Not Only Must But Can

Isaiah’s Call to Hear and Trust God’s Everlasting Salvation

The Old Testament scripture reading today is from Isaiah 51, verse 4 through 8. Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation. For a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.

My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath.

For the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die like a manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revelings. For the moth will eat them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool.

But my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.

Jesus the Bread of Life and the Father’s Saving Will

New Testament reading is John chapter 6, verses 35 through 40. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day, for this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the sun and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

You may be seated.

The Warning Against Spiritual Sluggishness in Hebrews 5–6

Let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to Hebrews chapter 6. As I read, I wanna read the whole context of our text for today, so I'm gonna begin reading in chapter 5, verse 11, to the end of chapter 6.

You follow it as I read. About this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.

You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. Not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith toward God and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

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 Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come.

And then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For 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.

But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation.

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness, to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes, an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.

So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.

Heaven become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Let's pray.

Assurances of Salvation: God’s Work, God’s Justice, and Hope

Father, once more, we come to you in this part of our worship to you, asking you to help us to worship by listening. By listening and contemplating and determining to do what you've called us to do and to be what you've called us to be.

Help us in these few minutes to understand this text, for it is your word. It is you speaking to us. So help us to understand it rightly in order that we might live for you, in order that we might have confidence in the hope that you have given us.

And we'll thank you, in Jesus' name, amen. The basketball coach is having a problem with Rusty, the kid who's starting at one of the forward positions. Rusty just doesn't seem to try, his heart's not in it, and practice.

And the last two games, his performance has been, at best, lackluster. And so one day, coach pulls Rusty aside, takes him into his office, and he says to him, Rusty, you're looking to lose your starting position if you don't pick it up.

You've got to work, or it's all over for you. Two days later, he pulls Rusty into the office again. And he says, Rusty, let me tell you something. You're one of the best basketball players I've ever coached.

I'm confident you're gonna have a good season this year. Now you say, wait a minute, is that the way to approach this kid? Aren't you sending mixed messages to him? Aren't you taking the edge off the warning you gave to him two days ago?

If you say that to him, won't he stop trying? Well, that's a good question. In our text today, that's exactly what our writer does. Let's look at our text, chapter 6, verses 9 through 12. Let's look at it one more time.

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name and serving the saints, as you still do.

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promise.

Now, let's recall for a minute what our pastor has written us here in this extended sermon. He's just got done warning us away from the precipice of destruction. He's asserted that you can become sluggish in your faith rather than striving for maturity.

And that kind of laziness may result in you turning back to the old, acceptable ways of life and worship, and will have started walking away from Christ. And if you walk away from Jesus, there will be no hope, there will never be repentance for you if you do that.

You will, in fact, treat Jesus with contempt, and like his opponents, re-crucify him on the cross. And so he says, persevere in the faith, pursue maturity, or face destruction. It's a pretty serious, hard-hitting warning that we have to heed.

But now he writes that he has every confidence that they will do exactly that. He says, I'm convinced that you're gonna do that. Now you say, wait a minute. Aren't you taking the edge off of the serious warning you just got done warning us with?

Well, like the coach, our writer knows what it's gonna take for us to have steadfast faith in Christ. He motivates you to perseverance not only by warning of judgment, but also by giving assurance and comfort.

The warning disturbs, while the promise assures. But they serve the same end, to motivate you to remain faithful to Jesus, to persevere in your faith. Not only must you persevere, he says, but you can persevere.

You can. Well, let's look at our text this morning. You can persevere because you've got what it takes. It's essentially what he says. You can persevere because you've got what it takes. He says to them in verse nine, even though I've given you an intense, serious warning, my friends, I am convinced that you have what it takes to reach the final salvation of glory rather than judgment.

He doesn't blunt the warning, but he capitalizes on the work of God in their life. He essentially says to us, don't just fix your eyes on God's judgment. Fix your eyes as well on the work that God is doing in you.

Don't just be fixing your eyes on judgment and hearing the warning.

