Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM- Be Mature ~ Hebrews 6:1-9 ~ Pastor Ryan

All right. Good morning, church family. Really good to see you guys. I'm glad you all are here.

I invite you to stand with me. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we come before you this morning and we thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here. Thank you for allowing us to be in your house and in your presence this morning. What is that? As we just spend some time in worship, Lord, let's pray that we would that we would sit everything aside to focus on you, to lavish praise upon you, Lord, because you are worthy of all praise, Lord.

You're worthy of all honor and glory. And so we just want to glorify you this morning. In Jesus name. Amen.

Lost without hope, with no place to begin.

Your love made a way to lend mercy command.

When death was arrested, my life began.

Ash was redeemed, only beauty remained.

My orphan heart was given a name.

My mourning grew quiet, my feet rose to dance. When death was arrested, my life began. Sing it out. Oh, your grace washes over these two my chains. I was a ransom, faithful.

He canceled my death and he called me in. Darkness rejoiced as though it was. Because I know, because I was.

God, we just thank you that in you, Lord, we have new life. Lord God, that we have purpose. Lord God, that. That we were, in fact, made for more. We just thank you for the river of grace, Lord, that is flowing from you, Lord God. We just thank you for your grace and your mercy. Lord, and we just love you, Lord, and we praise you. You guys stand with me for the last one.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. He's been my fourth time after I washed in him. If there's any here this morning, Lord, I pray that today would be the day of salvation. Lord, if there's any part of our lives. That we're holding back from you, I pray that today would be the day that we would trust you with that area of our lives, Lord, or because we know that even when we fail, you don't, and we're not faithful, you are the Lord God, we just love you, Lord, and we praise you.

And now, as Pastor Ryan comes, I just pray that you move mightily by the power of your Holy Spirit or God and speak, speak directly to our lives, speak directly to our hearts and give us the years to hear and heart to receive it. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's take some time and greet one another.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you're here this morning. A handful of things to take note of. Over on the left-hand side, as always, the things going on throughout the week. So find a spot to get plugged into. Middle section, there are still a couple of spots available for the Guatemala trip. But we do need to know today. Today is the deadline to sign up for that.

All the information is right there in the bulletin, including Jana Lumbert's phone number if you need to get a hold of her. A reminder that Vacation Bible School is coming up June 10th through the 12th. Registration will be available soon. Also, there is a workday for those of you that are available this Wednesday from 1 to 3 p.m. So if you have a chance to come out that afternoon for some, to help us out.

If you want to come out a little bit, it would be great. There is a t-shirt fundraiser. That table is there in the back, in the lobby. Or excuse me, in the lobby there in between here and the new building. You can get signed up for that. Also, a reminder that there is intercessory prayer tonight at 6 p.m. Down in the Agape room. And then one last thing is that this coming Saturday, May the 9th, is women's breakfast here at the church.

Breakfast is at 9. And the devotion starts at... 9.30. So, those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 3. Psalm 3. Looking at the New American Standard so that hopefully we sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 3, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Jared. And the... Even verses. Psalm 3. A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. O Lord, how my adversaries have increased. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no deliverance for him in God.

Selah. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me. My glory and the one who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice. And he answered me from his holy mountain. Selah. I lay down and slept, and I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord. Save me, O my God, for you have smitten all my enemies on the cheek.

You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be upon your people. Selah. And so, Father, we praise you that when we cry out to you, you do hear. Both as we pray. As we sang in that song this morning. And as we read in the Psalms here. Lord, I thank you that you always hear when we cry. And, Father, your word says that you save all those who call upon you.

And so, Father, I pray right now that as we prepare to get into your word this morning. That you would give us that illumination of your Holy Spirit. Father, that you would open up the eyes of our understanding, Lord. To know the hope of your calling. The glorious riches of your inheritance in the saints. And the mighty power that works in us, Lord. The same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead.

And I pray that you would give us that fresh vision this morning, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews. Chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6.

This morning we come to one of the more controversial passages in the New Testament. Because it deals with a warning that's very intense. And a warning that we have to pay attention to. And there's a lot of different understandings and interpretations of it. We'll do the best we can to navigate it with Biblical language. And try to stick with what the Word has to say.

But as we came to the end of chapter 5, we said we would start a series called Be Mature. And so today, the series is Be Mature Part 2. And particularly, we're looking at the warning of beware of falling away. Of course, last week, he warned us to beware of immaturity in our lives. That we would not be those who are dull of hearing. That we would not be those who should be patient.

That teachers by now are still in need of instruction. That we would not be those who are milk drinkers, not solid food eaters. And so he warned us about that immaturity in our lives to grow. And today, he's going to continue on with a similar exhortation. But he gets a little bit more intense as he gives us a warning to beware of falling away. And so we pick up in chapter 6 verse 1 and it says this.

