Stay Clear Of The Edge!

I'd ask you now to take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews. So we get a taste of the whole context. I'll be reading from Hebrews 5, verse 11 through 6, verse 20. Our text for this morning is verses 4 through 8. but you need to get the feel for the whole thing. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11 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 an infant. 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 and laying on of hands the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment and this we will do if God permits for it is impossible in the case of those 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 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 is 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. Though we speak in this way, 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 in 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 for when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by whom to swear he swore by himself saying surely I will bless you and multiply you and thus Abraham having patiently waited obtained the promise for people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Father, now open our text to us that we might understand, not just understand, Lord, but that we would hear your word and obey it, that we would change, that we would walk in the way that you would have us to walk. We are thankful. And we pray now, Lord, that he would become very dear to us in this hour. Thank you now in Jesus' name. Amen. You've gone to Arizona to fulfill a dream that you always had, and that's to see the Grand Canyon. and not being the touristy kind of person that most people are.

You want to go along the paths, along the trails that other people don't typically go, those less traveled paths, the ones that are out of the way. And you're walking through some of the forest that surrounds the canyon when suddenly on this path you come across an old sign that says, warning, if you go any further you're dead. turn around now. And so, well, you turn yourself around.

You don't go anywhere near that sign. You don't go past that sign because you're saying to yourself, I better steer clear of the edge. I'm not in the mood to die today. All right? And so off you go. Well, in our text this morning, verses 4 through 8, we have a warning.

A warning to stay away from the edge and the fall into eternal destruction. Now like that sign on the canyon trail, it's a warning intended to keep you from destruction. And it isn't an empty warning. If you ignore it, you certainly will fall into eternal judgment. Now in this section that we read, our Hebrew pastor, as we've noted, gives us both warning and encouragement.

This morning, we're going to look at the warning. And the next time we visit Hebrews, we will see his encouragement. But today, we look at the warning. Now let's recall where we've been. This sermon, called Hebrews, is written to people who, because of the pressures of persecution, have been tempted to abandon their faith in Jesus. And so our Jewish pastor has devoted this sermon, this entire book, to persuading them to hold on to Jesus rather than retreating to the familiar territory of their old covenant ways He does this by displaying the superiority of Jesus to the old ways that they were familiar with and by warning them of the dire consequences that will surely follow if they abandon Jesus.

Now last time we heard him in chapter 5 verse 11 through 6 verse 3, he tells us about the danger of spiritual laziness that causes you to remain infants. And as we noted, he's making the point it's a dangerous place to be. Now he presses on with a particular alarming, a particularly alarming warning. And here's what we want to note today. it's a strong alarm to keep you from the deadly apostasy of leaving Jesus.

So let's look at these verses, verses 4 through 8. And we, pardon me, 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 if they have fallen away, 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. Well, what's the first thing that God says to us here? He says, you heed the warning. You heed the warning. Who should heed this warning? You.

All of you who are sitting here this morning. As you come to understand this text as we go through it today, understand it's addressed to you. Don't think about the person sitting next to you. Okay? don't think about the person who might fit this description don't think about the Methodists and the Presbyterians and the Episcopalians who obviously have their theology wrong don't be thinking about other people you think about you God addresses this warning to you all of you who are sitting here this morning pay attention this is not addressed to some hypotheticals out there some people we may know it's addressed to you you've got to understand that note how the recipients are addressed.

He says these are ones who have once been enlightened, once indicating the decisive moment of enlightenment. In chapter 10, verse 32, he uses the same term where he says to these people, but recall the former days when after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. And then describes those sufferings. So it's addressed to those enlightened.

It is those who have tasted the heavenly gift. It speaks of that gift that comes from heaven. I believe he's talking about our salvation. And tasted doesn't mean merely sipping or taking a little bit, sampling the dish. In chapter 2, verse 9, this word is used where it says, so that by the grace of God, he, that is Jesus, might taste death for everyone.

Tasting there, with Jesus tasting death, it doesn't mean he sampled death, does it? It means he actually was fully partaking of death. He talks about those who have shared in the Holy Spirit. The reception of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is the very definition of a Christian. shared not merely becoming acquainted with the workings of the Holy Spirit in chapter 2 verse 14 that word shared is used in this way since therefore the children share in flesh and blood he himself referring to Jesus likewise partook there's our word or shared of the same things in other words Jesus didn't sample humanity humanity he became human he says those who have tasted the goodness of the word of God.

The same word that's used before. They feasted on the word of God. Those who have tasted the powers of the age to come. Again, the same word. They have enjoyed the blessings of the age to come. That age has invaded this present age and we are able to enjoy its blessings through faith.

They've enjoyed those blessings in a powerful way. In other words, He speaks to you believers here. He doesn't want you to take the easy way out and pin this on someone else. Oh, I'm a Christian. I don't have anything to worry about. I'll listen, but it doesn't apply to me.

He's talking to you. Now, the bottom line here, I know you're already thinking the big question. Can we lose our salvation? We'll get to that. But right now, don't even ask that question. right now understand what God is saying. The bottom line is this.

Do not be complacent. Do not be complacent. Too many people have the attitude, well, I've been saved by Jesus. I'm all set. I'm headed for glory. Whew, I'm glad I prayed the prayer and everything's going to be fine.

To those kind of people, the journey to glory is like taking a journey on a cruise ship. right come on okay just relax but scripture describes our journey as one that is full of suffering and temptation temptation and suffering that entices you to leave and abandon the walk you have following Jesus as a disciple these are not just little things These are incredible pressures to abandon your walk with Jesus We are indeed on a ship. We are steaming our way to glory. But God sends warnings of great storms for which we must prepare or we will sink.

He's not fooling around with us here. God speaks to you this morning to keep you from complacency. Now already, as I look at your faces and I know you already, some of your hearts are starting to do this as you hear this text. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. You need to understand we cannot be complacent in our walk when it comes to Jesus.

Now he gives an illustration in verses 7 and 8 that helps us to understand it. He describes here those who have in some sense experienced these blessings, I believe, where he talks about the rain that falls on some land and produces wonderful fruit and blesses those people, and the same rain falls on other land and it produces thorns and thistles. Two pieces of land who've been exposed to these rains of the blessings that he has just described.

Some who've experienced those rains produce abundant crops. They have the effect of producing good fruit to the blessing of everyone. And that land, that rain accomplishes something good. However, others who've been exposed to those blessings produce thorns and thistles. Instead of producing good crops, this pasture of ground produces nothing of value.

It produces something that isn't even valuable at all. these people will face the judgment of God they will be cursed and they will face eternal judgment here he uses the word burned and he doesn't talk about burning the thorns and the thistles he talks about burning the land now I believe that God then addresses this to anyone who professes faith in Christ to anyone who professes faith now Now, know the danger in the warning. What exactly is the danger that he's warning against? If you want to catch the danger contained in this text, you have to pay attention to the sentence here, which starts in verse 4 and goes into verse 6.

And in the middle, I have all these qualifiers, right? all these qualifiers all these things about um tasted and shared and all those things those are qualifiers so if you want to read the sentence simply it says in verse four and then drop down to verse six for it is impossible to restore them again to repentance there's the danger reaching a place where it is impossible to repent. Wow. We're talking serious stuff here, aren't we?

There can come a place where it is impossible to repent. That's the danger. That's the danger. A heart so hard that there remains no possibility of repentance any longer. Now I believe that the phrase that's translated here, and then have fallen away, should read, if they have fallen away. If one who has experienced the great blessings of salvation falls away, there's no hope of recovery.

There's none. Now why is that? It goes on. It talks about this in verse 6. Why is that? Because they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. in such a case you crucify once again the son of God to your harm if you abandon your hope in Jesus if you decide he's not worth the suffering that following him brings you are in the same place as the ones who crucified him that is to say along with them you declare he's not the Christ He isn't who he claims to be.

Crucify him. Right? So if you get to that point, you're actually agreeing with the people who said he isn't who he claims to be. So if you abandon Jesus, if you say I'm done and you walk away, you're saying he's not the one. He's not the one who can save. and that's exactly what you affirm if you walk away that action holds him up to contempt it's the idea of anyone who's crucified is held up to contempt if you abandon your hope in Jesus if you decide he's not worth the suffering that following him brings you are like the ones who mocked him spit on him placed the crown of thorns on his head and nailed him to the cross in open shame.

That's what would be true. And that is exactly what will happen if you walk away from him. In essence, he's no savior. Now, if that's what you believe, which these actions indicate, then you can see why it's impossible to restore them to repentance. Because the very object of their faith they no longer believe is the one who can save them you see now why he says that now I want to challenge you here for a moment what is your attitude what is your attitude when someone has been prayerfully and carefully and properly disciplined from the church and they walk away not caring a thing about the warnings they have received in the whole process.

Warnings from the word of God. What do you think? Do you think oh man what a shame He been taken off the roles of the membership I hope he can find another place to worship Is that your attitude Or is it this? Please, repent. Because if you don't, your heart will get so hard that repentance will be impossible for you. Is that your attitude?

What about if someone starts? Here in the congregation, someone you know, long before the elders are even aware. But surely and slowly, walking away from the fellowship of believers, becoming absent from their assembly, bit by bit surrendering to the desires that they've gotten tired of fighting and are giving themselves over. Do you say to yourself, oh, it's too bad that she's not walking with the Lord now.

Or instead, do you say, stop, don't go any further. the path you're taking can result in the curse of God come back is that your attitude what about you when you have those first thoughts about pitching it all because the life of a disciple is not worth the pain and the agony of fighting temptation what happens when when that first appears in your mind you toy with the idea of giving over to those desires that prove so insistent because it's just so much easier than following Jesus or do you take yourself in hand and say if I keep thinking this way and if I keep going this way I may reach the point of impenitence and facing the wrath of God is that what you say to yourself do you instead turn to your sympathetic high priest who has suffered like you and knows all the temptations and the sufferings that you face and you turn to him and you cry out to him who knows exactly where you are and who sympathizes with you and you ask him, help me. You will then find a savior who will come alongside and help you. But do you do that?

Do you cry out to Him? I remember, and I will call him, I'll just call him, I'll call him T.J. right now. I remember T.J. who was once a member here and a dear, dear friend. He came to LaRue Baptist Church on fire! On fire! He came here because his pastor, who he had when he was in college, had said, if you go back home, go to LaRue Baptist Church.

And he came here. And I'm telling you, this guy was on fire. He knew the five points of Calvinism, inside and out. And he would battle any Arminian who crossed his path. He talked to people about Christ. He read great and wonderful books.

He loved to talk about spiritual things. And when he was in trouble, he wanted answers from the word of God and nowhere else. After a number of years here, he was required to move because of his job. He joined another church and we would visit him. I can still see the church. We would visit him on occasion.

But then he started to miss. And he started to make excuses about missing, about how he couldn't. And soon he was involved in some things. He started drinking a lot. As I would come across his path periodically, we ended up in discussions about some of the basic doctrinal convictions he once had, disavowed them all. Absolutely disavowed them all.

I remember sitting in Starbucks with him one evening, pleading with him and warning him that if he continued down this path, he would end up with an unbelieving hard heart and the impossibility of repentance. I offered to help him in his struggles. I offered to walk with him. But he wouldn't have it. He wouldn't have it. He did not heed the warning. and yes, it appeared he had come to the place of impenitence.

Had he crossed the line? Is he beyond the hope? I don't know. I don't know if he's crossed that line. But let me say to you, do you want to be in the place where anyone's asking that question? Don't even get that far.

Pay attention. to what this warning says and do something with it. Don't just pass it off. Do something. Look at your heart. Take note of your ways. The last thing I want to point out to you is this.

Know the purpose of the warning. What is the purpose of this warning? is the purpose of this warning to tell you that you can lose your salvation. I don't think so. I don't think that's what it's saying. Well, why? You've just preached it like we could.