Do that.

But you also need to fix your eyes on what God is doing in you. The warning hasn't changed. If you give up, if you walk away from Jesus, no hope remains for you. That hasn't changed. But he's saying, I'm convinced you have what it takes to do that very thing, to be able to walk with Christ.

Now, let me ask you this. Do you see evidence of the things that belong to salvation in your life? Things that say you're going to make it. Do you see any evidence of that? Right away in the next verse, he gives us one evidence, and that is that you're concerned about the glory of God's name, and that is expressed in the fact that you serve the saints.

He says, I see that in you. But let me ask you, what other evidence can you see? Now, I'll just give you my perspective from where I stand. I've seen some of you change radically because of Christ in your life.

I've seen how some of you who couldn't care less about being here, love to be here. I'll never forget what Greg Field said to us on one, long ago on One Watch Night service. It was right after he was converted.

I remember him saying, if you'd have told me a year ago that I would be in church on New Year's Eve, I would have told you you were crazy, right? And then he made this statement. I love the things I once hated, and I hate the things I once loved.

There's an evidence of God's work in your life. I've seen how when you go through deep waters, you don't blame God. You cry out to God. I see how you look differently at life, and how you look at God's word when the inevitable problems of life arise in this fallen world.

You don't live life perfectly. I hope that doesn't insult you. I haven't seen any perfection yet, but I have seen a yearning to do and to be what God calls you to do and to be. You have an allegiance to God, maybe.

As you look at your life, you find you have an allegiance to God that forms your choices and your decisions and your attitudes. Now, I want you to take note of something here. He encourages you to look at what God has accomplished in your walk, not in the fact that you may have improved.

He's talking about those things that God has done. And it is entirely legitimate to look at your life and say, as I look back at the last two years, as I look at the last five years, I can see that God has changed me in some significant ways.

I can see that God's been working in my life over these years. I can see change that can only be attributed to God. That's entirely legitimate. So you can persevere because you've seen God's grace in your past and in your present experiences that God is indeed working in you.

You got what it takes. That's what he says to them. I'm convinced you got what it takes. Then verse 10, you can persevere because God is just. You can persevere because God is just. Now, how do you normally view the justice of God?

How do you normally view the justice of God? Usually, it's God is absolute in his holiness and unerring in his righteousness. And not one of my sins or weaknesses ever escapes his notice. Therefore, fill in the blank, right?

Therefore, I'm in big trouble. Now, God's justice has not changed just because he has accepted you as a son or a daughter. However, the condemnation that that sin deserves, that the sin of the past, even the sin of the present, the condemnation that those sins deserve by God's justice has been absorbed by Jesus in his sacrifice on the cross.

He has absorbed all the judgment, all the, let me put it this way. He has absorbed all the condemnation that is your due. God's justice has not changed because you're his children. But the fact is that Jesus has absorbed all the condemnation that is your due.

And so God can accept you. God can love you. God can be a part of your life. God can be working for you, not against you. Not because his justice has changed, but because his son has taken the condemnation.

Therefore, he can accept you and still remain a just God. And he has told us earlier, do you remember? In the same vein of you can persevere, as we saw earlier in earlier chapters, chapter four, right, that we have a high priest who cannot help but sympathize with us.

Yet his justice cuts both ways. Justice requires that he also sees the things that you do for his glory. You ever thought that thought? Justice isn't just, man, you're doing everything wrong, boom. Justice requires you're doing things right.

You see? And what he's saying here is God is not unjust by overlooking or forgetting or ignoring the things that you do for the honor of his name.

God is just.

He can't overlook those things. Because of his unerring justice, you can persevere. He's not missed the tiniest bit of what you've done for the glory of his name. And you may look at it and say, that's not much.

I can look at 10 ways I failed God and three ways where I honored him today. Well, the condemnation is already taken care of, but his justice also requires that he sees what you've done for his name. And he does, and he doesn't overlook one tiny bit of your efforts to honor his name, to be careful about his reputation.

