Hebrews 6:1-12 “So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely, we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come — and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing Him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.
When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.”
This last Sunday, Pastor Herk of “The Little Church in the Pines” at Bass Lake in California preached on the persevering faith of Christians. God works in and through ordinary people in a powerful way to produce both ordinary and extraordinary results and faithful, diligent people of God persevere; they do not give up. Every “Child of God” (John 1:12-13) has the potential to be empowered by God. And the way that we live our everyday lives as disciples of Jesus, radiating the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25), affects the ways that we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us so that we can bring the joy and peace of God through Christ to others.
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Hebrews was written to people of God under persecution for following Jesus. Chapter Six of the book of Hebrews warns us about turning away from the only One (Jesus Christ), who can keep us from destruction. The Word of God in the Holy Scriptures of Hebrews Six is as true in the year of the Lord 2021 as it was in the tie that the letter was originally written. Pastor Herk gave us three points for every Christian to consider from this passage of Scripture and they are (1) danger, (2) diligence, & (3) declaration.
(1) What is the danger? If Jesus Christ is not at the center of your life, then you are in danger. We are never going to be the people that God wants us to be, if we reject Jesus as Savior and Lord of our life. God has a good plan for each one of His children and wants us to accomplish certain things in our lives, but if we reject Christ and go our own way, then those accomplishments will never happen and we’ll never become all that God wants us to be. We will never be the people that He wants us to be if our lives today are no different than they were before we were saved; no repentance, no conversion of the soul, no transformation of the heart, no regeneration of the spirit, no transfer of authority and no changing of the mind. If we have taken the gift of Salvation like a life insurance policy and haven’t changed our lives, then you have declared Jesus Christ as Savior, but not Lord of your life, and have a false salvation because (as in original sin) you are god and lord of your own life still, choosing right from wrong; you made yourself an idol, deserving God’s wrath against such sinful rebellion against your just and holy Maker. There’ll be Hell to pay. In the words of the great philosopher Sponge Bob, “Good luck with that.”
1 John 1:5-7 “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
So, following Jesus has some difficult prerequisites. To move forward in the Christian life, we need to make an effort to live according to the Will and the Purposes of God. The Apostle writes of the danger to those who have been enlightened, who have been (spiritually speaking) brought out of darkness and into God’s light of truth and righteousness, and then choosing to return and live in the darkness of sin. If we have been brought from darkness into Gods light and decide to return back to the darkness of sin, then what have we accomplished? People who have experienced that free gift of redemptive salvation in repentance and the joy of knowing that God has forgiven their sins and the goodness, gift and power of the Holy Spirit operating in their lives, then choose to reembrace their old sinful thoughts and wander back into the sinful things of the God-rejecting world are doomed to eternal damnation – For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened. People hear the “Good News” of the gospel and the truth of the Bible, then reject or wet-down God’s holy Word, fitting their own self-made Theology into with a false god and doctrine created in their own image are fooling themselves; it cannot be done.
Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on faithful perseverance in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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