Jesus, the Source of Assurance

we have certain ways of speaking that indicate it's time to take a break from the ordinary and deal with something pressing, urgent, important. So most of us have been in that context in a relationship where you've heard the words, we need to talk, right? That doesn't, that is true of relationships. We need to talk to each other, but that means we need to stop talking and we need to start talking. We've got something serious. We've got something important to deal with. Sometimes it happens in work, where your boss comes and says, hey, before you leave today, please come by my office. Or we've got a meeting in the conference room in five minutes, something along those lines. You know something is coming. As families, we often do this, where we assemble everyone together to share news, good or bad, or to talk about something important. There's no setting in which that sort of course correction, this change of direction, this pause, is more scary than in the context of a doctor's office. So if you're going to see the doctor about something maybe routine or something that you think is maybe not a big deal and all of a sudden something shows up, some lab work comes back irregular, something on the scan doesn't look right and you get referred for more lab work or a more detailed look or sent to a specialist or something like that, that is terrifying. It's terrifying, it's difficult, it's concerning, but it's also absolutely necessary, right? Because you can't unsee what you've seen. You can't just ignore something that's really there. In order for your health, in order for your vitality, in order to survive, you have to chase it. You have to explore and figure out what is it that's causing this? What is the issue there and how can we treat it? And then you can go back to however things were or maybe not. But the important thing is that once it's there, you've got to deal with it. And it's something like that that we see in our text this morning as we continue our study through the book of Hebrews. So if you're new here and you're just joining us, welcome. We're glad you're here with us. We're continuing a series that's been going on for a few weeks. Hebrews is a sermon in letter form written to Christians in the first century. They're Jewish in their background, and the author is encouraging them to hold fast to Christ, not to give in to the temptation to go back to their old ways of worship under the Jewish old covenant. He began by reminding them that Jesus is the Son of God, the authoritative speaker, representative for God. He speaks on God's behalf, and therefore His voice is more important than any other voice. This son is both God and man. He came to rescue sinful man from the coming wrath of God by identifying with us, dying for our sin, and then being raised from the dead and raising us with him into his eternal kingdom. He has been described as a merciful and a faithful high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. But he's without sin. And his work of mediation, therefore, actually brings us into the very presence of God, to whom we can draw near now with confidence. And that's what he's been talking about, that's what he wants to keep talking about, the glory of this priesthood and all that God has done for us in Jesus Christ. But he can't. Because he sees something in this congregation that he has to stop and address. And so it's like they're there for a routine checkup and the doctor has identified something that has to be dealt with. He notices some alarming symptoms and he has to address them immediately. And what I hope for us to see this morning is that our salvation as Christians depends upon us. persevering in hope in God's promise. Christian salvation, our salvation as God's people, depends upon our perseverance, upon hoping, continuing in our hope in God's promises. So we're gonna be in Hebrews chapter five, verse 11, all the way through the end of chapter six, verse 20. Page 1,003 of your Pew Bibles. If you're new here, if you don't have a Bible, please take that Bible as our gift to you, read it, it is God's word. So let's read together Hebrews 5, 11 through 6, 20. And about this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you've 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's a child. 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 towards God and of instructions about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift, who 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 the 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. 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 so unjust 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 decided 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. For 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. Amen. We're going to break this text up into five different sections this morning. And if you'll bear with me, I'm going to try to stick with the doctor's office imagery. If not, I'm going to try to explain it in a clearer way or a more direct way. So first, we're going to look at the diagnosis, the problem. Second, we'll look at the prescription, the solution. Third, the negative prognosis. In other words, if you don't obey the prescription, here's what's gonna happen. And then the positive prognosis. If you do obey, here's what's gonna happen. And then finally, the ground. The basis that the author has confidence that his treatment, his prescription will be effective and that a solution is in view. So