He sees that. And so because of his unerring justice, you can persevere. Now, what is it that God will not forget? Here's what he says. God will not forget the love that you demonstrate for his name, the obvious care you have for his reputation.

One of the key indications that you belong to God is a genuine love, a genuine love for his name, for his glory, for his reputation. That's what God has worked in you, right? Now you are concerned that the way you live will speak about the glory of God.

You're concerned about that. You know, in counseling, in counseling all the time, and as I supervise counselors, as I counsel, I always tell them this, man, you can't go past the second session without communicating to the people you're trying to help what the goal of this counseling is.

It isn't to take away all the trials because we can't do that most of the time. It isn't to take away suffering. It is to do this. Let your light so shine before men that they see what? Your good works.

And do what? Glorify your father in heaven. You want to live in such a way that people see your good works, but they talk about God, not you.

Right?

I want to live in such a way that people will look at me and say, God's the only answer.

For that.

God's the only reason why that that person is the way he is. And that's what you're concerned about. That's what you live for. There's something about living for the purpose of glorifying God that grips your heart.

That is a genuine sign that you are one of his. And that genuine love for his glory cannot help but express itself in service to the saints in service and love to your brothers and sisters in Christ. You know that someone loves God when you see him loving God's people.

Notice they served fellow believers in the past and they serve them even now. Notice how he says it. Um the your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints as you still do.

You used to serve the saints and you're still doing it despite all the affliction and the suffering that is that has come upon you. You are still serving the saints. Later on when we get to chapter 10 when he starts expanding on some of the things that's going that are going on, he said he talks to them about the fact that they've identified with the ridiculed.

They've identified with the persecuted. They've identified with the afflicted and they've even met the needs of prisoners. So they've served them in the past. They're serving them now. God is not unjust.

He sees that you're concerned about the reputation of his name which expresses itself in service to the saints. Confidence in your salvation is anchored to your service to the saints. A service that endures.

Now if we were to turn to first john, the epistle of first john, if you're taking notes just make a note of it. When you get to first john you see over and over he who loves God is going to love the.

Brothers.

It's a consistent theme throughout that book. If you love God you will love the brothers. This is how Jesus loved us. He died for us. This is how you love one another. You're willing to die for one another.

And so the issue is if you love God you love his people. So you can persevere because of God's justice. He does not overlook the smallest actions of you that represent your love for his name particularly in serving the saints.

He will not miss the tiniest evidence of your love. Now the last thing he tells us is you can persevere because you have hope. Because you have hope. Verses 11 and 12. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end.

So that you may not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. God wants each one of you here to demonstrate the same earnestness and diligence for hope. The same earnestness and diligence in pursuing Christ.

He wants you to have that same endurance of pursuing Christ that you had from the beginning. Continue to pursue him. Show earnestness, diligence in that. And notice he says this is you know by the way this is the only time he does it in the book.

Where he says verse 11 and we desire each one of you. This book is primarily addressed to a congregation.

Right?

But here he makes this only place in the book. He does this. He says each one of you. He's now getting down to the individual and he's saying to you each one of you. Each one of you sitting here right now.

God wants you to show earnestness and diligence in pursuing Jesus. In pursuing maturity in the faith. He wants diligence that produces hope.

You know what?

God has not called you to passivity. I believed in Jesus. I got my ticket stamped.

Right?

I got my ticket stamped. I've gained admittance to heaven. I just need to get on the train now and relax.

Right?

If that's what you think the Christian life is. You're missing it.

You know what?

If that's the attitude you have. That is a recipe. That is a recipe for misery and doubt. I'll tell you right now. If that is your attitude as a believer. You know what's going to happen. You are going to be miserable and you will not have hope.

Hope grows as you pursue maturity. As you continue to follow Jesus. Even when it gets hard. That produces hope. Which fuels.

All right.

Which fuels even more growth. You see that? It's like I don't know exactly what it's called.

Is it?

I don't know. A loop.

