Words of Love
Hebrews 6:4-12 ·May 11, 2025· Joel Passmore
Part of: Hebrews, Toward an Enduring Faith
Pastor Joel Passmore continues a sermon series titled "Toward an Enduring Faith". In this sermon he tells us that God speaks to keep us both engaged in our faith and assured of our salvation.
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I want to wish a happy Mother's Day to all the moms here. Let's give them a hand. It's a special shout-out to Jordan back there, her first Mother's Day.
It's really appropriate to celebrate you all and the hard work and the care you give to your kids. And I want to say, too, we celebrate not only biological moms, but also women who are aunts and close family friends and women who serve as spiritual mothers to other people. So maybe you have those in addition to your own kids or maybe instead of your own biological children. But that mothering, that care, is still seen and honored by the Lord. It's really important.
So I do hope that all of the mothers feel honored and appreciated today because, of course, many things that moms do go unappreciated, don't they? I, sadly, to our shame, we must admit this.
Perhaps especially moms go unappreciated when they have to give a word of warning. My mom gave me lots of these. I did not appreciate them either. I very rarely appreciated them. Drive safely. Be careful about who you hang out with. Have more balance in your life. These are all things that are still ringing in my ears from when I was living at home with my mom. And hearing these things at the time, they made me feel misunderstood, belittled, frustrated.
I know some of you are wanting to say amen, but it's probably best not to. What I should have felt when my mom gave me those warnings, those cautions, was I should have felt loved instead of those other things. I should have felt loved because her warnings were motivated by love. Moms, I know you know what I'm talking about. It's true. They're motivated by love. Her warnings came, your warnings come, because you know your kids. You know them very well.
I found all kinds of reasons why the things she said didn't apply to me. Why she was wrong. But I was the one who was wrong. 99 times out of 100. She saw who I was, and she spoke up because she loved me.
And so today I honor her, and I honor you all for doing the same thing. And with that in mind, we come today to the Word of God. We're in a sermon series on the book of Hebrews called Toward an Enduring Faith. And we need to listen. We need to listen to the God that knows us and that loves us enough to speak up and say something to us, even when it's a word of warning.
We're in Hebrews chapter 6. We are in perhaps the most controversial and thorny passage in Hebrews today. Happy Mother's Day. But let's pay attention to God speaking to us today as one who cares for us and loves us, even when he has hard things to say. Okay. So God's Word, Hebrews 6, starting in verse 4, going through verse 12. This is the Word of God for us today. 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, receive 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.
Pray with me. Lord, give us open ears to listen, not just once, but twice, three times to your word. As you come to us in love and in knowledge of us, speaking to us exactly what we need. Lord, I ask you to, by your grace, work in us so that we do not resist your spirit, but we come alongside your spirit with what your Holy Spirit is seeking to do in us today. Be glorified in us.
Be glorified in your church, among us and in us. As we receive your word today, as we rest in your love, in Jesus' name we pray. These are words of love. Words of love.
Here's the big point of today's passage. God speaks to keep us both engaged in our faith and assured of our salvation. God speaks to keep us both engaged in our faith and assured of our salvation. Okay, so this passage is a little notorious. By the grace of God, we're going to dive into it today. We're going to learn from it. This is the second half of the third warning passage in Hebrews. Let's refresh ourselves about these warnings. The first warning was this.
We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. Second warning said, Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. And this third warning began, you have become dull of hearing. This is the second half of the third warning. And yeah, that's right. The third warning is so big and has got so much in it that there was just no way I could have done it in one sermon.
But listen, all of the warning passages, and if you're, the fourth and fifth warnings are a little bit more woven into the text. They don't stand out quite in the same way. But all five of them, they're really related. They're interconnected. They're to be read synoptically together because they're really about the same danger. All five of them. The danger of falling away. Turning away, drifting away, falling away. This is leaving the faith, denying Christ.
Life in the Roman Empire, it was not easy for Christians. Hebrews, it was written to people who were struggling. We don't know all the details of what they were going through, but there's enough here in the book to tell us that things had stepped up in their difficulty in their life. It was hard for them.
Their faith was ebbing like the evening tide. Did we make a mistake? What is happening? What is going on in my life? I did not expect things to get this hard.
Anybody here ever feel like that? I just did not expect things to be this hard. These folks are wondering, maybe Jesus just isn't worth it. Maybe he's not as great as I thought. Maybe he's not as strong as I thought. Maybe he doesn't love me as much as I thought. Maybe I'll just quietly leave all this behind. Kind of back away, slip back into what I used to believe, which for most of these readers, was Judaism. I'll just slip back into that. That was a respectable religion.
It's got the consent of the Roman authorities. I'll be less persecuted. It's got a history to it. This thing that I'm believing now in Jesus is brand new. Maybe I'll just go back to that.
And then this letter arrives. In this house church in Rome, with a spirit-inspired wake-up call. It's knocking on the door. It's pounding on the door. Don't give up. Don't do it. Don't turn back. That would be a disaster.
To deny Jesus is to say that he's not the Lord, but that he's a liar. He's an imposter. He's a blasphemer. The same accusations that he was executed for. It is crucifying once again the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. It's saying, I've taken a good hard look and Jesus deserved to die.
Such a grave offense has grave consequences. And he is not mincing words here. It is impossible for those who have fallen away to restore them to repentance. Because at this point, they would not want repentance anymore. They would not seek it. This falling away is full and final. Now listen, you probably know the story. Think about Peter. Peter denied Christ at a crucial moment, but he returned in repentance and he was restored. What this passage is talking about is a thorough experience of God's grace and then as a result of that, a consistent denial of Him.
that persists. Like verse 8 says, it's land that's drunk the rain and produces thorns and thistles. This good rain comes and what does it produce? Nothing but bad stuff. A rejection of Christ. An agreement with the charges against Him that put Him up on that cross.
This is a case of those who have once been enlightened, the text says. What can this mean except for illumination by the Holy Spirit? Opening the eyes and changing of the heart.
It is to those who have tasted the heavenly gift. In chapter 2, the author said that Jesus tasted death for us. Based on that, tasted can't mean a partial experience like a little sip. It's just a euphemism that means a full experience of the heavenly gift of salvation. They've shared in the Holy Spirit. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like you're just kind of near someone with the Holy Spirit. It sounds like a participation in it.
The indwelling of the Spirit that's common to all believers. They have tasted the goodness of the Word of God. Only those who know God and submit to Him really experience goodness in His Word. Everyone else, when they read His Word, they're confused, they're offended, they're indifferent.
And they've tasted the powers of the things to come. If it's supernatural and it belongs to the end times, what else could it be but spiritual rebirth and union with Christ? It's impossible for such people to be restored again to repentance if they fall away. If they deny Christ persistently and until the end of their lives.
Now, listen. These slides that are up here actually go back to that one right there. If you read this and you don't think that it describes you, then it's safe to say you're not a Christian.
And I would love to talk with you as soon as possible to help you see Jesus for who He is and your need of Him and how good it is to be His disciple and to follow after Him. To know that our hope is secure, that we have an advocate, that walks beside us. I want to introduce you to Jesus so that these things can be true about you. So hear me. Please. If you don't think this applies to you, that this describes you, please come talk to me.
You need the salvation that only Jesus can give. Now, if you are a Christian, I hope you feel like these phrases describe you. You should. You're supposed to. Because we are the target audience here. He's talking to us.
Now, right now, some of you are thinking, well, there's two thoughts probably happening in the room. It's part of you, some people in the room are thinking, wait a minute, Pastor, I thought true Christians couldn't lose their salvation. And then there's others of you in the room that are thinking, aha, I knew it. I knew Christians could lose their salvation. Listen, they can't.
True believers in the Lord will never fall away, ultimately and completely. Okay? Here is a slide with a whole bunch of verses. I want you to take a picture of this slide. I want you to go home and I want you to study these passages. Okay? Open up your Bible, study these passages. I am thoroughly convinced that God's Word makes it abundantly clear. that those with real saving faith in Jesus will never ultimately and completely fall away from Him.
If you study these things and you're not convinced likewise, come talk with me. We'll walk through every one. Okay? It is so, to me it is very clear in Scripture.
Those with real saving faith in Jesus will never ultimately and completely fall away from Him. They may struggle, they may want, they may be prodigals for a long time. Maybe most of their lives. But if they are His, they are His forever. That is the testimony of the Word of God. And here is one more passage that teaches this clearly. It's a little passage called Hebrews 6-9.
Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation. So there's one more verse that confirms this. Now I've got you thoroughly confused.
Why would the author warn them about falling away if they weren't actually going to fall away? You with me? Okay. Here's why. I'm not making very many points today. This is pretty much the biggest one. Here's why He would warn them about falling away even if they weren't actually going to. Which it's clear that He doesn't think they are. He doesn't believe they are. He's sure that they're not. Here's why He would warn them. Because the warnings are one way that God keeps us safe.
