Nursery Duty (Part 2)

Alright, Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5 is where we
left off last week, and we are in the midst of considering glorifying
Christ in the midst of a great trial. Remember, these are enduring
admonitions, and because they are enduring, they were indeed
spoken to first century believers in Jerusalem, but they’re not
just for those first century believers. They are indeed for
us in this day. We come to the fourth In these
series of admonitions, we’ve looked at several already, that
if we are to glorify Christ in great trial, we must listen to
the one who is greater than the angels, that is, Christ. We must
come to the one whose salvation is greater than Moses. that is
Christ and his salvation, we must draw near with confidence
to the throne of grace, the full access that believers have to
the glorious and gracious throne of God. But we come to this fourth,
and we noted it’s a little bit different formula than the admonitions
previously stated. In previous times, the writer
would give us something, some element in which Christ is better,
and then provide the admonition with that. This time, it’s different.
He goes right into the admonition, and in a sense, he’s building
on the three statements that he’s already made. Christ is
better than the angels, better than Moses, better than Aaron,
and because of that, There is an additional admonition That
if we are to glorify Christ in great trial, we must become spiritual
adults he’s dealing with spiritual maturity here beginning in chapter
5 Verse 11 but coursing all the way down to chapter 5 chapter
6 rather verse 20 If you would having read the bulk of this
last Lord’s Day, I want to start just in chapter 6, verse 1, and
we’ll go down through verse 10. Therefore, leaving the elementary
teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity. not laying again a foundation
of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God of instruction
about washing and laying on of hands and the resurrection of
the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do. If God permits
for in the case of those who have once been enlightened and
have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers
of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the
powers of the age to come and then have fallen away. It is
impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again
crucify to themselves the son of God and put him to open shame. For the ground that drinks the
rain, which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful
to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing
from God. But if it yields thorns and thistles,
it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up
being burned. But beloved, we are convinced
of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation. though we are speaking in this
way, for God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the
love which you have shown toward his name in having ministered
and in still ministering to the saints. Well, this is the second
portion of this section. We looked at the first last Lord’s
day where we titled this section from 511 through 620 nursery
duty. And what the writer is doing
here is challenging the debilitating immaturity that he saw in the
church. We saw in chapter 5, verses 11
through 14, the writer’s statement of his concern there in verse
11, that he observed them to be spiritual babies. Then we saw the reason for the
writer’s concern in verse 12. that at this time they should
have been mature enough to be teachers, but they were still
feeding themselves on children’s food, babies’ food, milk instead
of solid food. The writer seizes upon his own
illustration and begins to drive it home and apply that illustration,
which we saw in verses 13 and 14. The writer’s illustration
of his concern where he says, first of all, milk is for babies. Solid food is for the mature. He’s disappointed in them. He’s
disappointed that he can’t go right into the lesson that he
purposes to bring, which he will get to in chapter seven, the
relationship between Christ and Melchizedek. And so he’s disappointed
and hence the admonition that he provides here. They are simply
too immature. too spiritually immature to be
able to make much sense of the great lesson that he has to give
them. But he’s not going to give up.
He’s not going to give up. He’s going to admonish them to
growth in grace, and then he’s going to give them the lesson
that he purposed to bring from the outset. And so we’ve come
to this much feared passage. which stuns nearly everyone who
reads it. It’s misunderstood by many, avoided
by others. It is a passage to which, to
use the modern vernacular, we cannot unsee. Even at first glance,
it takes hold of the reader like flypaper. And even if we would
rather not linger, we soon find that we cannot look away. It’s
one of those dozen or so passages in scripture that once read lingers
in the mind with vexing and unanswered questions. Even given the horrific
conclusions that our minds begin to form, we cannot but ponder
it. The effects of this passage are
widely varied as well. Whereas a casual Christian is
arrested and turned to true salvation in Christ, at the opposite end
of the spectrum, many believers of a more sensitive nature have
read this passage and been brought to utter hopelessness, believing
that this was spoken of them. And in the midst of their feeble
attempts to battle the flesh, they find themselves in despair.
