Alright, Hebrews 6, the book of Hebrews, chapter 6. In Hebrews 6 is an intentional pause by the author, by the writer, to warn them about the dangerous sin of apostasy. Apostasy I'll define it in the message, but basically it's a falling away. It's a great falling away. It's a terrible falling away because it's a falling away from the aspect of a profession of faith in Christ. It's when a professing Christian falls away. Now the writer in chapter 5 and verses 12 to 14 begin to warn them of one of the signs that they might be leading that way. And one of those signs for them was that they had forgotten what they had been taught. They weren't learning. They weren't progressing. There was no maturity coming forth from their lives. They were not growing. Now, you know, if we have children and something's happening physically to that child and that child is not physically growing, we take them to the doctor. Something's wrong. So if that child's not growing, we need to figure out why. Well, these, not all of them, but many of these Jewish Christians, they were not advancing, they were not growing. And so that's where we come out of this. And the writer was getting ready to teach on the priesthood of Melchizedek and, of course, the priesthood of Christ, but he stops here. to give a warning and an admonition, and we're gonna read that from verses one to 12 of chapter six. But we'll pick up in verse 12 of chapter five just for continuity. He says, for when time you ought to be teachers, and what he's saying is by this time in your Christian life, you ought to be teachers, but you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. and are become such as have need of milk and not strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." It's like a baby, you need to be spoon fed is what he's saying. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, grown up. Even those who, by reason of use, they've used the Word of God, they've cultivated the Word of God in their spirits. By reason of use, they have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. That word exercised is the Greek word gymnazo, and we get our English word gymnasium from. So you need to exercise. Chapter six, verse one, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permit. Verse four, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them to repentance or to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain and that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you. and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have showed toward his name in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence in your Christian life to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that you'd be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Pray with me. Father, we ask for your blessings. We pray that you would open this chapter up to us. Father, and I pray that we would give it our undivided attention. Father, speak to us through your word, we pray. Oh God, may your spirit descend into our midst. For Lord, if your spirit's not among us, then Father, we're in a helpless case. So please help us this day. Help me, Father, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the writer had just scolded. You know what it means to be scolded? He just rebuked these Jewish Christians for their sluggishness, for their spiritual laziness. And the reason is because they needed to be taught the first things again. the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. And he tells them by this time you ought to be teaching these things, but you have need that you need to be taught again. Now the first principles basically means first things. It literally means ABCs. It's like you need to be taught your ABCs again. You shouldn't only understand these truths of Christianity, but you should be able to teach them. And listen, the writer's not teaching for the common Christian to be a theologian, but you should be advancing. You should be growing. You should be able to talk about the things of God from an aspect of understanding your own salvation. There's something wrong if you don't understand how to explain your own salvation. And so that's very important. And the writer is telling them, you should at least understand that and you should be growing past that. Listen, the good seed of the word was not the problem. The word of God is never the problem. There was a soil problem, a heart problem. So listen, if something's not happening within you, if the spirit of God isn't helping you to grow, then you've got some Problems, you've either got the wayside going on here, you're either stony ground, or there's a whole bunch of other junk from the world wrapped up in your heart to where the word is choked. So there's a soil problem here. So the writer says, take heed to being lazy and slothful. And listen, this is a wake-up call to all of us. Listen, we all have those times when I just don't feel like doing nothing. But that can't be how we always are in our Christian lives, beloved. We can't always be lazy and slothful. We should never be lazy and slothful, but we should be cultivating the good seed of the word into our hearts. We need to deliberately take it and think upon it. Listen, we need to plow up the rocks out of our hearts, the hard places, and cultivate the good word of God into our hearts. The writer in verse 11 of chapter five, he says, listen, I have a lot of