I received a call from a precious sister in Christ a couple months ago that was intended to encourage me. And it did, in some respects. This sister was calling to share with me that she had used my approach to witness to a friend who had by marriage also become a member of our extended family. Two couples had gone out for dinner and were sitting over drinks next to a swimming pool when this sister asked what I often call the Kennedy Question, because it actually comes from James Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion program: “If you were to die tonight and meet God at heaven’s gate, and he were to ask you why he should let you in, what would you say?
Now her friend answered with the typical good works kind of answer—that she was depending on having lived a good life.
Now, on the side, this sister admitted to me that the person she was talking to often irritated her because she was one of the most self-centered people she had ever met. More than that, the woman was not evidently a believer—she hadn’t specifically professed to be a believer, and she neither was she was a regular attender of church or a servant of Christ in any respect.
However, upon further inquiry, this lady said that once upon a time she had prayed a sinner’s prayer to accept Christ.
Now, upon hearing this, my precious sister in Christ,announced, “Well, then, God will welcome you into heaven with open arms!”
So, let me ask you your opinion. What’s your verdict? This person was not trusting in Christ but in her own good works for her salvation, and her own good works, according to my sister, were exceedingly self-centered. She didn’t have a church, nor had she given any outward evidence of being a believer other than that she had said a prayer, which apparently she didn’t fully understand or follow. Do you think that God will welcome her to heaven with open arms?
Well, though I was encouraged that she had initiated a conversation with a friend about her salvation, I gently explained that someone who is saved is someone who maintains a trust in Christ death for their sins rather than themselves for salvation, and more than that, has given some evidence of repentance from their sins, showing themselves to be a new creation, as II Corinthians 5:17 indicates. My sister in Christ, to her credit, was teachable, and a few weeks later assured me that she would correct, at some point, giving her friend a false assurance of salvation.
Now I tell this story because it is so typical of beliefs that are common among evangelicals in the American church. It is largely the reason that so many self-professed born-again Christians hold beliefs that are entirely unbiblical on so many basic teachings of the bible and whose lifestyles are no different from their non-Christian neighbor next door.
It is also the reason we are paying so much attention to the first four verses of Hebrews 2:1-4 this morning. I am acutely aware of the fact that we did refer to three of these four verses in our last message, but as verse one exhorts this morning, we will pay much closer attention to even this Scripture this morning.
For what it tells is this—that no mere one-time prayer that is neither understood, believed in a biblical sense or followed through with guarantees salvation. Rather, even people who have followed Christ for years need to beware. Watch out—if anyone permanently falls away from Christ, you demonstrate that you weren’t saved to begin with. Yep, that’s right. This is my view of this very sobering and controversial book of Hebrews. The warning is for those who are apparently true believers that if any of them ever permanently fall away from Christ, it’s evidence that they weren’t saved in the first place, and not that they have lost their salvation.
Now I want you to know that I have employed one of the most important principles of the literal grammatical, historical method of Bible interpretation: If the plainest sense make sense seek no other sense.
Now before I go further, I want to be honest with you. There are some far more eminently qualified and educated scholars who disagree with me. Some of them were my professors at Dallas Theological Seminary, and one of them is one of the most highly respected Jewish biblical scholars in the world, Arnold Fruchtenbaum. And I understand the reason for their concern—the last thing they want to concede is the possibility that a true believer could lose his salvation. Neither do I want to concede this, and I don’t. I simply believe, that as in the case of Judas Iscariot, someone who permanently falls away from Christ is someone who was not a true believer in the first place.
Now the reason this passage is so important is that it is the first of five controversial warning passages in the Book of Hebrews. What we make of what is really being said in these four verses will determine what we believe the rest of the Book of Hebrews is really saying. And again, it is my considered opinion that someone who permanently falls away from Christ is someone who wasn’t a true believer in the first place, according to the clearest understanding of the plainest statement of this book, and the rest of the New Testament.
Verse one issues this warning. In light of the fact that the ultimate revelation of God through Jesus Christ, a revelation that is superior to the Old Testament revelation of God mediated through angels, then it’s necessary for us to watch out, beware, pay closer attention to the Word of God so you don’t drift away.
