What's Under Your Mask (Part 2)

Nearly 500 years ago, the leader of the protestant reformation, Martin Luther, had quite the dream. In this nightmare of sorts, Satan approached him with 3 large books and each book was full of his sins. Satan began accusing him of various things he had said and done and asked, “Did you really do that?” Luther said, “Yes, any more?” Book one turned into two, and eventually three… Luther asked, “Any more?” Satan said, “No. But isn’t that enough? You don’t really think God could forgive you of all that?” Luther didn’t answer… in his dream he grabbed a pen and wrote across each book, “The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin.”

As we sang about this morning, aren’t you thankful that the blood of Jesus alone washes us white as snow and cleanses us of our sin before our holy God? This is good news and cause for celebration! Whenever it comes to our salvation, though, people have questions. What does it mean to be saved? How do I know if I am saved? Can I lose my salvation? Will God kick me out if I sin bad enough? For thousands of years, Christians have examined these questions and so many more. Today, these are the questions that people want to know. As we continue walking through Hebrews, we arrive at Hebrews 6. This is one of the most debated passages of Scripture in the entire Bible and one that has the potential to leave people in hopeless despair. As we walk through the first 8 verses this morning and continue to look at what lies underneath our mask, simply ask yourself this: Has Jesus saved you? Not are you saved… Not have you prayed the prayer… Not have you done anything… Has Jesus sealed, saved, and secured you? If your answer is no, if you’ve just been playing the church game but you’ve never been genuinely changed from the inside out by Jesus Christ, then I pray that this passage would resonate with you and convict you to understand how desperately you and I need Jesus each day.

Hebrews 6:1–8 CSB

1 Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, 2 teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And we will do this if God permits. 4 For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, 6 and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. 7 For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.

Impossible is a strong word… In fact, it’s the strongest possible word in this context and it shows up 4 times in the book of Hebrews, first here in 6:4. If you reject Jesus as Lord and Savior, that means that you are an enemy of Jesus Christ. If you are an enemy of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is the only way that we can be saved, that means that you have also rejected the only means of your salvation. If you reject Him, it is impossible for you to be saved because, in essence, you are putting Jesus back on the cross. Actions have consequences, church. What have you done with Jesus Christ in your life? Do you know Him as Lord or do you just know about Him? Are you growing in your spiritual walk with Him, or are you staying in your comfort zone? This morning we’ll guard against 2 extremes: The extreme that says that God doesn’t care what you do so long as you pray the prayer… and the other extreme that says that as a Christian you have to live in fear every single day because it’s impossible to know if you’re truly saved or not. Let’s pray that God would guide us as we unpack His Word.

The Pathway to Spiritual Maturity (1-3)

Last week we began unpacking this difficult section of God’s Word by seeing how, as Christians, we are called to grow in our walk with the Lord on the path of maturity. To progress from milk to meat. Now, everyone’s path to maturity looks a little different. Some people immediately “get it” and are able to grasp the meat and other people are on the milk a little while longer. Think of a swimming pool - because summer is around the corner! In most pools you have a shallow end and a deep end. Think of the swimming pool in relation to the church. Whenever you are saved by grace through faith in Christ, you get into the pool but you don’t just jump straight off the high dive… you get your feet wet in the zero entry section. You’re saved, you’re in the pool… but you can’t go very deep because you’re new to it. Some progress down the pool quicker than others and they’ll start diving with the people who have been doing it for a long time… but others stay in the shallow area where it’s safe and they can touch. Our church is like a big pool and what God’s Word tells us is that, yes, there is a shallow end for new believers as they enter into the family of God and we disciple them and encourage them to go and make more disciples and give them the basics of God’s Word. There will always be that shallow end of the pool because that’s how we all got into the pool in the first place. But for those of us who are in the pool, we have to understand that God wants us to make our way from the shallow end to the deep end. Guess what? That means that at some point, some sooner than others, you won’t be able to touch the bottom. That can be a scary feeling - but whenever you’re saved and you grow in your walk with the Lord, all you are doing is putting your trust in Him and following Him wherever He leads you to go and growing in your understanding of His Word. This is our call - to make our way down the pool, one step, one section at a time.

As we look at the shallow section of the pool, at least in Hebrews 6:1-3, we see some of the things that we encounter there. Some of the basics and foundational aspects of our faith in Christ. These are things that we all must understand in our Christian walk. Let’s look at these 3 things along the pathway of Spiritual Maturity.

Repentance from Works / Faith in Christ

We’ll look at this text later in our service, but in Acts 2 we see Peter preach the first sermon after Jesus’ resurrection and he preaches about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The people are pierced to the heart and they ask what they must do to be saved and the first thing that Peter shares is that they must repent of their sins. Repentance is not just saying I’m sorry… it’s not just praying a magical prayer… repentance is doing a 180 in your life. The preacher of Hebrews is telling this congregation that part of this foundation of their faith is understanding that they must repent of their sins and not place their faith in their own works but in the finished work of Jesus Christ. If you don’t think that you need to repent then you don’t understand how seriously God takes sin and you’re not saved. Those who are saved understand how we could never save ourselves and how we all must place our faith in Christ as Lord.

Washing/Laying on of Hands

This second part might be confusing to an extent for us as Baptists. What does the preacher mean here? Many believe that this washing is in reference to baptism. We know that baptism does not in and of itself save us of our sins because there’s nothing magical about the water up there or in the Current River (although sometimes the baptistry waters feel a lot like the Current River). Baptism is what we are called to do as Christians. We are called to follow Christ’s example and be baptized to demonstrate our faith in Him and make that public demonstration. The laying on of hands is another one that might seem strange, but in the book of Acts and throughout the Old Testament, the laying on of hands demonstrated a blessing to the person. Some were commissioned through this and in Acts 8 and 9 we see that the laying on of hands was whenever some received the Holy Spirit. This foundational principle is all about genuine faith in Christ. One has faith, they have received the Holy Spirit, and they have followed through with believers baptism. This is important!

Resurrection/Judgment

The final pair is about the resurrection that believers are awaiting as 1 Corinthians 15 speaks about and the judgment that is awaiting those who have rejected Christ as Lord. This is foundational as Christians look ahead to the future with confidence, not fear and share the Gospel with urgency because we know what is awaiting us.

These are good things. These are necessary things. As Christians we must know what Scripture teaches about these doctrines and more, but we can’t just stay here. If you’ve heard the Gospel and you repented of your sins, placed your faith in Christ, joined the church through believers baptism, and are looking forward with joy to Christ’s second coming and you stop there… there’s a problem. The preacher shares that we must leave this elementary teaching and press on. This doesn’t mean that we forget it, we can’t ever forget what Christ has done for us… but if God gives us the time (verse 3), we must strive to grow and better understand the depth of His Word. We must make our way down the pool from the shallow end to the deep end because there are riches that we must carefully mine from His Word. The pathway to spiritual maturity is not necessarily an easy one - it requires effort and obedience to God’s Word… but it’s worth it! Think about where you’re at in the pool today. As we press onto spiritual maturity, this means that we study Scripture and we desire to grow to be more like Christ and this means that we have to deal with passages like Hebrews 6 that might be a little hard to fully wrap our minds around, especially verses 4-8 where we find, second

The Peril of Spiritual Apostasy (4-8)

Let’s do some fundamental Bible interpretation 101 tools for a minute. A lot of people who reject the Bible as God’s Word and who reject Jesus as their Savior like to argue that the Bible has contradictions in it and that the Bible is simply man’s word, not God’s and as a result, isn’t anything special. It’s a respected book because of its influence on the history of the world, but they argue that it isn’t applicable in general today because it’s outdated and things like that. Part of understanding God’s Word is understanding its authority. 2 Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 3:16 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

John 17:17 CSB

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

All Scripture is inspired by God… God is Himself truth and His Word is truth. God is our creator and sustainer. He has the authority to tell us what to do and what not to do. Therefore, because God is truth and His Word is not the words and opinions of man, but of God, we can confidently say that there are no contradictions within Scripture. If you want a resource to help you with supposed contradictions, “Why I Trust the Bible” by Robert Mounce is a great place to start! Genuinely, though, we believe that the Bible doesn’t contradict itself because it is God’s Word and God is not silent… He doesn’t stumble. He doesn’t lie. He is truth.

This foundational belief about the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture makes Hebrews 6:4-6 easier and more difficult to understand. At face value, many read this passage of Scripture and they walk away in despair because they think that they can genuinely be saved and tomorrow they can genuinely lose their salvation. This is what many Assembly of God and Free Will Baptist Churches believe. You can lose your salvation. Notice what verse 4 says… if you fall away, you cannot come back! If you talk to these people often they believe that you can lose your salvation, but you can be saved again and then you can lose it and then you can get saved again… It’s quite the tedious process of remembering just how much you’ve sinned and which side of the bed God woke up on in that framework. Are you saved or not? Maybe…?

There are 3 different views as to who these people are in verses 4-6 and we’ll look at each one before examining the totality of Scripture and the context of Hebrews to see which one is more likely than the other 2.

Some believe that these are genuine Christians who have been saved but somehow lose their salvation and cannot get it back - this is quite the warning!

Some believe that these are genuine Christians but that the warning is hypothetical and not real. If you fall away, then you cannot come back.

Some believe that these are mask wearing Christians who appear genuine, but deep down have not been saved and changed by Christ.

So, who are these people? Can genuine Christians lose their salvation and never be saved again? Let’s remember the context of Hebrews for a minute. This sermon was delivered to Jewish Christians by a 2nd generation Christian author. Inside this congregation, there exists a temptation to see the power of God and hear of the Gospel of Jesus Christ but to only respond to it intellectually just like their ancestors in the wilderness as we see in chapters 3 and 4. This is a church and inside a church you have lots of different people. You have some who are new to the faith, some who are mature in the faith, and some who are checking out the faith - just like today there are some of you who have been members of FBC Salem for years, some who are new to this church in recent years, and some who have been visiting this church for several weeks or months. In this context, with people from different backgrounds, the preacher said this in chapter 2

Hebrews 2:3 CSB

3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

There are some who are in the church who need to make sure that they do not neglect Jesus’ salvation - meaning, that there are some in this church who are not already saved… Just like today, there are some of you who are not saved. Sure, maybe you’ve attended church, after all you’re here! Sure, you know the Bible stories about Jesus. Sure, you might come to VBS or Easter Pageant, you might even help out with those ministries! But those things don’t make you saved.

Once Saved… Always Saved. How many of us have heard this expression before? This is pretty standard in Southern Baptist life because it’s in line with what Southern Baptists have historically believed. Genuine Christians persevere because of the power and presence of Jesus Christ in us! This is good news and this is a doctrine that should lead to devotion, not dullness. I love the heart behind this quote, but I cringe whenever I hear it. Why? Because everyone has a different explanation of what it means to be saved. For some it’s walking down an aisle. For others it’s praying a prayer. For others is getting dunked in the water. For others it’s living a good life. For others it’s being a nice person. Scripturally, though, being saved is about being changed. Not just being changed from the outside, although salvation will change your actions… but being given a new heart

John 3:3 CSB

3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

We must be born again! We must receive a new heart as Jeremiah

Jeremiah 24:7 CSB

7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God because they will return to me with all their heart.

Jeremiah 31:33 CSB

33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Once we receive this new heart, once we repent of our sins and place our faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Bible tells us that we are a new creation. Romans 6:6 tells us that our old self is crucified whenever we are saved. It is no more and we are raised to walk in newness of life. We are a new creation. Romans 6:8 tells us this

Romans 6:8–9 CSB

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him.

Romans 6:11 CSB

11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Genuine believers are brought from death to life, just like Jesus Christ… and sin and death no longer rule over us because we are alive because of what Jesus has done. Genuine believers… not those who profess belief in Jesus but those whose professions are genuine. One pastor was playing basketball a few years ago at the local gym and he starts sharing the Gospel with another player whose choice of words weren’t exactly children friendly. As soon as the pastor began to tell him about his testimony, the man looked at him and asked, “Are you really trying to witness to me?” The pastor says, “Umm, yes…” The man says, “That’s awesome, but man you’re wasting your time. I grew up in a Baptist church. I went to youth camp and at 13 I prayed the prayer. I was a super-Christian for the next few years. I went to youth group every week, I did true-love waits, I memorized Bible verses, I went on mission trips, I even told my friends about Jesus! But then in high school I started dating a girl and one thing led to another in our relationship and then I decided I didn’t believe in God anymore. Now I don’t pray, I just do whatever I want to do and whatever feels right. But here’s the awesome thing, preacher, I grew up in a Baptist church and they taught once saved always saved… this means that I’m saved because of what I did when I was 13! If your God exists like you say that He does and Jesus is the only way to be saved and I prayed the prayer, I’m safe! I’m living my best life now and having a great time… and if God is real, I prayed the prayer. I’m safe either way.”

How do you respond to this person? Are you ready to get real this morning, church? Do you know someone who is that person? Because I do. I know that to be true, because being honest… I was that person for years as a teenager. And if we’re looking under our church mask together and being honest, some of you might be that person today.

If our version of what it means to be saved is to pray a prayer and initially bear some fruit, but years later we adamantly reject Jesus Christ or we’re living a life that completely is opposed to the things of God, there’s a serious problem here. Look with me in Luke 8 as we see this parable from Jesus about the seed and the sower

Luke 8:5–8 CSB

5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. 6 Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Some of the seed immediately was destroyed. Some of the seed grew quickly but fizzled out. Some of the seed looked promising at first but it was mixed with the thorns and over time, the thorns defeated the fruit… Only the seed that fell on good soil produced genuine, lasting fruit. Some of the seed looked genuine… but proved to not be over time. Why did these seeds not last? Why do some people fall away? 1 John 2:19 answers this for us

1 John 2:19 CSB

19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

The reason that these people fell away and the reason that people fall away today is because they didn’t belong to Christ in the first place. How can we say this with confidence? How do we know that 1 John 2:19 is not contradicting Hebrews 6:4-6? Because the entirety of the New Testament is full of verses that talk about eternal security. Let’s look at several quickly.

Philippians 1:6 CSB

6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Christ finishes the work that He starts

John 5:24 CSB

24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

Anyone who hears and believes has eternal life and has (past tense) from death to life

John 6:37 CSB

37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.

John 10:27–29 CSB

27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Jesus doesn’t drop His followers! He never casts us out. He holds us fast.

Romans 8:29–30 CSB

29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

The golden chain of redemption. If you are justified, if the blood of Jesus has washed you white as snow and if you are in Christ as a new creation, you will be glorified. You can’t have one without the other.

Romans 8:39 CSB

39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing - not even our stubbornness - will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus… Romans 8 begins with no condemnation and ends with no separation and in between there is only celebration! Why? Because once you are sealed by God’s Spirit, you are saved forevermore. So I ask again, are you truly saved? Are you in Christ today? If so, eternal security is clearly seen throughout the New Testament! Here’s maybe a better expression to use: Once justified, always justified! Spurgeon once shared it like this, “He who counts the stars and calls them by their name is in no danger of forgetting his own children.” Do you know how many stars are out there? There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy and there are trillions of galaxies in the universe and Psalm 147:4 tells us that God numbers and names each one. Do you really think that he’ll forget and drop you? Friend, you’re not that powerful.

The warning in 4-6 is for people who appear to be saved but truly are not. They’re just playing the game. The New Testament teaches clearly eternal security - no, a genuine Christian cannot lose their salvation because it’s not theirs to lose because it’s not by our works that we are saved, but someone can deceive themselves into thinking that they are saved and this gives them a false sense of security. Look at the characteristics of these people.

They were once enlightened

To be enlightened is to more from darkness to light. You use to not be able to see and now you can. The people in this church have been enlightened in the sense that they have heard about Jesus. The light of the world has come and they are aware of that truth. They have a mental understanding and maybe even a verbal profession, but you can still be on the outside looking in with just some head knowledge.

They tasted the heavenly gift

They not only heard about Jesus but they heard about the Gospel. That they are dead in their sins and that Jesus as God’s gift, came to seek and save the lost. They tasted the Gospel - they initially sprang forward some fruit just like the seed from Luke 8 that was thrown in with the thorns. It looks good for a while, but you can taste something and the next minute you don’t taste it again.

Psalm 34:8 CSB

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!

Many taste and see that God is good, but they don’t take their refuge in Him. They taste test Jesus just like people taste test other options in life. They’re good with Jesus on their terms. They follow this or that and grow initially but there is no root and there is no steady growth. This person fizzles out.

They shared in the Holy Spirit

This sounds like something true of a genuine believer, does it not? They knew of God’s power. They had heard from God’s Word. They experienced conviction of sin as the Holy Spirit does to us. But rather than responding to that conviction, they brush it off and think that they are fine as they are. They see the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those around them, but they themselves are yet to respond to His work. How can this person share in the Holy Spirit? Let’s listen to Jesus

Matthew 7:22 CSB

22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’

This person appears to be a genuine believer, right? Someone who shares in the Holy Spirit and doing wonderful things for the kingdom of God. This person must be saved! Look at the next verse

Matthew 7:23 CSB

23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

WHAT!? Get this church, there are many in our messed up world who think that supernatural is always a good thing - it’s not. You can share in what the Spirit is doing in a congregation without being indwelt by the Holy Spirit in the first place. Case and point: Judas Iscariot. Judas was one of the 12 disciples. He was around Jesus more than just about anyone else. He saw the power of God on full display daily… Yet, Judas didn’t get it. Judas was even able to do seemingly supernatural things as we see in passages like Matthew 10:1-4… but even unbelievers can share in spiritual activities. It doesn’t mean they’re saved

They tasted God’s word and the powers of the age to come

They knew God’s Word to some extent. They knew about the Gospel and about what God has done. Yet, even with that knowledge, they fall away and turn their back to Jesus Christ.

Why is it impossible for this person to be brought back to repentance? Because of what apostasy is in the first place. Apostasy is rejection of Christ as Lord. Apostasy is whenever one hears the good news and sits under all of the good teaching of Scripture and possibly even serves within the church or teaches a Bible study class or sings a song but says that they aren’t any longer interested in Christ. They publicly renounce their belief in Jesus. Understand this, friend, it is a blessing to be able to come to church and sing songs that speak of the character and grace and justice of our God. It is a blessing to fellowship and experience the love of Jesus with our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a blessing to be able to unpack God’s Word and apply it to our lives. But please hear this, friend, there is an eternal consequence that follows hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Acts 2, Peter preached the Gospel and called on people to respond with repentance. We are so blessed to be where God has placed us because of our access to God’s Word and Bible-believing churches, but that makes us eternally accountable to what we hear. If we come to church and count that to be the basis for our salvation or if we claim that a work or a prayer that we said is the basis for our salvation, we miss it and we’re in deep danger. Those who fall away are no different from Simon Magus and Judas Iscariot. They looked good on the outside and checked lots of boxes. But inside, they were not genuinely changed by Christ. Our works cannot save us! We can quote once saved always saved until the cows come home, but unless we understand correctly what it means to be saved, we’re up a creek without a paddle. We are saved and held by Christ. He saves us. He changes us. We obey Him faithfully because of His work in us.

The Promise of Spiritual Victory

As we understand better what Scripture teaches about faith and obedience and salvation, we understand that we are not saved by our obedience… but by Christ’s obedience to take our place on the cross. Our response to what Jesus has done is simply to trust in Him and obey Him. To repent of our sins and place our faith in Him as Lord and Savior. If you have not done this, you are not saved and you must come to your senses just as the Prodigal Son did in Luke 15. This text of Scripture might seem like doom and gloom and it can certainly be taken that way… but there is also great hope and joy in this text when understood correctly. For those who are saved by Christ and held by Him, for those who are maturing in their spiritual walk, for those who are a part of the covenant community of God, there is hope because this warning is not your story. For Jesus to drop even 1 person who the Father gives to Him, He would stop being God. He holds us fast - not the other way around. Maybe you’re here and you’re not the person who is living the rebellious life or the person playing the game. Maybe you’re here and this passage terrifies you because you’re afraid that you’ve accidentally sinned in such a way that you think that you are unsaveable. You think that you’ve messed up so big that you think that you’re without hope and that it’s impossible for God to save you because of your past. If that is you, the Father’s call to the Prodigal was simply to come home. Acts 17:30 tells us that God calls on all people everywhere to repent and come home to Christ. Have you done that? If so, just as it is impossible for your works to save you, it is also impossible for your works to un-save you. You don’t have that type of authority or power. Because of Jesus, there is eternal victory.

Acts 4:12 CSB

12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

The problem is this, we’re living in a time where people think that they can hear the Gospel, make a statement about Jesus, and call it good. Do you know who also knows that Jesus is the Son of God? The demons… and they’re not saved. The reason that we look around at churches all around our country and we see nominal Christianity, sporadic attendance, a lack of spiritual growth, no fruit, and people who are not excited to worship the risen Lord and share His Gospel, do you know why we see those things in our country? Because there are millions of mask wearers in the American church. Millions have heard the Gospel but they haven’t responded to it in faith. They haven’t been changed by it. They’ve had a taste. They’ve taken Jesus out for a test-drive. They’ve been told that they can give Jesus a 30-day free trial and if they don’t like it, they can get their money back. This is the bill of goods that so called pastors have sold for years now and it is a cancer! So many have seen the results of God. They’ve heard stories… but they don’t know it for themselves and billions of these people are in deep danger today… and maybe you’re one of them… The reason that you’re in danger is according to Hebrews 6:8. Because if the rain (the Word of God) falls and it produces thorns, the area is cursed and about to be burned. This is in reference to our eternal destination. If you hear the Gospel, and it falls on hard soil and there is no fruit… God’s Word says that there is coming a reckoning. Understand this, friend, a mask won’t save you on that day. A Jesus Jersey won’t save you on that day either. A suit and tie won’t do the trick either. Knowing the verses and words and phrases and participating in the 60 day free trial won’t do you a lick of good. What’s our hope? Our hope is Christ. His power in raising dead people like you and me to life not because we’re so good and deserve it… but because He is rich in mercy and delights in saving lost sinners. Therefore we must look to Christ. He isa a greater Savior than you and I are a sinner. He alone provides salvation. He gives us the victory. We can confidently place our trust in Him and He’ll never fail us.

Check Yourself

Have you placed your faith in Christ as Lord and Savior?

Are you actively striving to obey God’s Word?

Are you persevering through difficult times with your eyes fixed on Christ?

DL Moody once put it like this, “Faith that fizzles before the finish was flawed from the first.”

We see 3 observations from this difficult text of Scripture:

Genuine believers are eternally secure in their salvation

Some “apparent” believers who are not genuine can commit apostasy and fall away

Genuine believers can commit serious sin without losing their salvation - think of David, Peter, and Paul

While there is danger all around, there is assurance found in Jesus Christ. He is our Savior. He is our Sustainer. He will hold us fast. Trust in Him, grow in Him, be fruitful for Him, make disciples who love Him.

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