Word of Salvation – Vol. 48 No.9 – March 2003

 

Dangerous Fence Sitters

 

Sermon by Rev J Zuidema

on Hebrews 6:4-6

Scripture Readings:  Acts 8:9-19; Hebrews 5:11-6:12

Suggested Hymns:  BoW 122; 217; 91; 467; 525

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we look at a passage which is probably the most threatening passage for many Christians, when it need not be so. The question that confronts us is whether this passage, Hebrews 6:4-6, refers to Christians or unbelievers?

Allow me to state it clearly from the outset, that this passage refers to unbelievers. It refers to people who go to church for years, hear the gospel over and over again, but never commit their lives to Jesus Christ. They never really embrace Him. Never really fully trust Him for their eternal salvation.

Now although the writer is specifically speaking to Jewish converts in this relatively new church, and although he is speaking to unbelievers within that church, the warning applies to us all. There is a wake-up call to Christians to not be dull and lazy when it comes to their perseverance of the faith. The author is obviously aware that there are people in that fellowship who have made all the right noises, but who are not Christians.

There are people who know the truth of God’s saving grace. People who perhaps have seen it change the lives of many of their friends and family members, yet, who turn around and walk away from full acceptance. It is to these people that the author gives the severest possible warning.

Yet, we need to be cautious, for some Christians have taken these verses too far. Some believe this passage to mean that once someone has fallen into sin, perhaps rebelled when they were younger, that they can never return and be brought back to repentance, even when they desire to do so. Those who suggest this are wrong! Surely, the very fact that a person desires to repent and to turn to the Lord is a sign that they are not beyond repentance, nor then beyond salvation and eternal life!

So, on the one hand, it is encouraging to know what God can do with a repentant heart. Yet, on the other hand it should make the hairs on our necks stand up on end knowing what He will do with unrepentant sinners. Persistent rejection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will result in such people passing the point of no return spiritually and of losing forever the opportunity of salvation. That’s what happens to the fence sitter, the individual who remains uncommitted and indecisive. He eventually follows his evil heart of unbelief and turns his back forever on the living and loving God!

One of the main reasons for this is that often these people never use the Word of God. Unlike a knife, the truth of God’s Word becomes sharper with use. In other words, it becomes more real when one reads it, accepts it as God’s Word and willingly obeys it. A truth that is not accepted and followed becomes dull and meaningless. It is obvious that some in this early church had, by not accepting the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, begun to grow indifferent to it and had become spiritually lazy and dull.

There is a secular saying “use it or lose it.” This is also true, brothers and sisters, of the truth of God’s Word. I say that because some people who were the recipients of this letter, are still on baby food. After all the teaching they had received, they had not moved on in their faith. They seem to be very content with being hearers but not doers! Content to stay at an infant level.

Now please note, we are not speaking here about a new Christian convert, but people who have heard the gospel, but have not exercised the truth of the gospel, and hence have not become mature. Hebrews 5:14 makes it clear that solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

In other words, there were people in the church who, because of their disuse of their knowledge of the gospel, could now no longer bring themselves to make a right decision about it. In fact they were in danger of making a desperately wrong decision, and completely returning to Judaism.

So the author, having already spent time on the basic teaching of Christianity – things concerning repentance, obedient living, faith in God, the resurrection, and eternal judgment – decides to go to the heart of the matter in verses 4-6.

The fence sitters in this fellowship have been privileged in five areas because of their association with the church.

First, they have been enlightened. Charles Spurgeon takes this phrase to mean that these people have been touched by the Holy Spirit to a saving faith. Yet, I do not believe this to be the case. I say this because Scripture teaches that once a person has been saved, then he or she can never fall away to be completely out of grace. If that were the case, then there can be no assurance of salvation for the sinner.

This is the teaching in passages such as John 10:27-29: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.“

And Romans 8:28-39 clearly teaches that Christians are eternally safe in the Father’s hand as well as in the Saviour’s hand, and nothing can separate us from His love! Furthermore, if the author was speaking about Christians, then verse 39 doesn’t follow very well.

Of course there is a difference between falling into sin and falling away. Falling into sin can be defined as a time when you have neglected your spiritual duty to love God above all and your neighbour as yourself. To fall away, I understand to mean that you actually make a deliberate choice: that after hearing the Word of God, after knowing the way to eternal life, you walk away.

To be enlightened, then, is to understand that salvation has taken place, once and for all. It means that a person has been privileged to the light of the gospel, it has shone on their darkness, yet, they decide to give it up and not embrace it. This would be to sin against the light, the one sin which by its very nature is incurable.

A second advantage was that these Jewish converts had tasted the heavenly gift. This refers primarily to people who have made a profession of faith, because that is what people needed to do to be part of the church, and who have partaken in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.

It is possible for people who have experienced both gospel sacraments to commit apostasy. I do not say this lightly, for it causes me pain. I know of ministers – yes even in our own denomination – who are now outright atheists! That is why we need to be careful in making the act of profession of faith a measure of whether a person can participate in the sacraments. Rather, we need to focus on their heart confession – does their life show they love the Lord? Remember, not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord”, is a child of God!

Third, these Jewish converts had become partakers of the Holy Spirit. Some suggest that it is the gifts of the Holy Spirit rather than the Person of the Holy Spirit because the definite article is missing in the original language, but I think that would be splitting straws. The author, nonetheless, does make it known that it is possible to ‘insult’ the Spirit of grace [cf 10:29].

