General Articles

Hebrews Study :: Security Leads to Maturity :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10

Hebrews 6:1-8

“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. 7

“For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned” (NKJV).

The next part of the text that we are going to explore is one of the most controversial passages in the Bible. There are some disputes among Bible scholars, and this has raged for a long time. I was in seminary 38+ years ago, and we had a very serious discussion about this passage. But the writer is dealing with spiritual maturity. He is encouraging us to grow up and be deliberate in living out our faith in Jesus. He is encouraging the Jewish readers to stop wavering between Judaism and Christianity; pick one and live by it. This writer, Paul, as far as I can tell, is persuaded that Christianity is the way to go.

In this passage, he will deal with two (2) types of insecurities, and he will force us to move forward or simply leave us behind. You see, he is about to wade into the deep end of the pool doctrinally, and if we are wavering or immature, we are going to get bogged down and confused and miss the story. Let this verse resonate in your mind, and if you get it, it will reframe how you read the Old Testament:

John 5:39 NKJV, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

He was speaking this to the Pharisees, and Jesus was telling them that the entire Torah, Psalms, Proverbs and Prophets were about Him; Jesus is the subject of the Old Testament. Paul will jump to that, and we must be able to understand what he is saying. One of my favorite commentators, Guzik, really lays out this passage we are about to explore, very well.

  • Impossible, verse 4

The word impossible here is the same one used in other passages in Hebrews to explain that it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18); Impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6); Impossible for the blood of goats to take away our sins (Hebrews 10:4). These things simply cannot happen; ever. Whatever He is about to instruct us in is impossible, and He is emphatic in the impossibility thereof. Sometimes we miss these nuances and miss the emphasis that is implied in the text.

  • Important Words and Phrases, verses 4-5

Enlightened – a Greek word that explains the idea of a light source shining on someone.

Tasted – a Greek word that means to test something in a real sense. Jesus ‘tasted death’ (Hebrews 2:9) for everyone. Jesus died. This person experienced the heavenly gift, salvation (Romans 6:23).

Partakers of the Holy Spirit – this Greek phrase is a unique term in the New Testament referring to sharing the Holy Spirit; actually, receiving and fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.

Tasted of the good word of God – experienced and saw the goodness of God’s Word working in them.

The power of the age to come – this was a way of experiencing God’s supernatural power. These persons had experience with God’s supernatural power firsthand.

When one adds these together, these are people who have been saved. They saw the new light, they tasted it and experienced it, like Jesus experienced death; they have the Holy Spirit in them and fellowshipped with Him; they saw God’s Word at work in their lives and saw God’s supernatural power for themselves. The one conclusion is that they are saved. They surely had fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and that only comes to the saved.

  • Immature Issue, verse 6

The falling away refers to two ideas here:

One is that if there is a return to Judaism and the rituals and practices thereof once you are saved, there is still no hope. There are still no other answers. Jesus is still it. Remember the verse in John 5:39; all the Torah, all the sacrifices and the laws are designed to point one to Jesus. There is no ‘new’ repentance here. It is a pointless act of going backward, and this did happen. Some did not return to Judaism; they just left like Demas (2 Timothy 4:10). Yes, even saved people can abandon the faith and return to the world.

The other idea of falling away has to do with losing one’s salvation: if you turn away from the salvation that you have and have experienced, you can never return and be saved again if you were able to lose it. The only way to do that is for Jesus to come and die again. That is not going to happen. Thus, if one were to become lost again after one had been saved, there would be no hope and no more redemption. The idea that one can be saved, lose it, and then get it back is a Biblical myth. At best (worst, if you really think it out), you could lose it but never get it back.

Both lead to immaturity. In one case, you are saved but never actually know if you are saved; there is no sure-footed foundation upon which to build a life for Jesus. And in the other, you found the only answer for salvation but were not satisfied. You have nowhere else to go, so you will remain immature until Jesus returns. Maturity requires that we repent and accept that security in Jesus that we have on one hand; and if we are saved, we stop looking for answers elsewhere. Growth and maturity in Jesus require security. We will explore this next time.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

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Rapture: Why Do Most Fear? :: By Lisa Heaton

Published on: by RR10

Watch this brief video introduction to get you started. Rapture: Why Do Most Fear?

