Skip to content The Danger of Spiritual Lethargy May 15 · 54 min ...more
May 15, 2025 · 54 min · The Greatest
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
139K followers
In this video 0:00 The Call to Spiritual Maturity
The Call to Spiritual Maturity 0:00 Father in heaven, we give you all the praise for all you're doing in and through our church. Father, you love your church. And Lord, we praise you. We give you all the credit. We give you all glory, all honor, and all0:10 praise for who you are and for all you're gonna do. And Lord, this morning, I pray you'd be helpful to me and helpful to us as we listen to your word. Lord, help me to be faithful and accurate in the way that I proclaim0:20 your word and would allow your holy spirit to magnify the resurrected Christ. God, do a work in each 1 of our hearts that we would respond to you by faith in the way in which you show us0:32 today for your great name. So now for all those who are gathered here who desire to hear the word of the Lord, expect God to speak directly to you and will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree0:43 with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. Sometimes when things are physically wrong with us, we go to the doctor to get a diagnosis. And sometimes when that0:55 diagnosis comes back, we don't like the diagnosis that they give us and sometimes we go get a second opinion. But even when we get a second opinion, if that diagnosis is right, it's still right with the second opinion1:04 that we get. And sometimes these diagnosis are challenging to us. We don't like what they have to say. Sometimes they trouble us. Sometimes they hurt us at our core. 1 of1:16 the diagnosis that's 1 of the most difficult is when a mother has a baby in utero and you get the diagnosis, hey, things aren't developing well. The the brain of this child is not developing the way a normal
1:28 brain develops or the the kidney function is not developing the way a normal kidney functions or the arms and the legs here, they're they're not developing the right way. And we begin to ask questions. Well, what does
1:39 that mean? Means your child's gonna be different. Means they're not gonna be able to think the same way as normal kids, or they're not gonna be able to walk the same way as normal kids. And we weep and we cry because we
1:48 say that's that's not right. They should be able to progress and move on. A bigger tragedy even than that is when that happens spiritually. For those who have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as a
2:00 personal Lord and savior, it is normal that you will grow in the faith. It is normal that you will bear fruit. It is normal that you will grow and have a harvest in your life. It doesn't mean that from the time that
2:11 you're saved and until you meet Jesus and everything's just been steady growth, it's been awesome. All of us have those places in our lives where as we've grown, we've kinda tripped up here and there, and we've had
2:21 people come along and encourage us. But over time, if you study the life of a believer, you'll see that they are growing in their faith. The challenge becomes what about people that have made professions of faith
2:33 that as the weeks, months, and years progress, nothing really changes? Like, how come it is that they are stunted in their spiritual growth? Sometimes the way people answer that question is, well, they're just not 1 of
2:45 those special Christians yet. They need to get their act right, or they need to practice these spiritual disciplines a little bit better, and then they'll get there. But the Bible wants to point out something different.
