INTRODUCTION:

1. I mentioned last week that the controversial passage in Hebrews 6 refers to believers who start out well but do not finish well.
2. Hebrews 6:4-6 says it is impossible “to renew them again unto repentance,” indicating they had been “renewed,” i.e., regenerated.
3. Furthermore, I mentioned that the burning in Hebrews 6:8 does not refer to hell but to the judgment seat of Christ (cf. I Cor. 3:12-15).
4. The recipients of this epistle were not in danger of being judged by God because Hebrews 6:9 says, “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you…”
5. Rather than being judged at the judgment seat, they would be rewarded at the judgment seat (Heb. 6:10).  The word, “For” (6:10) connects these verses with the previous ones.
6. At the judgment seat of Christ, God will remember their “work and labour of love” (6:10).
7. Obedience and faithfulness and diligence in our service for the Lord will result in “full assurance of hope unto the end” (6:11).
8. Hebrews 6 is not talking about keeping one’s salvation or losing one’s salvation, but “things that accompany salvation” (6:9).
9. Last week I quoted I John 2:28 – “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
10. Rather than be ashamed, it will be much better to hear our Lord say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, 23).
11. This passage is an encouragement to “go on” (Heb. 6:1) for the Lord.
12. It is an admonishment not to be “slothful” (6:12).
13. We have here a contrast between being diligent and being slothful (6:11, 12).
14. Proverbs 12:24 says, “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
15. Proverbs 12:27 says, “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious.”
16. Proverbs 26:14 says, “As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.”
17. Romans 12:11 says, “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.”
18. Are you slothful or are you “fervent in spirit, serving the Lord”?

 

I. WE HAVE BEEN SAVED TO SERVE

1. We do not work in order to be saved; we work because we are saved (cf. Eph. 2:8-10).
2. Elizabeth King Mills put it this way:

   O land of rest, for thee I sigh!
   When will the moment come
   When I shall lay my armor by
   And dwell in peace at home?

    

   We’ll work till Jesus comes,
   We’ll work till Jesus comes,
   We’ll work till Jesus comes,
   And we’ll be gathered home.

    

   To Jesus Christ I fled for rest;
   He bade me cease to roam,
   And lean for comfort on His breast
   Till He conduct me home.

    

   I sought at once my Savior’s side;
   No more my steps shall roam.
   With Him I’ll brave death’s chilling tide
   And reach my heav’nly home.

3. Consider that last stanza – “With Him I’ll brave death’s chilling tide, And reach my heav’nly home.”
4. Elizabeth King Mills was only 24-years-old when she reached her heavenly home!
5. Her only other known composition was “We Speak of the Realms of the Blest.”
6. We speak of the realms of the blest,

   That country so bright and so fair,
   And oft are its glories confessed—
   But what must it be to be there!
   We speak of its pathway of gold—
   Its walls decked with jewels so rare,
   Its wonders and pleasures untold—
   But what must it be to be there!

7. She wrote that hymn about three weeks before she died in London in 1839, at the age of only twenty-four.
8. Hebrews 6:12 says, we are to be “followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
9. Followers of women like Elizabeth King Mills.
10. Followers of women like Anna L. Coghill, who was only 18-years-old when she composed this hymn:

    Work, for the night is coming,
    Work through the morning hours;
    Work while the dew is sparkling,
    Work ’mid springing flowers;
    Work when the day grows brighter,
    Work in the glowing sun;
    Work, for the night is coming,
    When man’s work is done.

     

    Work, for the night is coming,
    Work through the sunny noon;
    Fill brightest hours with labor,
    Rest comes sure and soon.
    Give every flying minute,
    Something to keep in store;
    Work, for the night is coming,
    When man works no more.

     

    Work, for the night is coming,
    Under the sunset skies;
    While their bright tints are glowing,
    Work, for daylight flies.
    Work till the last beam fadeth,
    Fadeth to shine no more;
    Work, while the night is darkening,
    When man’s work is o’er.

11. We are to be followers of godly servants of God like Charles Haddon Spurgeon and David Livingstone and Hudson Taylor and D.L. Moody and George Muller.
12. Followers of godly women like Amy Carmichael, who left Northern Ireland as a young single missionary, and traveled to Japan and Sri Lanka, and then on to India, where she served for 55 years without furlough – winning Hindus to Christ, building a mission, and an orphanage.
13. Amy Carmichael certainly was “not slothful” (Heb. 6:12)!
14. Fanny Crosby wrote:

    Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
    Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
    Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
    Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.

15. Amy Carmichael devoted her life to rescue the perishing – Hindu temple children, who were young girls dedicated to the evil Hindu gods and forced into prostitution to earn money for the priests.
16. Much of Amy Carmichael’s work was with young ladies, some of whom were saved from forced prostitution.
17. Amy Carmichael often traveled long distances on India’s hot, dusty roads to save just one child from suffering.
18. She was “not slothful” (Heb. 6:12).
19. The word “followers” (6:12) means “imitators” (margin).  We should be followers (imitators) “of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (6:12).
20. Women like Mary Slessor, who left Scotland to work as a missionary in Nigeria.  There she successfully fought against the killing of twins at infancy and the practice of cannibalism.
21. Hebrews 11 lists many godly believers, whose example we are to follow – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and many others.
22. The apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 11:1, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
23. Of course, our greatest example is the Lord Jesus Christ, who said in John 5:17, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”
24. Our Lord was not slothful, and we should not be slothful.
25. We are saved to serve.  We are not to be “slothful”!

 

II. THE THINGS THAT ACCOMPANY SALVATION (6:9, 10)

1. We often hear the word “minister” or “ministry” used in reference to pastors or evangelists or missionaries, but all Christians should be involved in some ministry.
2. Hebrews 6:10 is not addressed to preachers – “in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”  This exhortation is addressed to the “beloved” (6:9) recipients of this epistle – Hebrew Christians.
3. The “things that accompany salvation” are not things which cause salvation or produce salvation.
4. Our good works and labour of love, and ministry do not cause salvation –  they are “things that accompany salvation” (6:9).
5. The fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control – are  things that accompany salvation” (6:9; cf. Galatians 5:22, 23).
6. These do not produce salvation; they accompany salvation.
7. Generosity accompanies salvation.  That is the point behind the story of the widow giving her two mites (Mark 12; Luke 21).
8. It is not how much we give but how much we keep for ourselves that is important.
9. James 1:27 says, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

 

III. IF WE ARE FAITHFUL, WE WILL “INHERIT THE PROMISES” (6:12).

1. “Diligence” (6:11) is to be shown “to the full assurance of hope unto the end” (6:11).
2. Full assurance here signifies a firm conviction or positive persuasion.
3. In Scripture, “hope” means a confident expectation.  For example, the rapture is referred to as our “blessed hope” in Titus 2:13.
4. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
5. It is also a purifying hope, because I John 3:3 says, “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
6. The slothful do not enjoy this “full assurance of hope” (6:11).
7. They may entertain false hopes. To cherish a hope of heaven while living only to please self is foolish presumption.
8. In Ephesians 2:12 the ungodly are described as “having no hope, and without God in the world.”
9. We need “faith” (6:12) to believe God’s promises.
10. We need “patience” (6:12) to wait for God’s promises.
11. The author of our epistle (probably the apostle Paul) refers next to God’s promise to Abraham (6:13).  Lord willing we will look at that promise next week.

 

CONCLUSION:

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God. – R. Kelso Carter