Many, maybe even most professing Jesus followers, fear the rapture, that moment when we will all be caught up in the air to be with Jesus. If you feel fearful, it’s okay to acknowledge that to the Lord. Your honest-with-yourself answer might well lead you to a place of freedom in an area that’s been holding you hostage. The rapture is our glorious hope (Titus 2:13), so if you feel anything other than hope and excitement, please take the time to read Rapture: Why Are You Excited? I hope someday that you will be counted among those of us who are excited.

While there are possibly dozens of reasons why individuals may fear the rapture, from childhood trauma to denominational lack of teaching or teaching in error, I will narrow the scope of the topic to just a few possibilities: not knowing the promise, not knowing what’s waiting, not knowing Who’s coming.

Not Knowing the Promise

Believers who lack understanding of the rapture are more common than those who do have a solid, Biblical grasp of what our future holds. With all the viewpoints out there — pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib — it’s difficult to know what to believe and who to believe. You can hardly do as Paul suggests and “comfort one another with these words” over the rapture (1 Thess. 4:18) if you yourself have never received comfort. You need the comfort of knowing the rapture is real, the rapture will happen pre-trib, and the rapture is your rescue.

Maybe your greater fear is that there won’t be a rapture, leaving you here through the coming seven years of tribulation. We won’t be here for the worst of what’s to come. I know you read and hear otherwise, that there’s no such thing as a rapture. I do too. While writing Daybreak and doing so much research, I ran across all the scoffers who ask, “Where is this returning we’ve been told about?” Each time I had to stop and test what I believed until all questions faded. The testing of our faith that James talks about doesn’t always mean us enduring sorrow or being led into temptation. That testing can be a good thing, something that makes us grapple with what we believe and prompts us to prove the truth of it to ourselves time and again. That builds our faith, which produces endurance. Red-letter words give us His promise.

“Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

Believers need to know the promise, that the Groom will come for His bride on time and not a minute too late.

If the topic of the rapture is new to you, and you would like to learn more, RaptureReady.com is a great place to get started. I also have links to some of the faith’s leading teachers on the rapture here at my DaybreakWithLisa site.

Not Knowing What’s Waiting

Recently, someone said to me that she’s afraid of getting to heaven after the rapture and facing judgment. She thought she would be judged and punished for all the bad things she has done in her life. That’s not true at all for those of us in Christ since our sins are covered by the blood of the Lamb. We will all face judgment; it’s just that, for believers, it will be a judgment of our works to determine our rewards. We’ve all been given time, talents, and resources, and how we have used them will be rewarded or burned up before the Lord at the Bema Seat.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:18).

As much as I would like to go into detail and explain more, I want to reserve the remaining article space for our final section. I could hardly do the topic of the Bema Seat of Christ justice anyway, so I will defer you to Amir Tsarfati and his teaching on the subject. If you have any confusion at all, I strongly encourage you to take the time to watch this video: Amir Tsarfati: The Bema Seat of Christ. You must know what’s waiting on you in heaven. It will not only alleviate fears you have that you will be judged for your sin, but it will encourage you to live the remainder of your life faithfully until Jesus comes for the church, making the most of your time in service to our King.

Not Knowing Who’s Coming

If you were to take a quick peek into the hearts of many believers, you would find unspoken and undue trepidation over the topic of the rapture for a surprising reason: They don’t know the coming Groom. When you know Jesus in a personal and intimate way, there’s no reason to fear and every reason to live in breathless anticipation of His coming. It’s one thing to know about Jesus, but to know Him changes everything. Can that be said of you? Do you know His heart? Do you recognize His voice? Do you long for the wedding? If you struggle with knowing Jesus, then the first step toward a closer walk with Him is admitting you need work in that area.

In the previous session (Rapture: Why Are You Excited?), I suggested that for some, their excitement over the rapture may not be due to love and longing for Jesus, but rather their excitement over getting out of here before things get worse–much worse. I referenced the (free) book You. Are. Loved. as something that may help you make that love connection if that’s what you’re in need of. One chapter in particular is relative to our topic today of knowing Jesus, “Live the Love Letter.” In it, I challenge the reader to get to know Jesus–the Word–through spending time with Him in the written Word. I relate the getting-to-know-Him process in terms of a mail-order-bride time of waiting. If you view this from a female perspective, you can imagine the importance of knowing the One who will be your Groom. From the male perspective, you can more readily place yourself in the role of a groom and consider how truly you would want to be known by your intended.

Excerpt:

“When I think of the concept of getting to know Jesus, I think of a mail-order bride. Two people meet from afar and send letters back and forth in order to get to know one another until the time comes to meet in person.

At first, they are perfect strangers, but the more they read each other’s words on paper or talk on the phone, the closer they become. They learn to recognize their intended’s handwriting or detect certain inflections in tone. Anticipation and excitement build until both can hardly wait for the day they begin to share a life together.

Jesus is called the Groom, and us collectively as believers, the Bride. There will come a day when we will all meet him face-to-face. I don’t want to meet a stranger. I want to know Him, what He sounds like, what it feels like to be with Him. That can begin now, even when it seems impossible, as our Groom is with us only in Spirit.

Will you arrive in heaven someday and hardly know the One who laid down His life so that you could be His? If so, then you have to shift your current approach to your walk of faith. You absolutely have to invest in getting to know your Groom through His Word.”

You can read the entire chapter and takeaway or grab a PDF to download here.

Speaking of waiting brides and upcoming weddings…

After my little pup of nearly fifteen years died and our youngest son moved out, I entered a new empty-nest season. Don’t get me wrong, it has tons of advantages, but it also left me feeling as if my best days were behind me. In a bit of a funk one night, I even said as much to my husband. It’s easy once the kids are gone to look back at your life, and rather than remembering the mass chaos of parenting littles, you see it as the best of times.

Enter Wedding Bridge. The following morning after I said I felt my best days were behind me, during my quiet time with the Lord, a setting from the Daybreak book came to mind, the bridge where the main characters married. It took only a few seconds for me to realize that it was the Lord giving me a sweet reminder. For believers, our best is far from behind us; it’s ahead, a spectacular wedding in our future. I don’t know what it’ll be like, but I know that its splendor is far beyond my crazy-vivid imagination. When you belong to Jesus, the Groom, your best is yet to come. All believers have reason for excitement.

If you don’t know and trust the One who is coming for you, it makes sense that fear would rule your heart when considering the rapture. If you don’t see God in proper context, the true God the Father and the real Jesus the Son, then you are already standing on shaky ground and won’t be a very effective soldier in the King’s army. If you don’t know your King and Commander, fear will swallow you up whole and leave you shaking and shuddering on the sidelines of the battlefield. But those who “know their God will display strength and take action” (Daniel 11:32). In context, this verse is addressed to those in the tribulation, but its application is timeless.

Moses knew his God and delivered a people. David knew his God and became a man after God’s own heart. Paul knew His God and followed Him to prison and death. Now, as an example to the flock who will emerge in the tribulation, let us know our God, display strength, and take action.

In Summary

Fear of the rapture may merely be a symptom of a greater illness, not knowing Jesus intimately or embracing His personal love for you. If that’s you, you have no greater mission in this life than the pursuit of the next-to-you Jesus. Seek Him through His Word like a bride reading the love letter of her betrothed.

“‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will let Myself be found by you,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 29:13-14).

Coming Crossover Topic

Another reason most fear the rapture is the same reason many dread the rapture. I won’t go into detail, but it has something to do with a hand and a cookie jar. Watch for the next in the series: Rapture: Why Do Many Dread? All series articles can be found here:

Until then,

Lisa

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Free Resources:

You. Are Loved., Live the Love Song – Free book PDF

“Live the Love Letter” – Free chapter

Daybreak, Last Days of Light – Free book download

How Do I Share What I Know? (Lisa’s Rapture Ready Series)

Prepare Your Heart – Rapture Ready series in process

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About Daybreak with Lisa:

Daybreak is a way of life, one of exposing the rising darkness and telling of the soon-coming Light. We only have so many daybreaks remaining before that final sunset when we, as believers, are caught up in the air to meet Jesus.

As an author, Lisa Heaton is a storyteller with a heart for truth. Her greatest desire in her fiction and nonfiction work is to challenge the reader to discover the truth of who Jesus is and who they are to Him. Now, here as we wait for the any-minute arrival of Jesus for His church in the rapture, Lisa’s latest mission is to warn the lost and wake the found and to help others discover their unique voice to share the truth of our times. More at DaybreakWithLisa.com.