Not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Of instruction about washings 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 crucified to themselves the Son of God. And put him to an open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it. And brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled.

Receive 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. Things that accompany salvation. Though we are speaking in this way. Perhaps you understand now why this is a little bit of a controversial difficult section.

Of scripture to go through. I would have loved to skip this part. Right? This is why I have to teach all the way through the word. I watched this thing the other day. This has nothing to do with anything. It's just a bonus nugget for you. I watched a little video. Clip that somebody posted the other day. Of two wannabe theologians. Sitting there saying. You know it really should not be your goal as a pastor.

To say that you've taught all the way through the word of God. And all I could think was. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. They said you know. Jesus wasn't an expositional Bible teacher. The disciples weren't expositional Bible teachers. I'm like you should just stop talking now. Because foolishness continues to pour forth from your mouth.

Because when you go all the way through scripture. You can't avoid the difficult sections like this. And so this is what we come to this morning. So there's three things we're going to look at. By the way. I threw verse nine into this section. Even though it technically belongs to the next section. Because by the time we're done. You're going to need a little bit of hope.

Okay. So the first thing that we want to look at is an exhortation. The second thing that we want to look at is a warning. And the third thing that we'll look at. Is a word of hope. We'll start with the exhortation. He starts off with the word therefore. Which is always a linking word. Because it ties together everything. That we've been talking about. To what he's about to say.

And I'll remind you of the context. That even brings about this warning. As I did previously. In last week's study. But I'll remind you that first of all. The book of Hebrews is being written. Because these Hebrew believers are finding themselves. In a place of being persecuted. Because they have turned away from the law. To follow Jesus. So they're facing persecution.

Not only from the Roman government. Who said that you had to worship Caesar as God. But they're also facing persecution. From the Jewish. From Judaism. Because they had turned away from the law. To follow Jesus. And so they seem to have no place of comfort or safety. And so their tendency is to want to fall away. As we talk about here today. Their tendency is to want to turn back to the law.

Because the law is what's comfortable to them. Because the law is where there's some safety for them. And quite frankly the law makes them feel pretty good about themselves. Because anybody that can check off all the boxes. You're just going to have to go to the law. Because the Jersey feels pretty good about them. Look at all of the things that I've done. And so there was this danger of them going back.

Not just to the law. But even to the entire sacrificial system. And so the writer to the Hebrews. Writes to remind them of the superiority of Christ. Over everything else that has to do with the law. Superiority over angels. Superiority over Moses. And in this current section. Superiority over the high priesthood of Aaron. And so he told them that. While Aaron was a great high priest.

Who was chosen from among men. Who was gentle with people. It was able to offer a temporary salvation through the sacrifices. Jesus is a greater high priest. Because he also was taken from among men. He is able to be gentle with people. But he offers an eternal salvation. Because he is of a different priesthood than Aaron. He is of the priesthood of Melchizedek.

And he said I'd love to tell you more about Melchizedek. Which he will in the next chapter. He said but unfortunately. You can only handle so much right now. Because you can't handle so much right now. Because you have become dull of hearing. There is much to learn about Christ. But therefore since you have become dull of hearing. Since you are still in need of the elementary instruction.

And since you are a milk drinker. Not a solid food eater. Therefore. Leaving the elementary teachings about Christ. Let us press on to maturity. He starts by telling them two things that they need to do. Number one they need to leave behind. The element teachings of Christ. We sort of identified this a little bit last week. As the ABC's of faith. But we need to understand in the greater context.

Of what he is talking about here. What the ABC's of the faith are for these Hebrew believers. These elemental things of the faith. These ABC things of the faith. As David Guzik put it in his commentary. Those things with a common ground. Between Judaism and Christianity. Those things with a common ground. Between Judaism and Christianity. Those things with a common ground.

between Judaism and Christianity we'll deal with this more in a moment when he talks about the foundation but essentially leave behind the old testament principles so that you can press on to maturity the call is the same for you and I we may deal with this a little bit differently than the uh uh than the Jewish believers did at this point in time but eventually we have to leave behind the elementary portions of our faith all of the simple things that brought us to faith and eventually press on to maturity in Jesus Christ and so he says and then you need to not only leave those things behind but you need to press on to maturity the idea is to carry on to that which

is complete to carry on to that which is perfect in its completion in other words we are to press on to a more complete more mature understanding of a walk with Jesus Christ it would be unfortunate for any believer to only know that they're born again and never move on to any sort of a mature walk with Jesus Christ and if I may add this it's not in my notes and it's not something I intended to say it's impossible to move on to a mature walk with Jesus Christ without dealing with the hardships of the current life that we have right now and God uses all of those things if we will allow him to to mature us in our walk with Jesus Christ I would love to tell you that there's an easy

