Hebrews 6:1-8 | Is Jesus Enough? | Christ, Apostasy, and Covenant | Baptism

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Covenant Reformed Baptist Church September 26, 2021 Pastor Jeff Rice

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Please turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6, we will be looking at verses 1 through 8.
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Hebrews chapter 6, 1 through 8. Let's pray. Father, Lord, we come to you in the name of your
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Son, Jesus. Lord, we thank you for your Spirit. Lord, I pray that right now you will use me to feed your people, that you will not let them starve because of my inability to speak, to teach.
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But Lord, that you will use me today to do just that. Be with us,
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I pray in the name of your Son, Christ. Amen. Alright, so a couple weeks ago
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I made an announcement that after we got done with Hebrews, we would go through a short series on Reformed theology.
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But after overlooking our text that's coming up, so once we get to verse 13 of chapter 6, and dealing with chapter 7, chapter 8, and 9, we're going to be real heavy into Covenant theology.
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And I didn't want to just teach on Covenant theology to catch us up, and then at the very end as we go through Reformed theology, we would not be able to hit the main issue that is
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Reformed theology, and that is Covenant theology. So after this message and my next message, on up to verse 13, we're going to put a pin in Hebrews and do the
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Reformed theology teaching. And once we're done with that, we'll pick back up in verse 13 and move forward, having a foundation, something to point back at as we're going through Hebrews, dealing with Covenant theology and the law.
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Here's a question. Is Jesus enough?
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Is Jesus enough? That's my theme for this Lord's Day.
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Is Jesus Christ enough, or do we desire more?
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My timeless truth is this. If Christians at this time could lose their salvation, then you and I today, listen, can lose our salvation.
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But the opposite is true also. If Christians at that time, this time in our text, could not lose their salvation, then you and I today cannot lose our salvation.
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So the question is, what is salvation? So the word salvation, it just means to be rescued.
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And I made this analogy before. If someone was walking out in the street and a car was coming for them, and I dived and knocked them out of the way,
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I, at that moment, was their salvation. The Bible points out to us that Christ is our salvation.
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That as the axe of God's wrath is coming to judgment, Christ on the cross stood in our stead.
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He became our salvation. He took the punishment that we deserve. And by believing in Him, we have eternal life.
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Not life for a minute. Not momentary life, but eternal life the moment we believe.
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The same way life begins at conception, eternal life begins at belief. That's what we in this church stand for.
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Now look with me at our text. Hebrews 6, verses 1 through 8.
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Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, and the instructions about washing and laying on of hands the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
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And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the
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Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come, and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the
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Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt.
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For the land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.
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But if it bears storms and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
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In my outline today, I want to look at three concepts.
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Number one, the two levels of doctrine concerning Christ. Number two, the sin of apostasy.
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And number three, the passing away of the Old Covenant. So number one, the two levels of doctrine concerning Christ.
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Number two, the sin of apostasy. And number three, the passing away of the
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Old Covenant. And as we transition, sadly, this paragraph that we will be considering is a debated passage on the idea that a true believer can lose their salvation, that you can be saved and not saved.
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It's the idea that that person that's running out into traffic, that I run, jump, knock out of the way, that as I'm doing this, they could give me the stiff arm and let the car hit them.
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It's the idea that a fireman can rush into a burning house and rescue someone from the flame, and the moment that they let them go, where they're not in trouble, they, the victim, runs back into the house.
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The idea that if someone is drowning and I rescue them, once I get them to shore, they dive in and take a breath.
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That you can be saved from something, rescued, have salvation, and then not have it.
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This is a debated text. It's probably one of the most debated texts. If...
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I know me personally, being someone who does a lot of evangelism, that has went from...
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that's had a paradigm shift of being... once believing that I could lose my salvation to now knowing that I can't, and having to have these conversations with people that I once dealt with, that this verse has come up.
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They say, it's very clear, look at the text. It says you can lose your salvation. I've heard it many times.
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And my goal in preaching this text is not to make anyone mad. Because the truth is, you most likely have been taught a different interpretation than what
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I take. What I ask of you is this, do not judge my interpretation by what you have been taught.
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Do not judge my interpretation by what you have been taught. But judge my interpretation by the context and the exegesis of Hebrews.
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Don't judge me by what your previous pastor told you. Judge me about the context and exegesis of Hebrews.