Okay? The warnings are one way that God keeps us safe. Let me tell you a story about a bunch of guys in a boat. It's from Acts 27. Paul is being shipped to Rome to come before Caesar. And he's in a boat with a bunch of other people. A centurion, some sailors, and they come into a storm. The storm is raging so much they throw over everything they can throw over to lighten the load. But it's still raging on. Paul comes up to them and he says, I urge you to take heart for there will be no loss of life among you but only those, but only of the ship.
Okay? And he, I truncated this a little bit, but he says, an angel of the Lord appeared to me and told me this. He told me, no one here is going to be lost, so don't worry. Okay? More days pass, many more days pass, and they are finally drifting near some land. It was night and they thought that they would hit some rocks and they would sink. So some sailors get panicky and they start lowering the lifeboat to escape. But Paul said to the centurion, unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.
So they forced the sailors to stay. And by morning, the boat had broken up, but everyone made it to the shore alive. Now, keep that up there. Now I ask you, since Paul had a promise from God through an angel that everyone would survive, why did he warn them?
Why did he bother warning them? Everyone was going to survive, Paul. Why are you telling us to do this and do that? We've been told. We have assurance. The warning was part of how God saved them. Do you see that here? And it's a counterintuitive warning which makes it even more helpful. God told Paul the ship was going to be lost, right? It makes a lot of sense to say, you know what, there's lifeboats here. The ship's about to be broken up. We need to get out of this thing so that we're not lost with it.
But he tells them to stay. Stay in the dangerous place. That's what I'm telling you to do. Stay here. Don't try to flee. Listen to the warning and you will be saved. God told Paul the ship would be lost and then he warns him to stay in it. The same is true about the book of Hebrews. These people will endure. They will be saved. They will not fall away or deny Christ in part because they hear these warnings and they say, I'm listening. I'm taking it seriously.
I am responding to this. I'm not sloughing it off or saying that doesn't apply to me or you don't just understand me or all the things that I would say to my mom about the warnings. No, those don't apply to me.
Jesus said, 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. He's talking about people. Our God is sovereign over the ends and the means. Okay? He's sovereign over the ends and the means. I opened up talking about mothers who warn their children out of love. Listen, you might not have had a mother like that. Maybe you had a mother that was neglectful that saw where you were headed and just didn't care enough to say something.
Maybe you had a mother who didn't really know right from wrong and so didn't her words were not helpful at all. That might be your story but listen, even if you had a mother like that you have a heavenly father who loves you enough to speak to you and to warn you because he knows you. That's what you have. That's why this passage is words of love. It's words that are trying to keep you safe.
His will is that all who belong to Jesus will be saved. Those are his ends and he accomplishes that with his power and with his word including the warning passages. Those are the means I hope I've convinced you of these things. I've in some ways done a flyby of some really deep theological topics but this is how you read this text. It is a real warning to real Christians who when they listen to it this is part of how they endure.
Part of how they're kept safe just like the sailors in that boat. So this passage is clear. God is calling us to a life in which we are both engaged and assured. Engaged with our faith but also assured of our salvation. That's the life that we're called to. Now I've only got really two sections today. This is the second one. Both engaged and assured. This is the ideal. This is the sweet spot. This is the place my pastor's heart burns for all Christians especially you all.
Especially the sheep of this church. To live in this place where you are both engaged and assured. The people of God shouldn't be constantly worried about their eternal future. That's why he gives us so many passages that tell us clearly that he will that he will keep us. He tells us he's guarding us for salvation by his own power. That no one could snatch us out of his hand. That we are sealed for redemption by the Holy Spirit. That he will finish the work that he started in us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, listen, if you have repented of your sins and put faith in Jesus as your Savior then do not be worried about your eternal future.
Walk with confidence. God has you in his hand. You should feel sure that the things that belong to salvation are yours. But we also shouldn't be complacent about our spiritual lives.
Passive, disengaged from God's calling, from the exercise of our faith, acting like it doesn't matter how we live. Friends, that is not why God gave us passages to tell us that we are safe and secure in him. It is not good to take those passages and sit down on the couch.
He tells us to pay attention to his word and to our heart, to go on to maturity, to run the race, to flee from sin, to deny ourselves, to take up our cross. He calls us to endure in faith. And Jesus said those who endure to the end will be saved.
The anxious and warns the disengaged. Which one do you need to hear today? We need both. In the course of our lives we are going to need both. And here is the truth. Engagement and assurance they go hand in hand. They are mutually reinforcing. As you exercise your faith you will be more assured of your salvation. That is how it works. Look what it says in verse 11. We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the same to have the full assurance of hope until the end.
That's why we had 2 Peter 1 as a scripture reading earlier. He has all these commands of the things we should do. Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. He goes on and on and then he says be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. Confirm it. I am God's I belong to him. I'm one of his people. You get assured of that as you exercise your faith. It says here in Peter be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election for if you practice these qualities you will never fail.
In this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's the same thing. This passage in Peter is the same thing as Hebrews 6 4-12.
So I want to close with three things briefly. Three things from this passage that describes clearly what it means to live both assured and engaged. The first one is this listen carefully.
If they have something challenging to tell you when you love and respect someone you listen to them even if they have something challenging to say to you if that's the way we should treat one another can we do that to God I hope so for you and for me I hope we can listen to him enduring faith never ever dismisses the warnings of scripture but rather takes it as God speaking to us personally God's people are not afraid to listen to his voice and receive his correction they say sincerely and often search me oh God and know my heart they reflect they repent and in so doing they are strengthened and sanctified and saved these warnings are a form of love and an act of grace the land illustration from verses 7 and 8 it puts a challenge before each one of us if the grace of God is falling on your life the rain soaking the soil what will you produce from that how will you respond to the grace of God contempt or praise skepticism or humility indifference or obedience how will you respond to the grace of God in your life now speaking of land the second thing is this bear fruit living with engaged and assured it means bearing fruit healthy trees bear good fruit the readers are being told don't forget how you used to be you used to have such a vibrant faith what happened go back to that one of the things that gives the author confidence about their salvation is how they used to live he points them back to your work now this is not an endorsement of salvation by works this is just an affirmation
that good works demonstrate real saving faith faith alone saves but faith that saves is never alone faith alone saves but faith that saves is never alone it's fruit and this this work is that they did was serving the saints love towards the family of God always goes with real faith Jesus said by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another but the greatest love is this the love you have shown for his name this is evidence of a changed heart when the driver the motivation for all of our good works have God that pushes us forward what are your inner motivations people of God what is motivating you if you're a Christian they're mixed and that they are mixed the only way to have pure motives in this world is to not be one of God's people then it's all evil motives it's all selfish motives don't panic over the fact that you have mixed motives rejoice over the part of your heart that says God I do love you I want to glorify God with no selfish motivations at all but for now for the mixed motives because that means that God is in there working keep going pray about that and to keep going in faith you not good at drawing something from my imagination but if I see a picture if I have a picture and I have a piece of paper I'm okay at being able to draw it because I can look exactly at what I'm drawing we all need models to imitate when you see someone whose Christian life is exemplary in some way maybe it's a certain role that they have or a certain
character traits in their life or just the way that they have approached a certain phase of life fix them in your mind fix them in your mind you'll draw better the story of your life the orientation that you have fix them in your mind have imitators friends imitators of faith of people who live that way of course they're not perfect no one is but their example is something to imitate as you keep going young people I want to particularly talk to you so many years ahead of you have imitators models in your you can fix in your mind and you can say you know what I want to be like that I want to be a friend like this person I want to be a brother or sister to my siblings like this person if someday I get married I want to be a husband a wife like this person that person I want to be someone who works and is a distinct Christian like this the race ahead of you now finally this is the last thing trust him you have to always bear in mind that though we have a role to play it's ultimately God who keeps us it's his power that sustains us to the end in verse 9 the author calls the readers beloved this is the only time and all the letter that he uses this word right after this intense warning he wants to remind them you are loved by God I know you've heard these intense warnings but remember you are beloved you are loved by God in Christ he has set his love on you he has redeemed you out of this world you are a new creation in Christ Jesus so of course he's not going to allow you to drift
away trust him trust the one who has you that's why he feels sure of better things not ultimately because of them but because of God's promises Paul Paul says Paul says this in Philippians 2 this is again Philippians 2 2 Peter 1 Hebrews 6 4 through 12 it's all saying the same thing it's a challenge with a note of distinct hope this is Philippians 2 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure both engaged and ensured that's how we're called to live friends and we can because we have a father who loves us to the end who will speak up over and over as much as we need it to encourage us and spur us to keep going and be engaged in our faith and to assure