way to get to a mature understanding of who you are in Christ a mature understanding of your walk with Christ a depth of your walk with Christ that comes with an easy button but the fact of the matter is there is no easy button in our walk with Jesus Christ and the things that he uses to get us to a deep walk with him are the difficulties of this present life does God bring more difficulties on us because we're Christians I don't know that I necessarily believe that but does God use every difficulty in our life to mature us in him I definitely believe that because you'll face difficulties in this life whether you're a believer in Jesus Christ or not but when you're

a believer in Jesus Christ those things those things begin to mature you those things begin to grow you in your faith and I think one of the best things that you can do and I've been doing this here recently this has been a process I've been working through uh over the past about month of my life it is looking back over the last 20 some years of my walk with Jesus in particular the last 10 years of me being in the position that I'm in right now and starting to look at the things that have brought me to the place where I am starting to look at the the the difficult things of life that have that have in some ways put wrinkles on my face face and taken hair off of my head although that happened a long time ago some of the difficult things that did that

but but also put the really good wrinkles in my soul and and put the really good marks on my heart are the things that have made me who I am today and I would never go back and repeat any of them on purpose I would never go back and choose any of them again but I thank God for them because those are the things that have caused me to press on to maturity in my faith and that's what he's telling these Hebrew believers to do don't shy away from the difficulties that you're facing in your life right now don't don't shy away from the from the difficult things that that are staring you in the eye right now instead turn and face them and deal with them and press on to maturity

because everything that's happening in your life right now I'm gonna God's going to use for your good and for his glory if you'll let it if you'll let God do that work in you then that's what he's going to do with the difficult things that you face in your life he says you can either go back to the law which is going to end really bad but that's what he's going to do with the difficult bad for them we'll see here in just a minute or you can press on and every day in our life we have to choose to press on he says therefore leaving behind 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 at washings laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment now if you read this list without context you would see those and you would look at those all as the beginnings of christian teaching right but when you read them in the context you realize that what he's actually talking about are old covenant principles that are the foundation for christianity that have a you know a foundation for christianity that have a a foundation for christianity that have a shadow of christ in the old testament but find their substance in christ in the new testament he said let's not go back to the old foundation so let's go through these really quickly he says

first of all let's not go back to laying the foundation of repentance from dead works what does he mean by repentance from dead works well if you read in the book of acts you will find oftentimes paul and the other disciples will ask what were you baptized into and they will say the baptism of john the baptism of john was an old testament type of baptism which was a baptism of repentance it was not a baptism of new birth because in the old covenant the baptism the repentance simply set them free for another year it did not make them brand new on the inside so the foundation is there what's necessary for new life in christ is repentance but that's just the beginning the newness of life is found in christ

so let's not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works but let's not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works the second thing he says is let's not lay again the foundation of faith towards god well faith i mean that's the new covenant right yes but notice that it's not faith in the finished work of jesus christ it's just faith toward god every old covenant believer died in faith but their faith was in god in the promise that he had made of a coming savior not in the not in the substance of the savior that had come and set them free from sin are you understanding their faith is in the shadow let's not go back to the shadow let's move on to the

substance the third thing he says is instruction about washings and if you have a king james or or a new king james it says instructions about baptism which is not actually the proper translation of that word right there the proper translation is washing which carries with it the idea of the old covenant washings that they had to do it's always fascinating to go back and look at the different types of washings that they had to do for cleansing they had to do it in the old covenant cleansing he says let's not go back to the old covenant view of the laying on of hands what does he mean by that well there's two ways that laying on of hands were used in the old covenant one was in the uh in the appointing of new priests they would lay on

hands but i don't think that's what's being referred to here the other part of the laying on of hands had to do with the sacrificial system do you remember what they would do with the substitutionary sacrifice they would lay their hands on the head of the substitute let's not build again an old covenant foundation of a temporary substitutionary sacrifice let's go on to the substance of the complete sacrifice of jesus christ who is the ultimate substitutionary sacrifice for us he says let's not lay again the foundation of the resurrection from the dead which interestingly enough is seen in the old testament both in the psalms and in isaiah 53 and of course

last of all let's not lay again the foundation of the resurrection from the dead which interestingly enough is seen in the old testament both in the psalms and in isaiah 53 and of course of eternal judgment which of course is clearly seen throughout the old testament he says let's leave behind the elemental things the things that have to do with both judaism and christianity and let's press on to maturity and find that in jesus christ who is the substance of everything that was a shadow in the old testament and then i want you to notice what he says next he says in this we will do if god permits and this we will do if god permits interesting phraseology there hopefully it should

ask you a question does that mean we have to convince god to allow us to move on to maturity no what he's saying there is this act of moving on to maturity is an act of the grace of god in your life let lest we think that this moving on to maturity is another system of works that we have to work really hard for that we have to try really hard for that you have to strive really hard for he said this we will do if god permits and this we will do if god permits and this we will do if god permits do if God permits. This we will do if God, by His grace, does this work in our lives. But before He can get to the moving on to maturity, He has to deal with the importance of the leaving behind.

