THE SCHOOL OF CHRIST Part 1 (Hebrews 5:11-6:3 October 26, 2003)

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1 THE SCHOOL OF CHRIST Part 1 (Hebrews 5:11-6:3 October 26, 2003) The end of apartheid in South Africa had a remarkable effect on the three largest reformed denominations in that country the churches emptied. White South Africans packed up and deserted those churches in droves. When leaders in those denominations analysed what happened and why, they found this one of the major reasons the members had identified with the church was apartheid. Their attendance and membership was closely linked with social factors in particular apartheid. When apartheid collapsed, their ties to the church also collapsed. What they came to realise is this. These churches had a great history and a great tradition. They were founded on the great historic confessions of the church. But, what they had not nurtured in their people was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The history, tradition and doctrine had not led the people to a close relationship with Christ. Basically, they had churches filled with unsaved people who came because of tradition and social factors. They were there because they feared losing power and becoming a persecuted minority instead of holding power as a persecuting minority. They were not there because Christ had gripped their hearts and transformed them. And this has always been a danger. Man loves tradition. And the tradition can replace what it was meant to lead to. Tradition can replace love for Christ. It has never been tradition or birth or any other man-centred factor that brings men into relationship with God. It has always been faith in God the Redeemer that leads to a deep and abiding love for God the Redeemer. And the traditions and ceremonies were given not as an end in themselves but as leading us to a deep and abiding love for God the Redeemer. This was the problem the author of Hebrews faced. The Jewish nation had centuries of ingrained tradition and teaching that told them they were the people of God by birth, by having the Law, by being the covenant people of God. They were God s by right. But they misunderstood the whole Old Testament. What God has always sought is faith which leads to obedience and love. And the goal of all was Christ. This is the essence of the book of Hebrews, but perhaps the clearest expression of this problem is seen in the passage which we will look at over two weeks Hebrews 5:11-6:12. 1

2 Any of you even casually acquainted with this book know that this is one of the most controversial passages in Scripture. Books and articles by the truckload have been written about this passage. At the risk of oversimplifying the problem have a look at Hebrews 6:4-6, the verses at the epicentre of the debate: For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. On one side of the debate, we find those who say this passage is obviously talking about Christians who lose their salvation. Words like enlightened, partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasting the powers of the age to come these terms show they were Christians. But then they fell away they put the Son of God to open shame. They argue that this passage teaches that a genuine Christian can lose his salvation. However, most of those who teach that you can lose your salvation, also teach that you can repent and be restored. They talk about backsliders and recommitments and rebaptism. But, they seem to conveniently ignore that if this is talking about Christians who lose their salvation then you get one shot at salvation. Look at verse 6 for those who have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. Once someone has fallen away they cannot be restored. So they usually come up with fancy definitions of falling away that are foreign to the passage. Yet this idea that you can fall with no possibility of restoration is why this passage is so distressing to many Christians. They look at this and wonder if their sin will banish them from God with no possibility of repentance and restoration. On the other side of the debate are those who say you cannot lose your salvation. You can sin and move away from God for a short time but God will always keep those who are His near Him. So how do they deal with these verses? They either say that these verses are hypothetical. If it were possible to lose your salvation then you couldn t be restored. Or more commonly, they say these verses refer to those who merely taste Christianity. The unbeliever who comes to church, keeps hearing the gospel, keeps seeing the power of God at work in the lives of believers but refuses to repent and trust Christ. And finally, if they keep turning away, they will harden their heart to the point that they can never turn to Christ. 2

