped on board.
And so I'm approaching it in that way.
One of these exhortations is maybe one of the most difficult in the book.
Okay?
Folks are being encouraged to move on
beyond the elementary teachings about Christ
and to grow up.
I think you got a growth passage here.
Okay?
And that's the way I'm going to hit it this morning.
To grow up into all the fullness of Christ.
To steal some of Paul's terminology from Colossians.
To grow up into all the fullness of Christ.
What a huge theme of growth there is right through this passage.
So number one here this morning,
admonishing those who are slow to grow.
All right?
I think at the end of chapter 5,
there's an admonishment here
to those who are following Christ,
but they're slow to grow.
All right?
Hebrews 5, verses 11 to 14.
And it seems to me
that there's a bit of a whooping coming in here.
You know what I mean?
There's a bit of a whooping coming
to the people who are here
who are following Christ,
but they're not quite moving on as they should.
There's a bit of a spanking
that they're going to get here,
and every now and again,
it's good to get one of those.
Okay?
Verse 12.
For though by this time, he says,
you guys have had enough time
to become teachers, he says,
to have moved on to a place
from having been taught things about Christ
and what the Bible has to say
about the Old Testament
and Old Covenant insufficiencies
and the fulfillment of Christ.
You have had enough time now, he says.
And this is a good pastoral thing.
This is a good kind of pastoral place in the epistle.
And I guess it's good for me
to kind of swanee in and swanee out here today
and give you a good whooping
because I don't have to come back next Sunday.
Right? Okay?
So I can do this for John this morning.
Every now and again,
I think as congregations and followers of Christ,
we need a good whooping.
Don't we?
We need to just get whooped into shape
and to be admonished to grow up,
to move on,
to take advantage of everything
the church is offering,
the Spirit is offering,
and to just make the most of the time
God has given us.
You ought to be teachers, he says.
By now.
God plans for his people to grow, doesn't he?
He plans for his people to grow.
What is spiritually alive, listen.
What is spiritually alive grows.
Doesn't it?
Makes sense.
Everything that's alive, by definition, grows.
So what's spiritually alive grows.
If nothing is growing in your body right now,
if nothing is growing in your body right now,
you're not alive.
Okay?
And by the looks of some of you this morning,
okay?
I am told that by the time that I finish this sentence,
over 50 million new cells will have grown in our bodies.
Because that's what happens when you're alive.
Okay?
That's a lot.
That's pretty staggering, isn't it?
But what's true physically is also true spiritually,
according to God.
So that even as your outer man is decaying,
it's growing, but it's dying.
It's a bit of a contradiction, but it's true.
Even as your outer man is decaying,
2 Corinthians 4.16,
your inner man is what?
It's being renewed day by day.
It's growing.
There is spiritual growth that God designs for you
the moment you enter into fellowship with him.
When you're born again, from that moment on,
God's design for you is to grow.
To live is to grow.
It's what God wants.
Ephesians 4.14-15,
being built up to a mature manhood,
no longer children tossed to and fro by the waves
and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
by human cunning and craftiness of deceitful schemes.
Rather, God wants us to be speaking the truth in love
and to grow up.
He wants us to grow up
in every way into him who is the head,
even Christ.
It's what God expects.
And he provides everything that his people need to grow.
Verse 13, look at it.
He provides everything that we need.
He doesn't just say grow,
go find some food somewhere and grow.
No, he provides spiritually everything we need.
He gives us the food that we need
and the spirit by which that food is incorporated
into our hearts and our lives
and brings about spiritual growth.
I don't know the dynamics necessarily
of how all that happens,
but I know that he gives us all that we need.
Verse 13, there's milk for the infants, right?
There's milk for the infants
and there is solid food for the mature, he says.
God doesn't ram a steak down your throat
if you're still teething.
Okay?
If you're a baby, you get it poured,
the sense is here.
If you're a toddler, you get it mashed.