let's look first at the diagnosis in 11 through 14. He starts off saying, about this we have much to say, and this, he's talking about Melchizedek. He just ended on that, on this priesthood, and the difference between the priesthood under the Levites, under Aaron, and the priesthood of Christ. And that's what he wants to talk about, but he says we've got to stop. We've got to interrupt the flow of this message to address this chief concern, this deficiency in the congregation. And we know from our own experience with doctors that diagnosis is the most important part, right? If you get the diagnosis right, you can get the treatment right. But if you miss the diagnosis, then you're somewhat hopeless. You can't treat what's wrong if you don't know exactly what it is. And we see here that the central issue in this case is over communication. He says it's hard to explain. But the problem is not that the message itself is hard to explain. It's a problem with the hearers. It says they have become dull of hearing. Now later in this passage, that same word is gonna be translated sluggish. And so it's sort of like a teenager laying in bed in the morning, not wanting to get up, covering his or her head with a pillow, not ready to get up and hear what's happening that day. Some of you were laughing like that happened this morning. There's active resistance to what's being said. And for them and for us, it's negligence, right? It's an unwillingness to hear and it's culpable. We are responsible for what's happening. And as we think about the crime of not listening, just consider what's been said in Hebrews already, how the author has described God speaking through his Son, finally, authoritatively, definitively, the Son who is greater than angels, and the response is we must pay careful attention. He reminded us that God spoke to Israel and a whole generation died in the wilderness because of unbelief. They didn't believe, they didn't hold fast to the word. And so the author here, his chief pastoral concern for this congregation is that they listen, that they believe, that they persevere in what God has said. This is not a matter of sort of a good way versus a better way. It's a matter of life and death. Now this dullness, this sluggish behavior that they're exhibiting is evidenced by their immaturity. He said that by this time they ought to be teachers, but they need to be taught the basic principles of the oracles of God. And so that's probably talking about just how the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus, just at a very basic level, how Jesus completes what God was doing in the Old Testament. And so the expression that he's using is like the ABCs. This is the basics, the intro level. So there's a knowledge problem. But the problem isn't just ignorance. It's not that they don't know what they ought to know. It's that they need to be taught again. They haven't learned what they should have learned. As he continues, though, we'll see that it's not just an intellectual. This isn't just a mind problem. So he goes on into another metaphor. He says that they need milk and not solid food. There's not something that's inherently wrong with milk, but the problem is they're living on milk. They're not able to process solid food. So you picture a grown man or woman sort of still in diapers, crawling around, drinking out of a bottle. That's, that's the picture. You should be grown up. You should have moved on to solid food, but you haven't. Immaturity. He goes on to say that to be immature is to be unskilled in the word of righteousness. So when we're talking about spiritual immaturity, it's not just not knowing the right things. It's the lack of ability to apply the basic truths of the gospel to life. And this could manifest itself in a lot of different ways. You start asking questions like, is the Bible really God's word? Is Jesus really the only way? Is sin really that bad? Does what I do actually really matter? And if you start asking those questions, you can see how that sets you on a trajectory to bear bad fruit. So you're not going to take a stand for God's truth if you're not convinced that the Bible is authoritative and sufficient. You're not going to evangelize with any conviction if you're not convinced that Jesus is the only way. You're not going to speak out against sin if you really don't think it's that bad. And you're not going to live sacrificially. You're certainly not going to suffer if you don't think that what you do really matters. And so we see, brothers and sisters, immaturity is deadly. On the other hand, he says that to have spiritual maturity is to have powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. So the opposite of immaturity, maturity is to be able to apply the knowledge that you have about God, about Jesus, about his word and world to every aspect of your life. It's not just knowledge. It doesn't mean that you've read all the books or memorized all the scriptures or taken the classes or been to certain churches or that you have connections and know certain people. It means that what you know about Christ permeates and impacts every area of your life, of who you are. It affects the way that you understand yourself and your relationships and your responsibilities. Everything about your life is permeated with the gospel. Now, as the author says, this is something that comes through training and practice. It doesn't happen. Passively, it doesn't happen apart from our effort, and it doesn't happen instantly. It comes about as we apply ourselves, as we seek to think hard and to help others think about how the gospel impacts things like how I behave as a spouse or a parent or a child or a sibling or a friend, as a student or a teacher, as an employee or an employer, a co-worker, a citizen, a neighbor, and on and on and on. It means that we as Christians, we don't just adopt the world's way of thinking about anything, whether it's politics or entertainment or sports or business, whatever. We examine it first in light of the gospel. We hold it through that lens and then we make our decisions. And that helps us to understand what it means when he says they ought to be teachers. It's not that each person in the church needs to have a formal teaching role. It's that each Christian should be growing in his or her ability to discern right and wrong, to thoughtfully and intentionally apply gospel truth to his life. And it should be normal for us in the context of a church to have conversations about that, to learn from each other about how we do that in certain areas. A healthy church looks like a community where that's happening, where those who are farther along are seeking out those who aren't as far along and saying, hey, let me help you apply the gospel, how it affects your role here and there. So just to consider for us, are you growing? Are you growing as a Christian? What is it that God's teaching you? And if he's teaching you something, are you sharing that with others? Who do you see in this body who could benefit from some of the things you've learned as you've grown as a Christian? And if you've identified an area in your life where you need to grow, who could you seek out to help you grow? That's the diagnosis. Second, we'll look at the prescription, the solution in verses one to three. 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 towards God and of instruction about washings, the laying of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. So there is a solution and praise God. There's a solution, right? There's no better news than that to have an accurate diagnosis and a solution, a treatment plan. And the solution here is plain and simple. It's grow up. Grow up, mature, get off the milk, wean yourself off the milk and learn to eat solid food. Don't stay at the basic level, but press on to maturity to deeper and richer spiritual realities. So he goes on then to describe what the basics are, what those ABCs that he was referring to, a foundation made up of three different pairs of components. So we'll look first at conversion, repentance from dead works and faith toward God. Now that's, we're used to seeing and hearing those terms. That's what we're familiar with. That's what we say all the time, how we respond to the gospel in faith and repentance. It's what Jesus and the apostles both said is the normal response to the gospel. It's what God demands of us when we hear the gospel message to repent. and believe. Repent means simply to turn away from sin, to change your mind about it, to agree with God that it's offensive, that it's damnable, it's something that God hates. So you agree with Him and you turn away from it. As we turn from sin, we turn to God, to Christ in faith, believing that He offers forgiveness to all who come to Him, that His death is our death, that His life can be ours when we believe in Him. So that's conversion. Second, we see community. Instruction about washings and the laying on of hands. Now that's not language that we're used to seeing. But I think the washings is a reference to baptism. I think it is. And maybe distinguishing Christian baptism from some of the other Jewish washing rituals that took place in the first century. And then laying on of hands is something we see in Acts very specifically when the Holy Spirit is sort of making these breaks, these moves in, think about concentric circles. When the Holy Spirit is expanding, we see at times the brothers laying their hands on others to receive the Holy Spirit. And I think what happened is that kind of became part of the initiatory rite in the church. That as someone came, as someone was baptized and joined the church, one of the things that they did is they laid their hands upon them. The church laid hands on one another to symbolize their solidarity, their brotherhood. So we see here just this is the basics, right? You first become a Christian through faith and repentance in Jesus Christ. Then you were baptized. You're accepted and acknowledged as part of a community of faith. That's how you go about. That's what it means to be a Christian. Those are the steps. And so then we look at the future, or the coming things, if you're obsessed with alliteration. Resurrection from the dead and eternal judgment. So that's an essential aspect of the gospel, right? There is a future, there is something in store in the future. Death is not the end, but we will all be raised to be judged. And those whose works demonstrate a lack of faith, a resistance to God, will be damned forever. And those whose works show genuine faith in Christ to eternal life with God forever. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, those ABCs are what you must know and understand. You must know who Jesus is and what he came to do. He came to live the life that we owe to God, to die the death that we deserve for our sins so that God could offer this exchange, give us Christ's righteousness, count our sin in his death so that he could be just and the one who justifies, who makes us right in his eyes. If you don't know that gospel message, if you don't have confidence in salvation this morning, please talk to me or someone from this church before you leave. The author describes these things, this conversion, community, and the future as the ABCs, as the foundation of the Christian life. And he says we're going to move on from that, but the point is not that the foundation is unimportant. I don't want us to miss that. The foundation is essential, but the point of a foundation is to build something on it, right? A foundation is not an end in and of itself, but it's a means to an end. It's pointless to create a foundation if you're not going to build something on it. So when he says it's his intent to move on, he's not saying that the gospel is a box to get checked. It's level one. And then we move on to something else by setting it aside. It's that the gospel is step one and you're building upon the gospel and he wants to move on into the building process. And we know because we have the book, that's exactly what he does right after this section, he spends the next four chapters exploring the depth of Christ's high priestly work, the sacrificial system, the old covenant and the new covenant and how it's superior. He doesn't move on from the gospel, he moves deeper into the gospel. And that's how we grow as Christians. It's not by staying at kind of the basic track level ABCs of salvation. It's by building, by applying those truths deeply to different aspects of our lives. Now the challenge for us is that we get lazy, right? We get complacent, we get content, we decide that we're okay with a foundation. It's fun to play on, or we sort of have a half-built house and think, well, this is good enough. It'll keep the rain off of us or whatever. We stop there, and that's not OK. The church is like a housing development, right? You drive into a new neighborhood where the land has been cleared, and you're going to see houses all different phases, right? Some that are complete, some that have just been cleared, the foundation poured, some that are everywhere in between. And you expect it to be like that. But if you come back a year later, or five years later, or 10 years later, or 20 years later, and it looks the same, something has gone wrong, right? There's a problem. We should be moving to maturity. And verse three says he'll keep pressing on to maturity if God permits. And those are not just perfunctory kind of preacher words that we throw out there. This is the author acknowledging his absolute dependence upon God for this church to hear what he has to say and for them to ultimately respond in maturity. So that's the prescription, that's the solution to immaturity. Now three, we look at the negative prognosis. This is the concern, this is the outcome for the people if they do not heed this warning, if they do not follow the prescription to grow in maturity. 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 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 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. So we see why those words of verse three are so important, because sometimes God does not permit. And we see here the life and death circumstances that the original hearers were in, and we ourselves are in as well. We can't stay immature indefinitely. We either grow or we die. Now he's describing a specific group of people here. He says those who have once been enlightened, those who have tasted the heavenly gift, have shared in the Holy Spirit, have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come. That sounds like Christian experience, doesn't it? And I think it's supposed to. Enlightened thinking about conversion being given new eyes to see the truth of God's Word tasting the heavenly gift Experiencing the blessing of salvation may be in the context of the Lord's Supper as we'll be doing later in this service Sharing in the Holy Spirit being a part of the covenant community where all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are on display Tasting the goodness of the Word of God the powers of the age to come It's the blessing and the experience of hearing God's word taught in the context of the church, seeing the effect it takes in people's lives, maybe even witnessing some of the miraculous signs that he referred to in chapter two. All that sounds like authentic Christian experience. And then. And then those those ominous words linger at the end of this section. Then they fall away. Despite all that these have come to know and profess and experience, they ultimately fall away from the truth. He says it's impossible to restore those who fall away to repentance. Now I want us to set that aside for just a second and look at what falling away means. He says that they are crucifying, once again, the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. So the sin he's talking about here is one of apostasy, of turning away from Christ completely. Someone who would outright deny Christ, walk away from him, want nothing to do with him. Somebody who, if he had the chance, he would put him back on the cross. Wants him dead. That's the kind of person we're talking about. We see here it's crucifying the son of God to their own harm. And think about all the author has said about the son of God, the significance of the son. What a crime it is to want him dead. Reminds us of the words the Roman centurion realized after the fact, right? Truly, this man was the son of God. But the person in view here says, yes, this is the son of God and I want him dead. These