“Things That Accompany Salvation” – Hebrews 6:9-12

Well, we have just finished going through verses four through eight in a very contentious passage, and what some have called one of the most difficult passages in all the

New Testament, and what others have called some of the most difficult and scathing words that are written to Christians in all of the

New Testament, and though I do believe that these words are written to Christians, I have argued that I don't believe these words in verses four and five describe

Christians, though they are addressed to Christians and informing them about what an apostate looks like, it doesn't necessarily talking about Christians in verses four and five, and you can see how this passage would probably shake some people out of a sense of comfort and self -delusion if they thought they were

Christians, because it's describing a group of people who, for a long period of time, were very close to the truth, and they were familiar with the truth, and they knew the truth, and could even pretend to be part of the truth and of the truth, and yet, in the end, they end up walking away from that truth, and you can imagine how these words, the first time that you might hear them and be exposed to them might shake you.

Imagine that you're sitting in that early first century congregation that first heard these words, and the author begins by reproving you for your dullness of hearing, chapter five, verse 11, and he tells you that you are immature in your faith, and that though you ought to be teachers by now, you need to be taught again the basic and most elementary principles of the word of God, and you have regressed from being able to handle meat and take in spiritual meat to needing milk again, and this would concern the author, and he reproves them.

It's a loving reproof, but it is a strong and stern reproof all the same, and then to move on from that into describing a group of people who know the truth and have experienced all the things that they would have experienced, it would have caused some of these

Christians in the first century to kind of begin to question themselves, and is that me? Am I one of those apostates?

Am I somebody who is simply close to the truth and knows the truth and is familiar with the truth, but may end up walking away from the truth in the end, and as we talk about these group of apostates, and Christians, conversely, those two groups, there's something curious about the people in those two groups, and let me describe it for you.

We have this first group, Christians. These are people who are born again. They have repented. They have believed. They're saved, and because by virtue of the fact that they are saved, they are secure, and they're secure not because they themselves have made some decision that by its own nature is irreversible.

They are saved and secure because of a decision that was made by God in eternity past, which is irreversible.

That is the grounding of their security in Jesus Christ, the decreeing, the sovereign decree of God, His purposes established in eternity past and guaranteed to take place in time as it unfolds.

That is the reason for their security, so these are Christians. These are believers. They are safe and secure because they are in Christ's hand.

The Christ's hand is in the Father's hand, and Christ and the Father are one, not in person, but in nature and in purpose in salvation, and then there is this second group.

They are neither saved nor safe nor secure in any way because though they have been exposed to true things and though they have had

Christian experiences and they have been around Christians, they've never repented. They've never believed.

They've never bowed the knee to Jesus Christ. They have been surrounded in a comfortable environment that has never challenged them whatsoever, and so they are neither safe nor secure, and they're not because they're not saved.

They don't belong to Christ because they have never bowed the knee, even though they have been in a Christian environment, and these people oftentimes think that they're very secure.

Now, here's what's curious about those two groups. There are people in this first group, Christians, who need to be encouraged and reminded and shown and told that they are not in that group.

Christians who need to be reminded, you're not in that group, and I've had this conversation with people, and I've had to say to them, the evidences of your salvation are all over the place.

I don't know why you are intent on navel -gazing and self -reflection to the point where you lose sight of the fruit that is in your own life, and they see their sin, and they're so overwhelmed by their sin and remorseful for their sin that they start to wonder, am

I really even saved to begin with, and even though the fruit is there, they've repented and believed. They need to be convinced sometimes that they're not in that group, that they're not just merely playing along with spiritual things.

Then there are those in this group, unbelievers, who need to be convinced that they're not in this group, and I've had that conversation.

You are not saved. I don't know, you don't understand. I am saved. I walked forward, and I prayed a prayer, and I went to church one

Easter Sunday, and the pastor said, repeat after me, and he prayed this prayer thing, and I prayed that prayer thing, and I got to the end of praying the prayer thing, and he said, welcome to the family of God.