As almost a matter of course, as it is so often with difficult
passage, this passage has been both maligned and misinterpreted
and misused. It has been wrongly interpreted
to suggest that a careless Christian might lose his salvation. and at the opposite extreme,
has been muzzled and held at bay so that no meaningful lesson
may even be drawn from this text. The Roman Catholic Church was
so bewildered by this passage that they made attempt to prevent
the reception of the epistle into the canon. Doctrines which
tend toward heresy have begun here in this passage. One such
sect mandated that any who fell into sin after they had been
baptized were to be banned from the Lord’s table for life, regardless
of the sinner’s repentance. It is the darling passage of
the Arminian, believing it to be utterly capable of refuting
the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. At the same time,
Sound theology has often troubled itself and has been made suspect
by inaccurate attempts to explain it. As one saintly scholar described,
in their extreme earnestness to wrest the weapon out of the
hands of their adversaries, have in this been more intent on confuting
them than on giving a fair and satisfactory view of the meaning
of the inspired writer. And so as we come to this passage,
we come humbly, we come confidently, knowing that as long as we breathe,
we might repent. We come prayerfully, we come
cautiously to examine this solemn passage. These things were written
for our instruction. By way of reminder, the immediate
context, once again, is the first century professing converts out
of Judaism, some who were sluggish to make a firm commitment to
Christ, others who were actually entertaining a return to Judaism. These had, in varying degrees,
heard so many messages, entertained the gospel, made so many professions
of faith, many had gone so far as to receive baptism and believe
that they were living a new life. But they simply had not grown,
and their low level of commitment was plainly evident. They had
not advanced beyond Christianity 101. And now that the excitement
of this new religion had dulled They contemplate the unthinkable
of turning their back on Christ in a desperate maneuver to blend
back in with their Jewish brethren. Just as is often said of Christian
science, that at the end of the day, it’s neither Christian nor
science, the same goes with Messianic Judaism, that both of this first
century day and our own. They were neither Messianic nor
Jews. They held on with a cowardly
and two-faced looseness to both systems. And in grasping at both,
they ended with neither. One clear and final warning before
we begin, this is not a try harder passage. There are those passages
in the Bible. This is not one of them. This
is effectively an idolatry passage. It’s a this or that passage. It’s a strong call to those who
allegedly have placed their faith in Christ, but because they are
grasping onto other things, other idols, they cannot fully take
hold of Christ. and Christianity. And as these
are, after all, enduring admonitions, this warning is as much for us
as it was for the professing converts out of first century
Judaism. If you would, we want to begin
in verse one of chapter six. Verse one of chapter six, where
in his greater concern of challenging the debilitating
immaturity of the church. He’s already warned us about
a dearth of spiritual maturity, a lack of spiritual maturity. But secondly, he begins to take
up a persuasion to spiritual maturity. And the first thing
that he wants to do is articulately state this encouragement. And he does that in verses one
and two. Look at the verse just real briefly. Therefore, leaving
the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to
maturity. Clear and simple. The word therefore
immediately connects us. It’s not a difficult connection
to discover here. It didn’t stop some scholars
from making an issue of it. The author is clearly referencing
back to the entire thought of verses 11 through 14. There he
recognized their spiritual immaturity. There he identified them as lacking
maturity in Christ. Here he issues a call to action.
There he cited the tendency to plateau on elementary principles. Here he presumes upon their departure
from such and says, we must press on. Look again at the passage,
therefore leaving the elementary principles about the Christ.
They weren’t unimportant, but in the spirit of a true friend,
he does not command them here to quit with the baby food teaching
on which they were being nourished, he presumes it. Having called
attention to it, he concludes for them that it’s only reasonable
to make advance in their Christian life, to press on to maturity. But in order to do so, first
things first, they must push away from the children’s food
at the children’s table. This phrase, the elementary teachings
about the Christ, can literally be translated, the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, or as another translated it, leaving
behind the word of the beginning of Christ. He’s simply referring
to the basic teachings and principles of Christianity. They had to
move past the basics, even the basics of Christianity. We can
never do away with these things. They must always and ever remain
precious to us, but they can be held and cherished in such
a way that new and deeper truths have room to take root and flourish. And so he issues his call, therefore
leaving the elementary principles about the Christ, let us press
on to maturity. The word literally means to carry
here or more accurately to be carried. So there is a slight
adjustment made here in the translations that they use to provide us a
better sense. And so press on seems to give
the sense that like you’re demanding of someone, like you’re on a
hike and you are encouraging others to press on. one step
in front of the other, plodding along, pressing on toward the
goal. And that will work, but the more accurate rendering is
literally being carried along like a canoe midstream, as opposed
to slogging along near the shore, near the water’s edge. And we
must note that this is indeed another one of the plentiful
subjunctive verbs in this epistle. This is essentially the outline
on which we formed our study of the epistle of Hebrews, not
a verse by verse necessarily, not chapter by chapter even,
but we’re skipping along looking at the admonitions, most of which
are subjunctive verbs. Remember, those are the ones
that have that sense of strong encouragement, like a coach would
provide. Chapter 2 verse 1. For this reason,
we must pay closer attention. Chapter 3 verse 6. Let us hold
fast our confidence. Chapter 3 verse 14. Let us hold
fast the beginning of our assurance. Chapter 4 verse 1. Let us fear
lest we come short. Chapter 4 verse 11. Let us be
diligent to enter that rest. Chapter 4, verse 14, let us hold
fast our confession. Chapter 4, verse 16, let us draw
near with confidence to the throne of grace. And so here, let us
press on to maturity is just the latest of his subjunctive
verbs. This typical strong encouragement,
come on, let us element to these admonitions. Let us press on
to maturity. This is a friend, a teacher,
a coach, an encourager, beckoning his friends to follow his lead,
to grow in grace, to mature in Christ. This is no adventure
for weak toddlers. They, with their teacher, must
press on to maturity. Some of the older versions you
may know translate this as many times in the NAS as perfect. Let’s press on to perfection.
