What Happens If You Fall Away?, Part 1

If you your Bible, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 6 Hebrews chapter 6, verses 1 and following, answering the question, what happens if you fall away? I'm going to ask the question And we will answer the question this week and next week What happens if you fall away? That's the question The answer: it's impossible To be renewed once again to repentance That's the answer That's what the answer that the Bible gives us

And you might say, well, how can it be impossible for God to renew someone to repentance when he is a restorer, a deliverer, a forgiver of man? How can that possibly be? Well, that's what the writer of Hebrews is going to explain to us today and tomorrow, next week, as we understand the context in which it was written and the purpose for which the book Was written Is it possible for someone to go to church? And belie what the Bible says about Christianity And believe in Jesus And to believe that Jesus not only lived, but he died and rose again

And belie and follow even some of the patterns of truth as outlined in Scripture and not tr be saved? The answer is yes Happens all the time Churches all around our country are filled with people who believe in Jesus Who believe that he lived and died and rose again? Who believed that he's even coming back again They have all the facts in order They know everything about Jesus But they've never truly committed their lives to follow Him, to serve Him, to honor Him Because they've never been forgiven of their sins

The question is: how will I know? If I'm at a place in my pilgrimage that it's impossible to renew me to repentance, how will I know I'm there? Are there any indications that will spell it out for me to let me know that I am at a place? That a decision must be made, or if I fall away, apostasize the faith It will be impossible to renew me to repentance That's the question you have to ask It's a great question to ask before we take the Lord's table, to examine ourselves and see where we're at We've told you over the years that the church is a surgical center

Where you are scrutinized by the truth of God's word, where you're under the microscope of the text Where you are under the knife of the sword of the Lord that cuts deep to the soul That will cause me to examine, cause you to examine where I am with the L Am I at a place where I truly believe and truly committed to following the Christ? Or am I in danger of falling away? and never being able to be renewed to repentance again This is a text that for 1,900 years has been debated

And if you examine the text carefully, you'll find that there are a variety of people who interpret it in a variety of different ways All depends on who you read My job as your pastor is to give you the right interpretation So, you understand exactly what the Bible says To take you word by word through the text within the context in which it is written, so you understand clearly what it means It's very easy for us to read into the text what we think it says instead of extrapolate from the text exactly what it does say

And so we want to help you understand that as we look at Hebrews chapter 6, verses 1 and following It is a warning passage That's why it's given The writer knows in his day what we know in our day That there are many people who are indecisive and indifferent to the gospel So, there are warning passages given in the book of Hebrews, all throughout the New Testament, but specifically in the book of Hebrews, five of them We've already covered two We're in the midst of our third one That helps us understand where we are

And the writer of Hebrews in chapter 2, verses 1 to 4, gives you the warning about the danger of drifting In chapter 3, verses 7 and following, it's the danger of disbelief And here in this text, Chapter 5, verse 10, all the way through chapter 6, verse number 8, is the danger, the danger of dullness of hearing So he's already given two warnings Make sure you're not drifting by the opportunity Make sure that when the opportunity comes, you don't just let it go by and then not make a decision because how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? That's Hebrews 2, 1 to 4

And then and then in chapter chapter chapter 3, verses 7 and following, it's the fact that Israel did not enter into the promised rest because of their unbelief It's the danger of disbelief We disbelief the word of God, we disbelieve the wonder of God, we disbelieve the work of God We just don't commit ourselves to who God is, and we are in danger of not entering that rest So he gives a warning because he doesn't want them to miss it

What father would not warn his children of danger, impending danger? What father who loves his children would not help him understand the dangers before him? Or before her Every loving father would do that The writer of Hebrews does that Because he loves Jewish people He's a Jewish writer And now you come to Hebrews 10 He's concerned about the danger of dullness of hearing So if you go back to Hebrews 10, Hebrews, verse number 11, he says, Concerning him that is Melchizedek, we have much to say, and it's hard for us to explain since you have become dull of hearing

Noth, you become sluggish, you become slow Some translators say you become stupid to what the text actually says and what the truth actually is. I want to tell you about this whole Melchizedekian priesthood and how Jesus Christ is in the order of Melchizedek He is our Messiah, but I can't do that Because you have become slow and sluggish in hearing the truth. I want to tell you more, but I can't Now he will in chapter 7 But not after giving them another warning about falling away from what they have already heard