people hold Christ to contempt by denying the necessity or the sufficiency of his work. They call him a liar. He has nothing to offer me, is what they say. And not only does this send a message about the individual, but it sends a message to the world, right? Apostasy is terrible because it says to the world, Christ is not worth living for. He's certainly not worth dying for. It also helps us see why, going back, it's impossible for the apostate to be restored to repentance, doesn't it? What is God's means of granting repentance? It's the gospel, right? It's the gospel. It's God's kindness to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the cross. That's what breaks Christians. That's what softens our hearts and draws us back to God in faith, in repentance. It's his kindness, reminds us of his love for us and his commitment to us. And it makes us want to change, makes us want to stop sinning and start pleasing him. But those who are apostate who would fall away, they hate the cross. They don't want to hear about it. They don't want to think about it. They want to run from it. And friends, if somebody's in that state, then what else could we offer them? It's impossible for them to repent. This is a frightening text, brothers and sisters. And some of you may be here this morning wondering, is this talking about me? Because I've drifted in my relationship with Christ. I've done some things I shouldn't have done at times. I've brought shame upon His name. Could this text be talking about me? And I first want to say, no. I don't think it's talking about you. Because I think if you're asking the question, if you're worried about that, if you want to have assurance, if you're seeking help to change, then no, I don't think that's who's in view in this text. The person here wants nothing to do with Jesus. He wants them dead. And so if that's not you this morning, I think you're not in this place. And at the same time, brothers and sisters, this text is written to us. Most of the debate around this text is whether these terms in four or five are describing true Christians. Can you really be a partaker of the Holy Spirit and not be a true Christian and that sort of thing? And I think all of that debate actually misses the point. The text is written with true Christians in view. It's written to believers who are at a dangerous crossroads in their faith. And he's warning them that if they don't wake up, if they don't listen, if they don't change directions, then their ultimate end will be judgment and destruction. He's not looking back to explain what's happened to people who have fallen away in the past. He's looking right now and he's looking into the future on where they are in their journey. And he's warning them because their eternity is still in the balance. And the author's point is to call them out of their stupor and into action. to get out of bed and get to work, to remain faithful to Christ and inherit God's promised salvation. If you've ever been to Crabtree Falls, you know all over the place, there are signs of warnings that say, people die here, don't cross this fence, don't wade out into the waterfall. That's what this text is trying to do, it's saying, stay away from danger. We like to think that falling away is something that sort of happens in a moment. And that certainly, I think, culminates in a moment. There is a decisive turn away from Christ. I think that moment is the culmination of lots of moments, lots of choices, as Keith said, that have formed character, that have formed habit, that have formed character. In other words, I don't think you go from a vibrant Christian faith to an apostate overnight. The author has already been warning us about paying closer attention so that we don't drift, to exhort each other every day so we aren't hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And so we see here the result of that hardening and that drifting. Ultimately, it's denying Christ. Now for the original audience, the primary concern for them was denying Christ by going back to Judaism. a very decisive turn. It may have been so that they avoid being persecuted. It may have been just because it was more comfortable and familiar and it made life easier. And certainly as we've seen, the danger was their laziness, not holding fast to the truth, not growing in the gospel. For most of us this morning, I don't think the threat, the danger that we face is turning to another religion. That's not where most of us are. That certainly can and does happen for Christians, but I don't think that's where most of us are. But I think the danger that most of us face as God's people here now is to create a Jesus or a faith that's in our own image. To not deal with the clearest and most direct and most challenging places where scripture points to us and shines light on us and says, I need to change, but to ignore those. To have itching ears that get scratched by some other message. And let's face it, friends, it's never been easier to get your ears scratched. We can make peace with our sin, create a Jesus who doesn't call our sin sin, and then we gather with others who have a similar created Jesus. and even gather on Sundays and call those places churches. All the while we are falling away, we are being hardened to the true and living God. And friends, that is a terrifying place to be. The main point of this text is to warn his hearers about the hopeless state of the apostate, and therefore to challenge them to avoid it at all costs. He goes on to use an