Perfect in that sense, but the writer here holds no delusions
that he or anyone else for that matter will be literally able
to achieve perfection. Sinlessness as a goal is not
realistic. Instead, what he’s talking about
here is full Christian maturity, not perfection. Solid growth
in Christian knowledge and conduct, that is the goal. And not merely
older Christians, but fully grown as Christians, intellectual maturity
is what is in view, spiritual maturity. And this will not be
easy. Not so easy as it might sound. He’s already told them
that in order to grow, they would have to leave off the basics,
baby food. He echoes essentially the same
thing by the next phrase. Look at the passage, therefore
leaving the elementary principles about the Christ, let us press
on to maturity, not laying again a foundation. This is really
a great illustration. For a contractor to lay again
a foundation must necessarily mean that some catastrophe has
occurred. Something has struck the building
project where they have to start all over again. The foundation
was laid, the building was under construction, and suddenly we’re
back at ground zero laying a foundation. That’s the illustration. Something
was very wrong. Likewise, in the spiritual realm,
the foundation of the Christian life is laid once. There’s no need to do it again.
And certainly not again and again and again, as must have been
happening in first century Jerusalem. But that is apparently what these
immature believers were given to doing. Every day was foundation
day. The project of the Christian
life never rose above the ground. These Christian truths, this
foundation was of infinite value. It served a purpose. It had a
particular God-given design. That’s what the entire superstructure
was to rest upon. These were absolutely necessary
truths. But as with the foundation alone,
they couldn’t live there. They had to keep building. What
were these foundational truths? Our writer here gives them in
three pairs. Three pairs. Look at the end
of verse one as we course into verse two, not laying again a
foundation of repentance from dead works and faith towards
God, first pair, of instruction about washings and laying on
of hands, second pair, and the third pair, and of the resurrection
from the dead and eternal judgment. There’s almost a metrical form
here. There are at least two related
things in these related things, two things pertaining to a believer’s
relationship to God, two things relating to the believer’s relationship
to the church, and two things pertaining to their relationship
to eternity. And as many commentators noted,
he presents these in much the same order that the believer
would come to know these things. Repentance and faith, first.
Repentance, then faith. Two sides of the same coin. Baptism,
then laying on of hands. Two components of reception into
the church. And resurrection, then judgment.
Two major aspects of our life after death. Very briefly, let’s
look at these. First of all, repentance from
dead works. The most basic meaning of repentance, you know, is a
change of mind, but it’s a complete change of heart and mind and
will in the Bible. In Christianity, it’s a complete
repentance. This was the essence of the call
both of John the Baptist and of Jesus himself. Repent. And
he paints a colorful picture here of repentance, doesn’t he?
It is said to be repentance from dead works. These cannot possibly
refer to the works of the law, works righteousness. Those are
dead insofar as they go, nobody gains salvation by law keeping. But we cannot do that, and so
he’s not talking about dead works in that regard. Dead works are
not merely empty works, works done without faith, but these
works are positively dead. They are sinful deeds done in
the flesh, and they are dead because they do not profit. They
do not bear fruit. Instead, they are sinful and
they bring death. Paul outlines a great list of
these sinful tendencies, immorality, Galatians 5, impurity, sensuality,
idolatry, sorcery. enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts
of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness,
carousing, dead works. He says these works are done
by spiritually dead men unto death. So our faithful friend can’t
possibly be suggesting that repentance is unimportant. It is vitally
important. It is indispensable to salvation. You cannot be a Christian without
it. But that isn’t all there is to Christianity. Repentance
from dead works is only half the equation of this first pairing.