And this comes with a warning. It starts in verse 4. 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 of the good word 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 crucified to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. Now, I'm going to ask you guys to do something for me, okay?

I want to ask you to listen to everything that I say about this and understand that Satan loves to use this particular passage to condemn people. To condemn those who have failed in some sort of way and they go, that's it, I've lost my salvation. And it says it right there, I screwed up, I fell away, I've lost my salvation. Okay, I'm going to try to handle this as accurately biblically speaking as I can, but I want you to hear everything that I have to say. And don't find yourself

freaked out. I understand what that's like because I went through a time in my life where I constantly doubted my salvation. In a passage of scripture like this, I would just move past because it would scare me. I'm like, oh Lord, I don't know what that means. So, so hear everything that I have to say and I'll try to give you the best context that I can to give understanding here.

He says, for in the case of those, and he begins to describe these. Now, remember, this is another thing that links the previous section. Why do we need to leave behind the elements of the gospel? The fundamental things of Christ that have their foundation in the old covenant, which is simply a shadow, not the substance. And why do we need to move on to maturity in our understanding of who

Jesus Christ is as the substance? Why do we need to do that? And why do they need to do that? Because there was a danger that they were facing. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted of the heavenly gifts, who are partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasted of the good word and seen the powers of the ages to come. He describes a group of people that I think that we

need to pay attention to because this is important. He says, these people, first of all, have once been enlightened. The idea behind that word enlightened is a new light has shined both on the mind and the spirit. That's the understanding of that word in the Greek. A new light has shined on both the mind and the spirit. Now, you would think that someone who has been enlightened has

had the veil of the old covenant removed from their eyes. But that's not the case. It's the eyes. And they have now seen the truth of Jesus Christ. So those who have once been enlightened, the second way they're described is that they have tasted of the heavenly gift. I don't know any other way to describe that than salvation. They have tasted of a salvation in Jesus Christ.

They are partakers of the Holy Spirit. In other words, they have a share in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has either been at work to bring them to Christ or to bring them to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been at work in their life once they've come to Christ. They have a share in the Holy Spirit. They have tasted of the good word of God. In other words, they have

experienced the goodness of God's word in their life. And they have experienced the powers of the ages to come. In other words, supernatural power. Some would say miraculous in their lives. This description that's given to us is really hard to get around. This description that's given to us is really hard to get around. It's really hard to get around. It's really hard to get around.

This is really difficult to take in any other way than that these are believers in Jesus Christ. Some commentators don't agree on this. Matter of fact, this is where the major disagreement begins. Some believe that these are not true believers in Jesus Christ that he is talking about here. They just thought that they were true believers in Jesus Christ, like Judas would have been,

or like Simon the sorcerer in the book of Acts, who though showed and displayed what looked, like repentance, weren't really repentant. And then there's some who say, no, these are actually believers in Jesus Christ. We'll deal with this again in just a moment. Whatever it is, we have to realize that these people at least displayed that they were believers in Jesus Christ.

But then I want you to notice what it says. And then have fallen away. They have seen all of the goodness of God. They have seen all of the salvation of God. They have seen the power of the Spirit, supernatural power of the Spirit. They have seen all of the goodness of God. They have seen all of the goodness of God. They have seen all of the goodness of God. They have seen all of the goodness of God. They have

seen what God's word can do in their life. And then they've fallen away. So the real question that comes into play here is, what does fallen away mean? The word fallen away means to deviate from the right path. To deviate from the right path. I want to point something out to you, and several commentators pointed this out, and I think it's important to pay attention to. There is a difference

between fallen and fallen away. There's a difference between fallen and fallen away. We're told in the Psalms that a righteous man may fall seven times, and he rises again. This is a true aspect. We know and understand that as believers in Jesus Christ, there are going to be times that we fall. Do I wish that that weren't true? Yes. Do we have all of the power through the Holy Spirit to keep that from happening? Absolutely. But we are

still men and women made of flesh, that we are but dust, and we will still find ourselves in the midst of sin. We will still find ourselves fallen at some point in time, in some form of sin, big or small. Because that's who we are as human beings. We are imperfect creatures, which is why we're so looking forward to the future that we have. But there's a difference between fallen and getting

back up and fallen away. There actually appears to be a distinct difference there. Because in the aspect of fallen, the idea is that you have fallen into some sort of sin. The idea of fallen away is that you have purposefully deviated from the right path. You have fallen into some sort of sin. You are on the right path. You have departed, and it appears as though you're never coming back. For

those who have fallen away. It says, for those who have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. Why? Because they crucify again the Son of God to open shame. They crucify again the Son of God to open shame. What does that mean? Well, this is the deliberate, malicious, ridiculing of Christ and His work. The deliberate, malicious, ridiculing of Christ and His work. It is a

deliberate returning to a sacrificial shadow over the substance. A deliberate returning to the sacrificial shadow over the substance. This is the danger that is faced when we want ritual over Christ. When we want sacrament over substance. When we want ritual over Christ. When we want ritual over Christ. When we want ritual over Christ. When we want ritual over Christ. When we want ritual over Christ.