2:55 The Bible wants to diagnose spiritual lethargy in the life of a congregation and say, hey, reason why that is. And that's what
3:07 we're gonna talk about today. I invite you to open up your bibles to Hebrews chapter 5. We're gonna begin in verse 11 today and go through chapter 6 and verse 8, because all of the scripture is connected. And as we're
3:18 turning there, just let me give you the context because it's gonna be super important to our discussion today. The context of this entire book of Hebrews is that Jesus is the greatest of all time, that he is superior to
3:27 anyone. He is a superior prophet. He is a superior king. He is superior to angels. He's superior to Moses. Last time we were in this book, we talked about how he's the superior high priest, that
3:39 there's no 1 like him. And because he's superior, we can come to him and find mercy and grace in our time of need. And as we begin to talk about how Jesus is from a different priestly order, the priestly order of
3:50 Melchizedek, which we'll get to in chapter 7, the writer pauses because he wants to diagnose the spiritual lethargy of some within that body of people. And here's what he begins to say. He
4:02 says, concerning him, we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need to again have again someone to teach you the
4:14 elementary principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness for he is an infant,
4:25 but solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
4:40 Repentance from dead works and a faith towards God of instruction about washings and laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For in the case of
4:51 those who have once been enlightened and have tasted 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
5:02 is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucified themselves the son of God and put him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it and brings forth
5:14 vegetation useful to those whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God. But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed and it
5:25 ends up being burned. And here this author of Hebrews, who is a Hebrew, who is writing to Hebrews is giving us the the danger signs of spiritual lethargy and 4 ways to
5:37 diagnose spiritual lethargy in your own heart. I'll tell you from the outset that this passage, especially when we get to Hebrews 6 4, may be the most controversial passage in the entire,
5:50 Bible for sure in the New Testament. There are many different people who are godly men and women who interpret this in certain ways and it's worthy of a study. I'm doing my best to present to you the
6:02 word of God the way that I understand it in context and I hope that it makes sense this morning. But as I've told you from the time I started this church, I care way more about what the word says, not my what not what my
6:11 interpretation of the word is. Amen? So feel free to study this for yourself and come to your own conclusions. But no matter how you understand this passage, we're gonna see how spiritual lethargy creeps into a community
6:23 of people and the dangers that that brings. And notice what he says. The first way to diagnose spiritual lethargy is this, that spiritual lethargy suppresses spiritual
6:35 appetites and the ability to discern both good and evil. Spiritual lethargy will suppress a spiritual appetite and the ability to discern good and evil. Notice what he says. He says
6:46 concerning him, talking about how Jesus is of the high priesthood of Melchizedek. He's like, I don't wanna tell you about Melchizedek, and I'll get to that. But he says, we have much to say, and it's hard to explain
6:57 since you have become dull of hearing. Dull of hearing literally means complacent. It means you hear the words, but you're not applying them to your life. Remember when Jesus would tell a story or a parable?
7:09 We would see him say these words at the end. He who has ears, let him hear. He wasn't talking about physical ears. He was saying, are you listening to the spiritual truths that I'm
7:21 presenting? Are you willing to apply the things that I'm telling you about? He wasn't just saying, did you hear what I said? He was saying, are you willing to apply the spiritual truths that you're hearing? And he was
7:32 telling this congregation of people, these Jews who were at the point of following Christ and leaving behind their Jewish religious system, hey, I want you to I wanna tell you something. There's a lot I could tell you,
7:44 but I can't go on. Because for some of you here, you're complacent, you're apathetic, you're not growing. It would be for those who come to Brave Church, for instance, who you come week after week,
7:55 month after month, maybe even year after year, but you find that while you enjoy the sermons and you enjoy worship, not much changes in your personal life on Monday through Saturday. You're pretty much the same person
8:06 you've always been. There's not a hunger for Jesus. There's not a hunger for the word. There's not a desire for prayer. There's not a desire for worship. There's not a desire for fellowship with other believers like you
8:18 see in others. And you begin to explain that away by saying, well, I'm just not 1 of quote unquote those those Christians. I'm not that I'm not a serious Christian. Now what the Bible would point out is perhaps you're
8:30 not a Christian. That's what he's saying. When your spiritual appetite is suppressed and your ability to discern good and evil, it's a sign that perhaps you're not saved. Notice what he says.
8:42 Verse 12, for though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you've come to need milk and not solid
8:53 food. He says, by this time, you ought to be teachers yourselves. In other words, by this time, you've heard enough information about God's word. You've heard it from the apostles. You've seen them do different things.
9:04 And by this time, you ought to be able to live out what we're talking about. That's what he's saying. Remember when Jesus gave the great commission? Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 to 20. He said, all authority in heaven
9:15 and earth has been given to me. Therefore, what? Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit, and what? Teaching them to obey
9:27 everything I've commanded you, and lo, I'll be with you always to the end of the age. So while not everybody in the body of Christ has the gift of teaching, everybody in the body of Christ teaches. That's what we do.
