Focal Point

Pastor Mike Fabarez: A lot of people think if I'm in with the community and I buy into the principles, I must be in my heart in this thing called Christianity. Now here's the problem. There are some that look converted to Christ, they've attached themselves to the community of the redeemed, but they haven't really bought in with real faith. And the difference is huge.

Dave Drewry: Around 80% of Americans consider themselves Christians, but out of all those that say "I am a Christian," how many actually are? Well, today on Focal Point, Mike Fabarez begins a mini-series in Hebrews called "Almost a Christian." It's an in-depth look at the difference between those that say they know Jesus and those that truly follow him. To illustrate the distinction, Pastor Mike uses a familiar relationship as an example. Let's get started. The message today is called "Watching out for the Pacifying Benefits of Dating Christ."

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Dating and marriage are two different things for a variety of reasons. Deciding to be boyfriend and girlfriend and deciding to be husband and wife, they are two entirely different decisions. Agreeing to go steady and agreeing till death do us part, they require two totally different considerations.

When I was 16 I met Carlyn. She was 15 and boy, I was taken by her. I was enamored. I still am, but really enamored at 16. By the time I was 17 and she had finally turned 16, we went on our first date and we started dating. After three years of dating, I popped the question. Down on one knee, ring in my pocket, pulled it out. Will you marry me? Then I waited. She said yes and 12 months after that, we walked down an aisle, stood in front of our pastor, we exchanged covenantal marriage vows and became husband and wife.

If I asked you, when did I meet my wife? If you paid attention, you'd say, well, when you were 16. If I asked you, when did I get married? If you did the math real quick, you'd say, well, you must have been 21. If you're married and I asked you, when did you meet your spouse? You would have a date or an age. And then if I were to go on and say, well, when did you marry your spouse? You'd have a different date and a different age. What's interesting at dinner parties or at restaurants is to ask how long that gap was. Sometimes it's five years like me, sometimes it's 15 years, sometimes it's 15 weeks. A few people have blushed and confessed it was 15 days, but there's a difference between when did you meet your spouse and when did you marry. That's distinct.

Now hold that thought. We have a problem in the Christian community with the use of a popular phrase that I keep hearing. And it's the phrase that's often posited in a question and it goes something like this: when did you meet Christ? When were you introduced to the Lord? When did you meet Jesus? Now, nothing wrong with the question. The problem is what people mean when they ask the question and what people mean when they answer the question. Because as one of your favorite movies puts it, I don't think that phrase means what you think it means. Because when people say that, often what they mean is when did you become a Christian? And people often answer that question with, well, I became a Christian here and that's when I met Christ.

If you're reading and studying through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we read lots of characters, lots of figures. And if you asked the question, when did Nicodemus meet Christ? You'd have a different answer because you would be in a context that would force you to say, here's where Nicodemus met Christ or here's where Peter met Christ or here's where Nathanael met Christ or here's where Philip met Christ. But then if I asked you, when did they become a Christian? You would have a different answer. Sometimes you'd say, the Gospels say they met Christ but over here it never says they actually became followers of Christ.

If you fall into the pattern of blurring that line, you will, without knowing it, begin to shape your theology in a very unbiblical way that will leave out this very important period that necessarily precedes you becoming a child of God. Because the scripture is clear: you meet Christ before you become a follower of Christ. You have a period between being exposed to the teachings of Christ and becoming a follower. That gap for people is different. Some it's short, some it's long, and some have met him and have never come to the place of true conversion.

If you're blurry about those two things, meeting Christ and becoming a Christian, you will necessarily take out a natural and biblical concern that we ought to have about possibly getting stuck in that dating relationship and never moving to the altar. Are you tracking with that? You can't miss that. It's a critical error and it's one that Satan would love for us to buy into. Take your Bibles if you haven't already and turn to Hebrews chapter six, which is a passage that is concerned with the danger of being in this period of knowing something about Christ and even experiencing the benefits of Christ, but never getting to the place of biblical repentance and faith.

In Hebrews chapter six, verse number four, that's where we left off. He begins a very poignant and very sobering text that helps us think through the fact that you don't want to get into a dating relationship with Christ and fail to get married, just to use our analogy. He says it's impossible, verse four, for those who have once been enlightened. Five things. Secondly, who've tasted the heavenly gift, who've shared in the Holy Spirit, who've tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age. It's impossible for those, verse six, 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.