If you're a teenager, you get it from the chippy.
If you're an adult, you get it medium rare
with peppercorn sauce, right?
I mean, it's just, that is what God gives us.
The nature of it is here.
There's milk.
If you're immature, you get milk first.
That's God wants you to have.
But you don't stay with milk.
You just, you don't.
Nobody just stays.
If you stay with milk, you're not gonna grow
and become strong as God wants you to become strong.
And so God gives us spiritually what we need in his word.
And I've said this many times
as I've gone through this passage
and thought it many times
as I've gone through this passage.
There are many things about the Christian life.
There's so much about the Christian life
that I just so enjoy doing.
I love to share fellowship with God's people.
On a Sunday, it's one of my favorite days of the week.
It's one of my busiest work days, but I love it.
But that's not my spiritual food.
I love to sing, right?
Some great songs, good band.
I love to sing, but that's not my spiritual food.
I love to pray.
Communion with God through the veil that is torn,
that is Christ, that God has made a way for me to do.
That's not my spiritual food.
Specifically in the Bible.
I mean, my spiritual food might be incorporated
in some way there,
but my spiritual food that God has given me
is specifically his word.
And the writer says here
that you need to be trained by it, trained by it.
You have to use it.
You have to exercise with it.
You have to be trained by it
so that you can grow.
And that is exactly what he provides for us in his word.
So that, look at this,
we can grow so that we can help others to grow, right?
Listen, he says, pleading with him,
you ought to be what by now?
Teachers, teachers, I want you to grow
so that you can pass this on.
You got to teach somebody else.
God is going to take his word.
He's going to pour it into your heart.
That happens in Sunday services.
That happens in your Bible studies.
That happens when you open the word of God
in your private devotions.
It happens in loads of places.
The word is the source.
The spirit is the power, the interpreter.
of that.
And by it, God causes us to grow.
But it doesn't stop there.
You don't just become big and fat.
You exercise that in how you serve and teach others.
But he says, you need now someone to teach you
the elementary truths of God's word all over again.
Can you hear his breaking heart?
I want you to be somewhere you're not there.
It's a very pastoral epistle here.
I want you to be somewhere,
and I think every pastor probably feels this about their flock.
The elders feel this way about their flock.
You just want people to be, listen,
I want to be beyond where I know that I am.
I want to be beyond where I know that I am,
and we want our churches to be beyond where we know that they are.
It's breaking his heart.
And that's why we have training and equipping ministries in the church,
isn't it?
Why we encourage people to read their Bibles,
because after we're taught, God wants us to teach.
2 Timothy 2.2, the things that you've heard from me
in the presence of many witnesses, Paul says to Timothy,
I want you to entrust the faithful men who will then be able to teach others.
Also, there are four generations there.
I've got a photograph at home of my brother's family
with my grandfather, my father, my brother, and my nephew.
Four generations.
And there's four generations here.
It's great.
That is what God wants us to do.
It's called discipleship.
Verse 14, to be spiritually discerning,
to distinguish good and evil,
literally to discern what is good and what is not.
So to know God, to know self, to know truth,
to know good, to know evil,
and not just to know it,
but to have our senses trained to discern it.
That's what the word of God does for us.
Spurgeon once said of Bunyan that Bunyan's blood,
he thought, was bibline.
The guy's blood, he said, was bibline.
That means you could cut him anywhere
and he would just bleed Bible verses.
He would just bleed Bible verses.
And I think that is the definition of Christian maturity.
It is when your involuntary responses,
when your involuntary responses are biblical.
That's Christian maturity.
So you don't have to think,
well, I got to go run, find my Bible
to figure out how I respond to this situation.
No, your involuntary responses are biblical.
You just do it.
It's in your blood.
It's okay.
That's kind of the idea here.
Okay, so he's exhorting them not to be slow to grow
because, and here's the second point,
believe it or not, there are those,
there are some who say no to grow.
There are some who say no to grow.
And I think that's the first eight verses here of chapter six.
It's a very tricky passage.
There's loads of different ideas
about what the writer may be saying here.
It's not an easy passage to interpret,
but he's following on in whatever you think.
He is following on directly from what he's just said here
at the end of chapter five
because he starts chapter six with the word therefore.
So he's following on directly in some way
from what he's just said.
Therefore, because it's so crucial
that we grow as those born again in Christ,
because that's true,
because God so wants that for us as his children,
the writer says, let's move beyond.
Let's not just stay with those elementary teachings.
Let's not just stay with the ABCs of the Christian life.
Let's move beyond that.
Let's not get stuck in infancy.
Let's move forward to maturity, he says, verse three.
And this we will do.
As followers of Christ, as believers in Christ,
he says, this we will do.
God's entire intention for us
is through the gospel to be born again.
And then as we're born again as infants,
to feed upon his word and to grow.
That's what God wants.
And this we will do.
We will move on from those elementary principles.
And then he says this, if God permits.
Now, that's a strange thing to say, I think.
And could be a hinge here,
or it could be a hint here in understanding the passage.
I think it is.
It's a strange thing to say, why on earth
would God not permit growth in Christ?
Why would God not permit growth in Christ?
Well, here's what I think he's saying.
I think he's saying that growth in Christ
requires life in Christ.
Okay?
Growth in Christ requires life in Christ.
Does that make sense?
Growth in Christ requires life in Christ.
Could it be that there are people here among this crowd
that he's writing to who are trying to grow in Christ,
but who don't yet have him?
They're trying to grow in Christ.
They hear the exhortations that are coming down
from the writer here, and they're trying to grow in Christ,
but there's a problem with them being able to grow in Christ
because they don't yet have Christ.
I remember a young girl at Corubbers years ago
sharing her story that for years she had come along to church
and she tried to live the Christian life without Christ.
That was her words.
And she said, for years I've been trying to live
the Christian life without Christ.
I've been a part of this kind of Christian community,
and I've been going through all emotions,
but I had never responded to Christ personally.
And I was just, she was killing herself.
She was killing herself.
Can you imagine trying to produce spiritual life
when there's no spiritual life in you?
Can you imagine trying to evidence the fruit of the Spirit?
You know, trying to love, joy, peace, patience, goodness,
kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,
to do all that without the Spirit?
And you know what?
I think a lot of people do.
And sometimes the fruit even looks like fruit,
but if you were to grab it and be like one of those pieces
is a Christmas plastic fruit that you see.
You'd bite into it.
It wouldn't be real.
It just looks good, but it's plastic.
Trying to live the Christian life without Christ.
Folks, I think a lot of people do this.
And why would it be any different in the first century?
Especially when many of these folks,
it seems like, had a very good working knowledge
of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament.
But something that I learned,
especially when I went to Israel and talked to these Jews,
is you can't stop there.
That is not the end of the story.
That's only the beginning of the story
and is the preparation for something
that is the fulfillment of all the shadowy insufficiencies.
You can't stop with the shadowy insufficiencies
and expect to grow in Christ
when you haven't embraced Christ.
Okay?
And I think that's what seems to be going on here.
Could it be that some of these Hebrews
are still hanging on to the shadowy insufficiencies
of the Old Covenant,
and the reason why God won't permit further growth
and development spiritually for them
is because some of them don't even have a life
to grow in the first place.
Verse 4.
It's impossible for those who have not watched this,
because here's a tough bit.
It's impossible for those who have been,
once been enlightened.
I want you to think through how,
particularly Paul teaches,
some people think Paul is the author here,
I'm not quite sure.
But I want you to think specifically
of a book like Romans
and how crystal clear Paul is
in the terminology that he uses
when he addresses salvation.
Think about the New Testament
and how crystal clear
the epistle writers are
when they use terminology
to refer to salvation.
And then listen to what he says here.