9:39 So it means if you're a husband and you still may not have the gift of teaching, but if you're a husband and you're walking after the Lord, you should be able to train guys under you how to be a
9:50 godly husband. If you're a wife and you don't have the gift of teaching, you should still be able to teach what it means to be a godly wife. If you're a single, you may not have the gift of teaching, but you should be
10:01 able to teach what it looks like to walk with the lord in integrity as a single. If you're a Christian, you should be able to talk to people about, here's what it looks like to steward resources, and here's what it means
10:11 to give to the lord generously to tithe. Here's here's what that looks like. I don't have the gift of teaching, but I know the lord, and I know what he expects. And he's telling this group of people, hey, by this time,
10:20 you should be teaching people the things that you're already applying to your life, but you wanna go back to the elementary things. Like, we're still playing ABCs and count to 10. Like, you wanna go back to there. You
10:30 you need somebody to teach you the elementary principles again. And while it's good to be refreshed in the foundations of the faith, that's not what he's talking about here. He's talking about a group of people who have
10:41 been spiritually stunted in their growth and are not growing and are comfortable with not growing. Do you know there's some people within a community of believers, they're comfortable saying, I don't care if I ever grow
10:51 or not. What difference does it make? Don't care. That's who he's addressing here. And notice what he says. He says, you come to need milk and not solid food. Why is that a big deal? He says, for
11:02 everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness because he is an infant, but solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to
11:14 discern good and evil. Is there anything wrong with drinking milk? Some of you are lactose intolerant. You can say yes, but that's not the point of the passage. The point of the passage
11:26 is this, you know, when a child comes out and is nursing or better yet is taking a bottle. I remember feeding all 3 of my kids with a bottle when they were young. I remember feeding my son with a bottle. And when you
11:35 have a little infant in your arms and you're holding them, there's something special about that time. You're you're looking at this child and you're saying, wow. This child is so dependent and God gave this child to me,
11:45 gave this child to us. This is our child, and there's something special about that when they're infants. But if that son grows up and he has to part his beard to put the bottle in his mouth, it's not
11:57 so cool anymore. That's what he's talking about here. Paul said, when I was a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, I spoke like a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish ways. There's
12:08 nothing wrong with starting out as an infant in the faith. We all start out as babes in Christ. There's nothing wrong with that. That's a good thing. But if you've been a Christian for weeks, months, even years, and
12:18 nothing ever changes, and you're still going back to the elementary principles of the gospel and saying, yeah, I just I just like the ABCs. That's all I like to talk about. There's a problem. Because I can tell you as a
12:30 grown man, I like milk, but I prefer a steakhouse. Right? And that's what he's talking about here. And he's saying the reason that you don't you can't eat steak is the same reason an infant
12:42 can't eat steak because they're not trained in it. And eating meat is the word of righteousness. It's learning what that is. So not only is your appetite suppressed, but you don't know how to discern both good and evil.
12:53 Notice what he says. He says, but solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. In other words, when you hear the word of God, he wants you to do what?
13:05 Put it into practice. Some of you have told me, hey, Jeff. You have that same rope prayer you pray before every sermon. I'm like, yeah. Because I wanna know that you wanna hear God's word, believe what he
13:17 says, and you will, by faith, put into practice what he shows you. Because I know you can hear the word all you want, but if you don't practice it, you're no better. Right? The reason professional sports teams and
13:28 college sports team, the reason they practice is because they wanna get better. They wanna get better at what they do. They don't just say, well, we'll show up on the weekend. They practice. Spiritually, we have to
13:39 practice. When you hear the word, are you putting it into practice? That's what he's asking. And when you put the word into practice, you begin to do what? You begin to discern both good and evil.