agricultural metaphor. There's two kinds of land, there's the fruitful and the unfruitful. Both have the same provision in terms of rain, both drink the rain, both have all that the same provision. One produces a crop that's useful, the other produces thorns. And God blesses the fruitful and he curses the unfruitful. And that makes the point crystal clear for us, doesn't it? Be fruitful. Don't neglect, don't drift, don't be lazy, but persevere and bear fruit in your life. And I think this metaphor also helps us to answer some of the questions that we have when we get to this passage. Because we want to understand how this text squares with our doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Once saved, always saved, or eternal security as we may call it. I think it does. I think it does. I think this text sort of reminds us of the parable of the sower. Remember, Jesus explains how the sower is sowing. He's throwing seed around. Some of it lands on the rocky path and gets snatched up by the enemy. Some of it lands in really shallow soil and springs up, but ultimately withers because it doesn't have a root. Some of it grows, but then gets choked out by the concerns of the world. And then there's seed that lands in the good soil that ultimately bears fruit. Different amounts of fruit, different kind of fruit, but it's fruitful. And I think what Jesus and the author of Hebrews are concerned about is that fruitfulness. From the whole of scripture, we know that to fail to bear fruit is to prove to have not been a true Christian, been good soil. As we looked at a few weeks ago, I think that the main message of scripture, the main message that scripture teaches is that all true Christians persevere and that only true Christians persevere. All true Christians persevere, only true Christians persevere. But what the parable of the soil and what this text show us is that it's not always easy to tell where someone is at any given moment. You can have two soils that produce a similar crop at some point in the cycle of life, some stage of growth that looks similar but ultimately proves to be different. And our goal is not to make final declarations at any given moment. I think this is where we can get so lost and distracted. Our goal isn't to pronounce judgment in the particular moment to say, ah, fruitful, unfruitful. Our goal is to be faithful and to encourage each other to be faithful day by day by day. So our response to this text, I think, is a couple of things. Number one, we're warned never to say, well, this isn't talking about me. This could never happen to me. Because this warning is for all of us. We can all become dull of hearing Christ's word. And I think especially it should be a warning to us to be attentive when someone is coming to us to talk about sin. If somebody is loving enough to confront me about my sin, that should be when my attention is raised the most. If we have a tendency to tune out in that moment rather than to tune in, we are dangerously far down the path that leads to destruction. We should also, I think, avoid saying that anyone is too far gone. I think it is true that people do seem to grow colder and harder the longer they resist the gospel when they know it and reject it. And yes, it may very well, I think it is impossible for some to repent. I think some are in that category. But again, it's never our responsibility to proclaim final judgment. That's what God does. Our responsibility is always to speak the truth of the gospel in love. And so even when we have to do something like church discipline, we're not pronouncing final judgment on a person's soul. We're removing our affirmation of that person. We're saying we don't see fruit in your life and therefore we can't affirm your good standing in Christ. But we're doing so with the hope that that will lead to that person's repentance and reconciliation. Our responsibility as God's people is to labor in the gospel, to try to bear fruit and labor for fruit in others' lives. Number four, let's turn and look at the positive prognosis, the author's confidence for his hearers, nine through 13. 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." Notice here that he's returned to the second person. He was talking about those people, and now he's talking about you, beloved. Pastorally, he's acknowledging how difficult it is to hear words like that. These warnings are hard, but they're necessary. We have to understand what's at stake. But he moves immediately from that warning into confidence and encouragement. He trusts that God's word will have its intended effect, that they will hear, they will respond, they will persevere and bear fruit. His confidence is based on the fact that they have borne fruit in the past. They've demonstrated a past work of love and serving the saints. And that's work that's still going on, maybe even in the face of persecution for some. So as you consider the warning this morning, as you look for fruitfulness in your own life, I think the first place you should go is the first place the author of Hebrews goes. How does your life reflect a love and commitment to the saints? How much of a priority are God's people when it comes to your finances, your time, your energy, all of your commitments? Are you guilty of loving God's people? This is where the author goes because think about it. This is where Christ is. Christ loved the church and he gave himself up for her. So if you love Christ, you love what he loves, which is his people. Love for the saints is one of the