Today’s message is from Hebrews 5:11-6:12. The NIV—the NIV, by the way, is the New International Version, the Bible translation we have been using in the paperback bibles that we pass out... The NIV gives today’s passage the title Warning Against Falling Away. Falling away means falling away from following Jesus. Jesus says, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” Jesus said this not just to his disciples, but to the whole crowd that had been following him. If you want to save you life, you have to give it up to Jesus. If you try to hang on to your own life (“This is my life. I’ll do what I want with it.”) you’ll lose it. That means you’ll destroy it. Life, by the way, is the same as soul. It’s who you are. You have the option of saving or destroying your very self!

We start out following Jesus. But then there are many distractions along the way—the lust of the eyes, the cravings of the flesh, the boasting about what you own and what you do, according to our Wednesday Bible study in 1 John. “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Today’s passage is a warning about falling away from following Jesus and going back to the world.

Remember, as always, as we read the passage, that we are reading the word of God. God is warning us through the writer of Hebrews not to fall from following Jesus. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus will get to keep it for eternal life.

Also, as always, I encourage each of you to read your Bibles every day. Meditate on the word of God. And don’t just read so that you can say that you read. Don’t let the word of God just go into your eyeballs and then pass out the back of your head. Think about what you’ve read means. Pray to God about it. If it tells you that you are sinning, believe it. (We tend to decide for ourselves what sin is and what righteousness is and ignore what the word of God says is sin if we don’t agree with it. Disagreeing with what the Bible says is disagreeing with God—definitely not a good thing.) Confess your sin to God and ask him to forgive you. The blood of Jesus takes away all unrighteousness. And meditate on the word of God.

^5:11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. ¹²In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

^6:1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, ²instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³And God permitting, we will do so.

⁴It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, ⁶if 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.

⁷Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. ⁸But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. ⁹Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case— things that accompany salvation.

¹⁰God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. ¹²We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. (Hebrews 5:11-6:12)

The first verse of today’s passage, chapter 5 verse 11, starts out, “We have much to say about this...” Much to say about what? Well, much to say about what we talked about last week—what the writer says in the verses that lead up to today’s passage. I’ll quote the last three verses—Hebrews 5:8-10:

It’s about the fact that Jesus is our great high priest and that he is the source of eternal salvation. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) (Some translations say, “We have much to say about him...” instead of “We have much to say about this...” Either translation is valid, but the point is that it’s all about Jesus.

In fact, as we will see as we go on in the weeks to come, the writer of Hebrews has spent several chapters talking about how Jesus is our great high priest. It must be important for us to understand this fact or God would not have spent so much time talking about it!

Jesus was designated to be a great high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek means king of righteousness. Melchizedek was king of Salem. Salem means peace. Melchizedek was king of righteousness and he was king of peace. Now, listen to what the prophet Isaiah has to say about Jesus: “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Let’s go back to the first verse of today’s passage again. I’ll read the entire verse: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.” Slow to learn?! What a rebuke! We’re not supposed to say anything like that. It sounds insulting. We might hurt someone’s self esteem. We need to be more diplomatic. What would you think if I told you guys that you were dense—slow to learn? But if I did tell you, I would be saying it as one who also seems to be slow to learn. In any case, this passage is a warning against falling away. We need to be praying for each other.

And I need to point out before we go on—the NIV obscures this for some reason—but the text actually says, “You have come to need milk, not solid food,” rather than “You need milk, not solid food. Also, in verse 11 it says, “You have become slow to learn, rather than “You are slow to learn.” (You can check it out in some other translations, if you want.) The point is that they didn’t start out that way—slow to learn. And they had apparently at one point graduated from milk to solid food, but now needed milk again (you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word again). At one time they had known the elementary truths of God’s word, but apparently had forgotten them. We can go backwards. We can start out following Jesus and then be distracted by the world and stop following. I’ve already pointed that out. Let’s pray for each other and let’s build each other up in Christ.

“By this time you ought to be teachers.” How many people—how many Christian people—are willing to be teachers? James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” 狢 know that being a teacher is a spiritual gift. But the writer of Hebrews is not just writing to teachers, he is writing to Jewish believes, in general (and to us, too). For those of you who have children—even adult children... For those of you who have grandchildren, are you teaching them the word of God? And how about those who are all around you? Are you teaching them the word of God through your actions and your speech? I know I fall far short in all of these things, myself. Let’s be teachers.

¹Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, ²instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. ³And God permitting, we will do so. (Hebrews 6:1-3)

It says, “Repentances from acts that lead to death (literally, ‘Repentance from dead works’—most of the translations render it that way).” What are ‘dead works’? The NIV translators evidently thought they were something you do that leads to death—spiritual death, probably. And there are certainly things that lead to spiritual death (and judgment and condemnation and hell). Rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior certainly leads to judgment and condemnation and hell. Various people have various interpretations of what dead works are. But I think the writer is talking about Jewish rituals—dead works—there is no life in them.