And then he says, for though by this time in verse number 12, you ought to be teachers, you should be teaching You know so much about the old covenant, you've even been taught about the new covenant You ought to be teachers You have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, the truth about the law of God You need someone to go back and tell you about the ABCs Judaism, the ABCs of the law of God You should be teachers, but you can't because you can't get off the pictures of what the Old Testament points to

And so he tells them, You have come to need milk and not solid food For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed, or unskilled, or not experienced In the word of righteousness In other words, they have yet to experience righteousness So that tells you right there, they're not believers, because he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him These people are unskilled, inexperienced when it comes to the righteousness of Christ because they haven't experienced His righteousness

So he says these words, you are unskilled, inexperienced to the word of righteousness, for you are infants, nep And we told you last time we were together that that word is used in scripture by the Jewish people To speak of someone who is or has not been instructed in the law of God Your infants And some will say, well, this is the contrast between the immature Christian and the mature Christian And that's the bulk of commentators who tell you that Well, this is the immature Christian versus the mature Christian, and the immature Christians on milk, and the mature Christian

On solid food, and these people just need to grow up While that is true, all people need to grow up, that's not what the text is saying You don't want to read your system of theology Into the text You want to take from the text exactly what it says See? So these people are infants Because they have not experienced the righteousness of Christ And they haven't because they're dull, slow, sluggish in their hearing And we told you last time that if you drift by the opportunity Don't redeem the time Buy it back The opportunity for salvation

You drift by it, okay? You will begin to doubt and disbelieve all that you have heard And you will become so sluggish and so slow in hearing, you're in danger of falling away And that's exactly where the writer of Hebrews is going as he's gone through these first five chapters And so he says, the solid food is for the mature That's for the person who's given his life to Christ Who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil They know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong They know And then you come to our text

Therefore, now remember, there are no chapter divisions in the original text The chapter of divisions have been put there by translators So they're not in the original text So it's just a continuous theme that he's presenting Therefore, based on what I told you about the fact that you are dull of hearing, And you can't concede the truth, you can't communicate the truth, you can't commit to the truth He's writing to Jewish people Remember, he told you, you got three people in the audience Never forget this when reading the book of Hebrews

You have those who are intimately committed to the Christ They are born-again believers They love the Lord Like in our church, we have people that are intimately Committed to the Christ But then there are those who are inspirationally curious about the Christ They haven't made a commitment, but they're really curious about who Christ is and what He's done and what He has for them and that kind of thing And then there are those who are intellectually Convinced, but not committed They know everything there is to know about Jesus They have a great doctrinal statement Okay? They're like the demons

They believe, yet they tremble And there's nobody better that has a better doctrinal statement than demons Because they know everything about the Christ They know everything about Him They're fallen angels So they know about the Lord God of Israel But they're unred They're not followers of the living God They're fallen angels They believe, yet they tremble And so they're intellectually convinced that they know everything about the Christ, and they probably know more than maybe you and I know But they are not intimately committed to him They haven't given their life to him

They haven't repented of their sins and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ For their salvation And that's who the writer's talking to So he says, therefore There, leaving the elementary teaching about the Messiah, let us press on to maturity Stop right there And some will say, well, see, he's writing to immature Christians versus mature Christians He's telling the immature Christians to press on to maturity You got to grow up in Jesus You got to know more about Jesus And that sounds Really good, except that's not what he's saying Because let's all be honest with one another

All of us need to grow up, right? I don't think there's anybody in the room that has arrived If you have, let me tell you something You wouldn be in the room, you'd be in glory, right? So, no one here in the room has arrived We're all in the process of sanctification We're on the process of growing up We're on the process of walking closer to the Lord And I would trust that every one of us in here has a desire to do that But that's not what he's saying because it's in the context of the third warning in the book of Hebrews So, what is he saying? And this is very important for us to grasp

This portion of scripture is, like I said earlier, has been a battleground for 1,900 years in Christendom And people have argued it forever My job is to end the argument and tell you exactly what it says That's where I want you to be. I don't have any question about the text And so he says these words: he says, Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Messiah, about the Christ Now, the word leaving, very important word The word is a fi-am Okay, it's got a preposition at the beginning of it to intensify its meaning

If you understand a ph and what it means to press on to maturity, you understand verse 1 But if you don't understand eph, the word leaving, and what it means to press on to maturity, you'll misinterpret verse 1 Eph is a word that means, number one, to forsake Number two, to put away Number three, to disregard Number four, to put off Number five, a total detachment from a previous position or location Okay? Now, know carefully: nowhere in Scripture is the believer to ever detach himself To disassociate himself, to rel from the elementary principles. or the instructions about the Christ Never

So why would the writer of Hebrews tell this Jewish audience that they have to disregard Put away and leave, as he calls it, the elementary teaching About the Messiah, unless he was talking to them in the context of the Old Covenant, its rituals, its ceremonies, its washings In all that it involved Let me show you how the word ephem is used in Scripture, just so you understand this. I think it's important for you to grasp this So, if you got your Bible, Matthew chapter 14 Matthew chapter 14 and verse verse number 30 Sorry, Matthew 13, verse number 36 Matthew 13, verse number 36

Jesus is in the midst of speaking about the parables And it says, then he left the Fi, then he departed from, then he detached himself from, then he put himself away from the crowds and went into the house So he left them and he went to another location That's the Fi It 's used again over in Matthew chapter. 15, verse number 14, when it says this about false teachers Leave them alone, Eph Depart from them Detach yourself from them They are blind guides of the blind If a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit Same word is used

So, remember, you interpret scripture by interpreting scripture All scripture interprets scripture So, how a word is used in one context In one area, it's going to help you understand how it's used in another area In fact, if you look over in Mark chapter 1, it says this: Mark chapter 1 It says these words, Mark chapter 1 and verse number 20 Immediately he called them, that is, John and his brothers, James And they left Ephiome They departed from, they detached themselves from their father's business Their father's future, their future with their father

They left their family, they left behind, and they followed the Christ Okay? And then over in 1 Corinthians, it says this about the believing husband married to an unbelieving wife He says, and the husband should not eph his wife, should not leave his wife, should not depart from his wife Should not detach himself from his wife In other words, if you're a believing husband and you're married to an unbelieving woman, you should not depart from her, you should not leave her alone

See that? So now the writer of Hebrews is saying this in verse number 1 of chapter 6, therefore leaving, now he's commanding them, you need to leave something, you need to depart from something, you need to go beyond this Okay, you're not adding to something, you're not adding Jesus to something, you are detaching yourself from something Okay, so therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Messiah Those elementary teachings about the arrival of the Messiah, okay, because he's arrived He's here He's fulfilled the prophecy

And therefore, because he has, you need to leave behind everything that pointed to him and embrace him as the person That he is You need to leave behind the rituals and embrace the reality Leave behind the pictures and embrace the person Leave behind the sacrifices and embrace the one true sacrifice that was for you because all that now is in the past So the writer is saying, need to abandon your old covenant rituals Don't just add the Messiah to them But you need to abandon them Drop the basics, the elementary teaching about the Messiah And embrace him for who he is and what he's done

He's already gone into great length about who the Messiah is in chapter 1 and in chapter 2 and even in chapter 3 Explain to us who Christ is and what he has done And so now he says, literally, therefore, having abandoned once for all the principles of the elementary teachings of the Messiah, you need to go on to perfection You need to go on to maturity And really, the word is perfection Okay? It's not something, listen, if it was Christians, he couldn't say, okay, you're here Now you got to be here

No? Because if you're here, you've got to move to here, right? That's a process of sanctification But he's telling them to depart from this and go to this An immediate Transition and immediate decision You need to leave this and be here Press on Go here Go on to perfection Now, the writer of Hebrews in chapter 7, verse number 11 Says this Hebrews 7, verse number 11 Now, if per or maturity, same word Was through the Levitical priesthood

What further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Mich? You see, if perfection was in the old covenant, There would not be another priest to come in the order of Melchizedek But it wasn't Therefore, leave it behind and embrace The Christ, and come to a place of perfection Chapter 7, verse number 19: For the law made nothing perfect, the law made no one mature And on the other hand, there is a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God What's the better hope? Hope in Christ

And then, if you go on to Hebrews 10, Hebrews 10, verse number 14, it says this: for if by one offering he has Perfected for all time, those who are sanctified So, the write of Hebrews is going to talk about this word perfection in terms of an instantaneous happening It doesn't mean that you are free from sin It doesn't mean that you live a perfect life It means that positionally in Christ, you have been made perfect You have been made mature It's a positional Aspect It's not a practical place because practically we are moving toward maturity Practically we are moving toward perfection

That's the whole sanctification process This is an immediate transaction This is exactly where you need To be You need to abandon the old covenant and you need to embrace Christ in the new covenant, and you do that by leaving behind the elementary teachings about the Messiah and press on to the place of perfection, which is only in Christ Himself You follow me? S how easy that is? It's not that difficult But people want to make it difficult And so we need to read on

So the text says this: it says Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, press on to perfection, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith toward God Of instruction about washings and laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment, and this we will do if God permits So what is he saying? He gives six features of the Old Testament covenantal f And so, what he does is tell them what they need to move on from Because this is what the elementary teachings about the Messiah gave them

He says you've got to move on from repentance from dead works and faith toward God Say, well, wait a minute. I thought we were to repent. I thought we were to repent from evil deeds. I thought we were to have faith in God That's all true But in the new covenant, in the new covenant, There's a change, and that is the Old Testament taught rep from dead works and faith toward God The New Testament teaches repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus, who is the only way to God

Did you get that? You see, once the Messiah came, who is God, right? You can't be saved unless you believe that Jesus is the Messiah You can't Okay? These things are written that you may believe that Jesus, John 20, 30, 31, is the Messiah Okay, John's whole gospel is written so you believe who Jesus is, that He's the Messiah of Israel And that Messiah, because John's emphasis is on the deity of Christ, that Messiah is God in the flesh

So while in the Old Testament it was repentance from dead works and faith toward God, now it's repentance from Our sin from that which kills you, your works, right? Because your works can't save you, toward faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only way to God For there is no other name in heaven given unto men whereby you must be saved What name is that? That is the name of Jesus He is a Savior Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life No man comes to the Father except by me

So he says you need to leave that and embrace Christ, the Messiah, who is God in the flesh, who is the only way to the Father in heaven, because you can't get to heaven without believing in Jesus Jesus, the Messiah, who is God in the flesh When you talk to a Jewish person, they believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, like we believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob They just identify him differently than we do We identify him as Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel They don't You see, so they don't believe They believe in repentance from dead works They believe in faith in God

But they don't believe in repentance from dead works And their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only way to God Do you see the difference there? Let me show you how Paul explained it: Acts chapter 20 Okay? Acts chapter 20 In Acts chapter 20, verse number 21, Paul said this That he was solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ See that? He was solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks that there needs to be, okay Repentance

And that repentance is from dead works and it's toward God, but it's only through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God in the flesh, who is the mediator, the one mediator between God and man, that gives Gets us to God That's what the writer of Hebrews is also saying Same thing is said in Acts 26, verses 20 and 2 See? So he is telling them that you need to leave behind what the Old Testament taught about the elementary teachings of the Messiah And embrace what I just taught you about who Christ is: rep from dead works, faith toward God

Maybe your text says the next phrase, doctrines of baptisms How many of you had the text that says that? Doctrines of baptisms? Raise your hand Okay? You must not have a new American Standard Bible Okay? You need to go out and buy a new American Standard Bible Because it says inst and was, which is the exact translation Okay? The word is baptism used four times in the New Testament, three times translated washings outside this text Therefore, it must mean washings in this text Why? Because it's dealing with the ritualistic system Of Judaistic washing The instructions of washing

Hebrews 9, verse number 10 says this Since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body Excuse me, and composed until a time of Reformation In other words, he's talking about the Old Testament rituals of washing Those of you going to Israel with me will see almost at every location mikvahs, because the Jewish people would bathe themselves Wash themselves, cleanse themselves on the outside as a symbol of an inner cleansing, right? They do on the outside to symbolize what is the reality on the inside that they are symbolizing

Cleanliness on the inside, but they did it on the external It was an external cleansing They washed their hands, there are pots in which they cleanse their hands with the external washings They were so into the external cleansing of the individual But you've got to leave that behind That's why, when Jesus talked to Nicodemus, remember that? When Nicodemus came to him in the night, what must I do? He says, he talks to the Messiah And Christ says, you've got to be born again

And he talks about being born from above, being born by w and the Spirit, right? So what is the only frame of reference that Nicodemus would have at that time? He was a teacher of the law What is the only thing that Nicodemus would know for certain that Jesus was talking about? Ezekiel 36 For in Ezekiel 36, these words are spoken by the Lord God of Israel. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit Spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances That is the only frame of reference Nicodemus, a Teacher, a ruler of the law, would know that Jesus was speaking about when He said, You must be born of water and born of the Spirit

That's why in Titus 3:5 says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration, by the renewing of the Spirit That's why in Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 26, it talks about the cleansing w of the word See that? And so you've got to leave that behind All that external ritual that you do, the outside cleansing that you do, don't need it anymore Abandon that Why? Because the Messiah is coming When he came, what did he promise? A cleansing on the inside You see, do we baptize people? Yes Do we baptize them once? Yes

