A Daily Walk

John Randall: We're developing a passion for the things of God. Next on A Daily Walk.

Now think about all the stuff that we used to do in the world, passionately pursued the flesh, wholeheartedly. I mean just till we couldn't go anymore. What were you doing? Pursuing the flesh? Why don't you take that same zeal that you had for all that was destructive and pour it into that which is I don't know, godly! Like pour it into that! I mean have some intensity! This is my passion to wreck your life, it is! Well why not take that passion now and pour it into things of the kingdom of God?

Guest (Male): Hebrews chapter 6 has long been turned to by Christians as they wrestled with the doctrine of eternal security. Is the writer referring to someone that was actually saved and then fell away from the faith? Or is it referring to someone who was never saved to begin with? Today on A Daily Walk we'll look into that with Pastor John Randall. While maintaining a deep-seated respect for those of a different opinion on the interpretation of this passage, John will seek to offer his thoughts of what Hebrews 6 is getting at.

John Randall: There are those that say this speaks of an actual born-again Christian. Those who have truly received Christ and that they can actually lose the salvation that they've received. The problem with that view, with that interpretation, is that it puts forward an unscriptural teaching that you could lose your salvation because again, when we're interpreting scripture, what do we do? We compare scripture with scripture. And so to compare scripture with scripture, that would be inconsistent with the total revelation found in the Bible.

Let me give you an example. Jesus said in John chapter 10 verses 27 and 29: "My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand." I'm secure in my salvation. I'm in Christ. I'm in Him.

Now hold on, Romans 8:35 says this: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I can't be separated. If I'm in Him, I can't be separated from Him. The question is: are you in Him? That's the question.

If you're in Him, Philippians, Paul said in chapter 1 verse 6: "being confident of this very thing, that He who began the good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." He started the work in me, He promises to complete the work in me. First Peter chapter 1 verse 5 says we are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So I would say that second interpretation, I don't believe that that's accurate in light of the rest of scripture comparatively.

Third suggestion, and that is this and there could be others, but the third one is that the writer is referring to those who were not truly saved to begin with. They've been exposed to truth, they've been enlightened. They didn't know about the gospel, they didn't know about Jesus. They saw the work of the Holy Spirit in their midst, but they never committed. They tasted it, but they didn't fully receive it. They listened to the power of the word of God, but they never committed to it.

You remember during His earthly ministry when Jesus began to teach the crowds, sometimes He taught them with parables: earthly stories with heavenly meanings, illustrative kind of teaching that had symbolic meaning. And you remember the parable of the sower recorded in Mark chapter 4, Luke chapter 8? Jesus told the parable of a man who had a bag of seed and he went out into the field and he began to throw the seed which, by the way, represented the word of God into various fields.

But in each field, it had different soil. Over here, maybe it was sown among the hard path, over here sown among the rocks, over here among the thorns, and over here the good soil. I'm not saying this literally, but you understand the seed was sown. But one of the areas of soil where the seed was sown was among the rocks. And it says that the seed went in, it didn't go deep, but immediately it sprouted up with joy. Oh boy, this is so great!

Responded, enlightened, amazing! But then when trials and persecution and all these other things came, immediately it just withered away and produced nothing. The seed was sown among the rocks, it responded with joy, showed signs of life, but never really took root. Were they really saved to begin with? Only the Lord knows. But I do think there are some examples of this in scripture.

A couple that come to mind. Now here's where I'm comparing, I'm using illustrations, the Bible to interpret the Bible. Applying these principles, I'm doing this right now as we go through this. I think of King Herod. King Herod who had John the Baptist arrested. You remember King Herod? And King Herod had committed adultery, he was living with his brother's wife. It's a sick, gross scenario there. But nonetheless, John the Baptist called him out, told him to repent.

And so he put him in prison. However, the Bible does say that Herod enjoyed listening to John preach. He lived in sin but he loved listening to him. I love that guy. He's down there in the prison down there, but I love hearing him. His wife didn't love him. And so you remember what happened on her birthday party, her daughter went out and danced and said, "What do you want for your birthday?" She said, "I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter." That was the end of John.