No, I don't believe anyone can lose their salvation. If we compare Scripture to Scripture, it's clear that God sees His people to the end. he does see us to the goal he does see us to the end take into account other scriptures John chapter 6 which purposely you heard this morning all that the Father this is Jesus all that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out for I have come down from the dead not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day. You can't get any stronger than that, can you? All those given to Jesus, all those who flee to Jesus, who repent and believe, will be raised. He's not going to lose any of them. John chapter 10, the great shepherd chapter.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. By the way, that can be translated, given the form of the Greek grammar there. they will never ever perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

I and the Father are one. Now some would say, yeah, but you can jump out. Don't give me that. Nothing, he says, will ever get you out of the Father's hand. Alright? Alright?

Romans chapter 8 and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified an unbroken chain of certainty from justification to glorification. He goes on, For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. There it is.

And we could go on and on with other passages. 1 Thessalonians 5, 13 and 14. Philippians chapter 1. verse 6, and on we could go. And you know more of those passages. Recall as well what the Apostle John says in 1 John 2, verse 9. 1 John 2, verse 9.

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. So the Bible does not give us the the idea that we can lose our salvation.

What about this warning then? Well, you've already heard one purpose, and that is don't be complacent. Don't be complacent. All right? That's so important for us to see. The purpose of this warning is to produce the perseverance that God requires.

It's given to produce the perseverance. You say, yes, but God guarantees we're going to make it. So why does he even say that? alright you know obviously you know we deep in the waters of theology here and it good for you so I want you to hear this now Keep this in mind Here some good theology a good theological explanation that you need to tuck away.

Here it is. God is not only the God of ends, he's the God of means. Let me say that again. Some of you aren't writing this down. You need to write this down. God is not just the God of ends.

He's the God of means. What do we mean by that? God is not just a God of ends. He will bring all his children to glory. But he is also a God of means. And this is the way he brings them to glory.

He gives them warnings. This is how he accomplishes his purposes. You need to persevere, he says, and if you don't, there's destruction. What is that going to do? It moves you to perseverance. It's the very thing that he uses to bring you to glory, right?

Now, some of you are visitors here, and this may surprise you. Those who've been here for a long time, it's no surprise this interstatement of faith. We believe in predestination. We believe that God has chosen his people from before the foundations of the earth. Who's going to be saved. So that means that in this place, you never hear the gospel preached from this pulpit, right?

You never hear sinners called to repentance, right? No. And no one's impressing upon you the necessity of sharing the gospel with the people that you know and meet, right? No. Why? Because God has not only predestined who will be saved, he's also told us how they will be saved, right?

They'll be saved by the preaching of the gospel. God doesn't just give us the ends. He gives us the means. Same thing here with perseverance. This is intended to say to you, keep going. It's going to move you to perseverance.

Look at Acts chapter 27. This is a real life. this is a wonderful picture of God as the God of ends and the God of means so Acts 27 here's the story Paul's on his way to Rome they put him on a ship and he tells him hey don't sail because you know I'm pretty familiar with the Mediterranean this is the bad time of the year to sail but the captain says no we're going and so off they go they get in the middle of this storm I mean this storm goes on literally for a couple weeks they are they are really getting beaten around on this ship all right so that's the that's the story everyone's scared to death let's pick it up in verse 27 when the 14th night get that when the 14th night can you imagine getting beat up for two weeks when the 14th night had come as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing net land nope i'm sorry we need to go to verse 21 that's where we need to start all right verse 21 here we go since they had been without food for a long time paul stood up among them and said men you should have listened to me and not have set sail from crete and incurred this injury and loss paul was a normal guy you notice that? He said, you know what he's saying here?

I told you so. Okay. But that's not germane to what we're talking about. It's just, I mean, there it is. Told you so. He says, yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship.

For this very night, there stood before me an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I worship. and he said do not be afraid Paul you must stand before Caesar And behold God has granted you all those who sail with you which later is 276 people are on this ship All 276 are going to be fine. Okay? So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I've been told, but we must run aground on some island.