Why do we baptize them? Because it is an external symbol Of an inter real, a testimony to what God did on the inside Buried with him in the likeness of his death, raised with him in the likeness of his resurrection, right? We've been cleansed So the writer of Hebrews says, the instructions of washing, you got to ab The elementary teachings about the Messiah concerning repentance from dead works and faith toward God Now it's repentance from dead works and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ

Who is the Messiah of Israel? Who is the only way to God? See that? And he says, the l on of hands, what do they do? When they identify with the sacrifice, they lay their hands on the sacrifice, put it away Abandon that Why? Because now you lay your hands and embrace the one true sacrifice, the Lamb of God Lay your hands on the Lamb of God as the one true sacrifice But the laying on of hands of all your sacrifices, it's got to be done away with because the reality is here

That which was pictured in all those Old Testament sacrifices has now been proven to be among you through the one sacrifice that was given, Jesus Christ our Lord And then he says about the resurrection of the dead Did the Old Testament believers believe in the resurrection of the dead? They did We know in Hebrews 11 that Abraham in Genesis 22 believed that a son would be raised from the dead We know Job believed in the resurrection We know Psalm 16 talks about the resurrection of the Messiah We know that Daniel 12 talks about the resurrection in the end

So we know that the Old Testament Jews believed in the resurrection But they didn't have a full bore knowledge of the resurrection until you come to the New Testament For in the New Testament, we know that there is one judge, and that is Jesus Christ our Lord There are two resurrections: the first and the second, the resurrection unto death, and the resurrection Resurrection unto life, and all that comes into full fruition in the New Testament

So now he's telling them to move away from what was in the Old Testament to embrace the total resurrection, where Jesus Christ said, I am the resurrection And the life See that? He is the resurrection and the life John 11:2 and 26 Also, 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said, I tell you a mystery We shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye All talking about the resurrection of our bodies Now it all comes into full fruition for everybody in the New Testament to understand the resurrection of the body and what that entails for those who believe in Christ and those who don't

Those who believe in the resurrection of the life, those who believe in the resurrection Of damnation and what that entails for everybody involved And then eternal judgment Did the Old Testament Jews believe in eternal judgment? Yes, he did But again, in the New Testament, all that comes into full view in terms of what's going to happen And the Old Testament writer says this Or the New Testament writer of Hebrew says this: He says, You need to lay aside, abandon the elementary teachings about the Messiah, go on to perfection

Don't lay again the 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 eter judgment And this we will do if God permits Now, there are two ways to translate this We mean I will do this if God permits. I will teach you more about this if God permits, and that would be true Or you will lay that aside, go on to maturity if God permits And that too is true So, which is true? Answer: both But how can both be true? Because it can be Because if God permits, He will teach them more

And if God permits, they will embrace the Messiah, right? Nobody is saved on his own He is saved because you did not choose me, I chose you, right? And so he tells them: look, you need to do this You need to press on to maturity You need to embrace the Messiah This te is so rich with biblical truth because we live in a day and age, like they did Where people embrace ritualism They embrace things that they think matter when it comes to their eternal destiny, and they don't The only thing that matters is what Jesus says about what it means to go to heaven, what it means to believe in Jesus

What it means to embrace the Christ These people were convinced they knew about Jesus They were convinced that they knew all they needed to know about the old covenant and even the new covenant But the right of Hebrews is saying, no, you don't know because you haven't embraced him You're still hanging on to your traditions You're still hanging on to your old values You're still hanging on to the old covenant You're Still hanging on to the washings and the ceremonies and the sacrifices and the rich And the types, but the reality has come, he's here

Need to lay all that aside, ab all that, and embrace Christ as Savior, Redeemer, Messiah For He is everything He is all you need He is the one sacrifice you lay your hands on He is the one sacrifice that will determine your eternal destiny and the judgment before you He is the one sacrifice that promises a resurrection from the dead He is the one sacrifice That, if you come to grips and understand, will cleanse your cr, hard, sinful soul and make it clean and white and beautiful by his blood

And I wonder how many of us today are yet to embrace that Messiah. I would pray that none of us here would be in that category But every one of us would know that Jesus Christ is the one who cleanses us from our sin Let me pray with you Father, we thank you for today Thank you for the opportunity to preach the word, to hear the word Most importantly, Lord, to know the God of the Word Oh, it's so great We pray, Lord, as we partake of the Lord's table that, Lord, you go before us Help us to know You died for us that we might live again In Jesus' name, Amen.