Who have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly gift,
who've shared in the Holy Spirit.
Now watch that one.
Who've shared in the Holy Spirit.
I didn't say become temples of the Holy Spirit
or indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Just shared in the Holy Spirit.
Who've tasted all this,
this is kind of funny terminology.
It's different.
Regardless of what you think of it here,
it's different.
Very different.
Tasted the goodness of the Word of God
and the powers of the age.
There's a lot of tasting going on here.
Have you guys ever gone to like
a taste kind of deal with food?
And you're not really eating it,
you're just kind of sampling it?
Okay, you right?
You with me?
Just kind of,
it's a taste session or whatever.
I don't like going to those
because if I really like it,
I want to just kind of gouge myself.
You can't do that.
Taste of the powers of the age has come.
It's impossible for them
who've had that experience
and who have fallen away,
gone back.
It is impossible, he says,
for them to be brought back to repentance
because to their loss,
they're crucifying the Son of God
all over again
and subjecting Him to public disgrace.
So they're being given
all that they need to have
to move on from those shadowy insufficiencies,
but something's not moving on.
They're being given,
these guys I think have been exposed to,
and they've been given all that they need
to move on from the shadowy insufficiency,
but I don't think they yet have.
They've somehow gone back
to the shadowy insufficiency.
So yes, they've been exposed to gospel truth.
They've been enlightened.
I think a lot of people
are exposed to gospel truth
and are enlightened, right?
Every time we share the gospel
with an unbeliever,
they've been enlightened to gospel truth.
They now have heard gospel truth
and we believe that the Holy Spirit
can take that gospel truth,
Romans 1.16,
and that is the power of God
for salvation, the gospel.
But it doesn't mean
that just when they hear the gospel truth,
they're automatically saved.
We know that.
We know we share the gospel
with a lot of people
who aren't automatically saved.
So they've been enlightened.
They now know
what they didn't know before,
and wow, that's a great thing
that we can do for them.
They've been exposed to gospel truth.
Yes, these people here
have tasted the heavenly gift,
just tasted.
Yes, they've shared in the Holy Spirit,
and I suggest they've shared
in the Holy Spirit
in the sense that they've partaken
of his convicting
and illuminating work in their lives.
But that is not the end of the story.
The Bible says
that we have to then believe.
It's not just when the Spirit of God
convicts us that we're saved.
We have to respond to that, don't we?
As many as received him,
John 1.12,
he gave the right
to become children of God.
Not just giving them the truth.
We have to respond
to the truth.
And I could give you
a whole story
about my own life there,
but I don't have time.
Okay?
They've partaken
of the convicting,
illuminating work
of the Spirit in their lives.
If you have a problem
with somebody
sharing in the Holy Spirit
and not being a believer,
be a believer,
then think of Judas Iscariot.
Because as far as I know,
Judas Iscariot,
along with the other 12,
went out when the 12 were sent out
and he had the power
of the Spirit in his life
to do the, you know,
to cast out the demons
and heal people
just like the rest of them did.
And yet we know
that he was a son of perdition.
So the Spirit was there.
You can be a sharer,
I would say,
in the work of the Spirit
in your life,
but not be a believer.
And yes, the writer says here,
they've tasted again
of the goodness
of the Word of God
and the powers
of the coming age.
In fact,
some of these,
some theologians would think,
some of these folks
that are being written to here,
some of them may have even seen
the Lord Jesus Christ in person.
Some of them may have even seen
the Lord Jesus Christ in person.
And if not,
then they've certainly
heard the apostles.
We know that from earlier
chapters of Hebrews.
They've certainly heard
the apostles
and may have even seen
the miraculous works
that the apostles have done
as a taste of the power
of the age to come.
They've seen it,
they've tasted it.
And I think it's what
he's referring to.
However,
what it seems that some of them
haven't done,
and this is why
they can't move on to maturity.
What they haven't done
is they haven't broken away
from the shadows
of the Old Covenant.