Not only that, but faith toward God. Faith, like repentance,
like the rest of these foundational truths, is not unimportant. In
fact, this writer will go on to invest an entire chapter about
faith, Hebrews chapter 11, but here this faith toward God is
not only a belief in God, but a settled confidence in the saving
power of God. He is the God of redemption. And this vital element of faith
is not just employed at the outset of one’s relationship with God,
it is like the flip side of repentance. It is a lifelong means of maintaining,
rather, the relationship with God. It’s not just repentance,
but it’s faith as well. It’s a constant taking God at
his promises. This is the great appeal. of
God’s servants, wasn’t it? Repent and believe the gospel. Let’s look at the second set.
The second pair of elemental things, washings and laying on
of hands, pertains to a person’s relationship to the church. Baptism,
the outward sign of the inward reality of mortifying sin, repenting
of sin, and placing one’s faith in Jesus Christ. Now our author
here uses a word for baptism, which would have been more familiar
to them as Jews than the standard word for baptism, but that’s
what’s referred to here. You may also note that it’s in
the plural, baptisms. There are a number of possible
explanations for that, and we’re not going to go into it all,
but the most plausible was that the Jews were so familiar with
both John the Baptist’s baptism and then the standard Christian
baptism that the writer here alludes to them in the plural.
The laying on of hands then. also symbolized, just as baptism
symbolized the work of God in the heart of the individual,
the laying on of hands symbolized the conferring of the power of
the Holy Spirit in the gifting and sealing of the believer.
As we have occasion to baptize young believers as they come
up out of the water, the first thing I do is put my hand on
them and pray. These public acts in the church
were essentially the reception of that new life into the church. Look at the third set of fundamentals,
basic beliefs, resurrection and judgment. This third set of basic
elements is that of resurrection and judgment, things that pertain
immediately to life after death. Just as with repentance and faith,
baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit, resurrection and
judgment are not unimportant truths to the Christian. As you
know, Resurrection Sunday, we looked, took a look, a course
through the book of Acts to see how important to the early church
was the doctrine of the resurrection. It was paramount entirely through
the account of the church. And all through the book of Acts
and through much of the epistles, the doctrine of the resurrection
was not unimportant. It is not unimportant. The writer
here is not saying that we can set aside the resurrection. It
was at the core of what a new believer confessed to believe. So resurrection and ultimately
this doctrine where we are said to face the great judge, Jesus
Christ himself. And so this call to Christian
maturity was not, could not be a call to set these foundational
doctrines aside as if they were unimportant, but only to consider
them as foundational and to press on to greater maturity in Christ
to begin the building progress These well-taught believers could hang between two worlds,
between Judaism and Christianity, between Christianity and anything.
They were no longer to waver or vacillate. The writer here
has no intention of holding Sunday school on these topics any longer.
As great as they were, it was time for them to grow up. spiritually
speaking. And with that, the writer moves
to the second point of our outline this morning in this persuasion
to spiritual maturity, where he accurately states his persuasion. First, let us press on to maturity. And now in verse three, he confidently
purposes this maturity. Look at verse three, this we
will do if God permits. He enthusiastically commits himself
and the others, his friends, to this noble endeavor. This we will do, he says. This devoted push to maturity
is what he calls them to. It’s a commitment of the heart
and the life. It’s intentional. And even here
in this statement, we see the heart of this friend so given
to the use of these subjunctive verbs, as we’ve seen for weeks,
that verbal form where encouragement and uncertainty and aspiration
are all kind of blended together. We will grow up spiritually. he purposes, we must. Let’s do
this, he says. In true Christianity, a genuine
pursuit of maturity in Christ requires commitment. It requires
that. It requires dedication and devotion. There should be an intentionality
to our Christianity. But just as quickly as that declaration
is declared, the writer begins this enabling qualifier, God’s
grace. We will mature if God permits,
if the Lord wills, if God grants the necessary grace. All is dependent
on God’s grace. That mindset, that attitude of
the heart is seen many places in scripture. First Corinthians
6, 16, 7, Paul stating his plans. I do not wish to see you in passing.
I hope to remain for you for some time, if the Lord permits. We just saw this passage in James,
in our study, James 4, 15. If you, instead you ought to
say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that. And as Paul is so prominently
observed in Acts and in the early church, often stating his plans,
he was in training. And we see his planning plentifully
on display and learning to submit his plans to God, Acts 9 26.
