(A) Introduction

This short passage is one of the least comforting and reassuring in the New Testament. It clearly teaches that we have to take some responsibility for our salvation. The fact that we do so does not mean that we earn our salvation or merit it. Every Christian knows that Jesus is Saviour. We cannot save ourselves anymore than a drowning man can save himself. However the drowning man may need to hold on to the lifeline to be hauled to safety. He doesn't earn his salvation by holding on but it is necessary if he is to be saved. Jesus saves but it remains a necessary condition of our salvation to hold on, to persevere, to endure to the end.

(B) A terrible condition

There were some among the Hebrew Christians who had come to despise God's gifts and repudiate his son. This is true of every subsequent age including our own.

(a)Despising God's gifts

A privileged people are being addressed. Just consider how God had been good to them:
(1) They were enlightened. v4. Their eyes had been opened by God's Spirit. They saw Jesus for what he was: the light of the world. They believed Jesus' words: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." John8v12. So long as they followed this would be true.

(2) They had tasted the heavenly gift. The spiritually hungry had feasted on the bread of heaven. Jesus says in John6v58: "Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live for ever". The ancient Israelites had to collect the manna every day. It was not something they did once to satisfy their hunger until their wilderness wanderings were over. So we do not feast but once on Christ. It is a continuous process and, if we stop, our relationship with Christ is over and so too is the prospect of eternal life.

(3) The Hebrew Christians had shared in the Holy Spirit. They had received the gift of God's Spirit. This was a mark of God's favour. It showed a believer that he was a new creature in Christ Jesus. 2Cor5v17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come! The Jewish believers were willing to accept Gentiles as Christian brothers because God in pouring the Holy Spirit out upon Gentile converts clearly indicated that He had accepted them.

(4) The Hebrew Christians had tasted the goodness of the word of God. v5. They had been convinced of the truth of Christ's teaching. They had put it into practice and it had done them good.

(5) Finally they had experienced the powers of the coming age. v5. They could use the words of Paul: God..... put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2Cor1v21and22. The life of the Spirit filled believer provided a foretaste of what was in store for the Christian on Jesus' return to earth. They had revelled in the joy and peace given to them as the Spirit flooded their lives. I do not think all Christians have that intense feeling of well being and assurance that came to so many of those early believers when the Spirit filled their lives. I cannot say that I have had this taste of heaven.

It is inconceivable that the people so described were not Christians. They had been born of the Spirit. There could be no better evidence that they were true believers. Yet they were in danger of falling away. See v6. In answer to those who argue that if they were true Christians it is impossible for them to fall away let me reply:

(1) Why is the writer so concerned if they are not genuine? The entire epistle is motivated by the fear that Hebrew believers will fall from Grace. The letter aims to convince the reader of the supreme importance of remaining faithful to Jesus. Why bother if they were never true Christians anyway - they are better off back in Judaism where they would do far less harm to the church. Paul in Galatians is addressing a similar problem. Gal5v4: You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

(2) If none had fallen away why was it so necessary to issue the warning? If you see a notice at the seaside: 'NO SWIMMING. DANGEROUS CURRENTS', you do not conclude that no one has been swimming and actually got into danger. Rather you are sure that the notice has been erected because people have been swimming and got into difficulties. It is the product of experience.

(3) We have seen it happen. I have spent the last few days reading my mother's love letters to my father written in the late 1930s. She was still living in Richmond, Surrey, with her parents and four brothers. It was a Christian home. In her letters she writes about her brother Philip whom she loved dearly and who shared her Christian idealism. In one letter she mentions that Philip was invited to watch his friend Ashby play a table tennis match against the World Champion at Crystal Palace. He wanted so much to go but didn't because it would mean he missed the prayer meeting. Philip was a conscientious objector to the Second World War on religious grounds. He was so keen and principled. He and my mother were very close. I got to know my Uncle Philip as a student in London. He was always very kind to me but I didn't talk to him about Christianity. When I knew him he had become a bitter opponent of the faith he once held dear. He made my mother cry with his sarcastic jibes at the truths which remained the bedrock of her life. My mother often told me that of the 30 young people with whom she was baptised she was the only one who still professed Christ. Christians who deny that true believers fall away are just engaging in wishful thinking. They do not share the concerns of the writer to the Hebrews.

(b) Repudiating God's son.

It is of crucial importance to realise that those who had fallen away and for whom repentance was impossible had not just got low spiritually. It was not a case of straying off the straight and narrow way that leads to life for a time as did Christian when he wandered into By-path Meadow and ended up in Giant Despair's dungeon. Many Christians have been in that dungeon only to rediscover the little key of Promise that will open any lock in Doubting Castle. Those that had fallen away had left the church, rejoined Judaism, and rejected Jesus so far as to actually oppose him. The writer makes it clear what these apostates were guilty of: to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. v6. Men and women who had received assurance of sins forgiven and been given by God's Spirit a new life in Christ rejected both the truth of the gospel and their experience of the Spirit. To do this they had to so harden their hearts that repentance in the future became impossible.

I think very few who leave Christianity for the world and who then take up cudgels to bludgeon the faith they once professed ever return to the fold. Such folk are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. I know very many who have deserted Jesus their Saviour for the world. I do not know of one who has repented of this awful, wilful, sin and been welcomed back into the church. I hardly know if it is worth praying for such. Paul did not appear to pray for Demas, rather he wrote him off. I have heard so many rather sentimental prayers for those who have walked out on Christ pleading for their safe return. Are they really lost sheep or have they joined the wolf pack. I have members of my family who have left the fold. I do not think there is much hope for them - but I must confess that I still pray for a change of heart!

Christians should not be silly. There are those who confuse falling away with falling into sin. The apostle Peter did a very bad thing in denying Jesus deliberately and repeatedly and finally with oaths and curses but he was able to repent. Peter was in his heart deeply committed to Jesus. He had personal loyalty to him and love for him. Judas could not repent. In the end he was out of sympathy with Jesus and went over to the enemy. Judas had another agenda which brought him into conflict with Jesus' saving work and ministry. He became disillusioned with Jesus. Most of those who defect to the enemy have either another agenda to Jesus or are disillusioned with his church. My Uncle Philip became disillusioned during the last war because his fellow conscientious objectors did not live up to his ideals. He expected so much of them and they failed to deliver. It is vital to take on board the advice the writer to the Hebrews gives in this wonderful epistle - Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Heb12v2.

(C) A fatal deficiency

In verses 7 and 8 two fields are equally blessed by God who ensures that the rain falls on both. The result is very different. One field is fruitful whereas the other produces nothing but thorns and thistles. This must have been the case amongst the Hebrew Christians. All had received of God's grace. It is clear they had been abundantly blessed. Some were going on with Christ and bearing fruit whereas others were turning away from him and proving unproductive.

My mother and her brother Philip were equally blessed. They were brought up in a Christian home. Their father was the loveable pastor of the Salem Baptist Church in Richmond, Surrey. They heard and responded to the gospel and were baptised. They were part of a large group of intelligent, enthusiastic, dedicated, young Christians. The fellowship was stimulating and exciting. Both my mother and her favourite brother wished to serve Jesus. They were both so idealistic. My mother had a very useful skill. She was an excellent shorthand typist. However, she had absolutely no plans to continue with her career when she married my father. She wanted to join him in the work of serving Christ. She really yearned to do everything she could to further his work in the ministry. My uncle's idealism was shattered and he stopped following Jesus. He loved his nephew, John, and was very good to me. I have very happy memories of him. He was excellent company. But he did not serve the Lord. He had experienced God's grace as a young man but as he grew older he despised what he called organised religion. My mother also lost her idealism. She did not find it easy being a minister's wife in a small, inward looking, working class, farming village in Suffolk after life in a prosperous suburb of London and employment in the City. I can remember dreadful Sunday lunch times when my mother would be in tears because she felt spurned by these country folk she didn't really understand. However all through my father's ministry my mother helped him. The promises she made in her love letters to him in the 1930's she kept. I look at her diaries and almost every day she would be out visiting the elderly and shut in. She would go and see old Nelly at the Six Bells and take her cheese scones and a bunch of sweet peas.... My mother's life was fruitful. God's grace yielded a harvest - as it should. God's grace is not at fault if our lives produce only thorns and thistles. The inescapable conclusion is that we are at fault if that should be the case. The writer says the unfruitful recipient of God's goodness is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