They haven't broken away
from the shadows
of the Old Covenant.
And they haven't placed
their faith and trust
fully and completely
in the New Covenant
work of Christ.
That's what he's exhorting
them to do.
You have to do this.
They're fully aware
of the Old Covenant.
He writes to them.
He makes mention
constantly back
to the writings
of the Old Testament.
So they're very familiar.
If they're not Jews,
they're at least familiar
with the Old Covenant.
But that's where
they have stopped.
They've not fully
embraced Christ.
And if that's right,
then all these descriptions
about tasting and sharing
are all demonstrations
of something of the work
of the Spirit of God
and the grace of God
in these people's lives.
Enlightened, tasted, shared.
But he never says
they've believed.
He never says
they believed.
And that has always
bothered me
about this section.
He never says
they've believed.
He never says
that they've been transformed.
He never says
that they've been saved,
delivered.
That's terminology
that the New Testament
uses again and again
and again
with respect to salvation.
On the contrary,
they can't grow in Christ
because they don't have
life in Christ.
Even though they've been
exposed to everything
they need to get it.
Think about that.
I think that's exactly
why then he gives
this illustration
about the land
that comes next
that John read.
That's why I think
he gives the illustration.
Think about it.
The illustration
of the land.
First,
about the land
that drinks in the rain
that often falls on it
and produces a crop.
I think those
are the ones
who have received
the gospel
and now the job
is to drink in the rain
and grow.
Don't be slow to grow.
There are some
that drink in the rain
that falls upon it
and produce a crop.
Useful for whom
it's farmed.
They receive the blessing
of God.
But second,
the land that drinks
the same rain.
The land that drinks
the same rain
but produces thorns
and thistles.
No life.
No evidence of life.
It's worthless
and it is in danger
of being cursed.
Two kinds of ground there,
right?
Regardless of how
you interpret it.
Two kinds of ground.
One that drinks
and produces.
One that drinks
and doesn't produce.
And I think we know
that there are
two kinds of people
in the world.
Sometimes even
in the church.
Those who do move
on to maturity
because they have life
and those who are exposed
to the same grace,
same gospel,
same convicting
and convincing
Holy Spirit
but don't produce
a crop
because they don't
have the life
that it takes
to move on
to maturity.
Having never
gotten beyond
the shadowy
insufficiencies
of the past.
Even though they've
been exposed
to the reality,
the power,
the sufficiency,
the eternal adequacy
of Christ,
they've turned back
to the shadows
and they have forfeited
the grace of God.
I think this happens
in our churches.
I think people come in.
Listen,
everybody that just
comes in through
the doors of the church
isn't automatically
saved, right?
You guys don't have
some special doors.
Do you?
You don't have wool.
If you do,
I want to get a set.
Right?
Your doors aren't special
and as soon as somebody
comes through your door,
they're nice doors,
they're glass doors.
We like the whole deal
that you've done out there
but they're not
the doors that save.
Right?
So people don't come
through the doors
and they say,
people come into this church
and they've got
all kinds of questions
and it's not just
sitting here
like you guys
are sitting here
that makes you
born again,
transformed by
the great power of God.
You may hear it
week after week
after week
but you got to do
something about it.
Right?
You got to do
something about it
and that might be
you this morning.
I don't know all you guys.
That might be you
this morning.
You might have been
coming around
for a long time now
but you may have
never responded.
Hey,
you know,
now's as good
a time as any.
Today is a day
of salvation,
boy.
Now's as good
a time
as ever.
Okay?
And I think
that's why he says
in the very next verse,
verse 9,
that even though
we speak like this,
he says,
dear friends,
this drastic language
and terminology,
we're actually convinced
of better things
in your case.
And now I think
he's speaking again
to those who can grow.
I think the guy,
the writer here,
realizes he's writing
to a group of people
gathered around the gospel
in difficult times.
Some of them
have come to Christ.
Some of them
are really close.
So now he's just saying,
look,
we're moving back
to your case,
those of you
who are trusting in Christ,
the things that do
have to do with salvation.
Isn't that interesting?
I've just talked about,
it seems to me,
he's just saying,
I've just talked about
things that have to do
with those who don't
have salvation.
Now I'm coming back
to talk to you,
those who do have
salvation.
Okay,
if you are trusting
in Christ,
then in your case
it does have to do
with salvation
and you can move on
in Christ.
And that's how
he ends now
in verses 9 to 12.
There are those
he starts off with here
who are slow to grow.
Listen,
don't be there.
Don't stay a baby.
There are those,
believe it or not,
even in the church,
certainly in our world,
who say no to grow.
No.
I'm just going to stay
with my old kind
of works system.
I like that system.
I like the works system.
I like trying
to do my best.
Most of my family
is still there.
They're stuck
in a works system.
I think most of the world,
if you were able
to get to nuts and bolts
with people,
really,
as to whether or not
they think when they die
if there is a heaven
they might go,
I think predominantly
they would say
that if they are
going to be with God
in this heavenly place,
it's because they think
they've lived a good life.
Most people in our world
still think that.
That's clearly not
what the Bible teaches,
but most people
either think that's
what the Bible teaches
or that's their own
philosophy of life.
They just say no to grow.
They'd rather stick
with their works salvation.
So those who are slow
to grow,
those who say no to grow,
and then finally,
in verses 9 through 12,
I would say those
who actually get up
and go to grow.
Sorry about that,
but I had to keep
the theme going,
all right?
But those who actually
get up and go to grow,
those who actually do it,
boom!
Come, get out there
and do it.
And I think that follows,
this follows something
of the theme of Hebrews
to me.
This little passage
follows,
I don't want to make
too much of this,
but it follows something
of the big theme
of Hebrews to me.
Because what do you got
in Hebrews?
You've got 10 chapters.
The first 10 chapters
of Hebrews
are this great exposition
of the majesty
and supremacy
and the greatness
of Christ, right?
He's greater than the apostles,
he's greater than the prophets,
he's greater than Abraham,
he's greater than the Moab,
everything, boom.
He's just greater,
greater high priest,
he's got a greater sacrifice,
he's a greater tabernacle,
he's just a greater covenant.
No, it's a,
chapters 1 to 10.
There he is!
He presents them with Jesus.
Now, what does God
want us to do with Jesus?
Oh, chapter 11.
It's all about faith.
Believe it, believe it,
believe it.
Like these people did
who believe,
some of them conquered
and went on
and just great,
other people had to suffer
but they believed it
and God called them
to a life that demonstrated
the greatness of who he was
in their lives.
So here's Christ,
chapters 1 to 10.
What does he want you to do?
He wants you to believe it
and then what happens
in chapters 12 and 13?
Run the race.
Get out there
and run that race.
Not in your own strength
but because now
you've trusted in Christ,
get out there
and run the race
and I think chapters 12 and 13
of Hebrews
are those who then
get up and go to grow.
Get up and grow,
go to grow.
God rewarding them,
look at this
and we're just about finished.
God rewarding them,
verse 10,
for their gospel invested life.
God will not overlook
if you have come
to put your faith
and trust in Christ
and you are seeking
to live for him.
Listen,
none of us will do it perfectly,
will we?
We all wish we did better
but if you are seeking
to invest your life for Christ,
God will never overlook that.
He will never overlook
one small little cup of water
that you give to somebody
in his name.
Right?
He'll never overlook it.
So every investment you make
for the sake of the gospel
in this world,
God will reward you for that.
He just loves that.
He loves that.
Rewarding them
for their gospel invested life.
Not forgetting your work
and the love that you've shown God
by doing that.
the love you've shown God
and his people
to continue to help them.
Investing your life
in the things
that count for eternity.
And in verse 11,
being diligent.
So these are those
who are moving.
Get up there.
Get up and go to grow.
Being diligent
to the very end,
he says,
so that what you hope for
may be realized.
What a fantastic thought.
We sit around here,
you know,
as we become more and more aware
of who God is
and what God has for us
and the hope of the return of Christ
and all that he's going to bring us
when he comes back
and transforms us completely
into his likeness.
All that we hope for
as we often feel the weight
of the brokenness
of our own life
and all that we hope for
to be realized.
Oh man,
what a thought that is here
that he gives us.
Hope that is seen,
Paul says in Romans 8,
is not hope.
So there's going to be
an element of this
that you have to just
trust God for.
Hope that is seen
is not hope.
But if we hope
for what we do not see,
then with perseverance,
watch this now,
with perseverance,
we diligently wait for it.
How do you diligently wait
with perseverance?
How do you wait?
Perseverance isn't waiting,
is it?
You want to get out there
and do something,
but no,
there's a sense in which
we have to be doing something
while we wait.
Okay,
that's the idea.
Investing your time
in the waiting room.
Investing your time
in the waiting room.
Jesus talks in Matthew 19,
29 about everyone
who's given up houses,
brothers,
sisters.
Remember that one?
Fathers,
mother,
children,
property for my sake.
Jesus says,
they will receive
a hundred times
as much in return
and will have eternal life.
Just for good measure,
we'll throw eternal life
in there as well.
And will have eternal life.
Listen,
can you imagine
a 100-fold return
on your investment?
Some of you guys
making investments.
You want to invest well,
what God has given you.
Right?
You got banks,
you got whatever,
you're making investments.
Can you imagine,
I don't know,
what's the rate,
what's the interest rate now?
Half a percent?
That's pretty bad.
Can you imagine
getting,
you know,
there's a bank
that's going to offer you
a 100-fold
return on your investment?
That's pretty good,
isn't it?
I'd go for that.
Right?
You've never seen anything
like that in a bank account.
I've seen 7%,
5%,
3%.
We're down to about
a half a percent
just now.
But what if somebody
offered you
a 100% return
on your investment?
You'd take it.
Would you jump all over that?
You'd jump all over that.
Just think about that.
Wow,
boy,
let's do it.
But that's not even
what he's talking about here
because 100% return
on your investment
is only two-fold.
That's only two-fold.
It's just double.
And that's not
what Jesus says here.
He doesn't say
he's going to give you
100% return
on your gospel-invested life.
He says he's going to give you
a hundred-fold.
A hundred-fold
return on your gospel-invested life.
Do you know what that is?
That is 10,000%.
Okay,
I think Santander
down the road there
might be over.
No,
excuse me.
10,000%.
Anybody want to make
a gospel investment?
Anybody want to make
a gospel investment?
Because that's what Jesus says
he's going to give you
on your gospel investment.
10,000%.
So,
verse 12,
don't be lazy.
Imitate those
who through faith
and patience
inherit
what has been promised.
Don't panic.
Stand firm.
stay close
and seek his kingdom
and his righteousness
and continue to invest
your life
for the sake
of his glorious name
and inherit
what has been promised.
Is it worth it?
Listen,
10,000% worth it.
Right?
10,000% worth it
and more.
And more.
Eternal life.
Wow.
Well,
anyway,
that's for your submission.
You have something
to talk about
over lunch now.
Okay?
Let's pray.
Lord,
tough book.
Great book.
Great letter.
Some of these things
that have been written
in the scriptures for us
are very,
very quickly comprehensible.
Some of these things
you've written to us
seems like,
Lord,
you're calling us
to dig deep,
dig deep,
dig deep.
And as we dig deep,
we hope and pray
and trust
that you would lead us
to where you want us
to be,
understanding
what your word
has to say,
but not just being
big-headed
followers of Christ,
but being big-hearted
followers of Christ
and putting into practice
what we learn.
And I pray that we would
do that
today
and in days to come.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.