3 While this view is certainly preferable it too has problems. Words like enlightened, partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasting the powers of the age to come they do seem to speak of something more than association with Christians and hearing the gospel. And does any heart get so hardened that it is impossible for God to then break down the barriers and save that person? That word impossible is a very final word. Let me simply say that in my understanding, both of these views profoundly misunderstand this passage and the book of Hebrews as a whole. Hebrews was written as an apologetic, an exhortation, a theological unpacking of the Old Testament to show the Jews that the one place salvation could be found is in Jesus Christ not in the Law or traditions or the covenant or in national identity. For centuries the rabbis and Scribes and Pharisees had taught that righteousness was found in being Jewish, in keeping the Law, in practicing the ceremonies, in perpetuating the ceremonies. For centuries the blood of bulls and goats had stained the Temple in Jerusalem promising the forgiveness of sins. For centuries the expectation of the coming of Messiah was wrapped up in a political kingdom not in suffering and sacrifice. And now the Gospel comes and says in Jesus Christ a crucified carpenter from Nazareth the shadows have passed. It is Christ and Christ alone that matters. No wonder they struggled. This is not turning from atheism or Buddhism to Christianity. This is turning from partial revelation to full revelation. This was a struggle to see that the Law and ceremonies were not an end in and of themselves but pointed to Christ. No wonder the temptation was to stay with the teachings that had nurtured them from their youth. So while many Jews did turn to Jesus as the Messiah as the One the Law and indeed all the revelation given to Israel pointed toward others wavered and felt the pull back to the tradition of finding salvation in the Law itself. My understanding of this section is that it is not addressed to Christians who are wavering in their salvation or to non-christians who have come into contact with the gospel but to Jews who have refused to come to Christ. They have everything pointing to Christ, but they still cling to the signposts pointing to Christ rather than clinging to Christ. 3

4 This is not a passage that deals with assurance of our salvation or losing our salvation but rather it deals with the purpose for the Old Testament. Look with me at what the author of Hebrews says. Hebrews 5:11-14: Concerning him we have much to say. Concerning Jesus Christ, the One prophesied of in the Scriptures, the One designated a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, the One who is the only source of eternal salvation concerning Him, the author of Hebrews has much to say. But it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. It is hard to show you these great truths and themes in Scripture because your hearing, your spiritual ears are dulled and sluggish. You don t want to hear the truth. You would rather stay in your comfort zone than grapple with the truths of God. For though by this time you ought to be teachers. The Law, the ceremonies, the sacrifices, the Temple, Israel itself all are the foundations and the shadows that point to Christ. Every revelation of God, every institution ordained by God all pointed to Christ. The Jews have had centuries of teaching, ceremonies, institutions that all paved the way for Christ. With all of this background, with all of this history the Jews should have been the ones to teach the world about Christ. When Christ came, they should have grasped that here was the culmination of the very hope of Israel spoken of in their Scriptures longed for by their ancestors. They should have been the ones proclaiming Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They were meant to be a light to the Gentiles. But instead: You have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. The oracles of God were not given as an end in themselves but as signposts pointing to Christ. Instead of teaching others about how they pointed to Christ, they needed to be reminded of the very elementary principles of what the Law and ceremonies were for. They came to need milk the basics rather than solid food understanding what these basic revelations of God pointed to. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 4

5 If you only partake of milk keeping the Law, making the sacrifices, being a good Jew you don t get to partake of the righteousness which the word of God, the Scriptures, lead to. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Those who understand the purpose of God s revelations in the past, those who grasp that they point to Christ these are the mature, these are the ones who have their senses trained they know which teachings are good and which are evil. They know what is of God and what is of man. Before we leave these verses, I want you realise what a slap in the face this is. The Jews saw themselves as covenant children. Heirs of the promise. Recipients of the oracles of God. The chosen people. They had the Law. They had the rabbis and teachers of the Law. They had insights into God and His workings and plans that no other race had. But here they are called, dull of hearing, immature, basic students, milk drinkers and infants in terms of understanding the word of God and the revelations of God! Go down to our local synagogue and find the rabbi and tell him that unless he is a Christian, he doesn t even grasp the basics of the Old Testament. He is immature, an infant drinking milk. See how well he takes that! This is like telling Einstein that he doesn t understand the theory of relativity. But the truth is that unless Einstein s moves him toward seeing the glory of God who created all things and leads him toward a love for Christ he doesn t truly understand even the basics of this universe. The heavens declare the glory of God. Creation magnifies the Creator. Brothers and sisters what a warning for us! Does our tradition and doctrine and teaching lead us to a greater love for Christ! If not, even we, those who know Christ are infants feeding on milk. We are privileged to be well taught, to know doctrine, to have a wonderful heritage. We have at our disposal the great creeds of the church and the writings of the most incredible minds to aid us. We have every Scriptural aid imaginable. But unless this leads us to a deeper love for Christ then our knowledge renders us like infants sucking milk. All our learning, all our studying it is worthless unless it increases our love for Christ. 5