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Go back, listen to my messages. See if they don't align. This is not a breakthrough portion of the
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Scripture that has nothing to do with the context. To our first point, the two levels of doctrine concerning Christ, we find this in Hebrews 6, verses 1 -3, and it begins with the word, therefore.
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Therefore, pointing to the pastures before it, therefore, since they, the Jews, have become dull of hearing like their forefathers, these children need the basic principles of the oracles of God.
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And I spoke about how the Jews have become dull of hearing, that they were hearing the message but they were not listening.
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And I even pointed to us as parents should really be able to connect with this, having children who are in the room with us and we're telling them things and they're hearing us but they are not listening to us.
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And I think I might have got a hallelujah or something like that when I said that. Because it's true.
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The writer of this text, that's what he's pointing to. And he's pointing to, he's bringing to bear
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Psalm 95, that they were in the wilderness, God gave them a promise, he told them to take the land, but they did not believe
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God. They heard the promise, but they did not listen. And he's saying that you have seen, you know the promise, you've heard it being preached now for close to 40 years, you know this but you are not listening, you have become dull of hearing and now you need the oracles of God.
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Now he's not saying that they need to go back to the law and do the works of the law.
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I pointed out whenever I was preaching that this is speaking about the threefold use of the law, that they needed the first use, which is the gospel, that they need to see the standard and see that they cannot keep it and look to Jesus and see that Jesus has kept it.
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And because they can't keep it and he has kept it, the only way that this can be credited to them is by believing in him.
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So it says, therefore, in verses 1 through 3, Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God and the instructions about washing, the laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
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And this we will do if God permits. And two weeks ago
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I pointed out that solid food was for the mature, meaning the high priest.
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And so if you look at our text right here in Hebrews 1 and compare it to 5 .14, it says, Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, verse 14, but the solid food is for the mature.
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A couple weeks ago I was telling you that he was telling them that y 'all cannot handle the doctrine of Jesus being the high priest.
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You need to go back and look at the law and understand that you cannot keep it.
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And now he's speaking about moving away from the elementary teachings and going on to the mature things, which is
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Jesus being the high priest. If you know the book of Hebrews, you know that even though he made this statement, he goes on to teach about Jesus being the high priest.
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Later on in this chapter, beginning in verse 13, and in the chapters ahead. So verses 1 and 2 in our text seems to give us the two levels of doctrine concerning Christ.
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Now follow me. It names off six things. It says repentance from dead works, faith towards God, the instructions about washing, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
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And so a question has to be asked, is this speaking of Old Covenant or New Covenant? There seems to be a divide when it comes to the understanding of this because everything that I just named can be identified in Old Covenant.
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The Jews spoke about repentance from dead works. They spoke about faith toward God.
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They had instructions of washings. Hebrews 9, verse 8.
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By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy place is not open as long as the first section is standing, which is symbolic for the present age, according to the arrangement, gifts, and sacrifice are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of worship.
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Right here, verse 10. But deal only with food and drinks and various washings.
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So this word for washings here is the same Greek word that we have in our text today about washings, the instructions of washing.
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This is baptismo, the Greek word baptismo. So is this speaking of ceremonial washings that would happen at the time of the
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Jews? Now the only thing that I really can't pinpoint in this is the laying on of hands, but the
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Pharisees believed in the eternal judgment. I mean, the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment.
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So is this old covenant or is this new covenant? Personally, I believe that this is speaking of new covenant.
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He references the doctrine of Christ before he gives this list. Look at it again.
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Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again.
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So right here where he talks about the not laying again, the antecedents to these six things is the elementary teachings of the doctrines of Christ.
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So when we get to something like repentance from dead works, this is turning from self -righteousness to God.
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We've talked about this over the weeks that your initial repentance is not stop doing all of your sins, but it's turning from yourself.
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Stop worshiping yourself. Stop trusting in yourself and turn to God.
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Self -righteousness. Repentance from dead works is turning from self -righteousness and faith toward God.
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The instructions about washing, I believe it's speaking about baptism, Christian baptism.
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And it says in the laying on of hands, when you read the book of Acts, what happens? When someone becomes a
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Christian, they lay their hands on them and pray. Sometimes that's whenever the Holy Spirit is given to them.
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And we believe in the resurrection of the dead. 1 Corinthians 15 teaches the resurrection of the dead.