As you pursue Christ. You gain hope. Hope fuels even more.

Okay.

Feedback loop. Is that right?

I've just.

I've just connected with my audience. Look at 2nd Peter chapter 1 for a moment. 2nd Peter chapter 1. Notice what Peter says.

You know I.

This passage. This is part.

Boy.

I'm going to go off on a tangent. Let's call a footnote. This is a footnote in your notes. Which means this isn't. Part of. The normal sermon. You know what someone told me the other day? They said you are so you.

You are so outlining in the way you preach. That I can always tell when you get off your notes.

Okay.

This passage. This passage. Sticks in my mind. Because I saw. When I was going through my counseling training. And I sat in with Pastor Tim Turner.

Okay.

Sitting with a guy. Here was the guy who came in. This was his presenting problem.

He.

He had at one point.

Gone.

If you will.

Gone crazy.

Okay.

He'd gone crazy. Absolutely nuts running around the house and everything. So his mother got him admitted to the local mental health authorities. And they helped him until the insurance ran out. And then they kicked him back out on the street.

And so out of desperation they came to. Faith. Faith Baptist. For counseling. And so I'm sitting here with this guy. Who is quote unquote gone crazy. And as Tim. Pastor Tim.

Starts.

Getting in and asking the questions. We find out here's a guy who's a believer. Who's been involved in sexual immorality with his girlfriend. And pretty soon. He just started thinking. Am I a Christian?

Am I really saved? Do I really know the Lord? And it drove him crazy. And I forget Pastor Tim. Turning to this passage. Now listen to me. This guy needed hope. This guy needed. An understanding of his life.

And this is what Pastor Turner did. Second Peter chapter one. Verse five. For this very reason. Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. And virtue with knowledge. And knowledge with self-control.

And self-control with steadfastness. And steadfastness with godliness. And godliness with brotherly affection. And brotherly affection with love.

All right.

He's talking about growing here. Isn't he? You're just talking about growing. Growing as a Christian. For if these qualities are yours. And are increasing. They keep you from being ineffective. Or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities. Is so nearsighted that he is blind. Having forgotten that he was cleansed from his sins.

Now note.

If you don't grow. If you don't pursue maturity. What happens? You get nearsighted. And you start losing assurance. You start losing hope. And one way of gaining hope. Is to grow. Is to call on God. And say God I need to grow.

Help me now. How many of you have felt that? How many of you have felt here? When you weren't growing. You started doubting. That's why passivity leads to misery and doubt. If you're going to grow in hope.

Then earnestly. Diligently. Follow Christ. Seek after growth. By the way. With that young guy that was in that counseling. He changed dramatically. He changed dramatically.

Now.

You have hope. As you grow. You want to show earnestness. And diligence. And following Christ. You will have hope. That feeds even more growth. And so with hope. You can fight the sluggishness. The spiritual laziness.

That will take you over the precipice. Into destruction. Recall that this very deadly. Spiritual laziness. Is what started the warning.

Now look.

When you look at verse 12 here. It says. So that you may not be sluggish. Look back at chapter 5 verse 11. And about this we have much to say. And it's hard to explain. Since you have become dull of hearing.

Since you have become sluggish. It's the exact same word. I don't know why they translated it differently.

But.

The term that's translated sluggish. In verse 12. Is in 511. The same thing. So in other words. What he's saying is. This whole spiritual laziness. This sluggishness. This desire not to grow. He says.

Is the very thing that instigated the warning. Don't do that. That laziness will take you over the precipice. To destruction. These things will happen. You will not believe in Jesus. If you don't keep pursuing him.

But hope he says. Arms you for the fight. Hope helps you with that sluggishness. Now what's fascinating here. Is what is the opposite. Of this spiritual laziness. Of this sluggishness. What is the opposite?

Note what he says. It's imitation. It's imitation. He says combat this deadly sluggishness. By imitating those. Who fought the same battle in the past. It's not complicated. We don't need a complicated workout manual.

