How To Have Salvation Without A Doubt Series

On the Shetland Islands off the northern coast of Scotland, there stands a 62-foot steel yacht that weighs 126 tons that a man spent 5 years having built and spent a lifetime of savings to construct.

On the day of its launching, he invited a local band to play and the whole town turned out to help him celebrate the completing of this amazing ship that represented his life dream.

The band played, the bottle of champagne was smashed across the bow, and the ship was lowered into the water; ready for launch.

But, to everyone’s surprise, as the ship was lowered into the water it sank to the bottom of the harbor. Do you know why? That boat would not float.

The man was mortified to discover that on that day that he expected his life dream to be complete; that dream turned into a nightmare. He pulled out all the stops, spent all his money, wasted all that time only to discover that his boat would not float.

Transition:

When Paul spoke about the day of his death, he used nautical terms. He said: “My time of departure is at hand.” Literally, he was saying: “Like a sea going vessel; I am ready to launch.”

Simply stated: He knew that when it came to his salvation; His boat would float and take him away from this world, to the place He had always longed for: He longed to be forever with Jesus.

Hebrews 6 provides two things for us:

a) A warning to those who think that are saved who are not.

b) An assurance to those who are saved and struggle with doubt.

It is quite normal for Christians to have doubts along this journey in life. One of the reasons is theological. They wrestle with passages like Matthew 12: 31-32 that talk about the unforgivable sin. Not to mention, they read phrases like Hebrews 6:6 that talks about “falling away” and they wonder if they have crossed the line, or committed a sin that will not be forgiven.

God does not want you to be afraid when it comes to the day you depart from this earth. He loves you and the Bible tells us that: “Perfect love casts out all fear.” I John 4:18. The God that loves you wants you to know for certain that you are ready for launch; whenever or however that happens.

Hebrews 6 is not the only place in the Bible where this is discussed. The Christians in Thessalonica feared that they would never see their loved ones again, so in I Thessalonians 4: 13-18 Paul wrote to give them assurance.

The reason for lack of assurance may vary but the biggest problem is faulty Bible teaching; that’s why the writer of Hebrews clearly provides a list of evidences that should give us assurance of our salvation.

Assurance is vital for life. You are never really ready to live life; until you are assured about what is going to happen to you in death. So let’s pull of the evidence box and see what is in our life that proves that we really are on our way to heaven.

Transition: What proves that I am really “born again?” What are the birthmarks of a true believer?

I. Like A Defector, You Abandon Law and Choose Liberty

vs. 1-3- “Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, of instruction about washing and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits.

Explanation:

In April of 1967 a plane landing at the JFK Airport with a 41-year old woman who was defecting from the Soviet regime. What made her the most famous defector of all time was that she was Josef Stalin’s daughter.

When she landed she publicly burned her Soviet passport, declared her father a spiritual and moral monster, and said that he father called her the “little sparrow” her whole life and now she had chosen to simply “fly away” and leave the false and enslaving teaching of her father and his regime.

As the writer of Hebrews speaks, he reminds them that they “said” that had defected from the incomplete teachings of Judaism. Yet, now they were moving backward instead of forward spiritually. They were moving back from Jesus to Judaism again.

In verse 1 we read: “Therefore leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ the Christ let us press on...”

In other words, they could not turn the page from the Old to the New Testament; they were choosing the law instead of liberty.

Illustration: The pacifier

The best way I know to explain what they were doing was they were leaving the milk for the pacifier.