13:51 You begin to get a sense of, I know the difference in this world between what's right and wrong, and I see it with my own 2 eyes, and I discern it with my spirit. 1 of the ways you know that you're growing in the faith
14:02 is you begin to discern good and evil. Right? The reason some people aren't able to do that is simply because they're not saved. In first Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14, he says
14:14 this, but a natural man, that's speaking of an unsaved person, does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually
14:26 appraised. It means this, that a non Christian can hear the same words that you as a Christian are hearing this morning, but they don't get it. You know, they they kinda understand. Maybe after a sermon, they would come
14:37 up and say, pastor, that was a good speech. I like to talk. I like the stories. It made sense. But somebody who's a believer is hearing the spiritual truths. They're seeing the Lord convict their heart. They're
14:49 desiring to change and become conformed to the image of Jesus. And as you're conformed to the image of Jesus by putting your faith into practice, the more you practice your faith, the
15:01 more you'll be able to discern good and evil. You'll see it in our culture. Did you know our culture is filled with good and evil? I mean, it is. And it's interesting in our culture. I think Isaiah 5 talks about our
15:12 culture today as it has in many generations. Isaiah 5 20 says this, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, Who substitute darkness for light and light for
15:24 darkness. Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who call good evil and who call evil good. 1 of the jobs as a man of God to proclaim the word of God is to be
15:36 able to discern between what is good and evil. And when you see evil, you call it evil. Some people in our culture don't know when life begins, so I'll just tell you. It begins at conception.
15:53 Which means that abortion is wrong. It's sinful. It's murder. It's not hard to figure out if you're spiritually discerning. So when there's a bill that's laid on the table so that you can not only abort a baby in utero,
16:04 but 28 days after delivery, that's called evil. And we're not called to stand on the sidelines, we're called to get involved. You can't watch evil go on in the culture and not call it
16:16 that. Or when an administration endorses youth sex change operations by having puberty blockers. When Genesis 1 says there's only 2 genders. And Psalm 1 39 says whatever
16:28 gender you were created, that's what God wants you to be and that's what you will always be. And some people amen? Now the
16:39 spiritually young and the unsaved will say, oh, you're just being political. No. I'm discerning between what's good and what's evil, and I'm calling it that.
16:52 Some will say, hey, you're just being political. You're trying to preach the gospel and save America. No, I'm not. My goal is not to save America. My goal is to preach the gospel and save Americans. And there's a lot of
17:03 Americans that aren't saved, that are in positions of office and authority, that are making evil decisions, and God says, woe to them. And for me to stand here and say, well, that's okay. That's just their job. It's not
17:14 their job. It's God's job. They should repent and trust Christ and do it God's way. Amen? That's what he's talking about here. That's what he's talking about
17:26 here. And if that bothers you to to hear stuff said like that, perhaps you're spiritually immature. That could be. Or perhaps you're just not saved. And you're bothered by the fact because that
17:37 doesn't make sense to you. But the longer that you're in the word, and the more you allow the Lord to penetrate your heart, and the more you put the word of God into practice, it's the word of righteousness. It's the
17:49 hunger for righteousness. It's the hunger for God to have his way, not only in the church, but in the culture that you're passionate about. 1 way to discern and diagnose spiritual lethargy is when
18:01 you live your life and your appetite for the Lord is suppressed. No hunger for God, no hunger for the word, no hunger for prayer, no hunger for anything. And you can't discern between good and
18:13 evil. And can I just tell you this? For those of you that come to Brave church on a regular basis, we're we're a church that will open up the bible and preach it, word by word, line by line, precept upon precept. When
18:24 you get a steady diet of that and then you go somewhere that doesn't do that, you will be fundamentally bothered. Like, it will bother you. If people are tickling your ears and entertaining you and you can tell they
18:36 don't really know Jesus, it'll be like, why did I even come? Because you have a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Tell me what God's saying. Right? And that's what we're talking about here. He's telling us that there
18:47 are some within the community, not everyone, but some within the community that want milk and not spiritual food because they really aren't saved to begin with. They don't have a pallet for the things of God
18:59 because they're not of God. Second way to diagnose spiritual lethargy is this, spiritual lethargy preferences religious practices as opposed to a personal relationship.
19:12 Spiritual lethargy preferences religious practices to a personal relationship. People that aren't saved like to talk about religion. They like to talk about the rhetoric that happens in a church.
19:24 They like to talk about the routines they have. They like to talk about the preaching. They like to talk about the practices. They like to talk about their promises that they're gonna make. They all like to talk about
19:33 outside external things, but what they don't talk about is their personal relationship with the lord Jesus Christ. And when you're not saved, that's all you know how to talk about. You talk about the church you go
19:45 to, whether you like your pastor or not, the worship songs that were sung, whether you like the way the worship songs were sung or not, how the instruments were tuned, how they weren't tuned, what instrument was missing,
19:55 all that kind of stuff. But what you don't talk about is here's what Jesus is doing in my life right now. And I have a relationship with the father through him, and I know him. And notice what he says. He says,
20:06 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 a faith towards God, of instruction about
20:18 washings and laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. He's like, therefore what? Therefore, since Jesus is the greatest of all time, therefore, since he's greater than our Jewish
20:29 traditions and past times, therefore, since he's the greatest, let us leave the elementary teaching about the Christ. What's the elementary teaching about the Christ? The elementary teaching about the Messiah is that the
20:40 Messiah was gonna come. All the old testament scriptures are types and shadows of everything that the Messiah was going to be. They were fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus. He doesn't say forget the
20:52 past. He says, let's leave that stuff because that was a foundation that's being built for what's most important, which is Christ. How would I translate it in modern day? It means this, some of you grew up in the church.
21:04 Some of you're Baptist, some of you're Pentecostal, some of you Lutheran, Catholic, whatever. I'm not saying that's bad. I'm saying in light of who Christ is, let's leave all that behind and pursue Christ with everything
21:15 you have. Let's not be about your denomination. Let's be about Jesus. That's what he's saying. And there's some people within the community that, yeah, we don't wanna leave the Judaism thing. We we wanna be Jewish. We
21:25 wanna we wanna keep our practices. I mean, we're not as excited about Jesus as we are about being Jewish. There's some today that aren't as excited about Jesus as they are about being Catholic or as excited as Jesus as
21:35 they are about being Methodist or as excited about Jesus as they are being Lutheran, or as excited about Jesus as being nondenominational. Our people in our in our, you know, stream, like, we're nondenominational. We're
21:47 not any of that stuff. But what are you? Well, we play contemporary music, and our pastor doesn't wear a robe, and we're really cool. You know? But they don't talk about Jesus. It's Jesus. It's it's leaving
21:59 those things. The the elementary teachings were the old testament oracles of God leading to Jesus. And he says he says, let us press on to maturity. That's completeness. That's per what's maturity?
22:11 Maturity is knowing the Lord. Let let us press on to Jesus Christ being Lord. Let us press on to him being Lord of our life. Let us press on to him having opportunity to take over any area of our life that he wants.
22:22 Let's press onto that. Let's submit to him. When you meet people regardless of their denominational flavor, and they'll tell you this, Jesus Christ is lord of my life, and I repented
22:34 of my sin, and I turned to him, and he's my God. It covers over a lot. Right? That's what it's all about. That's what he's talking about here. It's not about the tradition.
22:47 It's about Jesus. Some of you grew up in a church like I did with a big pipe organ behind, where people would stay after the service to listen to somebody that was a phenomenal organist play that song.
22:59 People in our church would stay there and weep tears. If you come to Brave Church, I have it on pretty good authority. It's probably never gonna happen here. K? But there's nothing wrong with
23:10 that. Right? Perhaps there's a room in heaven for people that like organ music. Right? Perhaps there's a room in heaven. I mean, God loves worship, but it's not about how we worship, it's who we worship.
23:23 That we worship. Right? When you prefer religious practices to a personal relationship, when people ask you about your faith and you start talking about what you do rather than who you serve, that's a sign.
23:37 Notice what else he talks about. He says, repentance, from dead works and towards faith in God. I mean, that's old testament stuff. All throughout the old testament, God was telling, turn from your dead works, turn to
23:47 God, return to me, I'll return to you. That's elementary. That's foundational. And notice this, he's not talking about Christ here. He's talking about God in general. He was saying there was a principle in the old
23:57 testament. We turn from our dead works. We turn to God. We got something greater than that right now. We can turn to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Amen? Or instructions about washings. This is not baptism. This is
24:07 washings. Some of you this is what it means for some of you. Some of you who have said that you're gonna set out to study the Bible in a year and you make it to Leviticus, And then as you're reading Leviticus, like, why
24:18 is all this stuff about washings? That's what he's talking about. There are all sorts of ways to be ceremonial clean. Remember the Pharisees in Jesus' day? They were coming up and asking questions. How come your
24:28 disciples don't wash their hands? And from our standpoint, it's like, who cares? But from them, it was a religious practice. They're not doing the right religious practices like we do. How come they don't do that? He's
24:39 like, let's move on from that. We have the real thing now. We don't need to go back to our traditions that are pointing towards the real thing because the real thing, the Lord Jesus Christ has already arrived. Amen?
24:52 Amen. It's like or the laying on of hands. This laying on of hands is not talking about New Testament laying on of hands, apostolically imparting gifts, doing those kinds of things. This is a laying on of hands like the
25:02 day of atonement, where the high priest praying for the sin of the nation would lay his hands on an animal, goat, and pray the sin of the nation will be taken away, and that 1 would be slaughtered, and he'd lay his hands
25:14 on another 1 that was called the scapegoat that he would release out into the wild. That'd be their sin would be taken away. He's like, let's get beyond that because the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world
25:24 has already come. Let's get beyond our traditions is what he was saying, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. I mean, even the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day knew about the resurrection of
25:35 the dead and eternal judgment. They just didn't know that Christ was the 1 that could do that for them. He's saying, let's get beyond our religious practices and get into a personal relationship with Christ. And notice
25:46 what he says, verse 3, and this we will do if God permits. In other words, it can be 1 of 2 things. 1 is, hey, if God permits, I'll I'll I'll help get you all there. I'll I'll I'll show you.
25:58 Or it could mean if God permits you'll get there. He he's saying that for some of you, you need to go beyond your religious preferences or just your understanding of what God is about and actually
26:10 appropriate the faith into your life. That's what it's all about. See, some people like religion. They they preference religion. You know, some people that come to church even like, well, how do you know that
26:22 Hinduism's wrong? Or how do you know that Islam's wrong? Or how do you know that Jehovah witnesses are wrong? Or how do you know that Mormonism is wrong? Very simply, here's what my answer would be. Because I know Jesus
26:33 Christ is right. Yes. And he's the way, the truth, and the life, and that no 1 comes to the father except through him. And I know him personally, and I have a relationship with the father through him. And no 1 comes to
26:45 the father except through him. So it doesn't matter what else is proclaimed that even if another gospel is proclaimed from an angel, I will not believe it because Jesus Christ is lord. Amen? Amen. That's what he's
26:57 talking about here. And for many of us, we like religious practices. It's easier for us to think about, well, what do I need to do? It's like the rich young ruler that comes to Jesus. What do I need to do to get saved?
27:07 Just tell me the religion I need. I I need the right religion. You just tell me those things, then I'll kinda do those things, and I'll get saved. And Jesus was saying, I'm the way. The only way you can be saved is to
27:17 give up your life and to give your whole life to me. And then he went away sad, because he's like, I prefer religion to a relationship with Jesus. And there's some, apparently, within the community of believers that
27:29 prefer religion to a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's he's pushing on that. He's pushing on that. He's like, do you understand? Do you understand why you're not growing spiritually? Do you
27:39 understand why you're not hungry for God? Do you understand why you can't discern good from evil? Do you understand why you're bothered when people are worshiping? Do you understand why it threatens you when you watch
27:48 people go after God wholeheartedly? Here's why. Because you're really not saved, and I'm concerned about your condition. That's what he's saying. And then he goes on in verses 4 through 6, which
28:00 is the most controversial part of the entire new testament. And he tells us this, that regardless of how you interpret this, that spiritual lethargy results in grave consequences. Spiritual lethargy
28:12 results in grave consequences. Now notice what he says. 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
28:22 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 crucified themselves the son of God and put him to open shame.
28:35 Everybody understand? I think there's been more Christians troubled by this verse than any other verse in the bible, and you don't need to. Now there's great men and women in the history of the church who have
28:47 gone before me. John Wesley would be 1 of them. I've studied much of what he preached and taught, loved John Wesley, but John Wesley taught this, that that's talking about believers who can lose their salvation. So if
28:57 you're a believer and you've tasted all these things and done all these things and you turn away from the faith, it's impossible for you to ever come back. So if you're gonna teach that, you also need to teach that any
29:08 believer that's turned their back on Christ, they can never come back. I find that hard to believe because it doesn't square with the rest of the teaching of the Bible. It just doesn't. So let me give you some comfort
29:17 before we get into this text. Okay? God makes clear that salvation is not something that you earn, so it's not something that you can lose. Salvation is a gift, for it is by grace you've been saved through faith. It's
29:28 not your own doing, it's a gift of God so no 1 can boast. And when God gives you a gift, he doesn't take the gift back. If you've repented and placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation is yours now and
29:39 forever. You can't lose what God gave you. Let me give you some bible verses to back that up so you don't think it's just my theology. I'm I'm being biblical here. In John chapter 10 verses 27 to
29:51 29, here's what Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give eternal life to them and they will never perish, and no 1 will snatch them out of my
30:02 hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no 1 is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and my father are 1. What is he saying? If you're saved, there's a double grip on you.
30:16 The father and the son are holding you in their hand and nobody, but nobody, not even the devil, not even yourself, not even your own stupid decisions can take away your salvation. You need to know that. Here's just a
30:27 couple other verses, they're they're all over the new testament. Philippians 1 6 says that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. What got started, he gonna
30:39 finish. What about in Romans chapter 8 verse 31, is God if God is for us, who is against us? Verse 35 says, who will separate us from the love of Christ?
30:52 In verses 38 and 39, he says, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
31:03 created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate you from God's love. If you've trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you belong to
31:15 Christ. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. He's not going anywhere. Let me give you 1 more. Ephesians 1 13 and 14 says, in him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your
31:27 salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the holy spirit of promise who is a is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of his glory.
31:39 So not only the father and son hold you, but the holy spirit has been given to you as a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance in the saints. Christian, if you've turned from your sin and Jesus Christ is your
31:51 lord, he's always going to be your lord. You are not ever in peril of losing what God gave you in salvation. Is that good news? So let's talk
32:03 in context, because context is everything in the bible. That's why, you know, sometimes people go through the bible and they they pick a verse here and they pick a verse there and they pick a verse here and they pick a
32:10 verse there. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That means somebody I can be a president. I can be the quarterback of the Broncos. I can be whatever I want through Christ who strengthens me. Well,
32:17 that's not what that means. In context, I can be content no matter what I go through. That's true. I mean, if we don't look at context, we can come up with a very erroneous interpretation. I mean, imagine taking these 3
32:29 verses out of context. And Judas went out and hung himself. Friends, do not be merely hearers of the word, but doers of the word. And Jesus said, what you do, do
32:40 quickly. I mean, that's butchering the bible. That's pulling different scriptures out, and every cult in the world does that. We have to take it
32:52 as a whole. So what is the context here? The context here are Jewish people, some of which who have been converted, some in the community aren't, and he's speaking to the ones in the community that aren't. He's saying,
33:03 I'm I'm scared about you. I'm scared about some of you that aren't maturing, and the reason I'm scared about some of you that aren't maturing is because you're really not saved, and I wanna make sure that you're saved.
33:12 You've come all the way to the point of repentance, but you're not all the way there yet. So let's read what he says. Let's let the text speak for itself, see if this makes sense. But he says, but each 1
33:25 I'm sorry. He says this, for in the case of those who have once been enlightened what does it mean to be enlightened? Enlightened means you have a mental awareness. You become aware of something going on, but you haven't
33:36 necessarily done anything with it. If I told you today that there's a sale at park meadows and everything and every store is 75 percent off, I would be enlightening you. But if you don't go to
33:48 park meadows, you don't get to experience what I'm enlightening you about. By the way, if you go to park meadows, that's not true. It's not gonna happen. So but enlightening, they've been they've been enlightening
33:59 they've been enlighted to the truth. They've been made aware of the information. They've been made aware that Jesus is Lord. They've heard the apostles preach and teach. They know what Jesus said. They know who he is,
34:10 but they haven't done anything with it. What else have they done? They've they've tasted of the heavenly gift. What's the heavenly gift? It's Christ for our salvation. They've they've tasted of it. Tasted does not mean
34:20 fully embraced and eaten. Jesus tasted death for everybody. Hebrews 2 9 told us, he tasted death for everyone. Is he still dead? He he tasted death. He completely died, but
34:32 he's not dead anymore. Death apart from Christ is forever. Jesus had a taster. He tasted it, but he didn't endure it for all time. I'll give you a a
34:44 passage of scripture that will will back this. In Matthew chapter 27 and verse 34, when Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, it says, and they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall. And after
34:56 tasting it, same word, he was unwilling to drink. Tasting does not mean swallowed. Tasting does not mean fully embraced. It means they know. They've been enlightened that Jesus is
35:08 Lord. They've seen that Jesus is Lord. They've even had a little taste of the gospel. They've even had some experience in the community that the gospel's real, but they haven't done anything with it. What does it mean
35:19 they've been made partakers of the Holy Spirit? It means this, they meant they've experienced the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in community. They they've experienced him. The Holy Spirit brings conviction about
35:29 sin and judgment and righteousness. The the Holy Spirit prompts you in a service. When when you're here today at Brave, you can experience the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit without being saved. Some of you may
35:40 say, well, I kinda like the preaching, or that that song made me cry, or, man, when they said that today, that really resonated with my heart. They've experienced the Holy Spirit. Some at first Tuesday. Last first
35:49 Tuesday we had, I asked people, hey. Raise your hands if you've been physically healed since being here at Brave. About a third of the hands went up. And some people might say, wow. That's great. I I've I've seen God
36:00 heal people, watched them do great things, been partakers with the Holy Spirit. Doesn't mean they're indwelled with the Holy Spirit. Doesn't mean they're filled with the holy spirit, but they've experienced the holy
36:10 spirit. What else have they done? They've tasted of the good word. The good word is the spoken word. They tasted of it. They like preaching. They like good preaching. Man, that
36:22 pastor, he told a good story. I like that. I like good preaching. Remember Herod? He even liked hearing John the Baptist preach. Didn't always like what John the Baptist had to say. He liked listening to him. I mean,
36:32 there's some people that just like getting their ears tickled for the sake of getting them tickled. There's some people like to be in church because it's a good moral thing to do, and I kinda like what the pastor has to
36:40 say. But that doesn't mean that because you hear the word and experience the spirit and know that Jesus is the way that you have made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. That's what he's saying. And notice what else he
36:52 goes on to say. He goes, they've tasted the good word and the powers of the age to come. I mean, we study the life of Jesus, we see not only saves, but he heals, he delivers. These people have seen all that. They've seen
37:03 the apostles do all that. They've watched people be delivered from demons. They've watched people get healed. They watch, you know, the apostles raise people from the dead. They've experienced all this. But you know what
37:14 they haven't done? They haven't allowed Jesus Christ to be Lord. You know why? Because when you're spiritually lethargic, here's what you say. Yeah. I know that's good, but I got my life to live. I'm not giving my whole
37:25 heart to Jesus. Maybe someday I'll give my whole heart to Jesus. I'm not ready for that kind of commitment yet. Oh, I'd like him to be my savior. I just don't want him to be my lord. There there's nowhere in the bibleShow more
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