Hebrews 1:1: “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”
The first question is who the “we” is that the writer of the book of Hebrews is addressing. There are clues elsewhere in many places in Hebrews. The “we” are people that the writer is generally confident are true believers—Jewish believers who likely lived in Judea and Jerusalem in the first century. This is evident from chapter 3:1 and 3:12. Hebrews 3:1: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling.” How much more conclusive can you get? He calls the readers his holy brethren, whom he regards as partakers of a heavenly calling. He believers they’re true believers like him who are headed for heaven. Then look carefully at chapter 3 verses 12-14. He makes the same kind of statement: “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, that falls away from the living God.” He addresses his readers as brethren, an assumption that they are believers, while warning them against losing that faith, a very real possibility. Now verse 14 tells us what is at risk if they do abandon the faith: “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” Now this is the definitive statement of what is at risk if someone falls away from the faith. What is at risk is not the loss of salvation. What is at risk is proving, or demonstrating that you were never saved in the first place, because the writer is saying that a true partaker in Christ is one whose assurance, or faith, is held firmly from the beginning of his faith until the end of his life. In other words, the faith that saves is the faith that perseveres. If someone’s faith does not persevere, then in God’s eternal counsel, he has not really been saved.
Now the verb that is used for “paying much closer attention” was often employed in the original Greek in describing the process of a captain steering a boat or a ship to land. Since I have my own small fishing boat, I can totally vouch for the necessity of paying very close attention, constant attention to the matter of bringing my boat to the dock. Even if you are moving very slowly, the slightest distraction from the task at hand in a second, especially if there’s any wind, can result in your ending up far from the dock, too far to pull yourself in, or it can result in hitting the dock with the bow, or at an awkward angle, rather than gently pulling parallel in such a way that you can successfully moor yourself to the dock. This matter of steering a boat to a dock requires constant and careful attention, the kind of attention that necessary to assure us about what is involved in being certain we exhibit the fruits of a person who truly is saved.
Then the next key verb also has application to this whole matter of a boat or anything that is in water. The word is drift. We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. This is also relevant to the matter of docking and mooring or tying up a boat. About 12 years ago our family took the trip of a lifetime to Alaska. We stayed for a few days on the shore of a small trout lake and had access to a small aluminum boat and motor. As the morning of fishing concluded, I carefully pulled into the dock, and tied up the stern, where I was sitting and allowed Jeanie to begin to get out of the boat, at the bow. However as she stepped out of the boat onto the dock, the force of her step began to push the bow away from the dock, allowing it to drift, so that suddenly, she found herself in no man’s land—with one foot on the dock and the other still in the boat, as the boat was drifting away. She who hesitates in such a situation is lost, as we discovered on that trip, and one of those America’s Funniest Video moments occurred, but it wasn’t so funny for Jeanie. She did the splits and pulled some muscles before being fully immersed in 50-degree water on a cold, cloudy day. Drifting, whether physical or spiritual, is often silent, gradual and unnoticed, but it often has that consequence of ultimately complete separation, along with attendant consequences. Don’t take a dunk spiritually because of your gradual drift away from following the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why? Because the consequences can be great, as verse two and three warns us. “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.”
In other words, know that the consequence of falling away will be great—as great as you might imagine—however not a loss of salvation, but a proof that you never had it in the first place.
Now what’s really essential to notice here is that this is a typical Jewish kind of argument from the lesser to the greater. The writer is saying that the consequences for disobeying the revelation of the Old Testament Law were bad enough—For the Word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression, every sin, and disobedience did in fact receive a just penalty. The word for penalty means recompense, payback, retribution, judgment. And in fact, if you’ve read the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, you know that this was so. As the Jews were in the wilderness, when they worshipped the golden calf, 3,000 of them died on the same day. When one was caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath, he was stoned to death. When they grumbled against Moses and God, they were bitten by serpents and died. When they committed fornication and idolatry with the Moabites and Midianites, 23,000 more died in one day. In other words, every transgression received a terrible consequence—often physical death. And this is the lesser of two revelations. In other words, whatever consequence transgressions and disobedience that are committed under the New Covenant revealed by the Son of God Himself have got to be greater than whatever happened under the Old Covenant. So if people died physically because of their transgressions under the Old Covenant, then the transgressions of people under the New Covenant have somehow got to be even more severe than that. What could be worse than physical death than spiritual death?
Now here’s where I part ways with my Dallas Theological Seminary mentors. I understand and fully empathize with their desire to prevent what may have seemed to them the inevitable conclusion that what could be spoken of here is the loss of salvation. However, my solution does not involve the loss of salvation. Rather, I believe what is taught in Hebrews is that someone who fully and permanently falls away from Christ demonstrates they were never saved in the first place. Professor Zane Hodges, who taught my seminary class on Hebrews told us that what was at risk here was the reward of being co-heirs with Christ in the Kingdom. But I don’t think the language, specifically what is found at the outset of verse supports such a conclusion. How shall we escape losing reward? I don’t think that’s the sense of the writer. How shall we escape eternal judgment, wrath, hell, is what is in view.