6 As someone who studies the Scriptures and loves theology and delights in the minutia of doctrine I face a great danger not stopping to worship, adore and love the One all my learning points towards. Woe is me if in all my study of the atonement I don t see the glorious love of Christ who died for me. Christianity isn t about knowing facts, it is loving Christ. If my preaching just fills your head and doesn t lead you to love Christ more I have failed. God didn t His Son, breathe out His word, gift His teachers just so that you could discuss the ordo salutis and whether we are sub or infralapsarian if they don t draw you closer to the glories of Christ. Who cares if you can parse Hebrew if your heart is cold toward Christ? If you can recite the furniture of the Temple but not pause to reflect on how it all points to Christ and His sacrifice you are babes. If you can read the Gospel of John in Greek but not be broken by the love and grace and mercy of Christ you are babes. If your devotional life is stale, if you are struggling with sin, if you aren t witnessing then go back to the basics to Christ, to His love, to His cross. Meditate on Him. Read the gospels over and over. Pray to Him. Kindle that love. Knowledge without love for Christ is dead. Tradition without love for Christ is dead. History without love for Christ is dead. At times what we need are the basics. Jesus loves me this I know For the Bible tells me so. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, To the cross where Thou hast died; Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, To Thy precious, bleeding side. Hebrews 6:1-2: Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 6

7 The elementary teachings about Christ are all of the ceremonies, teachings and institutions given in the Old Covenant that pointed to Christ. Here, the author gives some examples of these elementary teachings that were given to lead them to Christ. The Works that Point Us to Salvation in Christ. Repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. The Old Testament never taught that you were saved by works. That crept into rabbinic teaching in particular in Second Temple Judaism. The works Law, ceremonies, sacrifices, feasts all of this pointed toward Christ and in particular toward salvation by faith in Christ the God who would come. This is what we have seen again and again in the first five chapters of Hebrews. The Bible is given so that we can know God. It is a book that leads to a relationship not just to knowledge. We have the Bible, Old Testament and New. In it we have a picture of holiness. Leviticus is an amazing picture of holiness. But that holiness points to the holiness God demands Be holy for I am holy. And the only way for us to be holy is through Christ. This book is a tutor to drive us to Christ. I don t care where you open it Christ is there. It is given to drive us to Christ. Other elementary teachings are: The Institutions that Point Us to Salvation in Christ. Instruction about washings and laying on of hands. These are examples of the ceremonies, the institutions, that were meant to point to Christ and to His great sacrifice. The first is washings. Depending on your version of the Bible this word is translated washings, ablutions or baptisms. Baptisms is an unfortunate translation because it makes us think of New Testament baptism and makes us think these were Christians. 7

8 The word, which is. is not the word the New Testament writers use for baptism In fact is only used two other times in the New Testament and both times it refers to Jews ceremonial washings or purifications. And one of those times is in Hebrews itself. Hebrews 9:10. Of significance is that this use in Hebrews 9 is followed by a passage that refers to the ceremony of the red heifer in Leviticus 19. In Leviticus 19 there are washings associated with the priest becoming clean. But the author of Hebrews shows that this whole ceremony pointed to the final great sacrifice of Christ. There are many washings or purifications mentioned in the Old Testament that pointed to Christ who would wash away our sins. And this is similar to the laying on of hands. Again and again in the Old Testament the priest laid hands on a sacrifice to set it aside. All of this pointed to the final great sacrifice Christ One set apart by God to take the sins of the world. The point being all of the ceremonies and institutions were not an end of themselves they pointed to Christ. Brothers and sisters. We have ceremonies. We have institutions. Every two weeks we gather around the Table of the Lord. Does it draw you to Christ? Does it remind you of His love and death? Does it make you long for the day He will return? If you just eat the bread and drink the cup without drawing nearer to Him you have missed the point. Personally, this is perhaps the most meaningful part of the service for me. Every great truth of the gospel is laid out for me. Christ died for me a sinner. Christ is coming back for me a sinner. Baptism. Watching a believer enter the waters of baptism is meant to draw you near to the One who died and rose that we might live. These are not ceremonies and ordinances we can watch without passion. If they fail to drive us to Christ and His love then something is seriously wrong with us. Every part of the service preaching, prayer, giving, singing all we do is meant to draw us nearer to Christ our Saviour. They are not ends in and of themselves. You have not done business with God just by listening to a sermon unless it brings you nearer to Christ. 8