The people the author has in mind here, have not only been baptised and participated in the Lord’s Supper, but also had experienced the laying on of hands. That’s what they did in the early church – and we do have the case of a man in Acts 8, who had supposedly believed when he heard the gospel, had been baptised, attached himself to the evangelist whose preaching had convinced him, and presumably had received the Spirit when the apostolic hands were laid on him.

Yet, Simon Magus was pronounced still to be full of bitterness and captive to sin. And this same man showed himself to be the most determined opponent of apostolic Christianity. So if we were to ask ourselves in what way the Spirit worked in this man, it is probably useful to look at the other things mentioned by our author.

We read in the fourth instant, that they also tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the power of the age to come. Simon Magus in Acts 8 realised how good the Word of God was when he heard it from Philip’s mouth, and he was amazed at the signs and great powers that accompanied the reception of the gospel, proclaimed by a man who was full of the Spirit.

Those powers or mighty works were signs that the age to come had already broken in on the present age. Jesus speaks about driving out demons by the Spirit of God as an indication that the new age has begun (Mt 12:28), but He also spoke about a day when people will say, “Lord, Lord,” only to be told that He never knew them (Mt 7:22)!

Congregation, the Scriptures contain encouragement for the feeblest Christian, but the Scriptures are also full of warnings to those who think they stand, to beware, lest they might fall! A credible profession of faith must be accepted as genuine, but ultimately it is only the Lord who knows those who are His.

Now congregation, some commentators have great difficulty with these verses, and to avoid the difficulty they suggest that the first phrase in verse 6, “have fallen away” is a conditional participle, and therefore only refers to a ‘pretend’ man or ‘straw’ man. Others suggest that this sin cannot be committed today since we don’t have temples and sacrifices as they did in the Old Testament. Neither argument will suffice.

The biblical writers don’t put up straw men, nor does the writer of this epistle. The warning of this passage was a real warning against a real danger, a danger that is still present so long as “an evil heart of unbelief” can result in “deserting the living God”, as Hebrews 3:12 reminds us. This is also in keeping with the rest of the epistle’s warnings.

Several times the author encouragers his readers: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (cf 3:8; 3:15; 4:7). In other words, respond in obedience and follow! Don’t put it on hold. Don’t just say, “that was nice, but it’s not for me.” Today, the Lord God is calling you – don’t harden your hearts!

So, let me just repeat again, just in case you missed it, these verses refer to people who have said they are Christians, but in fact have never committed themselves wholly to following their Saviour. They have made a false profession and therefore are still in their sins. If they continue fence sitting, they will be in danger of losing salvation, in the sense of the lost opportunity ever to receive it.

Once people see and hear the truth of God’s saving gospel message, they have only two choices. They can either go on to full knowledge of God through faith in Christ, or turn away from Him and become lost forever. And as much as that pains us, we must never diminish the frightening reality of that danger.

Often, a vaccination immunises by giving the recipient a very mild case of the disease. There are people who are exposed to the gospel who can get just enough of it to immunise them against the real thing. The longer they continue to resist it, whether graciously or violently, the more they become immune to it. Similarly, the spiritual system becomes more and more unresponsive and insensitive, as people continue to make the conscious decision to resist the call to come to the Saviour.

Our author in verses 7-8 uses a vivid illustration about the ground to illustrate what he has been saying. All who hear the gospel are like the earth. Just like the rain, the gospel falls on its hearers. After the gospel seed is planted, there is nourishment and growth. Some of it is good and productive, yet some of it is false, bogus and unproductive.

Now, brothers and sisters, have you heard the warning about unbelievers, fence sitters? If you are a fence sitter, get down and embrace Jesus Christ as your Saviour! Remember what He has done at Calvary. Remember, that He willingly went to the cross to give His life as a ransom for many. That life saving act of salvation will never be repeated. This is the only offer of salvation for sinners.

So what are you waiting for? Another Saviour? Perhaps one that will allow some good works to help you along to eternal life? Forget it! It won’t happen. Do you think you will be received in heaven because you are born on the right side of the fence? Forget it. Each person has to get off the fence, fall on their knees and embrace the One and only Saviour whom our Father in heaven has provided.

“Nothing in my hands I bring,

simply to your cross I cling” (BoW 467 vs 3).

To not do so and continue sitting on the fence has terrible eternal consequences.

Now I don’t want to finish on a downer! I am confident of better things in your case as the author was of his readers. Those who truly love the Lord above all else, trusting only in Him, are eternally saved. Just as the author has seen the fruit of the people in their daily lives and in their charity, as we read in chapter 10:32 ff, surely we can and must be able to see it in ours. I, too, have seen the fruits of salvation in many of you, and I have no doubt that you are genuine heirs of salvation. I have seen the fruit of righteousness as you serve and care for one another, and as we do that for one another, we do them unto our Lord.

Please, continue doing so with the same diligence to the very end. Don’t become sluggish. Rather, follow the example of those who have gone before, those who are now entering the ultimate reward which God promised them long ago, because they believed God’s Word and persevered. Look at Abraham, he believed God and he already has his reward.

Finally, we all have loved ones who are sitting on the fence. Is there hope for them? Yes there is! However, their only hope is to reject what they are holding on to and receive Christ without further delay, lest they become so hard, often without knowing it, that their opportunity is forever lost.

And we all have seen and experienced and know of people who have repented and turned to the Saviour when, humanly speaking, their cause seemed to be lost! So we keep praying to our loving God who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, that He may cause them to respond to His final Word, Jesus Christ. As Peter says, “He doesn’t want any to perish!”

Amen.