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And we also believe in an eternal judgment. This is Christian doctrine. The paradigm shift from old covenant to new covenant is not that big of a shift whenever you put
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Christ in it. You just see it in a different light. Things become clearer.
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He becomes the flashlight upon which that we use to read the Old Testament. And verse 3 tells us, and this we will do if God permits.
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Do what? This we will do. Do what if God permits? Go back and teach on this first level doctrine.
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He said, if God permits, we will go back and we will teach on repentance from dead works, faith towards God, instructions about baptism, the laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and the eternal judgment.
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He doesn't want to leave it behind. He says, I want to teach on this. And I will if God permits.
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So as we transition, these six foundational doctrines seem to be the first level doctrine concerning Christ.
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And I believe the writer of Hebrews is teaching us that Jesus being our high priest is the second level.
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And because he is using the second level, and because I believe right here he's going to be using the second level as an apologetic argument.
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So he's going to use Jesus being the high priest as an apologetic, as a way to show his listeners, his readers, that Jesus is the
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Christ. He's going to use Jesus being a high priest in order to build a foundation to go back to the first level.
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That's what I believe. That's the goal we're walking toward. Second point, the sin of apostasy.
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Hebrews chapter six, verses four through six. For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the
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Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the power of the age to come and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the
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Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. Now at first glance, this seems to be speaking about a
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Christian, someone who is a Christian that can lose their salvation. At first glance, like we have to admit that, right?
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We have to be open to admit that. He names all five experiences that they have.
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Those who have once been enlightened, has tasted the heavenly gift, has shared in the
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Holy Spirit, has tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come.
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That they have been enlightened. They have been endowed with truth. They have been told the truth.
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They have tasted the heavenly gift. They have partaken in the Lord's supper. They have shared in the
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Holy Spirit. They are a part of a church. They have tasted the goodness of the
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Word of God. They are sitting under biblical preaching. And the powers of the age to come, they are experiencing at that moment the new covenant age.
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Passing away of the old and the coming in of the new. Now for a question.
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Is there a text in our context that would lead us to think that this is not speaking about a
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Christian who can lose their salvation? Is there something in our text that we can clearly show that this is not speaking about a
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Christian losing their salvation? And the answer is yes. Verse 9. Verse 9.
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The writer says, Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things.
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Things that belong to salvation. Things that belong to salvation.
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So I believe that these five things, these five experiences, do not belong to salvation.
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That you can be endowed with truth, you can partake in the Lord's supper, you can be a part of a church, that you can be under biblical preaching and be in a time where the new covenant is at hand.
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And not be a Christian. If you would turn your
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Bibles to John 6. John 6.
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Verse 37 through 40. Listen, this is Jesus speaking.
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Jesus says, All that the Father gives me will come to me.
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When whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. So who is he casting out that comes to him?
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No one. All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will not cast out.
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Listen to this. For I have come down from heaven, speaking of his incarnation, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, speaking of the covenant of redemption that God the
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Father chose to save a people and in time he sent his son to accomplish that purpose.
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He came to accomplish the purpose of the Father. What was the purpose of the Father? That all that the
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Father gives him will come to him. Verse 39. And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all he has given to me, but raise it up on the last day.
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For this is the will of my Father, listen to this, that everyone who looks on the
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Son of Man, does that say everyone who goes around and tells a hundred people a day about Christ?
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Does that say everyone who does all kind of religious works? No, everyone who looks, everyone who rests, everyone who trusts.
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This is what this word is speaking of. Everyone who looks on the Son of Man and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.
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Who is he raising up on the last day? Those whom the Father has given him that has come to him.
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Those who look to him and believe in him.
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They have eternal life. Now listen, if you and I who look to Christ, who believe in Christ, have received eternal life and we can lose it,
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Jesus is a liar. There's no other way around it. Either it is, does it mean what it says?
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Did Jesus actually mean this? Because if you say that you can lose your salvation, you're calling
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Christ a liar. That you can one second have eternal life and the next second not. We have to use all of Scripture to interpret the text and we cannot let one passage of Scripture be interpreted without using all the context of that particular book.
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And now I want to remind you that this letter was not given to a group of Christians that were fully resting in Christ, right?
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As we've been going through this, has he been praising them for resting in Christ? Or calling them to rest in Christ?
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No. But to a group of Hebrews, more likely a church where they would have been true believers, intellectual believers, and unbelievers, all of which were baptized.