The Jews of Jesus of Jesus’s time (or at least the time that he was on this earth—all time is Jesus’s time) thought that they could be saved by keeping the Law of Moses. If they did the right rituals, they would be saved. Do we do anything like that? How about going to church every Sunday? How about the Lord’s Supper? How about teaching Sunday School or leading a Bible study? How about even going to some third world country as a missionary? None of those things will save you. Verse 1 says, “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God.” Only faith in God will save you. All the things I mentioned may be signs of faith in God, but without faith in God, they are nothing but dead works!

The writer goes on to say, “...instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” Part of the elementary teachings is that there will be a resurrection of the dead. There will be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous. The righteous—those who have the righteousness that comes by faith—will be raised to eternal life. All others will be raised to everlasting shame and contempt—to eternal judgment. If you don’t believe that, you haven’t even begun the journey to eternal life.

¹Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly— mere infants in Christ. ²I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. ³You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)

The Corinthian Christians (whom the apostle Paul addressed as brothers) were mere infants, not ready for solid food. They had not yet trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. How did Paul know? There was jealousy and quarrelling among them. Solid food is to learn to love one another—to not quarrel, to neither envy nor despise anyone, to help those in need willingly. (“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” That’s from 1 John 3:16-18.) When we start to give... When we start to give by faith and because of the love of Christ instead of just receiving, then we are going on from the elementary teachings. And Jesus said that if you just give to those whom you expect to give back..., if you just give to your family and friends..., if you just love those who love you, you haven’t done anything—even the pagans do that. And I want to remind you again that the people the writer was writing this to had gone on from the spiritual milk, but had apparently backslid to needing milk again. We need to be careful.

One time quite a few years ago, someone came to our elders’ meeting with a complaint. He said, “We are not being fed.” But that was definitely not the case. We had very good Sunday messages and very good Bible studies. I was pretty sure from the circumstances that what he really meant when he said, “We are not being fed,” was that he wasn’t experiencing some emotional high when we met together. What I thought in my mind (and later thought that I should have said) was that he ought to have been able to not only feed himself by then, but others as well. Only babies need to be fed. He had been around for a number of years and I think had left the need for spiritual milk. Apparently he had come to need it again.

Now this is pretty scary. If you fall away, it’s impossible to be brought back to repentance! Remember the NIV title for this passage—Warning Against Falling Away. This is the warning. But this is not just talking about going back to needing milk. This is talking about completely rejecting God’s salvation. I don’t think that anyone in his right mind who has tasted salvation would possibly reject it. Who would choose hell over heaven? But I know something else, too. There is not a single one of us who Satan could not deceive into choosing hell instead of heaven. But God is sovereign over Satan. And he is able to make us stand. The Holy Spirit speaking through the apostle Paul says, “He (God) will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 咢od, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” (1 Cor. 1:8, 9) God is faithful to make us stand. We have the Holy Spirit by whom we are sealed, sanctified, encouraged strengthened.

I’ll just say one more thing about these verses. If you think you were a believer and think that you have fallen away... If you think that you have fallen away and can’t be brought back to repentance, you haven’t. You haven’t fallen away. If you had fallen away and if it were impossible for you to be brought back to repentance, you wouldn’t be worrying about it. Let me say that again. If you had fallen away and if it were impossible for you to be brought back to repentance, you wouldn’t be worrying about it. Repentance literally means a change in thinking. If you are still concerned about your salvation, you haven’t changed your thinking. You are still safe in Christ. So start going on to maturity. (And, if you haven’t yet accepted God’s salvation, by all means, repent now. Confess that you are a sinner before God and ask for his salvation. Give yourself to Jesus.)

What God wants to see when he looks at us is fruit. It’s the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That’s what he is looking for. No good tree can bear bad fruit and no bad tree can bear good fruit. Listen to what Jesus said when he was warning against false prophets:

¹⁶“By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:16-23)

Jesus was not talking about bearing good fruit so that you will be saved. What he was teaching is that you will bear good fruit if you are saved. If you only bear bad fruit, you are not saved. The people to whom Jesus will say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” are the ones who have no interest in trusting or obeying God. When they were prophesying in the name of Jesus and were driving out demons, they may have said, “In Jesus’ name,” but may have not even believed that Jesus existed. They were certainly not doing for him, but for themselves. But did you notice that in Hebrews 6:9 the writer said, “Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case— things that accompany salvation.” His warning (God’s warning) is part of the way that he (God) is able to make sure we have the ‘better things’.

You see, they are bearing good fruit! God will not forget their work and the love that they had shown him as they helped people and as they continue to help them. When they loved the people and helped them, whom were they loving? It says that God would not forget the love that they had shown for him. When you love your neighbor, you are loving God! And did you notice it says, “as you continue to help them,” not “if you continue to help them.” The writer (speaking by the Holy Spirit) is expecting them to continue to love their neighbors.

“...show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure?” Did I say we are not saved by works but by faith? I did! Verse 12 says, “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” You remember that the Israelites did not receive what was promised because they didn’t combine the message they heard with faith. Faith is the key. Faith is trusting God. The writer is going to tell us quite a bit more about faith when we get to chapter 11.