Then he gives an analogy, verse seven. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it, that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed, it receives the blessing of God. But the land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. I imagine if I were the farmer, I might curse it as well. You've worked on it, you've invested in it, and all it's producing is thorns and thistles. And in the end, the analogy finishes, it will be burned. And he says even though, now this is the most important verse in the entire section here, even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case. Now underline these words, four words that are critically important: things that accompany salvation.

Keep your finger here and turn back three chapters, Hebrews chapter three. What we mean by that is something he's already established. As a matter of fact, we went slowly through the third chapter and we dwelt on this. We talked about the fact of what's being taught here and elsewhere in scripture about salvation and real faith. Look at verse 14, and we looked carefully at the grammar of this verse, verse 14. It says we have come to share in Christ if, Hebrews 3:14, we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. Read it again. We've come to share in Christ. It doesn't say we will come to share in Christ or we hope to share in Christ if. No, it says we have come to share in Christ. We are genuinely partakers in Christ in a real and genuine bona fide sense if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

We learned in chapter three and elsewhere in scripture that the proof of real conversion is longevity in the faith. That you will continue in the Christian faith if your conversion to Christ is real. Now here's the problem. There are some that look converted to Christ, they've attached themselves to the community of the redeemed, but they haven't really bought in with real faith. That's why the illustrations continue in chapter four, as you remember, about the people of Israel wandering in the desert and they come to Kadesh Barnea and they're on the doorstep of the promised land, but they don't have faith in God. They're a part of the community of the redeemed, but they're not trusting God. And in the 12 spies indicative of the community, only two were willing to say we trust God. The rest didn't trust God. And he says God was displeased with that generation. Now wait a minute, aren't those your people? Well, they are in name, but they're not in their heart. And the difference is huge because a lot of people think if I'm in with the community and I buy into the principles, I must be in my heart in this thing called Christianity. And he's trying to make the case by analogy. He's made it here by principle in verse 14 of chapter three, real bona fide faith that lasts. Now what about those that don't last?

The emphasis in chapter six verses four and five is you can experience a lot of incredibly beneficial things. Let's take this apart. We'll spend most of our time in the listing of these five things, but let us at first just make a general statement about what's going on in the book of Hebrews. Number one on your outline if you're taking notes, jot down this: number one, you and I need to beware of the "almost." Beware of the "almost." Because as the title of this series in this section of scripture indicates, you can almost be a Christian. You can almost be a Christian. But being a dabbler who walks away, that's not the thing that accompanies salvation because the thing that accompanies salvation is continuing in the faith until the end. If you don't continue in the faith until the end, we've already learned that in chapter three, by illustration in chapter four, you're not genuine. But you're stuck to the community for a while. And the concern that we should have for all of us is, wait a minute, am I almost a Christian? Because you do know that the Bible is full of examples. Let me give you a few.

Acts chapter 25 and 26. There's a guy named King Agrippa. Do you remember him? Agrippa? Chapters 25 and 26 talk about King Agrippa and here's what we learn. Chapter 26 as Paul's preaching, he affirms the fact that Agrippa believes the scriptures. He believes in what the prophets have taught. He believes the Bible, to put it in the vernacular. He agrees the Bible, I agree with it, I believe in it, I believe in this book. Not only that, chapter 25 shows us that he is attracted to the apostolic teaching. He wants to know. Matter of fact, he calls personally for Paul to come preach to him. He believes the Bible, to put it in our terms, and he willingly goes to church. Not only that, by the end of Paul's discussion it becomes clear that his heart is being drawn to this. He even stops Paul's message and says are you trying to convince me to become a Christian? You think in this short time you're going to persuade me to become a Christian? He is being pulled and drawn, and yet no indication in the text, as Festus chimes in and shows him how ridiculous this teaching of Paul is, no indication Agrippa comes to faith in Christ. Almost, though. Close. Believes the right book, sitting under the right teacher, has the right feelings, but he doesn't quite get there.

Or how about this one, Acts chapter eight. There's a guy named Simon, not Simon Peter. He's often known by what he used to do. He was a sorcerer. Simon the magician, Simon the sorcerer. Remember him in Acts chapter eight? He encounters Philip. Philip is preaching mightily the things of God. Now note this when you study Acts chapter eight on your own. You good Bereans go home and you study this and you'll find that Simon believed the teaching of Philip. He embraced the teaching of Philip. He was baptized by Philip and his associates. Now check that out. He believes the teaching about Christ, he buys the teaching of Philip, he affirms it and he says I want to be baptized. He goes to some Christian school and a blow-up pool and he gets dunked right there. There he is. I'm in. He's toweling himself off and he's in. Peter and John come to town and he's attracted by the leadership of the apostles and he even wants to be a part of it. He's aspiring to leadership, he believes the teaching of Christ, he gets baptized, he associates himself with the redeemed people. And you know what at the end Peter ends up saying about Simon? Your heart is not right before God and you are still in bondage to sin. Matter of fact, if you read the external early church fathers, Hippolytus and others say that Simon from Acts chapter eight becomes one of the major opponents for the next three decades of apostolic teaching in the first century. He bails out. He's an apostate. An apostate. He believed the teaching of Philip, he got baptized. I mean, we were at his baptismal service. He even wanted to be a leader in the church. Almost, not quite.

If that doesn't do it for you, let me add a third name that we don't even need to give you a reference for. His name is Judas Iscariot. Remember him? Talk about almost a Christian. Think about that. He was the treasurer in the organization. He was the trusted one. He was not only called a disciple, he was designated an apostle. He, we can safely assume as the apostles did, went into villages representing Christ and even did miraculous sign gifts. Talk about an amazing position of power in the early church, and you talk about identification, he's on the back of the bulletin way high up on the list. Treasurer, Judas Iscariot. I mean, this is big. He's a leader. And yet Jesus clearly said he is destined to destruction, a son of perdition, and his heart before God, guess what? It's not right. Do you think people thought Judas was a Christian? A genuine devoted follower of Christ? You bet. Simon? You bet. Simon Magus or Simon the Sorcerer, you bet. Agrippa? He was real close. You can almost be a Christian. There's a lot of examples. And the writer of Hebrews has already said you've got to beware of that. It's not about being almost saved, it's about being saved.

The possibility of dating Christ, or letter A as I put it, just know it's a possibility. We've just given a few examples, but you and I can probably think of people in our own life who we've watched come associate with Christianity. They've had a Bible, they've got their name on the front of a Bible, they've been to Sunday school, they've learned verses, they have been in it with Christ but only at a dating level. But no genuine conversion. Beware of that because the possibility is that you and I could experience a lot in the community of the redeemed and never truly be redeemed.

The diagnosis, four passages. Let me just quote them for you, I may make you turn to one. The first one, diagnosis. Luke chapter 8, verse 13. You don't have to turn there because you know this passage. Luke chapter 8, verse 13 is one of the synoptic reports and records of Jesus and the four soils. The sower and the soils, remember that? He describes the rocky soil this way: he talks about the sower throwing out the seed, which by the way is as good as the seed on the fourth soil that bears fruit some thirty, sixty, hundredfold. The seed goes out and it falls on the soil in the rocky places, and here's how Jesus in verse 13 of Luke 8 describes it. He says on the rocks are the ones who believe the word of God, and they receive it with joy when they hear it. Think about that. They're going, "Woo-hoo, I'm into this." But they have no root. They believe, here's a big word, but only for a while, Jesus said. Because in a time of testing, they fall away. In a time of testing, which leads me to a second passage I want you to jot down.

First Peter chapter one. This one we can turn to. Once you jot it down, verses six and seven, turn there with me. First Peter chapter one, verses six and seven. Jesus said, now remember, Peter was there listening to the parable of the soils. So Jesus taught this and Peter heard it and he knew what he said, and he's going to pick up on this phrase "in a time of testing." And Peter elaborates on it. He says you know what? Here's what the time of testing is all about. It's a time of difficulty, a time of trial, a time of struggle, a time of pain. Verse six, First Peter chapter one, verse six, it says in this you greatly rejoice. In what? In this great inheritance that's coming for us, reserved in heaven for us, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of, what's the word? Trials. What's a trial? Another word for trial? It's a test. These have come so that, now note this carefully, your faith may be proved what? Genuine. And may result, if it does prove genuine, in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Now that faith is of greater worth, now the parenthetical section, greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire. You have a faith that when put under pressure is tested and Jesus said if it's tested and it fails, it's not real. If it's tested and it doesn't fail and it endures beyond the testing, then guess what? It's real. And it will produce all kinds of praise and glory when Christ returns. But it will be tested. Which means what? Jesus said believe for a while is a phony faith. It's a faith that doesn't last. And if it doesn't last until the end, it's not real.

Therefore, third passage I want you to jot down. Second Corinthians chapter 13 should be something we periodically revisit in our personal lives, and that is that we subject ourselves to some evaluation. Paul put it this way, verse number five: examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Are you in it? Is it real? Next phrase: test yourselves. Test yourselves. He says now, do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? Unless of course, you fail the test. What a powerful passage. You'd better be analyzing yourself to see whether you're really in. Not in the doors of the church, but in the faith. Because if you're in the faith, Christ is in you, but you might find out you're in the doors of the church but you're really not in the faith because Christ is not really in you. He's just sitting next to you on the porch. There's a difference. He says examine yourself, test yourself. How's the test? Back to the words of Jesus, Luke chapter 8. They believe for a while.

Now what happens if they believe for a while and then they bail out? What does the scripture say? Passage I've quoted already in our study of the third chapter of Hebrews, First John chapter 2, verse 19. And you don't need to turn there because you remember this one, don't you? They went out from us, but they really didn't belong to us. Had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their going out showed that none of them belonged to us. Does that sound like a tongue twister? Catch it again. They went out from us, but they didn't really belong to us. Had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their going out showed that none of them belonged to us. What's the point? The bailout, the temporary faith, the apostates, to put it in theological terms, proved they never had the genuine article to start with. Watch out. You can date Christ. The question is, what do you do after you date Christ? Do you move on to marriage or do you break up? You don't want to break up because there's some impossibilities connected with it. But suffice it today to say: beware of the almost.

Dave Drewry: Wow. Beware of the almost. A sobering caution from Pastor Mike Fabarez to make sure we're really committed to our relationship with Christ. This is Focal Point and you're listening to a study in Hebrews chapter six titled "Watching Out for the Pacifying Benefits of Dating Christ." Days fill up fast, don't they? If you missed the beginning of this study or want to hear it again, everything's archived online at focalpointradio.org. You can also grab the free Focal Point app to take these teachings wherever your schedule leads you.

This month Pastor Mike has hand-picked a resource that addresses one of scripture's most mysterious books. Mark Hitchcock's The Revelation Answer Book cuts through the confusion surrounding prophecy and the end times. You'll find straightforward biblical answers about the rapture, the millennium, and everything in between. It's perfect whether you're wrestling with these topics yourself or preparing to discuss them with others. Get your copy of The Revelation Answer Book by giving a generous gift to Focal Point today. Call 888-320-5885 or donate online at focalpointradio.org. Now Pastor Mike has something special he wants to tell you about.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Thanks, Dave. I'd like to invite you to join me September 19th through the 26th, 2026 on a Christian cruise through New England and Canada. We'll sail Holland America's Zuiderdam, known for its elegance and exceptional hospitality, to historic cities like Boston, Halifax, and Quebec City. We'll gather for devotional times in God's Word followed by thought-provoking Bible teaching throughout our journey. Grammy-winning musicians Keith and Kristyn Getty will lead us in worship. You'll enjoy the stunning autumn landscapes as we explore charming coastal villages, all while building friendships with like-minded believers. It's a unique opportunity to deepen your faith and see some of the most beautiful scenery on the Eastern Seaboard. Space is limited, so don't wait to sign up. Secure your cabin today at focalpointradio.org.

Dave Drewry: Once again just go to focalpointradio.org for all the details. Well, I'm your host Dave Drewry, and tomorrow Pastor Mike provides a biblical test that distinguishes between those who know about Jesus and those who truly follow him. A challenging message Wednesday on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. Ever wish you could corner your pastor and challenge him with your toughest questions about the Bible, about faith? Well, now you can. Send me your questions. Head on over to focalpointradio.org and click on Ask Pastor Mike or send me a note on facebook.com/pastormike or x.com/pastormike. I can't wait to hear from you.

Dave Drewry: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.