Sacraments are a wonderful thing. We're going to partake in one this morning. The sacrament of communion is a beautiful thing. But it is a shadow of the substance which is found in Christ. Baptism is a beautiful thing. I think everybody, as an act of obedience, should be baptized. But it is a shadow of the substance that is found in Christ. And we have to understand that about

these things. And the deliberate returning to the shadow over the substance is a crucifying, of jesus christ and putting him to an open shame the idea is this the first one wasn't enough we need something again the first sacrifice wasn't enough we need something more and that's to say that the sacrifice that we discussed several weeks ago around the the time of the celebration of the resurrection that sacrifice wasn't enough and that puts christ to an open shame and says he was not enough for us after god poured out all of his wrath on him not only physically but spiritually jesus that still isn't enough i also need these other things in order to be saved that is putting

christ to an open shame he says therefore it is impossible to renew them to repentance impossible to renew them to repentance it's important that we take this in its full severity he does not use the word difficult he doesn't say it's difficult to renew them again to repentance he says it's impossible to renew them again to repentance and i would love to soften that word for you but i can't because that wouldn't be me accurately handling what god's word has to say he says if that's what you do if you return to the substance to the shadow over the substance it's impossible to renew them again to repentance now there's several different views of this and i want to go through each of these there's several different views of this warning and i i pulled

these particular words from R. Kent Hughes' commentary, I did not come up with them myself, but I thought it was a great way to look at this. There's three different views mainly of how we handle this warning. The first one is hypothetical. This is a hypothetical warning that if it were possible to do this, then it would be impossible to return to Jesus. It would be impossible to be renewed to repentance.

And this is just a hypothetical warning. If this was something that you did, this would probably be the case, but this is just hypothetical in nature. Here's my problem with the hypothetical warning. My problem with the hypothetical warning is why put it in there? If this isn't something that really is a concern for a believer, then why ever put the warning, why put undue stress on

people if it's just a hypothetical warning? The second is actual. That it is an actual warning to the believer. That it is an actual warning to the believer. That this is an actual danger that a believer can fall into, that they can get to the place where they return to the shadow instead of the substance, and then there is no chance of them ever being renewed to repentance because they have gone back to a

sacrificial system instead of holding on to their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The third view is that this is apparent. In other words, they were just apparent believers in Jesus Christ. That these things are not just apparent. These people that he refers to here as having once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, partakers of the Holy

Spirit, tasted of the good word of God, enjoyed the powers of the ages to come, that they just displayed that they were believers, but they were not really believers in Jesus Christ. And so once they have fallen away, there's no chance of them being, returning and repenting. So which one do I believe? I definitely don't believe one. Because it doesn't make sense to put a hypothetical warning in

there that can't ever happen. I don't know of the other two which ones I believe just yet. And I'm just going to be honest with you about that. I take warnings in the Bible very seriously. And when God puts a warning in the Bible, I don't go, well, that's not me, because I'm a believer. So it doesn't really matter. I don't have to worry about that warning. I think that's a dangerous place for us to get to as believers in

Jesus Christ. I like to take biblical language. And the problem... The problem is, when you take biblical language, sometimes you can go, now wait a second, hold on, I've got to get a drink of water.

In the Bible it says, my sheep know me and I know them by name and no one can snatch them from me. My kids are in my hand and no one can take them away from me. Whoever comes to me is saved and no one can ever take them from me. Like there's a lot of verses in the Bible that bring up an incredible amount of eternal security. And I think that we should rest.

In the eternal security that we have in Jesus Christ. And at the same time, we have to realize how many warnings there are in scripture. This warning here is one that's really important for us to pay attention to. We are given the warning of Simon the sorcerer, who in the book of Acts, saw what was going on with the ministry of, I believe it was Philip, saw the ministry that was going on, said, found himself to be a follower of Jesus Christ and then tried to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit with money and Peter said, your money perish with you.