essential characteristics of a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And I spent some time this week thinking about Jefferson Park, and I just want to commend you for a few areas of evidence of grace, of fruitfulness that I see in the context of our life together. So, ministry of presence. There are some of you that are here every single time doors are open. Sunday morning, Sunday school, Wednesday night, prayer meeting, whatever. If we're offering something, you are here. And that's awesome. That's awesome. That encourages us so much as pastors, when you're here, when you want to be here. That's sort of the low-hanging fruit in the life of a church. There's nothing wrong with low-hanging fruit. It's sometimes the best fruit to get. But you're coming where the people are, right? You're taking advantage of time to be with the saints, time to get to know other people, time to grow together, time to serve one another and learn about other opportunities to serve each other. You're not showing partiality to a certain niche, a certain segment of the church. You're just here to be with the people who are here. And that's so encouraging. So thank you to those of you who are here so consistently. Another example is one-on-one relationships. So pastorally, I get a little bit of an inside scoop because I'm a pastor and people tell me things, but when I hear about people meeting together one-on-one or a small group of you to just encourage each other, to build each other up in the faith, that is so encouraging. It shows that you're taking seriously that need to exhort one another day by day, as long as it's called today, so you're not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It's such good news when we hear that. Meal service. This is one of my favorites. There's a competition in this church to sign up for meals. When we send out an invite, I don't see them. But from what I understand, if you don't respond immediately, you're not going to get to take somebody a meal. Because there's such enthusiasm. There's such eagerness to do that. I love that. That's fantastic. And then evangelism. Evangelism, those of you who are faithful and active in evangelism, it shows a love for the saints by acknowledging there is a difference between the saints and the world. So you're not just identifying with the world, you're drawing that line. You're saying the saints, this is a community that people should want to be a part of. You're following Christ's example to bring in the lost sheep. You want to do that, but at the same time, you're, you're acknowledging the difference. And that's a great thing. So praise God for that fruit where, where it's evidence. Verse 11 he says, and we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness and 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. So he reiterates again more positively his concern that they're beginning to grow weary in doing good. They just need a pep talk. They're getting slow. They're getting worn out. And he's trying to encourage them to saying, hold fast, persevere, keep going. You're on the right track. Don't lose sight of that. And notice here that he's concerned about each one, each individual. He doesn't want to see anybody left behind. Nobody fall, fail to reach the goal. And this is how pastors feel about the church, brothers and sisters. I know we fail you often, but we care about each and every one of you. We're not happy just to have a handful of superstars and examples to say these are the best ones. We're not even happy with a median number, a good median where the average JPBC person is here. Our goal is to see each and every one of you maturing in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we want. That's what we labor for. That's what we pray for you. The concern of the author is that each one perseveres in full assurance of hope until the end. In other words, he wants them, each and everyone, to be absolutely convinced that God is going to deliver on his promises. That regardless of what their circumstances are, no matter what they're going through, they trust that God is faithful, that God will deliver. And that really gets back to the beginning. That's the essence of Christian maturity, isn't it? to trust God, to wait for God to fulfill his promises, no matter what your circumstances are, all the way to the end. That's the big picture of what spiritual discernment is. It's a trusting, a faithful heart that looks to God in the midst of any circumstance. And if that's where you are, if that's where we are, then we won't be sluggish. We won't be dull of hearing. We'll be displaying the key characteristic of those who inherit God's promises. And so that's why the author turns then to number five, the ground for his confidence, the assurance that this treatment will work. This is the right plan. Got the diagnosis, got the cure. I am 100% confident this will be the outcome. It will work. Verse 13, for when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by him 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. So the author is showing here, his confidence is not misplaced because God is utterly faithful, dependable, and trustworthy. So he looks to the example of Abraham's life to remind the readers that God made a promise to Abraham, Abraham believed, and God delivered on that promise. Abraham received what was promised, and he received it in a couple of ways. First of all, in the miraculous birth of Isaac despite his age and Sarah's age. And then when God spared Isaac's