Glad to have you, and the next Sunday, I was baptized, and I even went to Bible college for a period of time, and then

I was on staff at the church for a period of time, so I know I'm a Christian. Yeah, but you're living in fornication right now, and you are engaged in immorality and impurity and drunkenness and profanity of every sort.

You have no love for the truth, no love for God, no love for his people, no love for the church, no love for his word, no love for preaching, no love for fellowship, no love for worship, no love for serving others, and you are so unconcerned about any of that, you haven't darkened the door of a church or a congregation in over a decade.

What makes you think that you are in that group, that you are saved? Because see, they had an experience, and they're close to Jesus.

They feel him in their heart. Well, Oprah can say that. She feels close to God, because she has had some religious experience, or these people think they have had some religious experience that they're in this group, and they need to be dislodged from their delusions of security.

Sometimes it is our job to do that. So those are the two groups, and sometimes we have to convince those in each one of those groups that they're not in the other group, and that is what the book of Hebrews, and this warning passage is helping us to do.

There is a perfect and wonderful balance between these two approaches. The author of Hebrews is accomplishing both of these objectives.

He is warning those who feel secure in their salvation, but there's no reason they should feel secure in their salvation.

He's warning them of their insecurity, and the fact that they will face judgment, because they're not in this group, and then that's in verses four through eight, talking about the apostates.

Then in verses nine through 12, there is this comforting encouragement to this other group of people of whose salvation he is convinced, because he needs to assure these people, lest they be needlessly assailed by feelings of their own insecurity, and he needs to jolt these people out of their false sense of security that they have no right to, and so that is all part of this warning passage.

We've seen in verses four to eight the striking warning of this description of the apostates, and then in verses nine to 12, this comforting encouragement to genuine and true believers, so that is what we're looking at today, this comforting encouragement to genuine and true believers.

Now listen, it is not loving or pastoral to assure this group, the apostates, those who are not truly believers, it is not loving and pastoral to assure them of a salvation that they have no reason to believe that they actually have.

That is like patting somebody on a, a blind man who's walking toward a cliff, patting him on the back and assuring him all the way along, you're gonna be fine, everything's gonna be fine, it's all great, nothing to worry about, right, until he plunges right off the cliff.

Some people think that's loving. I don't think that that's loving at all, which is why you need to jolt people like that out of their false sense of security, but it is a wicked oppression to take from true believers the rest and security and comfort and joy that the promises of God should bring to them.

It is wicked to remove from them the joy and delight and rest that they should take in the promises of God, that having believed upon Christ and turned from my sin,

I am saved. I am safe and secure and that you can look at that fruit and you can see it and you ought to rejoice in those promises to take from that Christian that joy and that delight and to give them a sense of insecurity when they are not secure, that is a wicked evil because what you do is you take the joy and delight that they have and you take it from them, you take the biblical motivation that they ought to have for worship, for service, and for holy living and you replace it with an unbiblical motive for worship, service, and holy living, namely fear, guilt, shame, and insecurity.

You don't want to do that. We don't want to do either of those. We want to have the balance between the two and this passage in Hebrews six helps us to do that.

So we're looking at verses nine to 12 today. Actually, that's a lie. We're looking at verse nine today.

And we're looking at verse nine today and we're not going too far afield from this conversation that we're having about the apostates because we've spent the last couple months now working through the warning passage and the difficult part of the warning passage and we're not quite done with that discussion because there are things in verse nine that tell us, give indication to us as to who the audience is or who the people are that are described in verses four and five.

Who is this group that has been enlightened and have tasted and who have partaken? Who is that group?

Well, verse nine has all kinds of indicators as to who those people are and whether or not those people were actually

Christians who then fell away and lost their salvation and perished and were punished in verse eight. So since we're still dealing with that and since those indications are there in verse nine, we're continuing to go a little bit slower than we normally do.