But the point is Herod listened, enjoyed listening, even responded, but he never believed. He heard it, but he never committed to it. Another example that comes to mind is that of Judas. Judas, a so-called disciple, walked with Jesus, miracles seen, teachings heard, saw the dead raised, blind eyes opened, lepers cleansed, I mean multiple miracles all the time but still he ended up betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and went out and hung himself.

Did not really believe. He was there, he was there, he had if anybody tasted, Judas tasted. He saw it up close and personal. He was there, but he never believed. First John chapter 2 verse 19. Here we are using scripture, comparing with scripture. First John 2:19 says this: "They went out from us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were with us."

They were there, but they weren't really there. They seemed to be there, but they weren't really there. In fact, they went out, they're in the world, and it just goes to show they weren't really there, is what John is saying. Another example of scripture, if I may, is Matthew chapter 7. And Jesus said this in verse 22: "By their fruits you'll know them." "Not everyone," Jesus said, "who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven."

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name? Didn't we cast out demons in your name? Didn't we do wonders in your name? And then I'll declare to them I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." So a difference between those that do the will of the Father and those who practice lawlessness. There's an appearance of something, but it's not genuine, it's not real.

So which is the proper interpretation of Hebrews chapter 6 in light of all of those passages of scripture? I lean toward the third interpretation myself. As I read this passage, that's kind of the way that I would lean to. Within its context, the writer of Hebrews is warning about they, them, or those who had gone in that direction, never fully committed themselves to Christ. And these Hebrew believers needed to realize that if they made the mistake of retreating back into Judaism, all the religious rituals that they go through would do them no good.

If they forsake Jesus who was sacrificed for them to offer a sacrifice of an animal to try to atone for their sin, they would not be forgiven. That's impossible. That can't do it for you. That's been done away with. It's impossible for you to repent through some animal sacrifice or some ritual. It's impossible if you go back. No, that'll never do it for you. It won't work. The message to these believers who felt like giving up was clear: if you don't continue on with Jesus, you can't find salvation anywhere else.

It's impossible. There is no other salvation except in Christ. If you're not saved in Jesus, you're not saved. That's the bottom line. And so the writer then looks at nature to further illustrate this point. Continue, please, verse 7: "For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, it bears herbs useful for those by whom it was cultivated, receives blessings from God; but if it bears thorns and briars, it's rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned."

The illustration that one piece of ground reacts cultivated, producing fruit that's good for food, that's like these Hebrew believers who by faith responded to Christ. On the other hand, the ground that receives the same rain, produces thorns and briars, turns its back on the Lord as it were, goes to the old rituals and sacrifices. Listen, they're under the curse. Coming through Christ, the curse has been broken.

He became a curse for us. Turning from Christ, you're still under the curse. It's impossible to be saved or find repentance outside of Jesus. There's no other place for repentance than in Christ. And so as I read this and again, you may have your particular way of studying this passage and there are other things that you could read, but can I just—and here's what I also do. This isn't a hermeneutic, this is just me.

I kind of bring, for me, as I study the word, I come away with: what can I take from this? You know what I can take from this? If I were to boil it all down, I don't want to be those people. That's what I can take away. That's what I know for sure. Whatever that is, I want to stay really far away from it. I don't want to be them, they, or those. I want to be those that are producing good fruit.

I want to be those who are living close to Christ. That's what I walk away with. Whatever that is, I don't want to be a part of it. I don't need to debate like, "Well, I think it means..." Well, great, whatever it is, that's not what I want to be. That I know for sure. That's the exhortation that you can take from it. Simplify it. Simplify it as you read it, and it'll help you to understand it.

Now again, you could continue to look at that passage, you could spend hours on it, and I have. You could go over it and over it and try to figure it out and find something in there, but this is what I think in context, applying these laws of interpretation will help us to understand. There is no forgiveness outside of Jesus. But praise the Lord, there is forgiveness in Jesus.

And so I would say also in light of this to the person who is living a backslidden life—by backslidden I mean you at one time were walking with Jesus but you're not really walking with Him now. You're still going through the motions, but you're in it but you're not really all in it. You're partially, but not really. Listen, you don't want to be in that place.

There's enough passages of scripture that would warn against living that way. I would never want somebody to just walk and go, "Hey, I'm cool, man, I'm cool, my salvation, I can live like I want to live, doesn't matter because I'm good." I would say you're deceived. You're deceived. Do you really know what it means to be a Christian? Are you understanding what this is about? Because the way you're living, that doesn't line up with scripture.

What you're saying doesn't connect. So you're missing something. There is a disconnect that sin brings, and I would say repent of that, get right with the Lord, and then walk close to Him. It's much better to do it that way. So the writer continues and thankfully he comes out of the dark corner and the clouds lift and the sun shines again. Thank you, Jesus.

Verse 9: "But beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes things that accompany salvation, though we may speak in this manner." You know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of a locker room pep talk at halftime. I mean really, it's like the players have come in, they played poorly, they turned the ball over repeatedly. The coach points out the mistakes, but he tells them, "You know what? I'm confident. Second half, we're going to turn this thing around. It's going to be a totally different game. Watch what's going to happen. I'm confident of better things. I know you're not living up to—that's not you, that's them, but that wasn't you on the field. There's going to be something different."

He's encouraging them in their strengths, reminds them of what they're capable of. And in a similar way, the writer is saying, "Hey listen, we're convinced that what we shared with you, what you experienced, we're confident that the once-for-all completed work of salvation is going to continue with ongoing present results in your life." That's what he was confident of. So that's them, but that's not you.

That may be how they're doing, but that's not how you're going to do. He's encouraging them in this. He was convinced by the evidence, the fruit that accompanied their salvation. Again, Jesus said you will know them by their fruits. If you see somebody in their life, Christian life, and it's just surrounded by nothing but rotten fruit. Listen, I can't judge a person's salvation.

That's not my job, that's not your job. You don't know if somebody's truly saved or not. I don't—I can't see, God sees things that I don't see. But I do see fruit. And if I see a trail of rotten fruit and destructive fruit, I wonder like, man, either something's not right with the Lord, they need to repent and get back with the Lord and you can tell them by their fruit.

And there was a time in my life when man, there was nothing but rotten fruit. Just rotten fruit. Even fabricated fruit. You know fake fruit? You ever bit into fake fruit? One time at my grandma's, just one time. It was like, "Oh, this is wax, it's not real." You fabricated it, you made it. There's some Christians walking around with some fake fruit. "Check this out." That looks fake. "No, it's real." It's not.

So is it genuine? You produce fruit by abiding in Christ. Jesus said if you abide in me and my word abides in you, you will bear much fruit, and this is the Father's will that you would bear much fruit and that your fruit would remain. In verse 10 the writer says: "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you've shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister."

Now the writer points out: "We're confident of better things concerning you. In fact, let me mention some of those better things that we're confident in. Let me mention and highlight some of the fruit that is observable in your life and here it is." He says: your work for the Lord. It's evident. Your labor of love. Your ministry. Your serving of people, the serving of the saints. Even you have in the past and you still do at the present time.

I love this because it didn't say, "You know, I'm really in that you minister to the saints, the end." It says you minister to the saints and you do minister to the saints. It's not like that was what you did in the past and you're not doing anything in the present. It continues. It continues. Talking to a brother the other day and we were talking about how you never retire from serving Jesus. You don't retire.

You don't retire until you get to heaven, and then you retire. You don't do 40 years and get a gold-plated Bible or whatever. No, you don't retire. You retire when you get to glory, you get a crown and then you throw it down. I mean that is what—that's how it goes. That's when you retire. The retirement plan is good in heaven. Nobody can touch it. It's reserved.

But I also love that he says something here and I've always found comfort in this. It says God is not unjust to forget your work and labor that you've done and that you are doing. Sometimes we think, "Does God remember what I did? Because nobody else remembers it." God says, "I don't forget." There's not one thing that God forgets. There's not one thing that He's not aware of what you've done, maybe that nobody else saw but God saw, and that's what really matters.

He doesn't forget. He's aware of what you have done, what you are presently doing, and He's pleased, even if nobody else knows about it. The Lord doesn't forget. And then in verse 11 he says: "And we desire—now this is our desire for you—that each one of you would show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, and that you don't become sluggish, but you imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promise."

Because the writer was confident in what had taken place, now he exhorts the believers: this is what you've done, this is what you're doing, but you know something? We want you to keep going. We want you to keep pressing in. We want you to keep going forward. We want you to be diligent. The word diligent often used in Greek and Roman literature, found on inscriptions actually in references to extraordinary commitment to one's responsibilities.

It means to do something with intense effort or motivation. It describes zeal and passion. If you're going to do something for the Lord, do it passionately. Do it with zeal. Man, think about all the stuff that we used to do in the world, passionately pursued the flesh, wholeheartedly. I mean just till we couldn't go anymore. What were you doing? Pursuing the flesh?

Why don't you take that same zeal that you had for all that was destructive and pour it into that which is I don't know, godly! Like pour it into that! I mean have some intensity! "This is my passion to wreck your life, it is!" Well why not take that passion now and pour it into things of the kingdom of God? I mean I was so passionate for the flesh, I want to be that passionate for the spirit. You know what I mean?

Keep going, stay eager, stay after it, keep walking with the Lord, keep running your race until the end. And by the way, he says don't get sluggish. Don't get sluggish. It's easy to get sluggish, isn't it? Avoid becoming spiritually sluggish and be passionate and diligent. And how do you do that? He says here's how you do it: follow good examples. Follow good examples. Like who?

Verse 13. You don't become sluggish. Here's an example: Abraham. "When God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. So after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise." Follow good examples. Don't be sluggish. Like who? Abraham. Abraham, if you've read Genesis, the life of Abraham.

Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham. If you've ever read the story, it's powerful. It is a life of faith. And God made some amazing promises to Abraham that—I mean, "Hey Abraham, this is when he had no kids. I'm going to give you a lot of kids. All right. How many? See the stars up there? Yeah, more than that. I don't know if Sarah can—I'm not sure we could do that. You know I don't know if that's possible, we're in our 80s."

Lord says, "I'm going to do it. Believe me." And it says Abraham believed God, and God accounted to him righteousness. And then he's up in his 90s. "Hey Abraham." And then he even tried to help God out. You know the whole story of Abraham? It's like he was called the father of faith, but his strength—the thing that he was known for and strongest for, it's where he failed also.

His strength was his faith, and he failed in his faith. And yet the Lord says, "Here's an example. God made promises to Abraham, and when He couldn't swear by anybody else, said, You know what Abraham, I'm telling you by my—on my name, I'm going to do it." Well you can't—you can't get any higher than that. God says, "I'm going to do it."

But Abraham had to patiently wait for that to happen. And when you look at the life of Abraham, and if you haven't read it, I encourage you to go back to Genesis and read it, when you look at his life and you see the promises of God and the circumstances of Abraham's life, they ran completely contrary to one another to where you'd think there's just no way.

God said, "Hey, Abram, father of many, I'm going to change your name today to Abraham, father of many nations. Go tell everybody." "God, I don't have any children yet." "It doesn't matter. I promised you I would give them to you." "Lord, I'm 90." Like it doesn't matter. It does not matter. So he goes out: "Hey everybody, got a big announcement. Had a name change. Was talking to the Lord. He's going to change me from father of many—I have nobody—to father of many nations. So just call me Abraham from here on out." He had to believe. How did he do it?