When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with
the disciples. He was trying. But his plans were subject to
Almighty God, and they were all afraid of him. Acts 16, 7. They came to Mycenae. They were trying to go to Bithynia. The Spirit of Jesus did not permit
them. Paul’s plans were subject to
Almighty God, and Almighty God did not ordain that adventure. Acts 19, 21. Paul purposed in
the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. It didn’t exactly work on that
particular occasion. 2 Corinthians 1.15, I intended
to come to you. Paul purposed or intended to
take a particular trip, and yet God’s sovereignty prevailed. 2 Corinthians 9.7, likewise,
there’s an old saying. that I recall that was essentially
built on a biblical passage, work like everything depends
on you. Pray because everything depends
on God. We can purpose and plan and endeavor
and intend, but at the end of the day, God steers the plans,
and in the case of this writer, He doesn’t say anything wrong. His conclusion is great. This
we will do. We will press on to maturity. But the latter half of it is
an appeal to God himself, to bless and to provide the necessary
grace. Paul said the same thing, and
Philippians 2. So then my beloved, just as you
have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and
trembling. Work as if it depends on you.
For it is God who is at work within you, both to will and
to work for his good pleasure. Pray, because it all depends
on God. Comes to the third portion of
this persuasion to spiritual maturity, not only accurately
stated and confidently purposed, but now here, horrifically contrasted. And we come to one of the most
frightening, alarming passages in all the New Testament. It’s contrasted because it’s
an example of those who fell away. And I take that to mean
fully and finally, as we’ll see, We must advance, he basically
says. We must grow in grace because
the only other option is degeneration and falling back into eternity. We find this in verses four through
eight. And before we do anything here, I want you to notice something.
It’s the little word that we find there in verse four, those. For in the case of those who
have once been enlightened, these are the subjects of this discussion,
and it’s very undefined. He doesn’t name names. He refers
to them blandly as those, those people. And in fact, he does
it several times in this section. Look at verses four through six. Pardon me, look at verse six.
He says, it’s impossible to renew them, very undefined, again to
repentance. These, or rather those, them,
keep looking at verse six, it’s impossible since they. That’s three times in these verses
he refers to this unnamed group, those, them, they. Who are they? Well, the writer under the direction
of the Holy Spirit does not name them. They are by God’s design
unnamed. But we know one thing about them.
Look back if you would at verse one. Us. See it there? Let us. Track down
to verse three, we, this, we will do. In other words, those,
them, and they cannot be referring to the ones to whom this letter
is written. Some commentators suggested that
this is purely hypothetical. Maybe, I don’t think so, but
it’s definitely not the readers who have fallen away. It is,
nevertheless, a direct warning to them that such a scenario
is possible. And so, while we do not know
the identity of the subject of this discussion, the rest becomes
very clear very quickly. He issues a severe warning, one
of the most severe in all of Scripture, And if we don’t know
the specific identity of who he’s talking about, we have a
great deal of information about them. Look at verse four, for
in the case of those who have once been enlightened, they are
enlightened. The overarching question, as
we saw at the very beginning, historically has been, are these
people Christians who fall away? Ultimately, they fall away and
are lost forever. So we have to examine each one
of these statements in verses four and five with that one question
in mind. Are these Christians? And I suppose
I should acknowledge my presuppositions here, and every interpreter has
them. The overwhelming testimony in
scripture to me is that no, a Christian cannot fall away. A Christian
cannot lose his or her salvation. It is impossible. It’s impossible
not because of the Christian, but because of God who laid hold
of him. But that said, by all appearances,
there are some people who from time to time look very much the
part of a Christian for a time, but who are not truly regenerated. And in time, it becomes very
clear. That’s my presupposition. What do we learn about the fact
that they were enlightened? Does that mean they were saved?
Told here in this initial verse that these individuals have been
enlightened and that sounds good to our ears. Enlightened is good. Not a bad thing to be enlightened,
but that does not save anyone. It basically means instructed.
This is a person who has been instructed, taught, illuminated,
enlightened in that sense. Anyone who is not enlightened
can be said to be ignorant or uninstructed, uninformed. John 1, 9, the true light which
enlightens every man. There is a degree to which every
person ever born is enlightened. Paul says they’re without excuse,
right? To become a Christian, you must
gain a certain degree of instruction. You must be enlightened to be
a Christian. Here’s how one godly writer described
it. Enlightened describes the general
effect of Christian truth upon the mind. The illumination given
when the gospel is first received called the knowledge of the truth. Such illumination throws light
on all that a man has in himself and in his actions. This is what
exposes our sin. and in all his relations to all
things, especially his relation toward God. Hence, the mind’s
action under it will be, or should I say, should be repentance and
faith. When the mind is enlightened,
when we see Christ for who he is, when we see our sin for what
it is, we cannot but repent. We should. The Bible refers to
it as the knowledge of the truth, but knowing about these things
does not save. And it is possible to have a
whole lot of instruction, a great deal of enlightenment, and still
not be saved. All we know about these people
thus far is that they had been taught. They were aware. They
knew some things about Christianity. It can even be said of them,
in them, the foundation had been laid. Those doctrinal elements
of verses one and two in this chapter. So they’ve been enlightened. They know some things. What’s
next? Look at verse four. They’ve tasted
of the heavenly gift. Well, this has to be a Christian. On this clue as to the identity
of these people, we have two questions. What does it mean
to taste and what is the heavenly gift? Regarding the gift, there
are a number of suggestions, forgiveness, grace, redemption,
salvation, the gospel, the Holy Spirit. Those are all gifts of
God. Those are all spoken of as gifts in scripture, but recall
this undefined group, even if hypothetically is said to ultimately
lose their salvation. We can’t have that. And so there
is yet another option that fits the bill. It’s the gospel of
Jesus Christ is a gift. Jesus Christ is God’s gift to
the world as the gospel presents him and many times over declared
that he had come from heaven. He is a heavenly gift. This fits
well when we consider what it is to taste. To taste a thing
is to learn of it, to have an experience of it, even to enjoy
it. This cannot possibly be salvation. Salvation cannot be sampled. Likewise, the other elements
that we considered, forgiveness can’t be sampled, redemption,
God’s grace. But the gospel may be heard,
tasted, pondered, and grasped, and understood, even known and
rejected. This is not a Christian. He’s
been enlightened, he’s tasted of the heavenly gift. Look at
the third statement. He’s been made a partaker of
the Holy Spirit. You say, that does it. Because
to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit is essentially what it means
to be a Christian. And this is clearly the stickiest
clue on the list. How can it be said that these
people have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and then fell
away? Doesn’t that mean they lost their salvation? Only genuine
believers can receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and since
they can’t lose their salvation, they can’t lose the Holy Spirit.
To answer this, we have to know what the Holy Spirit’s role is,
and His tasks are many and varied. Much of the Holy Spirit’s tasks
are unobservable to the human eye. what one expositor referred
to as the gifts and operations and influences of the Holy Spirit.
And he goes on to say that such activities can lead to the new
birth. As we observe the Holy Spirit
in action in our world, in our realm, that can lead us to salvation. He goes on and says, the spiritual
experience of the heavenly gift may be followed by spiritual
experiences of the Holy Spirit, which set their seal upon the
hearts of those individuals who’ve experienced that gift of grace.
We just talked about that in baptism and laying on of hands.
But there are other actions of the Holy Spirit that are indeed
observable to believers and unbelievers. Great miracles like those done
by Jesus and the apostles. Those who observe them could
well be said to be partakers of the Holy Spirit. They saw
him at work. As one careful scholar put it,
Men who are never converted are yet the subjects of a divine
influence. Just like the entire world right
now has a running testimony from God of his existence in the things
that are made. Men who are never converted are
yet the subjects of divine influence, and it is their resisting this
influence which constitutes one of the greatest of their sins.
The persons here described then were persons who not only enjoyed
what has been termed the common influences of the Holy Spirit,
but his miraculous gifts, who not only witnessed the effects
of these gifts in others, but were partakers of them themselves. They were partakers. I mean,
how else could Jesus issue one of the other, probably three
most strongest warnings in all of Scripture, Matthew 7? Just
listen. Many will say to me on that day,
Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Had we not did
we not partake of the Holy Spirit? Did we not prophesy in your name
and in your name cast out demons in your name, perform many miracles? And as you know, he will say
he will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you
who practice lawlessness. The description sounds to me
like they were partakers of the Holy Spirit who fell away. They
weren’t indwelled by the Holy Spirit. They were partakers. They knew that the Holy Spirit
existed. They knew the truth of God. Look at the fourth statement. They tasted, likewise, the good
word of God, the whole message of God’s plan of redemption,
the substitutionary sacrifice, the mercy of God, blood atonement,
salvation by grace through faith, the whole good message from God. They tasted, they heard it. They
interacted with it. They had questions about it.
They’d heard about God’s gracious plan of redemption again. They
tasted it. In that regard, they had indeed
fulfilled that God had indeed fulfilled his promise to redeem
sinners. They tasted it. But just like
the heavenly gift, they tasted it merely. They did not take
it in by faith. Look at the fifth statement.
Enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, made partakers of the Holy
Spirit, tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the
age to come. His final clue here is not difficult
to grasp. He’s certainly not attributing
to these unknown individuals some ability to look down into
the future to witness some supernatural power. No one has that ability
except God. It was that they had witnessed
the supernatural power of God in their day, a power that will
be at work throughout all eternity. They saw in Christ and his apostles
miracles and signs and wonders and all of that in addition to
the countless day-to-day miracle of God’s creation and the sustenance
of God’s creation, they witnessed the almighty power of God. It
was not only the power witnessed in the day in which they lived,
this power was also of the age to come. And so these had been
instructed of divinely given truth they had experienced by
hearing and understanding the gospel of Christ. They witnessed
the surging power of the Holy Spirit, and they had come to
behold God’s unfolding plan of redemption, observing the very
power of Almighty God, and yet tragedy strikes. Even with all
of that, it fell away. Look at verse 6, Now again, our
writer is talking to people about another group of people. It is a warning to them as professing
believers in Christ, but he warns them by way of those who enjoyed
such great spiritual privileges, but who in the end did not persevere
so as to be saved. Not only did they not mature
in their faith, they abandoned the faith entirely. This falling
away is referred to in scripture as apostasy. And as horrible
as that thought is, it must be clearly understood what is and
what is not apostasy. What does it mean to fall away?
John Brown accurately guides our understanding when he says
this, this apostasy does not consist in an occasional falling
into actual sin. I’ve counseled with, talked with
many Christians who, in the course of their fall into one of Satan’s
pitfalls, into real dreadful sin, have even begun, based on
this passage, to doubt their salvation. John Brown says, that’s
not apostasy. If you care, that’s not apostasy. If you’re ashamed, that’s not
apostasy. He says, this does not consist
in an occasional falling into actual sin, however gross and
aggravated, nor in the renunciation of some of the principles of
Christianity. From time to time we learn of a professing brother
that has maybe a different nuance, a little bit different understanding
of how Christianity works. That is not apostasy. But he goes on to describe what
apostasy is. He says, but in an open, total,
determined renunciation of all the constituent principles of
Christianity and a return to a false religion, such as that
of unbelieving Jews or heathens, or to determined infidelity and
open ungodliness. That is apostasy. And the sad
thing is that our church knows several of those. They walked
with us, they sat with us, they sang with us, they fellowshiped
with us, and now they say that they don’t believe any of it.
That’s apostasy. Another scholar described apostasy
in this way. He said, falling away does not
mean falling into sin. Even grievous sin. but renouncing
the faith of Christ wholly. It is called sinning willfully,
apostatizing against experience and better knowledge. And that is what those, them,
they, remember them? The subjects of this section?
This was their great sin, they fell away, they apostatized.
Though they had learned so much and witnessed so much and tasted
so much, just like the nation of Israel in the wilderness,
these, just as their forefathers had done, rejected finally and
completely the gospel of Christ. They rejected Christ himself.
No true Christian could ever do that. So these were not weak Christians,
merely immature Christians or any other kind of Christians.
These are those who interfaced with and experienced Christ and
Christianity. They had all the information
they needed and they still rejected it because they were never saved. They were never regenerated.
For such sinners it is, from man’s point of view, impossible
to bring such back around to gospel sensitivity. It’s impossible,
he says. They knew, they experienced,
they rejected. With God, all things are possible.