9 Other elementary teachings are: The Coming Events that Point Us to Salvation in Christ. And the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. The Old Testament pointed to time when there would be a resurrection and judgment. Isaiah 26 and Daniel 12 spoke of resurrection. Ecclesiastes 12 speaks of eternal judgment. And these in turn speak of the One who would rise so that we can rise and the One who will spare us from eternal judgment by dying for us. The reason Christ came is so that we can love Him, glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. Hebrews 6:3: And this we will do, if God permits. We will leave the elementary teachings about Christ and press on to maturity if God permits you to grasp the truth. If God permits you to love Him more. If God allows you to see the glories of Christ. Wherever you turn in your Old Testament you find a road that leads to Christ and His glories. But when Christ came the roads had served their purpose. There was no need of a priesthood and sacrifices once the great priest and sacrifice had come. So the author of Hebrews implores Don t lay this foundation again! The goal to which they pointed has arrived now cling to Christ, not to the signposts that pointed to Him. The Jews were a blessed people. They were given the oracles of God. They were privileged to partake in a covenant with God. They had the priesthood, the Temple, the sacrifices, the feasts. They had so many signs that were meant to draw them to Christ. But they wrapped themselves in the signs they were content with the signs and when Christ came they rejected Him and clung to the signs. Brethren, we are a blessed people. We have the complete Word of God the signposts and the testament of what happened after Christ came. We have the ceremonies of Christ. We have the traditions of he church, the great creeds, the teaching of godly men. But do these draw us nearer, nearer, nearer to our blessed Lord? 9

10 Or are we content to know we have good doctrine, good teaching and good fellowship? Brothers and sisters, I don t quite know how to put this other than to say that all we do in the church must have as its goal moving us nearer and closer to Christ. Preaching, singing, praying, giving, sharing, meditating, communion all must bring us nearer to Christ. But what can happen is this we can get so complacent and comfortable that we go through the motions without being drawn nearer to Christ. Let me give you an example. You know that I love hymns. When I sing And Can It Be I get emotional or about as emotional as I get. Why? And can it be that I should gain and interest in the Saviour s blood? Died He for me who caused His pain. How can Christ love me enough to die for me when He knows the sewer of my heart and the garbage dump that my actions are? I put Him on that cross God incarnate and He died for me! I will never grasp such love. But there are times here where we have sung this hymn or another equally as moving and I look at the faces and think you would be more passionate singing Waltzing Matilda. There is a hymn with enough theology to fill ten years worth of sermons and it fails to draw us to Christ. Then I go elsewhere and some basic little chorus is sung over and over. It doesn t have enough content to fill a thimble let alone be admonishing and teaching each other with the words. But when I get over this I realise that they sing that thimble full of content with passion it draws them nearer to Christ. It might be basic but it draws them to Jesus. I long for our services to bring us to Christ. To inflame our hearts for Him. I want you to sing of Him, know Him, love Him, talk to Him. I want you to be awed by Him, love Him, live for Him. But if we are going through the motions then perhaps we need to go back to the elementary things, the basics Christ, His love, His mercy. 10

11 To go back to the basics until we are on fire for Christ in the basics and then move to more solid food that can build us up and draw us nearer, nearer, nearer to our blessed Jesus. Brethren. Salvation is not passed on through the genes. My children have to come to Christ. Being in a church with good teaching, good traditions, good principles means nothing if these aren t underpinned by a deep love for Christ that moves them from the basics to meat and an ever deepening love. I wish knowing about holiness made you holy. I wish knowing about Christ made you love Him. But it doesn t work that way. These things will help us when they are based on a relationship with Christ. John 5:39-40: You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. A deeper relationship with Christ is not just built on theology and traditions. These must move us closer to Jesus. Without this, we might find that our church is like those churches in South Africa. We might find that what draws us together is good teaching or sound doctrine or good fellowship. And a death of a teacher, a change in fellowship a shake up of the church might show us that we haven t focussed enough on Christ on prayer and loving Him and knowing Him. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, To the cross where Thou hast died; Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, To Thy precious, bleeding side. 11