life, when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and then he spared his life at the last minute, he received what he had been promised. Isaac was the evidence that God was bringing about his promise to Abraham to make him the father of many nations. Now, the author here goes on to appeal on the basis of legal language, of this swearing and oath language. And in general, so we think about this just in general, this is true for us just as it was in the first century. A person's promise is as good as the person, right? That's what a promise is. If you say you're going to do something, you have confidence based on who the person is, whether that will be done or not. If you swear an oath, that appeals to something greater, some higher authority. So in court then, and to some degree now, an oath served as final confirmation. The person's word had to be accepted based on this appeal to a higher authority. And so God made a promise to Abraham. And when God makes a promise, that's good enough, right? God doesn't need to guarantee it in any way. But God wanted to show the heirs the unchangeable character of his purpose by swearing an oath in his name. So God wanted us to be doubly confident, doubly sure that he was going to bring about, that he was going to do what he had said. And so he did. And so in Genesis 22, it's not quoted here, but he says first, by myself I have sworn, I will bless you and I will multiply you. So for Abraham and for us, there are two unchangeable things to hold onto, God's promise and God's oath. He's put his name on the line twice. He's sort of taken a double dare, if you will. He can't lie because it's not consistent with who he is. He is completely trustworthy and faithful. And so with his word, it is as good as done. And he said it twice. So we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. The purpose of God's oath to Abraham was to give us confidence and encouragement to hold fast to the hope of salvation set before us in Christ. The point is that God's promise was and is at work. God's perfect track record of faithfulness inspires our confidence. We should look to the Old Testament as Christians and be reminded of all that God has done, all that he's been faithful to, but it's not simply that God did great things in the past and so he'll do great things in the future. It's not just that. It's that it's all one plan. And that what God promised in Abraham, he's delivering in Jesus Christ. So the New Testament makes it clear that the children of Abraham are all those who are united to Christ by faith. And so we, just as much as Isaac, are evidence of God keeping his word, keeping his promise. As Peter says, we have the prophetic word made more sure. Verse 19. 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. As Christians, we have a sure hope based on the promises of God. And it's a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, the holy of holies that we thought about last week, the place where God's presence was made manifest on earth, the place where only the high priest, the holiest person, went once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. It was once a throne of judgment, but it's now covered by the blood of the Lamb, and it's the throne of grace. It's the place where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. He's paved the way for us to lead us there ourselves. And that, friends, is Christian hope. It's not just that we have connections, that we know people in high places. It's that one day, we, you and me, brothers and sisters, will be brought into the very presence of God. And that's not just a future reality, a future promise for us. That hope is ours now. We have it now. Christ beckons us to come, to draw near with confidence. And that is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. No matter what's going on around us, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, Christians are tied to the reality that because of Jesus's death and resurrection for us, we will one day see God, but even more that we have access to God right here and now. He is our forever high priest. That's where he's going, and so we sing now. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. When darkness fails his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. His oath, his covenant, his blood support me in the whelming flood when all around my soul gives way. He then is all my hope and stay. When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, spotless to stand before the throne. On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we praise you today for our Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you that even now through him we enter into the holy of holies, the place behind the veil. We praise you that we are anchored there. We praise you, Lord, that there is coming a day when there will be no need for a veil. There will be no separation between us, where the whole world will be filled with the knowledge of you. Lord, we long for that day. We pray that you would hasten that day. And in light of that, Father, we pray that we would set our minds on that day. Father, we pray that you would wake us up and keep us from a stupor that minimizes, that diminishes, that makes us dull or slow toward Your Word. Strengthen us, give us resolve, give us energy and desire to persevere, Lord. Make us responsive to Your Word. We pray that we would hold fast, we would help each other hold fast to the sure hope that is ours in Christ. And we pray this in His name, amen.