God can do anything, and I would say as long as they breathe,
there is hope of repentance. But it’s gonna have to be a work
of God in their hearts, not a good sermon, not a passionate friend,
From man’s point of view, his job is done. He has been faithful
to proclaim Christ. His friends, about whom he was
so hopeful, have turned their back on our beloved Savior. And were they to do so, it would
be as an unbelieving rejection of the re-crucifixion of Christ. It is as if they would ignore
Christ while he were on the cross. Once in history was not enough. The shame, the degradation, the
rejection. As one pastor put it, to crucify
again is to put him to open shame, to make a public spectacle or
example of him as a malefactor and false Christ. deserving his
ignominious death. And you say, those first century
Jews, what a frightening thing. But how is this an enduring admonition
for us? One faithful shepherd spoke it
very clearly when he said, this miserable class of men is not
extinct. Still it is a truth, substantiated
by two abundant evidence, that men who have made very considerable
attainments in this knowledge of Christianity, who seem to
have, who really had considerable enjoyment in their religion,
who were striven with by the Holy Spirit, who enjoyed high
perfection and advantages of the gospel, and who had its powers
brought to bear on them with considerable energy, have from
a variety of cases renounced Christianity altogether, neglecting
its ordinances, openly denying its divine origin, and living
in habitual ungodliness. He says it’s an admonition for
our day. It’s an enduring admonition. And our faithful friend rounds
out this solemn exhortation with a vibrant illustration taken
from the natural world. Look, if you would, at verses
seven and eight. For the ground that drinks the rain which often
falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful for those for
whose sake it is tilled receives a blessing from God. But if it
yields thorns and thistles it is worthless and close to being
cursed and it ends up being burned. Here is a simple illustration
two fields side by side both contain the same quality soil. Both receive the same quality
seed. Both enjoy the same beneficial
rain. It’s biblical imagery. Genesis
1, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants, fruits, trees. One of my favorite Psalms, Psalm
65, you visit the earth and cause it to overflow, you greatly enrich
it. The stream of God is full of
water. You prepare their grain for thus
you prepare the earth. You water its furrows abundantly,
you settle its ridges, you soften it with showers, you bless its
growth. The same exact conditions. Except that one field sprouts
and blooms and bears fruit, the other simply does not. becomes
a weedy, barren wasteland, such as the one who hears the gospel,
learns of God, tastes the gifts and words of God, and does not
come to salvation. Here’s the comparison between
the humble, mature child of God and the unbelieving sinner who
is ever ready to reject the Savior completely, to one Every drop
of the magnificent grace of God is taken in and appropriated
as a continuous act of gratitude to the giver, to the other. Every blessing
of divine revelation is ignored and ultimately squandered. It’s
a constant and utter act of rejection. And here, too, is biblical imagery Genesis 3, cursed is the ground,
both thorns and thistles it shall grow. It’s a powerful illustration
that he uses for a powerful piece of persuasion. We’re just thankful that the
writer doesn’t end here. He concludes with good news,
hopeful news, positive news. Look at verse 9, which verses
we’ll get to next Lord’s Day. He says, but beloved, we are
convinced, I’m absolutely convinced of better things concerning you.
I know that you won’t go this course. We are convinced of better
things concerning you and things that accompany salvation. We
see God’s fingerprint upon you. We see the work of salvation
already being manifest in and through you. Even though we’re
speaking this way, he had to give this warning, even though
he’s absolutely convinced. Look at verse 10 for God is not
unjust to forget your work and the love which you have shown
toward his name in having ministered and in still ministering to the
saints, they didn’t earn their salvation. This was proof of
God working through them. This is proof of God’s grace,
not a means of earning his grace. glance at verse 11, the last
piece of good news with which we’ll close. We desire that each
of you show the same diligence. Press on, he says, so as to realize
the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not
be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. So the question with which we’re
left this morning is, are you Are you growing in grace? Are you further along in your
Christian life than you were 10 years ago? Five years ago? Even a year ago, there should
be growth. There should be signs. Are there areas of your life
that you could identify both areas of growth and areas where
you need God’s grace for growth? Are you growing in your hatred
of sin and in sin’s deadly effects? Do you hate what it does to families,
what it does to individuals, what it does to nations? When
you stumble, do you detest it or do you make excuses? What about this, is your love
for Christ ever increasing? Do you love him and study him
and talk to him and talk about him and obey him and serve him? Do you love his word and his
church and his people? Do you hunger for his word like
a child yearns for its bottle? Does scripture still intrigue
you? Is there an unquenchable thirst
to it? Those are signs of a maturing
child of God. Would you humble yourself before
him in prayer? Our merciful God, this passage
that we were so seized by, caught off guard by,
even alarmed at. We now thank you for, we rejoice
in this passage. We’re thankful for this description
of those, them, they. It is a warning to us. And we
should plead for your grace to heed this warning. We don’t want
to be among them. We desire that you would so work
in our lives that we would be the exact opposite of those. That we would be as your children
growing and flourishing like that fertile field we see at
the end of his illustration. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your work of
grace in our lives. And Lord, we pray that you would
make it clear to us those areas of our lives that need to be
attended to, that need to be weeded, that need your grace. Lord God, we thank you for the
privilege that we have to gather in worship, And we do ask for
your blessing again, that you would lift this so-called ban
and that you would allow us to once again worship as you have
commanded us to do. Lord God, we thank you and we
praise you. We plead for your grace. We pray
all of these things in Jesus name. Amen.