On to Maturity, Part 8

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. If you are merely associated with Christ, you will be frustrated and fall away from Him. You must surrender to Christ to move on to complete faith in Him.

Investigation is not enough. God calls us to immerse ourselves fully. Today's text from Hebrews 6, 1-8 challenges us to go beyond dabbling in Christianity, just barely dipping our toes in, and instead to dive in, making a full surrender to Jesus. Let's listen in to the third part of this message titled, On to Maturity, Part 2.

It was first preached on July 15, 2012. To crucify Him again for themselves and put Him to open shame means that I have tried Him, I have judged Him and found Him unworthy. He's not worthy of my trust. That's why it says it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. It is impossible to renew them again to repentance. The word renew, then, means to cause to change to a previous preferable state.

Now hang on to this for a minute, okay? We're going to look at renew and repentance. Now when you look at the word repentance, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. The word repentance is a noun. I understand it, therefore, as a metonym.

It is one part that represents the whole. Let's say Colin got a new car, right? Colin, you got a great set of wheels there.

Really? Am I just complimenting the wheels of the car? He didn't just buy a set of wheels.

He bought a whole car, but the wheels represent the whole vehicle. And so repentance here is a word, an aspect of the whole that is representative of restoration of the fallen human condition. Repentance, regeneration, reconciliation, salvation, all of that.

The writer of Hebrews uses one word. He says impossible to renew, that word renew, to cause to change to a previous preferable state. He's speaking of the restoration of humanity. So what is, for example, in Acts chapter 11 verse 8, it is said that then the Gentiles, to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. He's speaking there of the fact that this whole salvation thing, repentance, regeneration, salvation, redemption, all of that, God has now lavished that on the Gentiles, not just the Jews. And so he's saying here it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.

What he is saying is they've abandoned hope because the word renew is a present active, meaning this, as long as you abandon Christ, you abandon all hope. If you're dabbling in the faith and you walk away and say, nope, not going to do it, you have abandoned all hope. As long as you abandon Christ, you abandon hope.

Now, why is that? Because he is the one who alone can reconcile you to God. If you abandon all hope, if you abandon Christ, you have nothing else.

There's nothing more to count on. There's not going to be another sacrifice, a sacrifice that will satisfy God's wrath and reconcile you to God. That's what Christ did. And so if you're going back to the foreshadows and you're still expecting Messiah, guess what? The Messiah has come.

There's not another one coming. And if you abandon Christ, there is nothing else to count on and you are effectively abandoning hope. That's what he says then in verses 7 to 8.

That's the illustration that he gives. If you abandon Christ, you have nothing else and you abandon hope. So look at verses 7 and 8 with me.

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 burned. Whose end is to be burned. And this is where he comes out with a very hard truth.

If you abandon Christ, you've abandoned hope. Whose end is to be burned. When he mentions rain in this illustration, when it rains, it rains on what?

The whole ground. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It rains on everybody and the rain represents God's gift of restoration and it falls upon everybody. But the briars then, it's not just fruit trees that grow up, there is also thorns and briars that grow up and they do not represent the seed that was planted.

They therefore will be harvested to be burned. When you abandon hope, the only thing you can count on is whose end is to be burned. It's a very strong statement, isn't it? It's a very strong illustration. You see, God has lavished his grace upon all men.

He has provided restoration. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. 2 Corinthians 5 19. So if you abandon Christ, you have nothing else and you abandon all hope and your end is to be burned and that is representative of the necessary and just wrath of God.

Don't abandon all hope. Let's put this in a nutshell. What is it that the writer of Hebrews is saying here?

Here it is in a nutshell. If you are merely associated with Christ, you will be frustrated and fall away. You must surrender to Christ to move on to complete faith in Christ. This is what the writer of Hebrews is challenging his listeners because some of them were still considering their options.