In order to understand. How to gain this hope. You just need to look for models. Of those who inherited the promise before you. And imitate them. That's what he calls you to do.

And now.

He's going to mention them in greater detail. If you haven't figured it out. This is going to be kind of a theme. As we go through the book. Where he says look at the past. Imitate those people. They endured.

Now look how they endured. Look at their circumstances. Look how they continued to believe. So this is going to be a theme. He starts it here. Look at the people in the past. The heroes of the past. How did they endure in their faith?

Imitate them. That's the answer to spiritual sluggishness. Imitate those. Get to know them. We know them in greater detail. When we come to Hebrews 11. We all know Hebrews 11. It's got all the list of all these heroes.

From the past that were to imitate. The heroes of bygone days. Who persevered until they received the promise.

Abel.

Abraham and Sarah.

Noah.

Joseph.

Moses.

All kinds of them. And what you want to imitate is their faith. And their endurance in that faith. He says. They believed what God had promised them. Even though everything around them said. It's not true.

They believed it because God said it. Oh, I got to wait till chapter 11. You know, what is faith? Now, I'll tell you right now. Faith is not just this leap off the edge. Thinking that God will take care of you.

Faith is God has said it. God says it. I believe it. It's not like some colleges, right? Well, we're going three million dollars into debt. But we have faith that God's going to pay it back. Whereas God said anywhere.

He's going to pay your three million dollar debt. Yes, right? So I believe what God says. Despite all the evidence to the contrary. So how did they endure in their faith? Okay, so here's Abraham and his wife, Sarah.

Sure, God said that you'd have a son. Yeah, I get it, Abraham. God said that. But come on, man. You're 92 years old. And your wife isn't any spring chicken either. And you think you're going to have a son, right?

But he endured. He kept believing that God would give him a son. Here's Noah. He spends 100 years building an ark. Imagine 60 years in. Someone says, hey, Noah, you say a flood's coming? You see any rain clouds yet?

Right?

But they kept believing it. Even though everything around them said no. Everything around them said give up. They believed it because God said it.

All right.

So he's saying to you, look at their faith. Imitate that when everything was against them. They believed what God said. They believed what God said. And they endured in faith. So your faith in Jesus must endure.

Believe the promises. How do you know you have eternal life? How do you know that? Because God said it. He said, I promise if you believe in my son. You know, we all quote John 3 .16. Do you ever realize what that's saying?

It's saying if you believe in Jesus, you have eternal life. How do you know that? Because God says so.

Right?

I remember my philosophy professor in college getting up. I'll never forget this introduction to one of his lectures in philosophy. He might have just had something happen that day. But I just remember this.

He said, you know what? One of the most biblical songs I've ever heard is this. Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. How do I know that Jesus loves me? Man, my life is really hard, you might say.

This is love? Yeah. How do you know that Jesus loves you? Because the Bible says so. That's faith. You see?

You endure.

You keep going. Even though you can't see it and all you have is God's word on it, you continue to believe it. You continue to obey. No matter how hard it is, you continue to follow Jesus. In Lafayette right now, Lafayette, Indiana.

Lafayette, Indiana, if I don't know if any of you are here, has been here that long. Back in 1986 when I went to get my counseling training, I went to Faith Church in Lafayette. Andrew, Pastor Andrew just finished the course at Faith in Lafayette.

Faith Church in Lafayette is one of the, what's the word I wanted to use? One of the meccas of the biblical counseling movement. I mean, they do tons of training, you know, all that. Right now, the city in which this church is, Ordinance 3231, is an ordinance that will say that no counselor licensed by the state or unlicensed can ever, can talk to a minor about a sexual orientation.

It would become against the law for even the pastoral counselors and biblical counselors at Faith to talk to a minor about, if you will, changing his sexual orientation. That's what they're debating right now.

Now, this is a real life example of what we're talking about here. Suppose they do pass that ordinance and now it's the counselor or the organization is going to be fined $1 ,000 a day. Now, if they pass that ordinance, what are we going to do?