Fruchtenbaum specifically says that the worst that could happen to a New Testament believer could be physical death as a result of disobedience. But remember, that’s what happened under the lesser covenant. Therefore, whatever happens under the greater covenant revealed by the Son of God must be greater than mere physical death.
And the first part of verse three, specifically the language employed, supports this conclusion. Verse 3: “For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.” Notice, the word is salvation here. It doesn’t say, how shall we escape of we neglect so great a reward? It says how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. And the Greek word employed her is the typical word that speaks of our being saved from hell for heaven, for being saved from eternal judgment for eternal glory. It’s a heaven and hell issue. The same word is used by Jesus at the conversion of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:9 to describe the fact that he had just gotten saved. “Today, salvation has come to this house.” Zacchaeus got saved that day because of his repentant faith in Jesus, when he agreed to return four times as much as he had gained to anyone he had defrauded as a result of being a tax-gatherer. It is the very same word used by Peter to describe being saved from hell unto heaven in Acts 4:12 when he said, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.” And perhaps most importantly, it is the same word we find used in the context of being saved from hell for heaven in Hebrews 5:9, by the same writer, while speaking about Jesus, he says, “And having been perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him.” He can’t be talking about mere escape from physical death or mere eternal reward in that verse either. The context rules against it. So the issue at stake here is escaping the judgment that will result from not being saved. And it’s not talking about the loss of salvation, but that your apostasy or falling away will demonstrate that you were never saved in the first place, as both Hebrews 3:6 and Hebrews 3:14 plainly indicate.
So the conclusion is this: Know that if you permanently fall away, you will show you weren’t saved to begin with. The faith that perseveres is the faith that saves. As Jesus Himself said in Mark 13:13: “He that endures to the end will be saved.”
Having said all this, the writer now gives ample confirmation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in order to assure his readers that they should continue in the faith.
So the writer is in effect saying, “Don’t fall away because this salvation has been affirmed by Jesus, faithful witnesses & astounding miracles.
Hebrews 2:3b-4: “After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, 4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, and by various [b]miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”
After all, consider the source of the good news of salvation. It was first promised by the most credible, and at the same time, incredible, person of all time, the impeccable truth-teller, Jesus, the Christ of God Himself. Never did a word fall to the ground without being fulfilled that was spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then there was the word of the Apostles, who were all willing to die to confirm what they had been taught and witnessed from the now resurrected and ascended Jesus Christ: “It was confirmed to us by those who heard the Lord,” a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostles had faithfully testified to the salvation Jesus had offered, even to the point of their deaths. And then finally, more than that, God the Father gave testimony and confirmation of this salvation, both through Jesus, through the Apostles, and also through the Church of Jesus Christ by the signs and wonders and various miracles the accompanied the proclamation of the Gospel wherever it went, even gifts of the Holy Spirit given to members of the Church, which assured those who heard that the Creator, the supernatural wonder-working God of the Universe was confirming the truth of this great message of salvation and eternal life.
In other words, you have ample reason to continue to believe. Though you continue to experience persecution, and life has been difficult even for decades, don’t even think about abandoning the faith of Jesus Christ, that both Jesus, the Apostles and the incredible confirmation of miracles has so amply confirmed for you. For you will have no excuse, only a few years of relief, before you face your maker, and there will no longer be a sacrifice for your sins, since will have trampled under foot the blood of Jesus Christ, as Hebrews 10 later warns.
So it might be asked, what examples do we have of what happened to people who fell away in the New Testament. We need look no further than the original 12 disciples, who, according to Jesus, all fell away—check out Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14:27.
Judas fell away permanently. He committed suicide in sorrow, but not in repentance, and Jesus called Him the Son of Destruction, and admitted that He alone of the 12 disciples had been lost. Of course from Jesus’ words in John 6, he called Judas a devil well before his apostasy, signaling that all along he had not been a true believer, as his pilfering from the money bag through Jesus’ ministry indicated.
What of the other 11? They all fell away, but briefly, from both the profession of Christ and the practice of following Christ when Jesus was arrested, until He appeared to them after His resurrection. But all of them repented. And all of them followed Jesus unto their deaths, even at the expense of their lives, and Jesus counted them as forgiven and saved.
And so what is our conclusion. Exactly what this passage indicates. Watch out—if you permanently fall away, you demonstrate you weren’t really saved in the first place.
So, it’s serious enough as it is. But what’s clear is this—It is the faith that perseveres that also saves. Follow Jesus faithfully until the end, and you’ll share in His glory for eternity.
Let’s pray.
