“The Danger of Falling away”
Hebrews 6:4-12
Brent KerchevilleBrent Kercheville
Credit: This sermon is an adaptation of Brent Kercheville’s sermon (West Palm Beach Church of Christ. I edited it for my use and added what I needed for my Church.
Do you obey warning signs?
When you are traveling and
there appears a yellow sign with a curve on it and
a speed limit of 25 MPH, Do you slow down to 25 MPH?
Questions:
What does the color yellow on a traffic light mean to you?
How about a construction sign that says 45
where you used to drive 70?
We tend to pay more attention:
to warning signs when we see the police watching.
Don’t speed in Morristown, they police are watching
Don’t speed by the fire station, the police like to park there
This is the 3rd sermon in our series through the 5 warnings in Hebrews
The third of five warnings is found in Hebrews 6:4-8:
The danger is of becoming lazy and
also of not progressing in the faith.
The danger is being slack and immature. Hebrews 6:4-8
“4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.”
This warning in the book of Hebrews speaks of:
the impossibility of those who fall away
from “being brought back to repentance.”
The Hebrews are not in danger of:
having their salvation stolen,
but are in danger of giving it away.
There is a need for renewed energy and passion in their faith:
There is still hope for the Hebrews
in that they have not YET gone too far,
there's still time to fortify their faith
But they need to heed this warnings
Just like the Hebrew Christians:
- we need to continue to mature and grow in our faith
- we need to see that if we are not growing and maturing
- that our faith is getting weaker and we can be in danger
To understand Hebrews 6, we have to go back to Hebrews 5.
The writer of Hebrews is pretty straight forward:
“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.”
Hebrews 5:11 (ESV)
They should be more advanced and mature than they are:
They aren’t ready for deeper things because they
are lazy listeners and do not want to grow deeper.
They are like 30 year olds who are still in the first grade.
The author of Hebrews says:
By now they ought to be teachers,
they still need someone to
teach them the basic principles of Christ’s teaching.
While they have been taught, they have not learned.
The challenge is for them to move on past the basics:
Stop repeating the teachings you know and
go on to maturity, basically the message is that
It is time to GROW UP in the faith,
Now the writer is going:
to communicate to them
why going on to maturity and
leaving the spiritual milk is so critical
1. Impossible Repentance
“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, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 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.”
Hebrews 6:4-6
Hebrews 6:4 starts out with the word “impossible.”
It reads “For it is impossible….”
The word impossible is a very definite word
There is no wiggle room with IMPOSSIBLE
So what is impossible?
The author leaves us in suspense
for a moment and describes
who he is talking about next.
It is important to see that these people:
have not simply been taught about God.
A story is told about a college professor, an atheist:
who gave a lecture denying the existence of God.
He cited book after book, scholar after scholar and
other written articles to prove that there is no God.
The story continues that after the lecture:
a man stood up eating an apple and asked the question:
“This apple that I am eating, tell me, is it sweet or is it sour?”
The professor replied incredulously,
“How should I know? I have not tasted that apple.”
To this, the man said:
“I know that there is God. I have tasted Him.”
The audience stood and applauded.
Psalm 34:8 “Taste and See That the Lord Is Good”
These believers have tasted:
truly experienced the blessings of God.
have tasted the heavenly gift and
Tasted the goodness of God’s word.
They have experienced God’s faithfulness.
They have shared in the Holy Spirit
Then the author says something alarming in Hebrews 6:6:
“if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
Hebrews 6:6 (ESV)
The writer is not talking:
to people outside of the church:
He is talking to the people in the pews.
This is a warning to Christians:
To mature and grow in their faith
Or risk falling away, and
Never returning to the faith
This is not the idea of:
- losing your salvation as it they misplaced it
- nor is it about God’s grace having limitations based on our behavior
- this is about a person refusing to repent, refusing to return to God
The picture is of Christians falling away is not new in Hebrews.
The author warned back in Hebrews 3:12 about the wilderness generation:
who saw the miracles and experienced God’s deliverance
having an evil, unbelieving heart
leading them to fall away from the Lord.
This is the description:
of a Christian who has grown
cold towards God and
will no longer repent and seek God
Hebrews 6 is not:
the only place where we read about
the impossibility of restoration to repentance.
“For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
2 Peter 2:19–22 ESV
The Prophets in the Old Testament:
- were constantly calling God’s people to repentance
- to return to the Lord while they still had a chance
- to stop their idolatry and come back to God
- before the wrath of God came upon them…
Listen to the message God has Jeremiah deliver to the Israelites…
“You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.” Jeremiah 8:4–6 (ESV)
So why does Israel continue:
to remain in this lost condition of perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to their deceit.
They refuse to return.
Though we are separated from the OT Israelites:
- in time, land, culture and language
- the danger is the same for US
God does NOT tell Jeremiah that:
- He has not rejected His people
- but that His people have rejected Him
- they have turned away and now will not and cannot repent
The warning is that:
if we do not move on to maturity,
there is a danger of leaving our faith all together
The Christian does not sin once and is lost forever:
There is a process of falling away.
It begins with spiritual laziness and apathy.
It begins with not wanting to grow in the Lord.
Falling away begins by retracing the basics about God’s teachings:
by staying in the milk and
not progressing to the solid food of the scriptures.
by remaining unskilled in the word of righteousness.
These Christian have made:
the willful decision to not grow but
to stay a spiritual baby
With a baby, the Dr. evaluates their growth:
- through measurements and weights, and reactions to stimuli
- over time certain developments take place
- and if a child does not grow and develop their is certainly a problem
Yet, far too often:
- a person becomes a Christain
- gets out of the baptistry
- and barely matures before their death
- and that is certainly a problem that needs to be addressed
This is exactly what this writer said:
back in Hebrews chapter 2
Where these Christians were warned that
they are neglecting their salvation and are drifting away.
They are not pressing forward:
Therefore they are falling back and
there is no way to rescue them when they do that.
True, saving faith is not intellectually affirming Christian teachings:
There must be spiritual growth or
there will be spiritual death and
The effect of lack of growth:
is that they are crucifying the Son of God again
to their own harm and
holding him in contempt
“It is impossible for those…..if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
Hebrews 6:1a: 6 (ESV)
The danger is real and near because:
it is so easy to come to worship,
sit in the pew each week, listen to a lesson, and
think you are good because you are baptize
And at the same time:
you can fall away from the Lord because
if do not desire Jesus and
want to grow in him.
All over the Bible God gets angry with those who go through the motions:
- who say the right things, even affirming the right doctrines
- yet who are far away from Him
- physically they are in the right spot, but spiritually they are dead.
We’ve seen this time and time again:
- it is becoming more common that
- a Christian becomes more and more distant from God and the Church
- when you reach out to them they don’t take your call
- they don’t answer the door,
- they don’t want to hear any correction
At some point there is nothing we can do for you!
We cannot restore you to repentance.
You must desire it.
There is nothing I can say that will change your heart.
You have to:
evaluate your heart and
see if you love the Lord your God
with all your heart or not.
2. The Situation Illustrated
“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. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.”
Hebrews 6:7-8 (ESV)
Now the author is going to illustrate this truth:
so that we can see why,
for those who have fallen away,
it is impossible to bring them to repentance.
This illustration is simple:
Land that produces fruitfulness receives a blessing from God but
Land that produces thorns and thistles receives a curse.
This is a common IDEA in the Bible:
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Matthew 7:19 (ESV)
You will know the kind of ground your heart is by the fruit produced:
The author has looked at the fruit of these Christians and:
is greatly concerned because
they are not teachers and
they are not skilled in the word of righteousness.
3. Our Hope
“Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.”
Hebrews 6:9 (ESV)
Now the author has:
a hopeful expectation for these Christians
He is confident that better things lie ahead for them
He has confidence that these Christians:
will hear his warning and
move forward in Christ,
growing in the Lord.
There is hope in verse 10:
God is not unjust
He does see their work and love
that they have shown.
“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.”
Hebrews 6:10-12 (ESV)
God sees our fruit:
God knows what we are trying to do.
He is aware of our work and efforts
He not blind to our service
This is a great encouragement for the Hebrews:
They do have some fruit.
They are not dead.
They are not lost.
But they need to act:
before their condition changes because
they have stayed too long in the basics.
This leads the author to tell them what they must do in verses 11-12.
“And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
Hebrews 3:6:11-12 (ESV)
They need to:
- show the same diligence
- so that they will have the full assurance of hope to the end.
It is as though the Hebrews author is coaching them:
- pointing out some dangers
- pointing out some areas that need improvement
- he is kind of hard on them but
He doesn’t leave them buried in despair:
- He also points out that God has seen their
- work, efforts and progress
- and that they need to push forward, keep maturing
The message is to:
Maintain your intensity toward the Lord
Do not become sluggish and lazy.
Imitate those who through
Faith and patience have inherited the promises.
How many of us have watched Trading Spaces or a fix up show:
and became inspired to finally do something
about our own tired and outdated homes?
It’s easy to get inspired to do something:
Once inspired by seeing a weeks work
condensed into a one hour TV show
But how often does that inspiration come to reality?
This can happen in our spiritual lives too:
We begin our walk with Christ full of excitement.
Fully intending to do whatever it takes to make it all the way.
But after a while, Christianity becomes too daily:
It’s the same thing over and over again.
The same prayers, the same worship, the same Bible stories;
We want to follow Jesus but we begin to drift.
We get distracted.
The excitement cools, our dedication weakens,
we begin to neglect prayer and study and church.
Before we know it, our faith is weak, perhaps even dead.
What then . . . ?
This is what the Hebrew writer is expressing in our text
as he warns us and also encourages us to be diligent to the end.
Here are some takeaway applications:
1. Listen to the warning about not growing:
Spiritual disaster is possible and
coming back from that spiritual disaster is impossible.
2. Press on in hope:
God knows what you are doing in love for him.
Keep it up,
Continue on towards the prize
3. Do not lose your intensity so that you become sluggish:
It is the first steps to spiritual doom
if we lose our intensity
so that we stop growing spiritually.
Remember the Prodigal Son:
How he enjoyed all the blessings of his fathers
wealth while at home and how he left it all,
turning his back on his family and his father.
Did the father not want him to come back home?
What else could he have done for the boy?
He knew the love that waited for him back home.
He knew all that the father had done for him in his lifetime.
Once the son was gone there was nothing the father could do but wait.
Once the son decides:
to come home the father again
shows his extreme love for the son.
He doesn’t make him beg at his feet for forgiveness:
As soon as the father sees him coming down the road
he runs to meet him with open arms!
God is waiting for you:
- to turn to Him, to repent, to seek Him, He’s waiting…