And he was essentially cursed. And then there's Demas, right? Demas, who's listed three times in the New Testament. Demas was a companion of Paul, who the first time he's mentioned, is mentioned as a fellow brother. The second time he's mentioned, he's mentioned as a faithful servant. And the third time that he's mentioned, he is mentioned as someone who has returned to the world, which is a warning for

all of us. So which is that? Is it? Am I eternally secure in Christ? Or do I need to be warned about falling away? Yes. Yes. And listen, that's a tension we have to live with in Scripture. And the problem that we've run into in our current culture, and listen, there's a lot of people a whole lot smarter than me that if I stood on a stage with one of them, they could probably talk

me in circles with what they know about the Bible. But at the same time, I can't not point out what's in Scripture. You see, we, a long time ago, started attaching ourselves to the doctrines that had men's names. And when we started attaching ourselves to a doctrine that had a man's name on it, that became everything that we followed, and we threw out all the rest of Scripture to follow the doctrine with that guy's name on it.

And we're like, you don't understand, I'm a Calvinist. I believe in eternal security, and I don't care what you say, I can explain away all of the other Scriptures that you have to disprove Calvinism. And then you have on the other end, I'm an Arminianist. I'm an Arminianist. And I can disprove every Scripture that you just gave me to prove that you're a Calvinist with my Arminianist Scriptures.

Well, here's the thing. If both of them have that much ammunition, and this is just a shot in the dark, shouldn't we pay attention to both? If both of them have verses to prove their standing, shouldn't we pay attention to the fact that the Bible says both of those things? That if you're a believer in Jesus Christ and you're walking with Jesus, you can rest in the security that you have in Christ.

But if you're a believer in Jesus Christ and you're towing the line of sin, and you're towing the line of legalism, and you're towing the line of walking away from Jesus, that you should rightly be concerned? The answer is yes. The most important thing is, what are you doing with your walk today? What are you doing with things today? Are you pursuing Jesus?

Are you getting closer to Jesus? Or are you drifting further and further away from the truth? I had a teacher in Bible college, and I always loved this guy for this. He never minded bringing up the controversial issues. And he said, and I've shared this lots of times, he said, if somebody comes to me, and they say, how much can I get away with before I lose my salvation?

I become the biggest Arminius that you can find. And I give them every warning in Scripture. Because at that point in time, I am questioning where they're really at in their walk with the Lord, and they need the fear of God put into them. He said, but if you come to me, and you say, I blew it, and I blew it again, am I still a believer in Jesus Christ? Can I still be saved?

He said, I've become the biggest Calvinist that there is. And I share with you every Scripture that talks about the eternal security of the believer, including the one that I just shared, though a righteous man may fall seven times, he rises again. Because it's about the condition of your heart. It's about the condition of where you are in your walk with Jesus Christ in this particular moment.

And if you're concerned about whether or not you have done too much to return to repentance, I would tell you, you have not. Because otherwise, you wouldn't be concerned about returning to repentance. Because listen, I wrote this down. I'm just going to read this to you. At the heart of the issue is that these Jewish believers were being tempted to deviate from faith in Christ and return to an

old covenant relationship. This would lead to a heart attack. This would lead to a hardness of heart toward Christ that would make it impossible to return. Not because Christ can't forgive, but because their hearts had become too hard. Not because Christ can't forgive, but because their hearts had become too hard. I will give you two examples in Scripture. One example with two guys involved.

Their names are Peter and Judas. Judas betrayed Jesus. For 30 pieces of silver. When Jesus was crucified and he realized what he had done, he took the silver and he threw it down and he ran away and he went off and killed himself. Peter denied that he even knew Jesus three times. And when Peter realized what he had done, he returned to Jesus. Both had sinned greatly.

Both had a falling away of types. One had fallen, the other had fallen away. There's a difference between the two. And that's the warning that comes to us. So he goes on from there to give an example of what he's talking about. He said, verse 7, for 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. He uses an example from nature to show that God's just in what he says here. Because what he says is, if the blessings come upon the ground and they produce fruit, wonderful. But if the blessings fall upon the ground and only produce thorns and thistles, then the farmer's completely justified in burning the field because it produced nothing good for him.

And he uses this example from nature to show that God is just in this statement. That he makes about those who have fallen away not being able to return to repentance. But that's why I included verse 9, even though it goes with the next section for next week. I included verse 9 in this. Because I see all of the looks on your faces. You're all kind of like, I don't even know what to do with this

right now. But beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you. Things that accompany salvation. So we are speaking in this way. He said, we are convinced of better things for you. In other words, I think you're going to take heed to the warning and you're going to move on to maturity. I think that you're going to take heed to the warning and you're not going to fall back into all of those things.

Because I think that your hearts are still soft enough to heed the warning that has just been delivered to you. Your hearts are soft enough to receive this. And so I have hope for you. And listen. I have hope for all of us. Because people that show up to hear a message like this, they want to learn. People that show up to hear a message like this, they want to

grow. People that show up to keep hearing the message, they want to move on with Christ. People that stop showing up, that's the ones you got to start worrying about. Because they've stopped wanting to hear the message. They've stopped wanting to hear the conviction. And they just want to go their own way. He said, but we have hope of better things for you.