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Now unlike some who profess to be Christians, we as Baptists do not believe that baptism saves you.
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Right? Baptism doesn't save you. We believe that, we believe as Baptists that the
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New Testament has laid out a principle that those, that it has, that baptism is for people who profess faith in Christ.
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So as Baptists, we believe that the New Testament has laid down a pattern, a principle, that baptism is for people who profess faith in Christ.
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Now in this, you can profess faith without possessing faith and still be baptized.
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We baptize on professions of faith. I have no idea truly, because I do not
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Popishly pronounce people saved. I do not tell you you're saved.
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You tell me if you've been saved. When a person professes faith in Christ, if you believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, the Son of the living God, and that God has raised this Jesus up from the dead, the
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Bible says you shall be saved. You truly have to believe it. The problem is that most people in America today and most people throughout the world, they've professed faith, but they truly do not believe it in their heart.
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And so they think that they have faith, and they enter the waters of baptism, and they just got wet.
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Nothing has happened. As Baptists, we also believe that baptism is the sign of the new covenant.
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The entrance is faith alone. Faith alone, not baptism.
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Baptism is the sign. It's the sign. It's not the entrance.
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Just as in the old covenant, the entrance into the old covenant is being born.
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That's why Nicodemus, Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again, born from above.
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Old covenant, you had to be born, and then if you were a male, you were circumcised the eighth day. Now the new covenant, you have to be born again.
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You have to be given faith to believe. Faith comes by hearing, hearing of the word of Christ. And those who have faith receive the sign, baptism.
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Look at Hebrews 3 .1. It says,
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Therefore, holy brothers, you who share, listen to the language, share in the heavenly calling, consider
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Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession. He's calling this group of Christians to consider
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Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession. And I went through and showed you that this confession here is baptism.
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It's baptism. You are confessing that in your baptism, you are identifying, you are confessing that you have been buried with Christ and you have been raised to the newness of life.
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When I baptize someone, I say, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? They say, yeah.
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I say, do you believe that He died for your sins according to the
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Scriptures, was buried, and that God raised Him from the dead? They say, yes. I say, on that profession of faith,
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I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried with Him in baptism, raised in the newness of life.
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That your baptism is a confession. And I believe here in our text from Hebrews that their baptism, their confession, in my opinion, is why the writer points out these five experiences that we have in verses four and five.
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So these experiences are something that's given, that you'll have if you're a baptized member of the church, that you are sharing in these things.
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Verse six tells us, verse six is where we see the sin of apostasy.
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Let's read that again real quick. Verse six. And then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the
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Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt. First we notice that whatever this sin is, that whoever commits it is committing a sin that will keep them from repentance, a turning from dead works.
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Remember verse one talks about the foundation of repentance from dead works.
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So repentance here, the antecedent to the repentance that we have in verse six is found in verse one and it's from dead works.
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It's from self -righteousness. Why? Because they are crucifying once again the
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Son of God. And if you're crucifying once again the Son of God, this text makes it clear that you cannot turn from your self -righteousness.
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You cannot repent to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying.
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It is impossible. In Matthew chapter 12, we have the blaspheme against the
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Holy Spirit. In 1 John chapter five, we have the sin that leads to death.
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And in our text today, Hebrews chapter six, we have crucifying once again the Son of God.
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The blaspheme of the Holy Spirit seems to be a denial of the work of the Holy Spirit and the life of Christ.
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Jesus says if you deny, if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit who's at work in my life, there is no forgiveness for you.
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The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. The Holy Spirit accompanied
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Christ all his days on earth. When he was performing miracles, it was through the Holy Spirit.
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The Holy Spirit was with him, accompanying him. He says if you deny this, if you speak against this, that's it.
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You've blasphemed the Holy Spirit. I believe the sin that leads to death that we see in 1
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John chapter five is to be antichrist. It is to deny that Jesus is the
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Christ or that Jesus came into the flesh. 1
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John deals with two sins, hating your brother and denying that Jesus is the
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Christ. Denying it in two ways, either saying that Jesus is not the
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Christ as the Jews were in his days or saying that Jesus Christ, that the
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Christ did not come into the flesh. Which a man by the name of Serenthes started, which was early
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Gnosticism. Now concerning our text, I believe that crucifying once again, the son of God is a sin, listen, that you and I cannot commit.