And by a little bit slower, I mean just actually a little bit slower. And I warned you at the beginning of the warning passage. Remember, I told you we're gonna be thorough and take this slower, we're gonna be thorough.

So if you're still with us by this time, you have no one to blame but yourself because I warned you at the very beginning we were gonna go through this and we were gonna look at all of the details of this passage to make sure that we don't leave any objections unanswered, that we don't leave any questions unraised and unaddressed and all of that.

So that's why we're being so thorough. All right, so let me give you an overview of verses nine through 12, even though really we're just getting into verse nine today.

But here's an overview of verses nine and 12. In verses nine and 10, he assures them of their salvation.

He assures them of their salvation. He says, look at verse nine, but beloved, we're convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation though we're speaking in this way.

And though we're speaking in this way as a reference to the very stern warning of verses four through eight and the speaking of judgment.

He says, even though we've been talking about those things and that group of people, I'm convinced of better things concerning you. So he assures them of their salvation.

And he is certain of their salvation for two reasons that are discussed in verse 10. Number one, because of something that he knows to be true of God, and then two, something that he knows to be true of them.

This is in verse 10. What is it that he knows to be true of God? Look at verse 10. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.

What is it that he knows about God? God is not unjust, that is God is just, and God will not forget, he is omniscient. The fact that God is just and he will not forget, those two character qualities of God are of tremendous comfort to the

Christian, that he is not unjust and that he will not forget. And we'll see why that is later on. Okay, so second, first he assures them of their salvation, verses nine and 10, and then second, he encourages them to persevere in light of that assurance.

He encourages them to persevere in verses 11 and 12. Look at verse 11. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

So there's motivation there to persevere in the faith, in the salvation that he is certain that they have.

So these last four verses of the warning passage do two things, assures them of their salvation and encourages them to persevere in it.

Assures them of their salvation and encourages them to persevere in it. So let's look at verse nine. Today our focus is primarily on verse nine because as I said, it has some, there's a lot of indicators here as to what he is talking about in the previous few verses.

You'll know it is all connected. He is changing his emphasis from discussing this group over here, the apostates, the unbelievers who think that they're saved, who have been enlightened and partaken and have tasted.

He's described them and he has warned of them and he has described the judgment that comes to them in verses seven and eight.

And now he is focusing on encouraging those who are in this other group. Believers who ought to have a sense and assurance of their confidence in their salvation and of what

Christ has done. So that is what he is doing now, transitioning and there are the number of indicators in verse nine that tell us who it is that he is describing over here.

And one of the primary ones is the difference in language that is used between verses four through eight and verses nine through 11, a difference in language.

And I want you to notice the first contrast here. It is the word but at the beginning of verse nine. Verse nine marks a change of language.

He has been describing one group and now there is this contrastive conjunction at the beginning of verse nine, having described in verses four to eight this other group.

There is this contrastive conjunction but, that is in contrast to this group, something

I know to be certain of this group. There is something that he is confident of in contrast to that group regarding this group.

What is it that he is confident of? He is confident of the better things that are characteristic of this group, those things that accompany salvation.

Now if the author thought that the majority of people in his audience were in this group of people who could fall away and they might fall away at any time, if that's who he thought he was talking of, this passage would read a lot differently.

For instance, we wouldn't be reading but, I'm convinced of better things concerning you. Verse nine would read something like this.

And if you're not careful and you don't work hard enough and you don't believe long enough and you are not diligent enough, you too might fall away.

There would be no contrast. If we were to take from the warning passage that it were possible for anybody to fall away, this would not be a but, it would be an and, right?

You have been enlightened and partaken and enjoyed these things, tasted these things, and you might perish like being burned up by the ground that gets judgment, and if you're not careful, that group of people could become you.

But he doesn't say that, does he? No, he says but. There is this group of people that I've described, but of you, better things, different things.

There is this contrast. He does not use the language in describing this group of people, believers, that he uses describing the previous group of people in verses four through eight.

He is not convinced of their salvation, verses four and five. He is convinced of these people's salvation, verses nine through 12.

