I am a perpetual student. I am constantly learning something. Right now, I am taking a class in Basic Biblical Greek AND learning to read Hebrew. This quality also makes me a Bible study addict. I LOVE how studying God’s Word with the Holy Spirit as my Teacher ALWAYS reveals something new to me – even if I’ve read that passage dozens of times! Do you find this to be true regarding your study of Scripture? Not so much? When I feel that way, I stop and pray that God will “Wow” me! He does. Every. Single. Time. Try it for yourself. In fact, let’s pray that together right now:
Heavenly Father, we
are anticipating that You will “wow” us today.
Open our hearts and minds to the truth in this sixth chapter of
Hebrews. Teach us something new and mind-blowing. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
In this week’s study of Hebrews, we are talking about sanctification. It’s kind of a big word that means “the
action of making or declaring something holy.”
Once you become a born again Christian, the sanctification process
begins. The Holy Spirit encourages and
convicts and molds every believer into the likeness of Christ. The degree of holiness achieved correlates
precisely with the degree to which we cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work in
us. This is a process of constant
learning and growth. It makes my walk
with Christ fun and exciting. It’ll do the same for your walk with Him, too.
When we’re done today, I want you to walk away knowing
this: Pursuing maturity in Christ and cooperating with God in your sanctification
brings great blessing.
Hebrews teaches:
move beyond the elementary teachings to better things. We have two divisions:
1.Move Beyond the Elementary (Hebrews 6:1-8)
2.Better Things (Hebrews 6:9-20)
Read Hebrews 6:1-3.
The author challenges the readers of this letter to move
beyond elementary teachings about Christ.
We’ve talked about maturity and milk and meat. The foundation the author mentions is as
follows: repentance from acts that lead
to death, faith in God, cleansing rites (Baptism), laying on of hands, resurrection
of the dead, and eternal judgment.
These are the most basic teachings of the Christian faith. Recognition that you cannot save yourself
through your works, that you must place your faith in God for salvation. Baptism is a public declaration of the
decision you’ve made to follow Jesus.
The laying on of hands is associated with bestowing blessing, ordination
and healing. With regard to the
resurrection of the dead and judgment, all people are eternal and will live
forever either in heaven with God, or in hell without Him. That’s a very basic synopsis of these
teachings.
How would you evaluate yourself in this area? Do you have the basics down? How did you learn those basics? Does your church have a formal discipleship
program that teaches these truths? Are
you ready for meatier teaching by the Holy Spirit? As you make disciples, are you teaching them
these basic doctrines?
As we walk with Christ every day, God will provide for
our spiritual growth. Not just in the
basics, but also in the meatiest of meaty teachings! Let’s keep reading.
Read Hebrews 6:4-8.
At first glance, it looks like the author is talking
about losing your salvation. Doesn’t
it? I want to assure you: You CANNOT lose your salvation! Luke 20:36 says our new life is eternal. John 10:28-29 says no one can snatch us out
of Jesus’ hand. Ephesians 1:13-14 says
we’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Nothing can get in and nothing can get out. Romans 11:29 says our calling will never be
revoked. Hebrews 13:5 says God will
never leave us or forsake us. John 6:39
says Jesus loses no one the Father has given Him.
So, what does this passage say? We appear to be talking about born again
believers. Some scholars think these
people are perhaps attending church with believers, but aren’t believers
themselves. I disagree with this. Verse 4 refers to “…those who have once been
enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers
of the Holy Spirit.” According to 2
Corinthians 4:4, Satan blinds the unbelieving so they cannot see the light of
the gospel and the glory of Christ.
Being enlightened implies that blindness has been lifted. Only God can do that. The author writes that these people have
“tasted the heavenly gift.” In Hebrews
2:9, the author says “…so that…He (Jesus) might taste death for everyone.” Jesus absolutely died. The Greek word used in both places is
geuomai, which means “taste, eat, experience.”
This isn’t someone who’s watching from the sidelines. Also, to be made partakers of the Holy
Spirit, is an active position. You
cannot partake of the Holy Spirit as an outsider to Christianity.
(say something about vv. 5-6)
Honestly, we could probably talk about these three verses
for quite a while, but we need to move on.
Keeping in line with the idea of maturity, if you look at
verses 7 and 8, the land that drinks in the rain is the healthy, mature born
again believer that bears a useful crop of fruit. This person receives the blessing of God. The land that produces thorns and thistles is
“close to being cursed.” In the end it
will be burned. Notice this land isn’t
drinking in the rain. This desolate land
is a great picture of the person that’s being referenced in verses 4-6
according to a teaching I recently read by Chuck Swindoll on this subject.
He explained that born again believers’ works will be
judged to see what rewards will be bestowed.
It is a trial by fire. Lasting
works will not burn. Works done outside
of God’s will go up in smoke. That’s the
idea here. Those believers who bear good
fruit will have rewards to give back to Jesus.
Those who work under their own power and will squeeze into heaven by the
skin of their teeth and have nothing to give back to Jesus. It’s about what will last for eternity. And that’s souls. Whose souls are you investing in?
The ultimate point is, we need to stay connected to
Jesus. Don’t simply pray to invite Jesus
into your heart and stay right there.
Connect with Jesus and allow Him to grow and mature you. Pray every day. Read the Bible every day. This means you will experience a taste of
what joy you will experience in eternity.
Don’t wait.
Principle 1: Lack of maturity puts you in jeopardy of
destruction.
Application 1.Where
are you struggling to mature in your Christian walk and how will you remove
obstacles to your growth?
Read Hebrews
6:9-20.
So, you may have noticed shifts in the language of this
chapter. Verses 1-3 refer to “we.” Verses 4-8 refer to “those.” In verse 9, it’s back to “we.” The author is separating his audience from
the people who are shaming Jesus by falling away.
How has the love you show now changed from what you
showed at first? What act of love could
you engage in this week?
Principle 2: Our unchanging God promises blessing and
hope.
Application 2.What
hope are you clinging to and how are you sharing that hope with others?
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