(D) The secrets of success. See vs 9 to 12

The key to success is to take some responsibility for your Christian life. The writer has confidence that many, perhaps, most of his readers will live fruitful lives. He gives reasons for his confidence which are as true today as they were then:

(a) They have helped God's people. This is what my mother did as best she could - entertaining, writing letters of sympathy and encouragement, visiting and speaking at ladies meetings.

(b) What they started they continued. My mother did not stop helping people until the day she died. It is important not to grow weary in well doing. It will be more harmful to the helper than the helped. The tired Christian is the vulnerable Christian. Jesus says that if we hunger and thirst after righteousness we will be filled. That means if we really desire to do good we will live fulfilled Christian lives.

(c) The believers who are commended are diligent in helping each other. They do not take their responsibilities lightly. My brother, Paul, a Baptist Minister in Clapham, London, cooks a meal for 20 to 30 poor people every week. He doesn't produce any old meal. He produces the best meal he can with the funds that he has available. He takes as much pride in his cooking as he does his preaching.

The writer to the Hebrews knows that God is no man's debtor. Jesus says, "blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy." I am sure that the sense of well being that God, through his Spirit, gives to those who serve him and are kind to their fellow Christians is a big help in keeping a believer from falling away.

In spite of his confidence the writer is not complacent and nor does he want the Hebrews to be complacent either. He urges them to:

(a) Remain diligent to the very end. This is very difficult. I have just retired from teaching. There was a temptation to take it easy during the last year, the last term, the last week. A teacher cannot afford to ever let up. I was diligent to the end. Perhaps I lost some enthusiasm but I did not relax my standards. If I had done so I would have made a bad, bad, ending. Some Christians make a poor ending. They reach a certain age and opt out of Christian service. Christians need to think carefully about what they do in retirement. Is it right to spend more and more time on holiday and away from the local church? Fewer and fewer Christians want to be tied down by an ongoing responsibility to their fellowship.

(b) Make sure that they do not become lazy. I have to say that I haven't heard many sermons on the sin of laziness. I wonder what does more harm to the church lust or laziness? A lot of us are even lazy listeners. When I was a teacher I was the scourge of lazy listeners. If a pupil's eyes glazed over I would ask them a question. I would wake them up and sort them out. I would reinforce my instruction be setting written exercises. I don't even begin to wonder what most congregations would think of these tactics! We can be lazy prayers. What a struggle it is some days to say our prayers. Then we give up and go to bed without bothering to complete them.

(c) Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. Faith is not so much a gift as a virtue that must be exercised. It is like a muscle and the more it is exercised the stronger it gets. The writer will, as his letter proceeds, highlight the importance of the two related virtues of faith and endurance. It is pointless urging people to have faith or to endure unless they are capable in and of themselves of doing both. Numerous Christians have inherited what has been promised because they have had faith and endured to the end. Some unfortunately have lost faith and in the end will be burned or destroyed because there is no possibility of their entering into a loving and trusting relationship with the triune God.

(E) Conclusion

It is clear that there is something we can do to make our hope sure and to inherit what has been promised. We do have a responsibility. God's grace must be accompanied by our reasonable service. God's grace does not make it safe to be slack and lazy. We need to remember the fate of the man who buried his talent.