So. What do we do with this? What do we do with this message and how do we apply it to our lives? Trust me, I've been asking this question for three days. So I wrote down three things. Three things that I think that we need to know to take away from a message like this. Number one, you should always pay attention to warnings. You should always pay attention to warnings.

And understand that if a warning is given in Scripture, it's one that you need to pay attention to. As a matter of fact, I know that we all love to go through the Word of God and we love to write down the promises of God. Right? Like we love to. And I think it's a wonderful thing to do. But along with those promises, you should occasionally write down the warnings.

Do you realize that warnings start being given in Scripture in the very beginning? What's the first warning that's given? If you eat of this fruit, you will surely die. What's the second warning that's given? The second warning that's given is given to Cain. When God accepts Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's sacrifice. Remember the warning that he gave? He said, listen, sin crouches at your door.

And its desire is for you. But you should rule over it. Problem is, Cain didn't listen to the warning. And what did he do? Kills his brother. You should pay attention to that warning in your life. You should know that every day, sin crouches at your door. And its desire is to rule over you. But listen, you have Jesus living inside of you. You should rule over it.

You should rule over it. Don't give it power and authority in your life. You rule over it because the blood of Jesus Christ has given you all of the authority that you need to walk in freedom. The entire rest of the Old Testament is filled with warnings. I like to call them the prophetic books. They're all warnings to the nation of Israel. If you don't stop doing this, then I'm going to do this.

If you don't stop walking in idolatry, I'm going to have to take all of the blessings away from you until you learn to not walk in idolatry. And then, of course, you have to learn to not walk in idolatry. And that's one of the greatest warnings that you'll see in the New Testament that's given to us in the life of Peter. When Peter says, there's no way I would ever deny you.

I don't care what the rest of these suckers do. I'm sticking with you. And Jesus says, here's the thing. Satan's asked for you that he can sift you. But I've prayed for you. But you need to know this. Before the night ends, you will deny that you even know me. Three times. And then, of course, we have consistent warnings throughout the rest of Scripture. But listen, it's not even just in the Bible that God gives us

warnings. Oftentimes, he uses the people around us to give us a warning in our lives. When they see things crop up in our lives that we have a blind spot for. And you need to listen to those people. Don't just immediately go, well, you're just being judgmental. Maybe they're just being caring. Maybe they're just trying to be loving and pointing out a blind spot that you have in your life.

Pay attention to warnings. Because if we don't pay attention to warnings, then we'll fall into the trap. We'll fall into the trap of the enemy. I always tell young people this, especially if you're dating someone and all of your friends think that that relationship is toxic. You should pay attention. Because that's a warning you should focus on. Because your friends usually can see the things that you have a

blind spot for. And so we've got to pay attention to the warnings that come to us. In our lives. So number one, pay attention to warnings. Number two, keep your accounts short with God. Keep your accounts short with God. That ledger that we keep of all the issues that we deal with, deal with them immediately. Don't wait. The longer that you wait to confess sin to the Lord, the longer

that you wait to repent of sin, the greater of a chance you have of hardness forming in your heart. The greater of a chance you have of sin. Of starting to think that that's not as big of a deal. Because that's the thing with sin. Sin slowly but surely grows in our lives. And if we don't cut it off immediately, then it begins to form calluses in our heart. And those calluses make it to where we can no longer feel that

conviction the way that we used to. That's why the book of Leviticus is full of so much leprosy. Everybody always hates the part of Leviticus that talks about leprosy. And I'm like, are you kidding? That's the greatest warning in all of scripture. Because leprosy. Leprosy was a skin disease. But ultimately, do you know what leprosy did? Leprosy made it to where you couldn't feel things any longer.

It cut off your ability to feel that you had issues in your lives. And so you would develop infections or you would injure yourself and nothing would ever be done about it because it cuts off the feeling which would cause you to then lose parts of your body. And if you didn't cut off the area of leprosy or get out of the area of leprosy that was leprous, then you would deal with it in your own life. It's the perfect picture.

It's the perfect picture of sin because sin first callouses us against the reality of how dangerous it is and then it overtakes us and destroys us. The only way you can keep that from happening is by keeping your account short with God. The moment God reveals an area in your life of sin, the moment that God reveals an area in your life that needs to be dealt with, whether it's unbelief, whether it's you're slipping into a system of works, whatever it is. You've got to deal with that immediately.

You've got to take that to the Lord and say, Lord, we've got a problem here and I need you to help me deal with it because the shorter you can keep those accounts with God, the purer your heart is. So number one, we need to pay attention to warnings. Number two, you have to keep your account short with God. Number three, you have to press on to maturity. You have to press on to maturity.

You should never be content with the knowledge that you have of God today. Don't be content. Don't be content with how well you know God today. Because how well you know God today should not be how well you know him a year from now. Your relationship with God should be constantly growing. Because we should be constantly moving towards what God has for us. Listen, don't coast in your walk with Jesus Christ.

My old wrestling coach used to always tell us if you're coasting you're going downhill, right? And that's the way it is in our walk with Jesus Christ too. If you don't pursue that walk with Jesus Christ, then sin will pursue you. And you'll end up coasting. It's no different than in a marriage relationship. Friday, my wife and I celebrated 22 years together.

I feel pretty good about that so far. I think year to year, we've passed the year review this time. I think we're going to make it another year. So at least we'll see how things go. I'm just joking. But we have to put a conscious effort in to pursue our relationship with each other every day. We both leave. We have incredibly busy lives. And if we're not careful, then that busyness will overtake us.

That's why everybody teases us about the fact we go get coffee a lot. Listen, that is our lifeline. Because every day we shut the entire rest of the world off. I don't answer my phone. My wife says, you're in a meeting with me right now. You can't answer that. I don't answer my phone during that time. I don't talk to anybody else during that time. We get in the car and we go drive with a coffee and we just

talk. It's about a half hour of our day every single day because it's the most important thing to do. It's the most important thing that we can do because it keeps us connected with each other. It is our pursuit of each other. And we lay out everything that's happening in our day and we deal with all of the garbage. That's so important in our relationship with each other.

Well, if it's that important in my relationship with my wife, how much more important is it to have a relationship with Jesus Christ that's like that? Where I say there's going to be a point in time every single day where I shut off everything. I don't answer calls. I don't take text messages because the most important thing that I can do in this moment is pursue my relationship with Jesus.

Because if I don't pursue that, then I'm never going to make it anywhere in my walk with him. And the greater the chance is that I fall away. Move on to maturity. Amen? Well, it's communion Sunday this morning so I'm going to invite Jared to come on up. I'm going to invite the ushers to come on in. And as always, we take a little time. To talk about what communion is before we partake together.

So as always, I'll give you the typical spiel. Inside of each of these trays, there's a couple of cups that are stacked together. The top cup has the juice and the bottom cup has the cracker. And as always, in and of themselves, pretty mundane. As a matter of fact, as we've talked about today, there's simply a shadow. A shadow of a substance that is found in Jesus Christ.

Don't get me wrong, it's a powerful shadow. But what we have to realize is. The substance of what these represents is Jesus. Which is why it's so important that we do this in a proper way. That we handle this properly because of the substance that this speaks of. Because we're told that every time we partake of this meal, we declare the death of Jesus Christ.

We tell the entire world, we tell each other, this is the one place of hope that we have. Is in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And quite frankly, it's what keeps us grounded to him and what reminds us that we need to do something. We need that substance in our life and not to build again an old foundation. So we're reminded that that bread represents the body of

Jesus Christ that was broken for us. Broken so that we could be made brand new. Broken so that we could be made whole. As it says, he bore in his own body on the tree all of the sin of humanity. And that substance of Jesus's body that was broken for us is part of the. Healing that takes place in our lives. And that cup, of course, is the juice which represents the blood

of Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ that covers all sin, the blood of Jesus Christ that takes the crimson stain of sin and turns it white as snow. It's always miraculous to me that thing to think that that's what God chose to bleach. Our sin is the red blood of Jesus Christ, because you know what the hardest stain to get out of any cloth is it's it's blood. Why?

Because once the blood of Jesus Christ has stained you, you're never the same again. And so as we partake, we're told to partake in a worthy manner, the first of which is what I just covered, that we really understand what we're doing. But the second part is to make sure that our heart is right with the Lord, that your account with God has stayed short, that there's no there's no calluses that have been created in your heart between you and him. So take this time as we sing this last song to deal with whatever needs dealt with.

And if you're not a believer this morning, then you got to get that right with Jesus. If you're a believer, you got to deal with the deal with the things that have separated you from him. And then we can partake together as a family. Amen. As you receive your elements, if you would please stand and then we'll partake together. This is the body. This is the blood.

Broken and poor. This is the body.

This is the blood. And I will remember everything, Lord, that you've done for me.

I won't take for granted that sacrifice that set me free. Hunger is the body. This is the blood. This is the body. This is the blood. This is the body.

This is the blood. This is the blood.

Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you now. And Lord, we thank you for the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us. Lord, that you were willing to bear in your own body on the tree the sin of humanity. And Father, we thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. And God just asks that you would continue to keep us ever in mind of this perfect sacrifice.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake. And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, we come to you now, praising you that you are God. And so, Father, keep us close to you. Keep our hearts close to you. And Lord, do the work that only your Holy Spirit can. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.