things to teach you. I have many things to say unto you, but you're not ready to hear. Listen, if you're not in the word, listen, you can't come into the gathering of the saints and be ready to hear if you weren't cultivating the word in your heart out there. And so he says, I have many things to say unto you, but this is why he stops here. He says, hold on a minute. And he's trying to shake them out of their sluggishness. He said, I have a lot to say to you about Jesus and Melchizedek, but you're not ready. And listen, that's a question for us every time we gather. Do I have eyes to see and ears to hear? Am I ready to hear the word of God? And we should be, brother. Listen, they profess faith in Christ, but they had not grown. They had not matured. In fact, if you're right there, Hebrews 4 and verses 1 and 2, we can see here's one of the warning signs. He says, let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. So they fell short. And here's what happened, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, being not mixed with faith in them that heard it. The word was not mixed with faith. And so there's a deliberate believing the word. Faith means to believe it. And so the word wasn't mixed with faith. And so it's like it fell on the wayside, or it fell in stony ground, or it fell among the thorns. So listen, they profess faith, but they were sluggish. And thus, they were in danger of falling away. They were in danger of falling away. Listen, don't ever let this warning just fall on the wayside, and don't think that the Christian life is one that is the life of one who is spiritually lazy. It is not. I think of what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians. He wrote this, just listen. He told the Corinthian church in chapter 3. He says, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. but as unto carnal, even as unto babies in Christ, babes, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it. try shoving a big ribeye steak in a six-month-old baby's mouth, they'll choke on it. He says you should be growing and you're not. He says you're not receiving, as Peter says, the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. And so there must be growth. And listen, this is a time for self-examination. Are you growing in grace? Are you advancing? Are you moving forward? And he says, I know that you're not growing, 1 Corinthians, because there is among you envy, strife, and divisions. It's evident in your behavior. You're not growing. You should be growing past these things. And so again, you've got to check the soil. If you're still carnal in your heart, listen, if you're still carnal in all that you do as a Christian, then you're not growing up. Something's wrong. If you're carnal in everything, listen, I know we have our difficulties, our weaknesses in our Christian life, but we should be learning and growing. We should be learning Christ. We should be moving forward. We should be sinning less. We should be. So his warning was of them completely falling away. Listen, stagnancy, y'all know what stagnant water is? You wouldn't drink from stagnant, a stagnant pond. You would look for a place in the stream where the water's moving and where it's clear. So stagnancy in the Christian life, brethren, it will lead to apostasy and a falling away. And you don't want that. Back up to Hebrews 3.12, the writer has been warning his readers, these Jewish Christians, and it's a warning for us today. In verse 12, he says, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. So it's a warning to brethren. And so take heed, he says. that you're not departing. In the next verse, he says, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And then in verse 14, he says, for we are made partakers if we endure, if we hold fast. That's one of the surest proofs of a true child of God, one that has true and genuine saving faith is that they hold on to the end. He that endureth unto the end shall be saved. So he says, we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast all the way to the end. That's the Christian life. So in chapter six, the writer moves on. He moved on from his rebuke and his scolding of them and encouraged them to move on in their faith. He's saying, it's time for you to move on. And he uses that word perfection. Move on into being perfected. In other words, grow up. In Ephesians 4, he said, we shouldn't be children tossed to and fro, but we should grow up into the perfect man. He uses that term, I think it's in Ephesians 4.15 or 4.14. He says we should be growing up. So shake off your dullness and apathy is what he's telling them. And listen, I love here, notice there in the first verse, he said, let us go on unto perfection. So I love how he included himself. So he's saying, come on. And I think he's alluding to, as he teaches here, I think he's pointing to those ones, those saints in Hebrews 11, who endured through those fights, and they endured all the way to the end. And I think he makes some allusions or implications to that chapter in this section. So he said, let us go on unto perfection, not laying in the first elementary principles of the faith, In other words, let's get past our ABCs, he's telling them. Let us move on and build upon those foundational doctrines. Listen, he wasn't telling them to abandon the first things. I want you to see that. When he says move on, he wasn't telling them to forget these things. Think about a builder. We have some builders here. Chris is a builder. Jesse's a builder. You built your own house, right? When you lay the foundation of a house, The time comes after it's cured and poured, the concrete, a time comes where you leave the foundation, right? You stop tending to the foundation sooner or later, and you start building the house, right? You let it dry. I mean, you do the work. You lay the foundation, and you lay it strong, and then you begin to build the house. When a writer told them to leave or move on from the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, He wasn't telling them to abandon them, no more than the builder abandons the foundation. I mean, you don't pour a slab of a house and then build a house next to it on the sand. No, you build it upon the foundation. If the foundational truths of the faith are not in place and strong and stable, the house will fall. the house will fall. Look, Bryce read it. Go back to Luke 6.47. We'll read it again. Luke 6.47. This is in the Sermon on the Mount. It's also in Matthew 7, but in Luke 6.47. You were in 11, weren't you? Let's see, where am I here? Luke 647. I'm in the wrong chapter, that's why. There you go, Luke 647. Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings, now let this sink down, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built a house and dig deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. And that foundation are the foundational principles of your faith. But he that heareth and doeth them not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth and against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. And so we don't abandon the foundation. So when we're young, we all learn our ABCs. When I go get my hair cut, the ABCs are on the wall because they have a little toddler learning his ABCs. We don't recite our ABCs, do we? How many of you go home and go, A, B, C, D? We don't do that, do we? We don't. Maybe you do it with your grandchildren, but you don't recite your ABCs. But are they not foundational to everything you know? If you didn't know your ABCs, you wouldn't be able to read. You wouldn't be able to understand. You wouldn't understand phonics, like sounding out things. You wouldn't understand how to understand the English language. Beneath all that we know and understand, beloved, are our ABCs. They are foundational to all of our learning, and just as the foundational principles and doctrines of the faith of Jesus Christ are foundational to all that we know. Listen, when you see a beautiful house, you don't run up and look down at the foundation. You look at the house, right? But you know it's got a good, strong foundation under it, or the house will fall. So as we move on, so what are those ABCs of the faith which we are to be moving on from? Look right down there. You're in Hebrews. He tells us repentance from dead works and faith in Christ, teaching of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment, which is like saying eternal punishment or eternal damnation. So these are the first principles. And I'm not gonna delve really deeply into these because I don't wanna lose the context. So the first one, repentance and faith. Repentance from dead works. If you're dead in your trespasses and sins, everything that you do is a dead work. So repentance from dead works or dead religious works. So repentance, turning from our sins and believe in Christ. So that's the first thing. And then teachings of, or teaching of baptisms, notice it's a plural word there, teaching of baptisms and of the laying on of hands. Now I'm just gonna read two verses from me, just listen. And again, I'm not gonna get too deep into this baptism, so why is it plural? What baptisms are we talking about? Well, he's not talking about infant baptism. And some of the paedo-baptists might say that, but I don't think that's what he's talking about. I think he's talking about your union now or your baptism by the Holy Spirit. Because when God saves you, you're united to God by the Holy Spirit. That's that baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I think he's also talking about your actual public profession of faith when you were baptized in deep water. 1 Corinthians, I'll just read this. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. He's talking about your salvation. Now, the Spirit of God, you've been baptized by the Spirit of God. And I think that's what he speaks of here. He says, laying on of hands. Now listen, it's quite possible in this time there were still apostles alive. They still might've been laying hands supernaturally on some at this time. It was probably 62 to 64 AD. So some of the apostles were still alive. In fact, it's quite possible that Paul wrote this letter. And so there's that thought, but that was one of the fundamental things that they were learning. And then finally, the resurrection from the dead and of eternal judgment. So that's part of the first principles. We understand that there is going to be a resurrection of the just and of the unjust. We understand that being saved is a resurrection from being dead in our trespasses and sins. And then, of course, there's the judgment of the great day and eternal judgment. So I think without spending too much time here, because I think we would lose the context, I think that is what the writer is saying. These are those first principles that we need to move