Some of them were teetering on the fence. Some of them were dabbling in the Christian faith. They were associated with Christianity. They heard the word of God, they saw the power of the Holy Spirit, but they were still judging Christ, whether or not he was worthy. And he says, listen, if you abandon Christ, you abandon all hope. There's nothing else to count on to reconcile you to God. If you're merely associated with Christ, you will be frustrated and fall away. You must surrender to Christ to move on to complete faith in Christ. Partial faith is no faith at all. Listen, there's an irreducible simplicity here. Either you trust or you don't.

This is the point that the Lord makes clear through the author of Hebrews. If you trust, you dive in. You don't just dabble in it.

Personal assessment. What do we do with this? What do we do with this today? Because here we are, 20th century is removed from when this was written. But God is a sovereign God. He's an infinite God. He's not bound by space and time. And therefore, his word is not bound by space and time.

And what he said to them is for us today as well. Three questions of personal assessment. Number one, do I have the right ideas of Christ?

Do I have the right ideas? And when I say do I have the right ideas, please understand that those ideas don't originate with me. Those ideas originate from God's revelation.

The Bible is God's self-revelation. I must know God in the way that he has revealed himself to me. Do I have the right ideas of Christ?

Do I understand who he is? Or am I still a person who just simply views God as a judge and a wrathful person? Am I a person of non-grace? Do I understand that Christ is my Redeemer, my reconciler to God? That he died for me, that he absorbed the wrath of God in my place? Or do I still just simply perceive God as a wrathful holy God that I have to do right in order to please him? Then I don't have the right idea of Christ if that's the case. You know, or you might be on the other side of the spectrum where you say you do have your own ideas about Christ. And those are the kind of people who generally say something to the effect, well, my God wouldn't send anybody to hell.

You know what you've done when you say that? You've created God in your own image. You've created Jesus Christ in your own image.

Because the Bible makes very clear that God's wrath is just and it is sure because he is a holy God. Do I have the right ideas of Christ? Do I think him just as a good man, a good teacher? Then I don't have the right ideas of Christ. Maybe you might be here sitting here thinking this morning, okay, I know he died for me, but you know, he can't really transform my life. Yeah, I believe that he died for me, but he can't really transform my life.

You know what? You're dabbling in the faith and you're still going to judge him. And if that's what you believe about him, you're going to become frustrated with him and you're going to fall away.

And the warning is to you this morning. If you abandon Christ, you abandon hope. For many today, there is a Christless gospel.

It's all in forms. It's all in, you know, just come down and say this prayer, walk an aisle and get your ticket to heaven like we've got fire insurance because I don't want to end up in that burn pile. You know, so we're trusting our activity of coming down an aisle or saying a prayer. Are you trusting an activity that you have done or is Christ the object of your faith?

That's the next question of personal assessment. Number one, do I have the right ideas of Christ? Number two, do I have the right object of faith? Do I have the right object of faith? Is there anything about my walk of faith where I am trusting the things I do to make me right with God? Then you have the wrong object of faith. The object of faith must be Christ. Once again, the things I do might all be good. They might all be biblically prescribed. But if I'm counting on them, then I need to realize that those things point to Christ, but they are not.

He alone must be the object of my faith. Question number three, do I know that I've made the right response to Christ? Have I come to Christ on my terms saying something like, well, I've done this for you. You owe me this. The older brother syndrome of the prodigal son. Well, Lord, I've done this for you.

Now you do this for me. If there is any sense of that in your walk of faith, you're dabbling in the faith. You're coming to Christ on your terms. God's not interested in manifesting Himself to those who come to Him half-hearted. You don't come to God to barter with Him. You come to Him on His terms because He's a sovereign God. You were created for Him. These are things that we need to understand. Are you pursuing Christ with your whole heart? Are you pursuing Him with your whole heart?

Just recap a couple of sentences. Are you dabbling in the faith? Nothing won't reconcile you to God.

You must dive in. Let go of the beach and be overcome in the ocean of His grace. That, I believe, is the challenge from the writer of Hebrews to the people he was writing to and the challenge for us today under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.