He is not convinced of better things concerning those in verses four and five. He is convinced of better things concerning those in verses nine through 11.

Second, not only is there the but there, oh, hold on, let me back up for just a second.

If you are an Arminian, if you are an Arminian, and you believe that you can lose your salvation, then you have to be convinced, you have to be convinced that those in verses four and five are genuine true believers.

Don't you? In order to say that a Christian can lose their salvation, don't you have to be able to make the case that those who have been enlightened and have partaken, have tasted, were genuine and true believers?

You have to be convinced of their salvation. Is the author convinced of their salvation? He states the exact opposite.

But we are convinced of better things concerning you. Not those and they and them in that group, but of you we are convinced of far better things.

So he is convinced of that. All he says of this other group is that they have had certain experiences, certain religious experiences that Christians sometimes also have, for the most part.

Those are experiences that often lead to salvation, they're precursors to salvation. They might even be part of salvation for those who are truly saved.

But not necessarily. Even though they had had these Christian and religious experiences, he's not convinced of their salvation.

So my Arminian friend who believes that you can lose your salvation, if the author is not convinced of their salvation, why are you convinced of their salvation?

Do you know better than the author? Do you know something about that group of people that the author doesn't know? Because he doesn't say he's convinced of their salvation.

There is a group of whose salvation the author is convinced. But it's not those described in verses four and five, is it?

He doesn't use that kind of language. The second language change is the use of pronouns.

I mentioned this before, but I gotta highlight it again. The use of pronouns changes throughout the passage. We mentioned it, but I want you to notice it again.

Chapter five, verse 11, through chapter six of verse three, he is talking about them. He uses first person personal pronouns, described them, you and we and us and me and our and I, et cetera.

But then switching in verse four of chapter six, he changes pronouns. They, them, themselves.

He is describing another group. And then when he gets done describing that group in verse eight, he switches back in verse nine.

But we are convinced of better things concerning you things that accompany salvation. It's back to a different change of pronouns.

If you believe that this group of people in verses four to five were Christians, then you have to explain to me why is it that he puts them in a different category?

Just by use of the pronouns, that is significant. He says in verse six, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they crucified themselves again the son of God.

He is describing a different group. And the other language change that is used is the word beloved. Notice it.

He says in verse nine, but beloved. Now that is a word that is used 60 times in the New Testament. The first nine times that it is used is in the

Gospels and is used of the father speaking of Christ. It describes a familial, compassionate, intimate and compassionate love for one person, for another individual's well -being and welfare.

And so when it uses that familial kind of love of the father for the son, you get some idea of what he means, the type of love that he is expressing when he calls this group of people beloved.

You will notice that he does not call the people in verses four and five beloved. He doesn't say these were beloved who fell away.

He doesn't say some of our beloved fell away. He doesn't use any kind of familial language at all which might indicate that those in verses four and five who fell away belonged to the

Christian congregation or were Christians at all. But this group in verses nine through 12, they're the beloved ones.

They're the ones loved by God with that familial love. They're the ones loved by God because he has saved them. They're the ones loved by God because they belong to him.

But this other group in verses four and five, he doesn't refer to them as beloved. But this group that belongs to God, that group that belongs to God, he refers to them as beloved.

He wants them to know, and by the way, the location of this reminder that they are beloved by the author, that he loves them with this type of familial love, why?

Because they are his brothers and sisters in Christ. The location of that reminder is not accidental. This word beloved is only used one time in all the book of Hebrews.

And this one reference to the author's love for these people comes, it is perfectly placed.

And where is it perfectly placed? It is perfectly placed right on the heels of a stern warning for them being dull of hearing, lazy and lethargic spiritually, and having regressed.

So even in the, right in the context of this very stern reproof and rebuke, he expresses his love for them.

So that they might know that his rebuke to them for their spiritual immaturity is not incompatible with his genuine and true love for this congregation.

And that's something that you and I have to keep in mind. That reproving somebody's immaturity is not incompatible with having a genuine love for them.

We live in an age when your love for another individual is measured by your willingness and ability to avoid any kind of confrontation, reproof, rebuke, or correction at all.

If you even come close to suggesting that somebody else might be wrong, or that they need a change in direction or something, that is seen as unloving.

Nothing like that in scripture at all. The love for that congregation is expressed right in the context of this very stern and serious reproof.

And then notice the last of the language differences. It is the word salvation. We are convinced of better things concerning you, things that accompany salvation.

You know what he never says regarding the other group in verses four to five that fell away? He never uses the term salvation to describe them, does he?

Not at all. He is, the author is convinced of somebody's salvation, but it's not those in verses four and five.

It is those in verses nine through 11. It is those who are the general audience for the rest of this epistle. He is describing apostates, but he is not describing people,

Christians who are in that congregation, who manifested the fruits that we're gonna look at here in a moment. Those people had every reason to be convinced and assured of their salvation.

That's what he does. We're convinced of better things concerning you, the things that accompany salvation. So given all the language difference in this epistle, the beloved, the but, the difference in pronouns, the word salvation, with this group in verses nine to 12 as opposed to the group that falls away in verses four and five, you would think that that in itself would be enough to convince everybody that those in verses four and five are not at all

Christians and never have been. But if that is not enough, there is yet one more proof that those in verses four and five are not

Christians. And it is in that phrase, better things. We are convinced of better things concerning you, the things that accompany salvation.

Now this is a bit more difficult for me to walk through, so I need you to, if you drifted off for the first part,

I need you to wake up for this part because this is very good. I'm not saying I'll be able to make it sound good, but this is a very good argument.

Okay? We are convinced of better things concerning you, the things that accompany salvation. The word accompany there is a word, it is translated from a word that describes or speaks of having something, holding something, or possessing something.

In fact, the ESV translates this phrase, we are convinced of better things, the things that belong to salvation.

It belongs to it, it's possessed by salvation. These things that he says are better things, they are the things that are possessed or that belong to the work of God in salvation.

They are salvation's things. What are the better things that are salvation things? There are certain things that come along with salvation.

That when an individual is saved, there's certain fruit that is born in their life, there's certain things that they possess by virtue of the fact that they are saved.

So what ought you to look for? What are these better things? They're listed in verse 10, and I would even include those things in verse 11.

First of all, he mentions their work. He says in verse 10, and this, by the way, we're not getting into verse 10 today, but I just want you to look at it.

He says in verse 10, for God is not unjust to us to forget your work, that's one, your love for his name, that's two, the administering and having, administered and still ministering to the saints, that's three.

We could go even down into verse 11, and you will look at, he mentions their hope in verse 11, and their faith and their patience in verse 12.

So you have works which follow salvation, they accompany salvation, they don't lead to salvation, they don't produce salvation, but works follow salvation.

So you have works, love for the name of God, ministering to the saints, faith, hope, and patience.

I did seven, but there's actually six, those six things. I missed a finger, I was missing a thumb apparently.

So those six things are the things that belong to salvation. Those are the better things.

Now here's the key question, better than what? What are those six things better than?

That's a key question. What contrast does the author have in mind when he says that these things, which are better things, that characterize those

Christians, when those things which are better, the love for his name and the ministry and faith, hope, patience, all of that, those things are better, but better than something else, what are they better than?

There are only two possible interpretations for that phrase. And I'll give you both of them.

Two possible interpretations, so that makes this easy. Like of all the interpretations that we've been jumbling around in Hebrews chapter six and trying to keep straight and all of that, there's only two for this.

What are they better than? What is the author contrasting those things with? Two options.

First, that he is contrasting them with the judgment in verse eight. Remember verse eight?

If this ground yields thorns and thistles, it's worthless and close to being cursed and it ends up being burned.

So the author then would be saying that that ground that is burned, that judgment, there's something better than the judgment and that's the salvation mentioned in verse 10.

Now all of those things that accompany salvation that'd be part of the salvation packet. So you have salvation and all the things that belong to it, that is better than the judgment of verse eight.

So as if he is speaking of a future judgment and a future salvation, he describes the future judgment for the apostates in verse eight and he describes the future salvation of the other group of Christians in verses nine to 12 and he says we're convinced that you will not eventually be judged, but instead that you will be saved and that is the contrast.

Now here are some reasons why I do not think that that interpretation matches the passage. Let me give you a few of them.

So this is it, by the way, this is the Arminian interpretation of the passage. This is what they would say. That those people were saved, that they are judged and then he's saying, but I'm convinced of better things, not that you're gonna be judged, but that you're going to be saved.

So the contrast then in the Arminian interpretation of the passage is that the better thing is salvation, the lesser, not better thing, is judgment.

Okay, let me give you three points. First, the adjective that is translated better, chrason and a related word, kraton, they are used frequently in Hebrews to contrast something that is good with something that is even better.

That adjective, better, all the way through the book of Hebrews is used to contrast something that is good with something that is even better.

It is never used in Hebrews to contrast something that is horrible with something that is good.

See the difference? It's used to contrast something that is good with something that is even better. Now I'm gonna give you a list of examples, all from the book of Hebrews.

I just want you to hear how consistently the author of Hebrews uses this adjective, better.

Hebrews one, verse four. Having become, speaking of Jesus, as much better than the angels, he has inherited a more excellent name than they.

Now are the angels bad? No, the angels are good, the good angels are good. That's why we call them good angels and not bad angels, but the good angels are good.

The angels he has in mind there are good angels, nothing wrong with them whatsoever, but guess who's even better than the good angels? Jesus is even better than the good angels.

Hebrews seven, verse 19. For the law made nothing perfect, and on the other hand, there is a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God.

Now is anything wrong with the law? Is the law horrible? The law is good, the law is holy, the law is righteous.

It's an expression of God's moral character and his will, part of that covenant. It was good, it was fine. But guess what is even better?

The hope that we have that is not based on the law. Hebrews chapter seven, verse 22.

So much the more also, Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant. Was the old covenant bad? It was inferior to the new covenant because the new covenant is what?

It's even better. So the old covenant is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. But the new covenant is better. Hebrews 8, 6.

But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises.

Is anything wrong with the old covenant? No, it was good, but guess what? We have a better covenant. Was anything wrong with the promises of the old covenant? The promises, our promises are better than, were they bad promises?

No, they were good promises. But guess what, our promises are what? They're better, they're even better than that which was good.

Hebrews 9, verse 23. Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

The sacrifices of the Old Testament, were they bad? No, they were good. Guess which sacrifice is better? Jesus' sacrifice is better.

Hebrews 10, verse 34. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.

Is anything wrong with our property and our possession? No, it's good, but guess what? We have a heavenly possession that is what? It is better.

See what the author's doing? All the way through the book of Hebrews. Only about halfway through. I'm gonna give you three or four more. He's contrasting something that is good with something that is even better.

Hebrews 11, 16. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Is anything wrong with our country? Well, I shouldn't ask that, but I mean, is there anything wrong with life in our world as it is?

Life in our world is good, isn't it? But guess what? We wait for a better country. As good as anything can be here, we're waiting for something that is better.

Hebrews 11, 35. Women received back their dead by resurrection and others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they may obtain a better resurrection.

Some people, martyrs, will get better resurrections than other people who are not martyred. Does that mean the people who are not martyred don't receive good resurrections?

No, they receive good resurrections. But guess who gets a better resurrection? Martyrs. They're hoping for a better resurrection.

Hebrews 11, 40. Because God has provided something better for us. Apart from them, that is the

Old Testament saints, we would not be made perfect. Guess what we get? Something better than what the Old Testament saints got. Was what they got bad?

It was good. But guess what we get? We get something better. Last one. No, I lied, two more. Hebrews 12, 24.

And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood which speaks of better than to the blood of Abel. Guess whose blood is better?

Jesus' blood. Hebrews 7, verse 7. The same word is translated greater, but there it describes

Melchizedek being greater than Abraham. Hebrews 7, verse 7. But without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater.

Now, was Abraham bad? No, Abraham was good. But guess who's better? Melchizedek was better. Every single time the word is used in the book of Hebrews, it is not contrasting something that is bad with something that is good.

It is contrasting something that is good with something that is even better. Therefore, he is not and cannot be contrasting judgment with salvation because judgment is bad.

It's not as if he would be saying, look, as much as you might like judgment, I mean, that's good. There's nothing wrong with judgment.

But guess what? Salvation is even better than judgment. See, that argument doesn't make any sense at all, does it? Every time he uses the word better, he's contrasting something good with something even better.

Therefore, I would suggest that in this contrast, he is not contrasting salvation with judgment because that's not how the author uses the word every other time it is used in the book of Hebrews.

You say, what is he contrasting? Just one second. Two more. Not that possible interpretation.

Notice that he is describing things, plural, and not a thing. It's plural. We're convinced of better things concerning you.

If he was contrasting salvation with judgment, he would say, we are convinced of something better concerning you, namely that you will be saved and not that you will be judged.

He has in mind things, plural, that are better, better things. We looked at what those better things were in verses nine through 12.

There are the faith and the ministry and the hope and the patience and the love, et cetera. Those are the better things.

It is plural. There's something good in the passage, a multitude of good things, in which he is contrasting the even better things.

And third, the author is describing present realities and not future realities. He uses a present participle, which means he is not describing future judgment and future salvation.

In other words, he's not saying, look, concerning you, I am convinced that in the future, you will be saved and not judged, and therefore, he's contrasting the better being salvation ultimately in the future as opposed to judgment ultimately in the future.

He is describing something they currently possess, not something that would inevitably happen to them. So he's speaking of something that is their current possession, not something future.

Now, by the way, if you're an Arminian who believe you can lose your salvation, you can never be convinced of anybody's salvation, can you? You could never say this.

We're convinced of better things concerning you. You could never say that about anybody. You could never say that about me.

You could never say that you're confident of my salvation, can you? Well, today you might be, but tomorrow, tomorrow

I might be lost forever. But if I live through that, next week I could be saved all over again, right?

Isn't that the Arminian perspective? You lose your salvation, you're in and out of it. But if you're an Arminian, you can never say that you're confident of anybody's salvation.

You can never say you're convinced of anybody's ultimate glorification or salvation. All you can say is, if that person dies right now, they're safe.

But an hour from now, I don't know. A week from now, I don't know. All right, so what is the second option?

He's not contrasting judgment and salvation. He is contrasting the good and positive things of verses four and five with the even better things of verses nine through 10.

He is contrasting the good and positive things of verses four and five. Enlightenment, tasting, and partaking.

Those are good things, aren't they? Are they things that accompany salvation? No, they are not.

But we are convinced of better things concerning you. What are the better things?

Your faith, your hope, your patience, your love for the name of God, your ministering and serving one another, and the works that follow your salvation.

Those things concerning this group are better than the other things concerning the other group, the enlightenment, the partaking, and the tasting.

Why? Because these things accompany salvation. Those things don't accompany salvation.

You can be enlightened and partake and taste and never be saved. That's the point.

But these things do accompany salvation because you cannot have faith and hope and patience and good works and love for the saints and love for the name of God and not be saved.

To put it negatively, if those things are not present in your life, you're not saved. If you don't have faith and hope and patience and love for the name of God and ministry to the saints and good works that follow after your supposed faith, if those things are not present, you're not saved.

But if you have those things, you are saved. Why? Because those are the things that accompany salvation. Now, in contrast to the first understanding that the interpretation is the contrast between salvation and judgment, let me give you three quick points for this.

This is consistent with the way that the author uses the word better, isn't it? Because he's speaking of good things.

Listen, enlightenment and tasting and partaking, those are good things. But guess what's even better than all of that?

The things that accompany salvation. So this way of understanding it is consistent with how the author uses that word better all the way through the entire book of Hebrews.

The things mentioned in verse four and five are all good. It's good to be enlightened, it's a good thing. It's good to partake of the word of God.

It's good to taste of that. It's good to taste of the work of the Jesus Christ through his people. It's good to partake in the ministry and blessings of the

Holy Spirit. All of those are good things. But all of those things are things that you can do without ever being saved. Second, the author does not say that the better things is salvation.

He says that these are the things that accompany salvation. Therefore, he's not contrasting salvation and judgment. He is contrasting the things that accompany salvation with the things, previously, the good things that do not necessarily accompany salvation.

And third, he is contrasting, sorry, that was my third point. He is contrasting the things that accompany salvation with the things that do not necessarily accompany salvation.

There are certain things and even better things than being enlightened and partaking and tasting.

Those other things, those are the things that belong to salvation. If you have those, then

I'm convinced you're saved. See, if you tell me that you're saved, but you have no genuine faith, you have no hope in the promises of God, you don't show patience in waiting upon His name, you're not ministering to other people and serving the saints, there's no good works in your life, and you have no love for the name of God, then

I don't care what you say, I don't care what you prayed, how you raised your hand, came forward, checked a box, got baptized, went to Confirmation, how long you attended church, what type of a family you were raised in, if those things do not follow your profession of faith, you are not saved.

Why? Because those are the things that accompany salvation. You know what the fruit of salvation is? It's those things. And so many more, that's not a comprehensive list, but it's certainly a good list.

And when the author sees those things present in the lives of his people, those people, I'm assured, confident, of better things concerning you, the things that accompany salvation, which means that the other things do not accompany salvation.

Honestly, I do not know how it could be any clearer. The author does everything in his power to not say that those in verses four and five are believers.

In fact, he explicitly says in verse nine that in contrast to those in verses four and five, these people had the things that accompany salvation.

How else could he say that? They had a lot of good things. The things that these people have are even better because they accompany salvation.

You know what's better or greater than enlightenment? Faith and hope. That's better than enlightenment.

You know what is better than tasting the gift of God, Jesus Christ? Being indwelt by his spirit and serving and ministering others.

That's better. You know what's better than simply being associated with the Holy Spirit and receiving some of the blessings and benefits of hanging around people who are indwelt by him?

You know what's even better than that? Ministering and serving other people and having a love for the name of God. That's even better.

Are those things good? Yeah, they're good. They don't accompany salvation. The things that produce the fruit, those fruits that are in the lives of a believer, those are the things that accompany salvation.

Honestly, my friends, verse nine is yet another example that the author is describing in verses four and five, people who are not

Christians, were never Christians to begin with. And he couldn't be any clearer than what he has said there in this passage.

It honestly could not be any clearer. Now, I know my Arminian friend, again, you believe you can lose your salvation, turn somewhere else other than Hebrews chapter six because this passage is not your friend.

The author explicitly says that the things possessed by those whose competence of salvation he is sure of, they possess those things and he knows that those accompany salvation.

Verses four and five, enlightenment, partaking, and tasting, those do not necessarily accompany salvation.

Sometimes they do, but not necessarily. But there are certain things that when they are present, there is salvation.

That we know for sure. So now why is he confident of that? We'll look next week at the grounding of that confidence as we start to examine some of the fruit that he mentions here in verses 10 through 12.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your word. And again, we are just so grateful that you have taken the time and the effort to spell these things out for us and you have given us your

Holy Spirit by which we can be taught and learn and understand. And we would just pray that you would help us to understand these difficult things.

And of all that has been said here this morning and communicated, if there's anything that is in error or wrong, we just would pray that you would help us correct that in our thinking and may that not be remembered at all.

But only those things which are true and in keeping with your word. Thank you for the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit.