{"id":7148,"date":"2020-09-29T04:54:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T09:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/wp\/?p=7148"},"modified":"2020-09-28T15:00:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T20:00:53","slug":"hebrews-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/?p=7148","title":{"rendered":"Hebrews 6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

6\u00a0<\/strong>Therefore\u00a0let us leave\u00a0the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance\u00a0from dead works and of faith toward God,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This verse warns the readers for their spiritual immaturity but he knew that nothing was gained by treating them as immature. He continued with his instruction and warnings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2\u00a0<\/sup>and of\u00a0instruction about washings,[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0the laying on of hands,\u00a0the resurrection of the dead, and\u00a0eternal judgment.\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>And this we will do\u00a0if God permits.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should not be taken as implying that God may not want them to go on to maturity, past those basics common to Christianity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4\u00a0<\/sup>For it is impossible, in the case of those\u00a0who have once been enlightened, who have tasted\u00a0the heavenly gift, and\u00a0have shared in the Holy Spirit,\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>and\u00a0have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup>and\u00a0then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since\u00a0they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word\u00a0impossible\u00a0is put in a position of emphasis. The writer to the Hebrews does not say this is merely difficult, but that it is without possibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7\u00a0<\/sup>For\u00a0land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup>But\u00a0if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed,\u00a0and its end is to be burned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9\u00a0<\/sup>Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things\u2014things that belong to salvation.\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup>For\u00a0God is not unjust so as to overlook\u00a0your work and the love that you have shown for his name in\u00a0serving the saints, as you still do.\u00a011\u00a0<\/sup>And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance\u00a0of hope until the end,\u00a012\u00a0<\/sup>so that you may not be sluggish, but\u00a0imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we are discouraged we sometimes think God forgets us and all we have done for Him and for His people. But God would deny His own nature if He forgot such things (He would be\u00a0unjust). God sees and remembers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Certainty of God’s Promise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

13\u00a0<\/sup>For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear,\u00a0he swore by himself,\u00a014\u00a0<\/sup>saying,\u00a0\u201cSurely I will bless you and multiply you.\u201d\u00a015\u00a0<\/sup>And thus Abraham,[b<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0having patiently waited, obtained the promise.\u00a016\u00a0<\/sup>For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes\u00a0an oath is final for confirmation.\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup>So when God desired to show more convincingly to\u00a0the heirs of the promise\u00a0the unchangeable character of his purpose,\u00a0he guaranteed it with an oath,\u00a018\u00a0<\/sup>so that by two unchangeable things, in which\u00a0it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope\u00a0set before us.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0absolute reliability<\/em>\u00a0of God\u2019s promise should impress us. \u201cNow, brethren, who among us dare doubt this? Where is the hardy sinner who dares come forward and say, \u2018I impugn the oath of God\u2019? Oh! But let us blush the deepest scarlet, and scarlet is but white compared with the blush which ought to mantle the cheek of every child of God to think that even God\u2019s own children should, in effect, accuse their heavenly Father of perjury. Oh, shame upon us!\u201d (Spurgeon)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

19\u00a0<\/sup>We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into\u00a0the inner place behind the curtain,\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup>where Jesus has gone\u00a0as a forerunner on our behalf,\u00a0having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet if Jesus is the forerunner, we are then the\u00a0after-runners<\/em>. There is no forerunner if there are no after-runners. We should follow hard after Jesus and strive to be like Christ daily. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7149,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7148\/revisions\/7149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}