on from, and we shouldn't be laying them down again. When you pour the foundation for a house, you don't pour it again. No, you begin to move forward and you build upon that foundation. But I think in verse three, if you look there, he says, and this will we do if God permit. And I think that the writer here was saying, not my will, but thine be done. If I have to teach you again, I will. And I think that's what he's saying. We will go on and get unto perfection and grow up. Let's grow up together. Let's move on from the foundational doctrines of the faith. unless God will have me to teach you again. So I think the writer here is saying, not my will, but thine be done, Lord. So that brings us to verses four through six. Let's read them again. You see that word impossible in verse four. He said, it is impossible for those who were once enlightened. Now, listen to all these terms because he is giving a description of what the apostate looks like before they fall. Well, actually, this is what they looked like, looked like past tense. They were once enlightened. They have tasted of the heavenly gift. They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. They have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. And I think that word impossible is also implied here. If they fall away, if they shall fall away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance. And then there's this seeing they crucify to themselves the son of God afresh. and put him to an open shame, publicly shaming him. Now what the writer is about to describe is the irrecoverable fall of an apostate. And I say irrecoverable because he says here it's impossible to renew them unto repentance again. And again, one of the major warning signs, which kind of got us here, is no growth. You're not learning. In fact, they unlearned. Stagnancy. Remember, stagnancy will lead or can lead to apostasy. Now let me make a point here about the sin of apostasy. Now remember, the sin of apostasy is not, remember this, it's not falling into a particular sin. It's not that you fell into a big bad sin from which you cannot repent of. and from which you cannot be forgiven for in the sight of God and recover. We've seen instances of this in the scriptures. Think of David. David was not an apostate. But this sin, it's the horrible sin in which one who professed faith in Christ now renounces their faith in Christ. It's to basically confess, I don't believe that Jesus is the son of God. I deny that he is God. I deny God. He defects. You know, when you take the oath to become a citizen of the United States, if you've ever read that pledge that they say, When a person comes in, they say, I renounce all other citizenships. Renounce. That's not who I am anymore. So when one apostatizes from the faith, they say, that's not who I am anymore. I am not a Christian. I do not believe in Christ. And what makes it so bad is they fell from the aspect of professing faith in Christ. And that's what makes it so bad. And the Scriptures teach us this is a falling away from whence one cannot return. Look at Matthew 12. Turn, let me show you a few passages. Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. Verse 43, this is also in Luke 11, but we'll read this one. When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none. This is someone who's cleaned up their act, but they don't have the spirit of God. They've turned over a new leaf. They've reformed themselves. So the unclean spirit has gone out. Then he saith, I will return unto my house, that is the one that tried to clean up his life, from whence I came out. And when he has come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. It's all cleaned up. But there's no spirit of, there's nobody living there. Then goeth he that is that wicked spirit and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it also be with this wicked generation. And the Lord was pointing specifically at the scribes and Pharisees in that time. 2 Peter is also a supporting verse, 2 Peter 2.20. So I want you to get that. The last state of that one is worse than the first state. Peter even is more pointed and specific in verse 20 of chapter 2, 2 Peter 2.20. Remember, the apostate has a lot of knowledge, has knowledge of Christ, has been influenced among the saints. They have tasted the heavenly gift, made partakers of the Holy Ghost. You look and say, did they lose their salvation? No. No, some of the enemies of the gospel will try and use this passage to prove that you can lose your salvation, but no, beloved, if it was yours, you could lose it. But salvation is of the Lord. So here in 2 Peter 2.20, for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them to have not known the way of righteousness, than after they had known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them, according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow, or the pig, that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." So you see the last state. And this is really something scary to think about. It would have been better to not know the way of righteousness than to know it and even walk apace with the saints and then to turn from the holy commandment. It would have been better to not know. I mean, think about that. And beloved, we counted a treasure that we know. And we never want to not know, and that needs to be who we are. I never want to not know, Father. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 1. Here is one of the two places that the Greek word apostasy is used, apostasia. It's also in Acts 21, 21. We won't look there. But notice in 2 Thessalonians 2.1, Listen, if you've not figured out the Christian life by this time, figure out that it's a war, it's a battle, and there are powers in the darkness of this world in the spiritual world that want you to do exactly what we're talking about not doing, want you to forsake your faith in Jesus Christ. And he said, don't be soon shaken, neither by spirit Not the Holy Spirit, a bad spirit. Nor by word, nor by letter, as from us as that day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, by any methods. Let no man, no one deceive you. For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first. That's apostasy. of those that have made shipwreck of their faith. And that's what he's talking about here. Beloved, understand this, the apostate was never a Christian. The apostate was never a saved man or woman. They only looked like a Christian for a time. Remember the three bad soils. Remember the stony ground? Anon, they receive it with joy, and they endure for a while. That's the definition of an apostate. They fall from the aspect of Christianity. Now, the writer here. is gonna teach us what the apostate looks like before they fall, or this is actually who they were. But again, understand that they only looked like a Christian. They were never really a Christian. You can't fall finally away, child of God. You can't. Look, let me just show you one passage in Jude. Go to Jude. The book of Jude, the last little book, and there's many places that we could go. We could go to 1 Peter. You're kept by the power of God. No man is able to pluck you out of my Father's hand. I am my Father, O one. No, you can't be plucked out of my hand, Jesus says, and you can't be plucked out of my Father's hand. Listen, don't get discouraged, Christian, and never think that The sin of apostasy is because you've committed this sin and you can't be forgiven. No, confess your sins, repent of your sins. This is that sin of forsaking your faith. Jude, notice verse 24, we'll just read. That first, and I'm gonna go backwards, he says, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Unto him that is able to keep you from falling. That's God. And beloved, he's gonna do it. Now look at verse 20. But ye, beloved, here's the Christian, building up yourselves on your most holy faith. That's who you should also be. Actually, verse 24 is the indicative. That's going to happen. Verse 20 is the imperative. This is who you should and must be, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. So now, what do apostates look like? Think about the wheat and the tare. Have you ever seen a picture of a wheat and a tare next to each other? Go Google it. They look pretty close. A tare is a weed that has a little thing on top of it that actually looks like a piece of wheat. Now it's not our business to go and pick out the wheat and the tares. We should mostly know them But sometimes, look, we don't know the tares. In the parable, the servants of the Lord, because somebody sowed bad seed in his field and the tares grew, and they said, Lord, you want us to go root them up? And he says, no. Let both grow together until the harvest. And you know why that is, beloved? Because we aren't discerning enough to know who a tare is. And you might go rip up a wheat. So beloved, you leave that to the Spirit of God. And if need be, listen, the end of the world will manifest. And so we leave it to the Lord. So what do apostates look like? They were once enlightened, he says. They were instructed. They were taught the truths of God. They have the knowledge of Christ in the gospel. That's really scary. I mean, listen, you think about this. It is. It's kind of fearful. So they had the knowledge. They tasted the heavenly gift. What's the heavenly gift here? There's a lot of different thoughts. I think the heavenly gift is the Spirit of God. God gifts us with the Spirit of God. That's the heavenly gift, I believe. These have tasted the presence of the Spirit of God, but they were not nourished and quickened to life by Him. It's like being in the influence. They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. They have enjoyed the common but not the special influence of His presence. The common influence to be among those that have the Spirit of God and kind of be taken away by the torrent of those influenced by them. These were enlightened. There was illumination in the mind. They tasted the heavenly gift. They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. They tasted the good word of God. Think about that. You can go and tell certain folks out in the world that are lost, you can teach them something that's in the Word of God, and they'll say, oh yeah, they're full on, they agree with that. But there's not enough agreement to forsake all for Christ. And so they've tasted, and notice taste. but not so much as to be nourished. And then the powers of the world to come, they've tasted heaven's power. And how have they done that? They've been in the assembly when God has moved. The powers of the world to come, that's the power of the world to come. They've experienced that power that's associated with being among God's people. But still, when they left, they loved the world. He says, if they shall fall away. And we know he's talking about the apostate here because this is what he tells us about him. It's impossible to renew them unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves afresh the Son of God and put into open shame. Now, again, I want to remind you of this. Listen, I've struggled in this message because what the writer is describing is a professing Christian who is an unbeliever and not saved. And remember what we read earlier. The apostate is worse after their fall. I know a few. It's very discouraging. And you look at it and you say, how could that be? It's because something happens here that is far and above us really comprehending the full measure of this offense against the Spirit of God, against God Himself. So the apostate is worse after their fall. And then there's verse 6. And I think this is what the writer is saying. If the apostate could, After they have now defected from the faith, if the apostate could, they would crucify the Lord Jesus again, yet not to believe in Him, but to stand with those who reviled Him, and to insult Him, and to cry out away with Him. And that's what's in their minds now. Away with that man. Crucify him. Kill him. They want to expunge every thought of Christ from their minds. In the apostate's fall, they openly deny and hate the one whom they once professed to believe in. It is a complete falling away and defection from the faith. They publicly openly deny the Lord Jesus and they bring contempt and public shame to his name in them. They publicly shame his name and worse, they label him just like the people did back then. They label him an imposter and worthy to die like a criminal. That's what this sin of apostasy is. Look at Hebrews 10, just back up there if you're in Jude. Hebrews 10 and verse 22. Hebrews 10 and verse 22. Listen, I'll tell you this, just from my heart of hearts. I look at this and I prayed and I sought my God because You know, even in preaching a text like this, you can hurt God's children if you don't present it the way it should be. But you don't, listen, the Lord put this on my heart as I studied it. I also don't want this to be ignored or passed off as, I don't have to worry about this. He's telling us, take heed brethren. But hold on, because the encouragement's coming. Hebrews 10.22, he says, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast, there's that endurance, the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promise, and let us consider one another. To provoke unto love and to good works, let us help our battle soldiers, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. We need to do that for each other, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses's law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, and he's speaking specifically of the apostate here, I believe, suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." Listen, this is like saying, I will no longer have this man to reign over me. We will not have this man to reign over us. Now to bring it back into the context of that day, what many of the Hebrew Christians were doing was tilting back toward Old Testament Judaism. They were going to forsake Christ and go back to the old covenant sacrifices. They were going to leave the wonderful high priest and savior and go back to the blood of bulls and goats. They were going to defect from their faith in Christ and return again to Judaism. Now in verses seven and eight, the writer transitions and he uses an example of the effect of rain. And he's going back now to this idea of good growth and bad growth. So he uses the example of the effect of rain on good soil and on bad soil, those who have good hearts and those who have bad hearts. Listen, both soils are blessed with rain from heaven. You can see there, if you turn back to Hebrews 6 and verse 7, he says, For them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God. So the blessing of the Word of God brings fruit. And so that's what the writer is teaching these Hebrews. The Word of God should bring forth fruit in your life. That should be the obvious evidence of true and genuine saving faith, of good soil. So that's what happened. The Word of God grows and matures the heart of a true believer. The other soil, or Other field is blessed with the same refreshing rain. A bad heart gets the preaching of the word of God, just like the good heart does. But when the word is showered upon a bad heart, there's growth. But the problem is it's thorns and briars, which is evidence of the curse still in place. The word of God is preached. The foundational doctrines are not remembered. The Word of God is not practiced. And in the life, there's nothing but thorns, briars, and sins. And so this is what the writer is saying. But there's a glimmer of hope in the second part here. He says, thorns and briars come forth, and that one is nigh unto cursing. He doesn't say he's cursed, past tense. So there's a glimmer of hope. Nigh unto cursing. Nonetheless, if the rain comes and nothing but thorns and briars come forth from your life, if you continue in sin, this is dangerous ground. And it is imperative for us, if that's who we are, to awaken and tend to our hearts. And that's tend to the soil. Tend to the soil. Now the final encouragement of the writer, and listen, he was not telling them that they were all apostates. He was warning them about the dangers of being stagnant Christians, about not moving forward, growing