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That's my, I'm saying it right now and I'm gonna prove it. You and I can not commit this sin.
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Notice what verse six says. I'm gonna read it again. And then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance.
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Listen, since they are crucifying once again the son of God to their own harm.
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Notice the words once again. Once again.
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This is not the first time that they have done this. Look at Acts chapter two, verse 36.
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We're in the context of Peter preaching the first sermon at Pentecost. He's proclaiming.
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People are hearing known languages from a man that cannot actually speak their language.
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They're hearing the gospel. They're hearing the magnificent works of God being preached. That Christ died for their sins, was buried and rose on the third day.
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That he's at the right hand of the Father sitting on the throne of David. That the resurrection is him being begotten by the
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Father. And verse 36 says this. Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him, speaking of Christ Jesus, both
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Lord and Christ. This Jesus, whom you, the
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Jews. I added the Jews, but whom you crucified. The Jews crucified
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Christ. It was done by their malicious acts. Of course, the
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Roman army is who pierced them hand and feet. But Peter did not mention the
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Romans. He looked to the Jews, whom you crucified.
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And as we transition, what is the sin of apostasy? Now when I say it, you're gonna be like, duh!
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At least I hope. It was going back to the temple.
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It was making a sacrifice for sin after Jesus had already made the sacrifice. Jesus as the high priest.
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Remember the work of the high priest. They would take the lamb, they would slaughter the lamb, they would splatter the blood on the
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Ark of the Covenant. And it would be for the attention, the unintentional and the intentional sins of the people.
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But listen, that sacrifice was not good enough because throughout the year, the
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Jews had to go to the temple and make a sacrifice because that offering wasn't good enough by an earthly high priest.
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The Scriptures, Hebrews, tells us that Jesus is our high priest. His sacrifice was once for all time.
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Then after he makes this sacrifice, there is no need to go back to the temple.
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And every time they would go back to the temple to make a sacrifice, I'm telling you that they were crucifying once again the
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Son of God to their own harm. The temple was destroyed in 70
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AD. There is no temple for us to go and commit this sin.
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And I would add, we are not Jews. Notice that this interpretation follows the context of the book.
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This sin is not something that just appears out of nowhere. It's found in our
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Scripture and we have to wonder if we are committing this sin. This goes back to this blaspheme of the
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Holy Spirit. I don't know how many times someone has come up to me and said that they're not sure if they committed the sin of blaspheme of the
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Holy Spirit. I said, well, do you deny the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ and his life?
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Because if you have not, then you have not. Well, what if I've committed the sin that leads to death?
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Are you denying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Because if you are not, you have not.
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This is something that we cannot do because there is no temple. We do not take lambs or birds or pigeons or turtles, whatever turtle, and take them to the temple to be sacrificed on our behalf.
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So in doing so, we cannot commit the sin of sacrifice, of crucifying once again the Son of God.
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The crucifixion, Jesus being crucified on the cross is a picture of a sacrifice of the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.
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John sees him in the distance and he says, Behold, the lamb of God who comes and takes away the sins of the world through his sacrifice.
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Now to our third point, the passing away of the old covenant.
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It's found in verses 7 and 8 of Hebrews chapter 6. For the land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, it produces the crops useful to those whose sake it's cultivated receives a blessing from God.
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But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless, it is near being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
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Turn with me to Matthew chapter 21. If you had the opportunity to listen to the sermons that I had dealing with the foundation of preterism and post -millennialism that I did, you will be able to hear me exegete this parable.
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So I'm trusting that if you have not, then after I read this sometime this week, go back and listen to it.
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I walk verse by verse through this parable and exegete it. Right now I'm just going to read it and just make a little connection.
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We're looking at the parable of the tenants. Jesus speaking to the
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Pharisees. He says, Here, another parable. The master of the house,
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I mean, there was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and he dug a winepress and he built a tower and he leased it to tenants and he went out into another country.
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When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get fruit.
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And the tenants took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. And again, he sent other servants more than the first and they did the same to him.
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Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.
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But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir.
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Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
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When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? Jesus is asking his
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Pharisees, When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these tenants? And they said to him, speaking to the
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Pharisees, He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruit in its season.
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Jesus said to them, Have you not read the Scriptures that the stone that you builders rejected has become the cornerstone?
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And this was the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes.
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Verse 43, Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit.
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And the one who falls on the stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.
