Dangerous Detours
Hebrews 6:6-8
Purpose: To highlight the difference between real and false professions of faith in Christ.
Aim: I want the listener to fear the possibility of ever insulting Christ’s work on the Cross.
INTRODUCTION: God is not glorified when we are not fully committed to Christ.
Dr. V. Raymond Edman’s booklet, "How They Were Won," tells how John Wesley left England in 1735 to be a missionary to the Indians of Georgia. Wesley later wrote, "I sought to convert the Indians, although I had not been so converted, although an Anglican Preacher."
During a raging storm while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, he noticed a small group of Moravians calmly singing and praying, while others, including the ship’s crew, were in a panic. That experience convinced him those Christians had something completely foreign to him.
When John Wesley returned to England, he became a close friend of Peter Bohler, also a Moravian. Peter Bohler began to tell John Wesley about the grace of God he started Bible studies with both John and his brother Charles Wesley. Up until then they only had an intellectual knowledge of Christ. Through the influence of Bohler’s life and the teaching of the Word, both of them developed a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Little did Peter Bohler know how far his committed life and faithfulness to God would reach!
The passage before us is teaching us that only a full commitment to Jesus Christ is acceptable to God. Almost, as they say, is only good enough for horseshoes and hand grenades. You either love Christ with all of your heart, or you don’t love Him at all.
REVIEW:
5:10-6:8 I. A Warning to Those Who Claim to Know Christ
Vs.10-14 A. Beware of acting like an unbeliever
6:1-3 B. Beware of religion without Christ [Shadows over substance]
Vs.4-5 C. Beware of missing the message about Christ [Words over reality]
LESSON:
Vs.6 D. Beware of belittling the Cross
1. Turning away from Christ is possible “then have fallen away”
All the religious benefits we have studied are not enough to guarantee that we are real believers. We can know if we are real believers and verses 7-8 will show us how. But, first we must understand that it is possible to begin to follow Christ and then turn away.
The Jews who escaped slavery in Egypt are an example. They saw the Red Sea open up so that they could pass on dry ground. They saw the Red Sea close and drown Pharaoh’s army. They saw the glory of God descend on Mt. Sinai. But, when things got hard they doubted God and wanted to return to their familiar slavery.
Numbers 11:4-6 4 The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 “We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, 6 but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”(NAU)
1 Corinthians 10:1-14 [Paul begins by listing their awesome privileges] 1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
[Then Paul reminds them that most of them were rejected by God] 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.
[Now Paul explains why God judged them] 6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” 8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.
[Then Paul points out that we can be guilty of the same sins] 9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.(NAU)
Trials reveal the true affections of the heart.
2. Turning away from Christ can be final “impossible to renew”
Let there be no mistake about it: If you understand the power of God and the grace of God and then go back to trusting the shadows of religion or if you then outwardly reject your commitment to follow Christ, you may be eternally damned before you ever die.
If you are thinking, “Pastor, are you trying to scare me?” Then my reply is, “Yes, I am.” If you are on a path to hell then I would not love you if I didn’t warn you.
I never want to be guilty of helping to make a person’s pathway to hell comfortable.
3. Insulting Christ is dangerous “put Him to open shame”
How is it possible to “crucify to themselves the Son of God”? Remember that this book was written to Jews who were being tempted to go back to a religion of animal sacrifices.
Turn over to chapter 7 for an explanation. Hebrews 7:24-28 24 but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. 25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever. (NAU)
Once you understand that Christ’s sacrifice for sin is the perfect fulfillment of what the animal sacrifices pictured, it is insulting to Christ’s work on Calvary to glorify the symbol.
Animal sacrifices aren’t being done today, but there are many other ways we can insult the Cross. The Mass would be a modern day example.
It is also Catholic belief that in objective reality, not merely symbolically, the wheaten bread and grape wine are converted into Christ’s body and blood, a conversion referred to as transubstantiation, so that the whole Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity, is truly, really, and substantially contained in the sacrament of the Eucharist.[Council of Trent, Session 22, Chapter I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_(liturgy)] The priest then presents the transubstantiated elements to the congregation, saying: “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
The Roman Catholic Council of Trent defined faith this way: (Sess. XXII, can. iii): “If any one saith, that the Mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. . . but not a propitiatory sacrifice; or, that it profits only the recipient, and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities; let him be anathema[i.e. abomination].” [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10006a.htm ]
Every time a Jew who understood about Christ’s death on the Cross sacrificed an animal, they were declaring that Christ’s death on the Cross was not enough.
We can also insult the Cross by trusting our own hard work and good intentions to get us into heaven. If we understand that Jesus died for all of our sins and then we go back to depending on ourselves to get to heaven, we are saying that Christ’s sacrifice is worthless. Jesus would not have died on the Cross if there was another way to pay for our sin.
Notice: Hebrews 10:29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?(NAU)
Don’t insult God’s grace by expecting that your puny efforts will be good enough for God. When we put any faith in our ability to please a holy God we are trying to rob Christ of the glory He displayed on the Cross.
Deep humility is required in order to worship God. Micah 6:6-8 6 With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? 7 Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?(NAU)
Vs.7-8 E. Beware of fruitless religion
Here we are given a simple illustration to show us the difference between real and fake followers of Christ. The same rain falls on both kinds of ground. One is useful the other is worthless. They both benefit from God’s goodness.
Vs.7 1. Believers are useful and blessed “useful…receives a blessing”
If you are following Christ then those around you will notice the difference. Do they? Matthew 25:34 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (NAU)
Vs.8 2. Unbelievers are worthless and punished “ends up being burned”
They are worthless because they do not display the fruit or evidence of being followers of Christ. Paul told us what those fruits are. Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; . . . (NAU)
Judgment awaits those who do not glorify God. Matthew 13:47-50 47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (NAU)
Jude 1:4-5 4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness [undisciplined and unrestrained behavior] and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. (NAU)
Isaiah 10:17 And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day. (NAU)
Jesus contrasted the two kinds of people on earth in His parable of the sowers.
Matthew 13:18-23 18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”(NAU)
What kind of soil are you?
CONCLUSION: God can greatly use those who are fully committed to Him. I started by telling you how John Wesley found forgiveness in Christ because of the dedicated lives of some good believers. Now let me tell you the rest of the story.
John Wesley’s life reads like fiction. He preached over 52,000 times and rode on horseback over 200,000 miles, preaching the Gospel in the hamlets of America. He became the instrument of God in one of the world’s greatest revivals and founded the Methodist Church. He and Charles Wesley wrote over 1,000 hymns, such as "Can It Be?”... "O for a Thousand Tongues" ... "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" ... "Jesus Lover of My Soul" ... "Take Time to be Holy" ... "Soldiers of Christ Arise" ... and countless others.
Lives of people around the world have been influenced through the ministry of John and Charles Wesley. It all started with the faithful witness of a few committed Moravians whose hearts were wholly given to the Lordship of Christ and who lived under the Sovereignty of God.
Does your life influence others to seek God’s Saving Grace? You either love Christ and want to please Him, or you don’t.
We have all insulted the Cross. The difference is that some are grieved by that, and others don’t really care. Which are you?
If Jesus isn’t enough for you, then you have NO hope of forgiveness.