So what is he saying? He says, hey, guys, all of us are going to be okay. No one's going to die. Now let's keep going. out anchors from the bow paul said to the centurion and the soldiers unless these men stay in the ship you cannot be saved then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat let it go wait a minute wait a minute okay let me get this straight god says everyone all 276 are going to be saved yep and then these sailors start cut start getting on the lifeboat and paul says to the soldiers here's the old army navy battle coming up he says hey if those guys get away we're not going to make it and so the soldiers cut the ropes so we're all stuck on the ship now now drop down to verse 39 now when it was day they did not recognize the land but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore so they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach but striking a reef they ran the vessel aground the bow struck and remained immovable and the stern was being broken up by the surf the soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners lest any should swim away and escaped but the centurion wishing to save paul kept them from carrying out their plan he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship and so it was that all were brought safely to land now what's the point of that whole story here's the point god said you're all going to be saved all right so what did they do great let's just go down into the lower parts of the ship and just wait is that what they did no they started throwing out anchors to slow the ship down and he said if those guys get done with their plan we're going to be lost because guess what we need sailors to do this right right when they see land what do they do they do all their things they they let loose the ropes on the rudder they cut loose the anchors they hike the forest so that they can runner aground hit a reef instead and everyone's saved what's the point the point is simply this god said everyone will be saved but he also said, these guys got to stay aboard, or you're not going to make it.

Yeah, God doesn't just tell us the end, he tells us the means, and we have to understand that. So you see, the very warning that threatens judgment is the very thing that God uses to keep you from judgment. When you hear this, what are you going to do? You're going to say, wow, I need to pay attention, I can't be complacent. remember that old sign on the trail a fall is going to be fatal it says to you but the sign that warned you was the means that kept you from dying right if you go any further than this you a dead man so what do you do You keep going No You turn around and go the other way Here's the purpose of that warning.

To keep you from complacency. God's not only guaranteed you make it to glory. God says, here's the way you're going to make it. The storms are coming. Be ready for them. We're not on a cruise ship.

We're on a ship that's going to go through storms and difficulties and you need to make preparations or you'll sink. In your life, that's what you need to do. So where are you today? You may be one who walked in here today thinking, is this all worth it? Is this worth it? My life is, I mean, I'm fighting temptation.

I'm tired of it. The suffering seems to be too much. if I just let go and just went my own way, life would be easier. Maybe that's where you were when you walked in today. I hope that's not where you are now. Maybe you have the attitude, once saved, always saved, which is true, but what does that make you do then? Once saved, always saved.

You know what? If I go off into this sin over here that I'm really tempted to and I just run that way. It's okay. I'm going to make it to heaven. I'll just have my good times now and I'll still get my reward in heaven. Wrong!

Wrong! By the way, the Bible doesn't say one saved always saves. It says one saved you will persevere. That's what it says. Now some of you are scared right now. Some of you are scared and you're saying, am I a believer? will I make it and to you I say God didn't intend to give this to you to make you doubt your salvation the writer here at by the way I would encourage you this afternoon keep reading the rest of the chapter there's more to this story all right it's not intended to scare the liver out of he's saying to you you're following Jesus keep going this isn't written to say oh man am I saved will I make it you will make it keep going keep following don't abandon don't abandon the ship you keep going that's what it's intended to do so are you listening have you heard god in faith ask jesus to strengthen you in faith the answer is not to just oh i gotta work harder the answer is to say oh lord jesus you've made you've made promises of salvation help me to keep believing.

Father, thank you for your word. I pray, Father, as landed on years that would hear, I pray that you have changed hearts today. I pray, Lord, that we would take heed to the warning. Father, I pray that we would not think in terms of wow, am I going to lose my salvation, but we would think rather in terms of thank you, Father, for helping me understand the way to glory.

Help me now, through Jesus, to rely on him and not to abandon my hope in him, but to put my hope in him and no one and anything else. Father, thank you for your word now this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.