Hebrews 6:1-8

Hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're at Hebrews chapter 6 verses 1 through 8, a very sobering passage that keeps building on this idea of growing up. It's a warning for us. So let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray.
Lord, you've given us an amazing blessing to get to read your word. And so, Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would teach us, instruct us, Lord, in your ways. Show us your paths. Lord, your word is good to teach us, good to rebuke us, good to correct us, and it's good to train us. We pray that you would, by the power of your Spirit, do that this morning in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so Hebrews chapter 6, the first eight verses. Here we go.
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to completion, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptism, of laying on of hands of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment, And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify for themselves again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected, and near to being cursed, whose end is to be earned."
Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? I need to let you know that this is one of the most hotly disputed, debated, chapters in the entire Bible, hotly debated, especially amongst the anti-Calvinists and the Calvinists, between the always saved and the, well, maybe you lose your salvation group. But let's go ahead and start and notice where this picks up, right?
Last time it was talking about that we should have been growing up into solid food and not just be drinking the milk We should be going beyond that. And he says, therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection or completion. The foundation's been laid, you've got that stuff, you know these things, but you should be going further than that. You should be moving beyond just the foundational theology of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Not that those things aren't important, but you should be growing up. Of the doctrines of baptisms, of laying on of hands, and the resurrection of dead, those things are all cemented as truths. And he says, maybe the Lord willing, we'll come back to those things. But you gotta understand something. Verse 4, this is what he's trying to push at. There's something more that you need to understand.
For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. What is this talking about? It's talking about people apostatizing. I'm not gonna let us off the hook here because there's a way in which we could read this and just think oh Man, well, we know that we could be saved No I was just studying and working through for getting ready for presbytery stuff the whole idea of assurance of salvation I gotta tell you our hearts are slippery There are people who think that they aren't saved because they struggle with the amount of sin that still abides in them, and they hate it, and they're like, oh man, am I really still saved? But they are. And then there's a whole bunch of other people who think that they're still saved.
Maybe they said the sinner's prayer one time, and they felt that was it. And they never grew up in their faith, and they actually didn't have saving faith. They just used the sinner's prayer as a get out of hell free card. He says, isn't it possible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and become partakers of the Holy Spirit? Not in a salvific way, but I think there's all sorts of people who are in the covenant community, in the churches, even here in America, who they may the outward side look like Christians. They don't have faith.
Their actions may line up with good morals, but they don't hate their sin. They don't desire to grow up unto completion. They don't desire the riches of God's grace, the depths of his mercy, the amazingness of his being, of his attributes, to stand in awe of who he is. No desire to read more, to think more, to pray more, to wrestle more, just content. And then, you know, it just kind of gets a little bit boring and the world becomes better.
I think that's what verses seven and eight is getting at. And I don't think this is any different than the parable that Jesus taught. Right. For the earth, verse seven and eight, for the earth, which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessings from God. Right. There's good soil. Rain comes on the ground. It produces herbs. It's good for people. That's great.
But if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. Right. That's the same as Jesus talking about the soils and the seed that's scattered on the different soils. Right. You have the soil where he throws a seed and the birds come pick it up right away because it landed on the path.
And then others that landed on rocky soil sprouts right up real quick. But then the sun comes and it scorches it, didn't have any roots, it just dies. And then you have the stuff that's where it ties in here. You see that falls in the soil and it grows, looks good, but then the weeds choke it out. deceitfulness of wealth and the cares of this life choke it out.
Jesus, Jesus himself was the one who said that he that he lost none whom his father had given to him. Nothing could snatch his sheep out of his hand. And yet we know from 1st Timothy 2.9 that only the Lord knows whose are his. Jesus knows whose are his. I don't know whose are his.
I don't have regeneration goggles. I can't see into your heart and know whether or not definitively you are a Christian or not. I don't know. No. But are you desiring the things of God? Are you loving the things of God? Man, that's got a really preachy tone to it, don't it? I'm so sorry about that. B, what's the best verse to summarize this? I have verse eight underlined. I have verse eight. see calling is, I'm going to just call you to cling on to Jesus Christ. To not get tired of growing in your love for Him, of delving deeper into the riches of His grace.
I want to encourage you, if you've tasted this heavenly gift, to not turn away We've seen so many people apostatized in the last few years, famous Christians, right? Celebrity Christianity, it's real, it's big, whatever, right? For you, Christian, for me, we should take those people who have apostatized, take it seriously, and plead with God to keep us, and to not let us roll dull and dumb. I'd rather sit in our couches and turn on the TV than actually grow in our love for God and our love for others.
Let's pray. We need you. We know the perseverance of the saints is only because your Holy Spirit preserves those whom you love. So God, we plead with you, please God, do not let us grow tired of you. Do not let our hearts get hard. Lord, where we have turned away from you, where we have sinned, we pray that you would please help us repent, enliven our hearts, deepen our love, make us follow after you more and more. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. Well, may the Lord strengthen you. May you love him more and more. See you next time. Bye.