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And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parable, they perceived that he was speaking about them.
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And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowd because they held him to be a prophet.
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Now back to our verse 7 and 8. It says, For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it's cultivated receives a blessing from God.
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But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to be cursed.
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Go back to that cursing of the fig tree. And its end is to be burned.
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Verses 7 and 8 of chapter 6 is shorthand for the parable of the tenants.
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That God has given them this land. They could not keep the covenant. They didn't do what they were required to do.
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And he's removing the kingdom from them. And he's going to burn that land.
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And we know that that happened. In Matthew 23 verse 38, speaking to them,
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Jesus says, See, your house is left to you desolate. We have the
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Jews could not keep the conditional covenant, which was keep this law and live in the land.
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So God sends his son to usher in the unconditional covenant, which is believe in Jesus Christ and have eternal life.
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Israel in the wilderness did not enter the land because of unbelief. The Jewish people who the book of Hebrews is directed to, some of them did not enter the new covenant, which is resting in Christ.
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Why? Because of unbelief. And those who ultimately did not believe, who did not trust, who did not rest, went back to the temple and made a sacrifice for sins while all the while crucifying once again the son of God to their own harm.
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So the question is, is did they lose their salvation? And the answer is no.
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They were not saved to begin with. They were not resting in Christ.
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If you're resting in Christ, you're trusting in Christ, you have entered the new covenant.
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You don't see any reason to go back and to make a sacrifice for your sins.
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If you know that your sins have been forgiven, you have no need to go back and make a sacrifice.
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Closing thoughts are this. What does this mean for us? And are we off the hook since we cannot commit this sin?
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Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
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You're being in this church. If you have been baptized, you share in these five experiences.
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You have been enlightened. You know the truth. You have tasted the heavenly gift by partaking in the
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Lord's Supper. You're sharing in the Holy Spirit by being a part of this church.
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So what the Holy Spirit is doing and working in this church and in our lives, you're tasting the goodness of the
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Word of God by being under the preaching of God's Word. And you are living in the new covenant age, whether you have entered it by faith or not.
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Now, if the Jews were to build a temple and begin making animal sacrifices, these
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Jews could once again be crucifying the Son of God to their own harm. But again, you and I cannot make that sacrifice because we are not
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Jews. We're not Jews. Our sacrifice would not be welcomed.
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We're not Jews. This is a very specific Jewish text. The gospel is this, is that you and I, we have broken
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God's law, but God has paid our fine. He has lived the life we could not live, and He has made the sacrifice by dying the death that we should die.
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And He's called all men everywhere to rest, to trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
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Faith comes by hearing and hearing the message of Christ. I'm up here and I'm pleading most every week to believe in Christ, to trust
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Him, to rest in Him, that He has done it for us. He has already done it for us.
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We need to trust. We need to believe. We need to look to Him. This is the unconditional covenant, believing in Christ and getting eternal life, being rescued, being snatched from the fire.
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The moment you believe in Christ, it is as if God from heaven reaches into time and removes you from the pit of hell.
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So the question is, is Jesus enough?
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Do you believe that Jesus is enough? Do you trust? Listen, if you do not trust in your salvation by believing in Christ and resting in Him, you are saying that He is not enough.
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Now, I'm not saying that you're crucifying, once again, the Son of God, specifically the way that this text lays it out.
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But listen, there's some camaraderie there. If you are trying to add anything to your salvation, your forgiveness, it's closely linked, though it's not the same.
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And so you should fear. Believe in Christ.
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Trust in Him and what He has done for you, unless He's not enough.
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I am available. Pastor Cal is available. I'm sure most any man in here, spiritually mature, would love to talk with anyone about these things.
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Pray with me. Father, thank You for this day. Lord, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, we thank
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You that You have not hidden the interpretation from us, but it's plain in the text.
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We just need to read and understand. We need not to forget one verse as we go on to the next verse,
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Lord, but we need to hold it all up. Lord, we're thankful for Your Word, for what it has done for us.
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We thank You for Christ, for Your Spirit. Lord, thank
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You that You have provided for us a way to grow in holiness through the preaching of Your Word and for those who have been baptized to partake in the
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Lord's Supper. Lord, we pray that Your blessing will be upon this supper, this bread and wine, as we partake in it.
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Lord, I pray that You will bless those who partake and that today we can eat and drink without conviction, because we know for sure that we are resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ.