Hello everybody, and welcome in to episode 68 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Hebrews 6 today and our focus is on the sober warnings found in Hebrews. We are a daily 10 minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in  Thanks for listening! Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more – Click here for our reading plan

Let’s open by talking about maturity.We MUST go beyond elementary places in God’s Word – to deeper places of teaching and understanding. This kind of maturity does not happen automatically, but is an action. Notice the action LEAVE elementary teachings and GO ON to maturity. Action verbs. The NATURAL progression, if we are not pursuing God/abiding in Him is regression. Dullness of hearing is always a danger. Where are we dull of hearing today when it comes to the meat of God’s Word? 

As mentioned a couple of days ago, Hebrews has three chapters, 3, 6 and 10, that many theologians and teachers refer to as the ‘warning passages’ of Hebrews. Those who believe that a Christian can lose their salvation often point to these passages as evidence of that belief. Tonight when reading this passage to my family, two of the kids, John Caedmon and Phoebe, both asked the obvious question, “Wait, does this mean a Christian can get unsaved?” Was the exact wording, I believe. It is a great, great question, and one that these warning passages naturally lead us to because they are so stark in their warnings.

This being a ten minute only podcast, I’m not going to go too deeply into this today, but I believe in eternal security. I believe a truly saved by Jesus person will NOT lose salvation. I believe the term, sometimes used by Southern Baptists, once saved, always saved, is not particularly helpful, but I believe that once a person is truly saved by Jesus, washed in the blood and moved from death to life, that their salvation is eternally secure – NOT by their own effort – I would fail/let go if it was all on me and my strength – BUT by God’s grace. That said, these warnings are sobering, and they are what is in the passage before us today. I do not want to water this passage down, but   faithfully preserve the warnings of Hebrews 6. In later parts of reading through Hebrews, we will delve deeper into the truth of eternal security. Let’s read the passage, and hear the warnings for ourselves. 

I should note that Hebrews 3, 6 and 10 are not the only warning passages in the Bible:DID YOU KNOW: 

1. You can receive the grace of God in vain? 2nd Cor 6:1 6 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.    ONE MORE EXAMPLE: 1 Cor 15:2 – It is possible to believe in a vain way. That is, it is possible to declare yourself a Christian, and to believe in God/Jesus, but in a useless way:  1 Corinthians 15:2 5 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 
2. That Converts to Christ can fall under the condemnation of the devil? 1 Timothy 3: He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 
3. Did you know that…It is possible to hear the Gospel and receive it with joy, and show evidence of following Jesus, and yet still fall away?  Mark 4:  16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 
4. You can appear Godly in most every way, but by your very life deny the power of God? 2nd Timothy 3: 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. 
5. Both Jesus AND Paul warn of the possibility of apostasy – falling away from faith – and say that a time of massive apostasy will come before the end times?!  Matthew 24: 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.    2nd Thess. 2:3  3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come,unless the rebellion comes first 
6. You CAN stray from the truth. We ALL know people that are RIGHT NOW straying from the truth. They are in deadly peril.
   If we turn sinners from their errors, we will be saving their lives AND covering multitudes of sins James 5: 19 My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his life from death and cover a multitude of sins.

What is the point of these warning passages? They are meant to startle us, warn us (of course!), wake us up AND, maybe most importantly, SPUR us on and encourage us to keep going forward, as we see in our verse of the day:

¹¹ Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, ¹² so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance. Hebrews 6:11-12

Allow me to close with the words of my dear friend pastor David McConnell, of Agape church in Pinson, Alabama:

I realize that passages like Hebrews 6 are not on the surface encouraging and hopeful; but, we do not always need encouraging – sometimes we need to be warned. When I was in spiritual crisis at 19 years old, failing to move to Christ-like maturity; steeped in sinful immorality; uninterested in the Christ I claimed – I did not need someone to pat me on the back and say IT’S ALL OK. DON’T FEAR!  I needed the Spirit of God to take Heb 6 & warn my soul with the fear of judgment to GO ON TO MATURITY. A good, loving Father encourages His children AND warns His children; & today I am so grateful for the blessing of the fear of the Lord (the beginning of wisdom). Heb 4:1, tells us that God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. Trembling in fear is never enjoyable – but Praise God that the fear points us to the availability of entering His rest. So IF today you are immature in Christ, yet hearing His voice, then do not harden your heart. Run to Christ. Run to Him right now. Cling to Him. And even if you are the most mature Christian listening to this – Run to Christ, cling to Him and ask for more maturity. 

End of the Show: Bible memory verse for MARCH!: Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore, [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.”

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