in grace. Listen, we talked about a child. If a child is not growing, if the nourishment is not doing what it should do, we take them to a specialist. We need to know what's wrong. Christian, if you're not growing, something's wrong. You need to look at the soil of your own heart. But now he transitions from the stern preacher, scolding his children, to a spiritual father. and to a pastor, to an under shepherd of the flock and a lover of their souls. He said, but beloved, you see there in verse nine, but beloved, we are persuaded better things of you. He's telling them, listen, I don't think this is who you are, but you have to shake yourself out of this sluggishness. We're persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak, though we speak to you like this. And listen, you can look at all of those descriptions of what they were before they fell. They were illuminated. They had knowledge. They were influenced. They tasted. But never do you see them as those who were full of grace, who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't see those things. You just see like the manifestations of one that has some student knowledge of the word and of Christ. He goes on, he commends them for the evidence of true and genuine faith that was in them. in their work and their labor and their ministry in the name of Christ. You could see that in verse 10. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. There was evidence in their lives that they were truly children of God. You've worked, you've labored, and you've showed these things toward the name of Christ and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. And so he encourages them here. And at the last, he encouraged them once more to be diligent and to fight off spiritual slothfulness. And beloved, listen, that's to you, it's to me, to fight off spiritual laziness. And why? Because of the obvious danger that lies on the other end of that. so that we would not fall away and drop out of the race of the Christian life. Paul said, I've run the race, I've finished my course. And beloved, that's what we're called to do, to finish the course. And here, again, I think he had in mind the enduring and persevering faith of the saints of Hebrews 11. I really think he did. Look at Hebrews 12. 12 and verse 1, and I'll close. Hebrews 12 and verse 1. I think he had these in mind. But listen, it's all about perseverance. Listen, you may feel like you're struggling, you've got besetting sins, you're struggling with them, but that's a good struggle. Struggle. Still struggle. Keep on pressing on. Keep looking to Christ. Don't drop out of the race. I love to think about this when I'm jogging. I like to jog, and sometimes I feel like I can't make the third mile. And I think, no, you gotta make it to four. Sometimes I stop. It's only running. But beloved, we can't stop the Christian race. Look, verse one, wherefore seeing we are compassed about was so great a cloud of witnesses. Who are the witnesses? Those that endured. Chapter 11. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. He didn't faint and stop. He didn't say, ah, that's it, I'm out. No, beloved, he endured the cross, he despised the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him, and here's where we need to have this good seed settle in our minds, consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, when you think that you can't take anymore, consider him, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Beloved, consider Christ, look unto him. Listen, it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure, and he will bring you to the end of your course, but you must stay fixed upon him, dear child of God. In closing, don't forget the great danger of being stagnant in your faith. Don't be stagnant. True and genuine saving faith is not stagnant, but listen, it thrives, it flourishes, and it feeds on the word of Christ. It grows. It grows. Are you moving on onto perfection? Are you growing? Are you maturing in the faith? Those are questions, valid questions to ask yourself. Not are you becoming a theologian, but are you feeding on Christ and growing? Are you moving past? those first principles. Finally, know this, the sin of apostasy is real. Hebrews 411, let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any of you or any man fall after the same example of unbelief. We don't want that fall. So listen, to you, dear Christian, this passage does not teach you that you can lose your salvation. Don't ever think that. The apostate was never saved. To the lost, do not be discouraged or fear coming to Christ after hearing this, for those whom God saves are completely saved. And God saves them. God's the one that saves them. They're saved to the uttermost. That's an act of God. It's supernatural. Your part, if you're lost, is to simply believe Christ. Remember those foundational works, repentance and faith, repentance from dead works and faith. Repent and believe the gospel of Christ. So don't be discouraged of fear coming to Christ. You'll be kept by the power of God through faith. Christian, let your faith reside there. And I want to read Jude one more time, and then I'll dismiss this in prayer. Jude 20, but ye beloved, final exhortation, but ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And if some have compassion making a difference, and others saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Amen.