Powerful People Persevere
Our theme this year is Powerful People and we are considering how God works in and through ordinary people in a powerful way.
All of us have the potential to be empowered by God, and the way in we which we live our everyday lives, as disciples of Jesus, will affect the ways in which we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us.
This morning I want us to consider the truth that Powerful People Persevere.
The focus of the sermon is Hebrews 6:1-20, but before I read it to you I want to put the passage in context.
The letter to the Hebrews was written to a group of believers who were enduring persecution.
They thought if instead of following Jesus they turned back to Judaism, then the persecution they had to endure would end.
The writer of Hebrews wrote to them not to condemn them, but to warn them of the consequences of turning away from Christ.
To warn them about turning away from the only one who could keep them from everlasting destruction.
The words of this message are as true in 2020 as when they were first written. Salvation is in Christ alone, there is no other way of salvation.
Listen to Hebrews 6:1-12,
So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing Him to the cross once again and holding Him up to public shame. When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.
There are three points I want us to consider this morning:
DANGER - DILIGENCE - DECLARATION
What is the DANGER?
If Christ is not at the centre of our everyday lives then we are in danger.
We will never be Powerful People if we reject Christ.
We will never be Powerful People if we are not Spiritually Mature.
We will never be Powerful People if our lives today are no different from before we were saved.
Following Jesus requires us to persevere, to move forward, to make an effort to live according to the will and purpose of God.
The writer speaks of the danger faced by those who have been enlightened, those who, spiritually speaking, have been brought from darkness into God’s marvellous light, and then choose to return to living in the darkness of sin.
People who have experienced the free gift of salvation and the joy of knowing in repentance God has forgiven their sins and then grown cold and wandered back into the embrace of the things of the world.
People who have experienced the gift and power of the Holy Spirit operating in their lives who choose to re-embrace sinful thoughts, deeds and actions.
People who have heard the good news of the Gospel and the truth of the Bible and then reject or water-down God’s word to fit their own self-made theology.
God will never empower a person who denies Christ as the Lord of their lives, by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing Him to the cross once again and holding Him up to public shame.
Christ died once for all who would believe and trust in Him.
In His death on the cross, He fully dealt with the penalty of our sins.
He paid the price for our sins past, present and future.
When we willingly choose to sin, the writer says it is as if we crucify Christ again.
Sin is anything we do that is against the will or commandments of God.
Sin is dangerous, sin is horrible, sin is what separated us from God.
Because of what Jesus has already done, we have been forgiven, but that does not mean we are free to sin, we are not forgiven to carry on living however we want.
We do not have a licence to sin.
Sin is an offence to God, and when we who call ourselves Christians choose to disobey God and His Word, we bring disgrace to the name of Jesus.
When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless.
What kind of ground would you compare your life to?
Is it good ground, good soil, that you are allowing the Lord to cultivate?
Or is your life full of thorns and thistles and dangers that you have planted yourself?
Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 13:23, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
2nd Point, DILIGENCE
Look at Hebrews 6:9-12 again, Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.
The writer to the Hebrews says: We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation.
Are you diligent about your salvation?
By Gods grace, do you intend to be diligent until God calls you home?
God will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers, as you still do.
We are meant to put God first, we are supposed to love Jesus with all our heart.
A reluctance to serve others shows a lack of devotion to Jesus.
Are you diligent in your love and care of others?
Or are you diligent in having a lack of love and care for others?
Sadly, in the modern church, there are too many people who just don’t care enough.
As disciples of Jesus, we are supposed to joyfully serve Him by loving and caring for other people.
Sacrificial service is not convenient. It may require that we change plans, give up comforts, or make financial sacrifices.
We are meant to minister the love of God to others in our family, in our workplace, in our community, and in our church.
Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true.
Friends, When we choose to be diligent in our daily walk with our Lord, He will empower us to love Him and serve Him, and to love and serve others.
Powerful People persevere in working hard for God.
Powerful People persevere in love and care for others.
Why? Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent.
Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.
Are you imitating those who have received the promise of salvation and eternal life in Christ or have you chosen someone else as your role model?
Who is the example you have chosen to follow?
Someone with worldly wisdom?
Someone who does not believe in God?
Someone who is leading a sinful life & heading to Hell?
Someone who does not know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour?
The example you should choose to diligently follow is Jesus, no other man, woman, child or philosophy is worthy of your time or effort.
Powerful people are diligent in pursuing their salvation. Be diligent in your prayer and Bible reading.
Powerful people are diligent in their daily walk with God. Turn off the TV and spend more time with God.
Final point DECLARATION Listen to Hebrews 6:13-20,
For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in His own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound Himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never change His mind. So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
God made a declaration to Abraham, the promise of a son. The promise from God was sure and certain.
God kept His promise to Abraham, in fact, God promised Abraham would have more descendants than the stars he could count in the sky.
Abraham waited patiently, he was 75 when he was promised a son when he set out from Haran.
25 years later when Abraham was 100 years old Isaac was born.
God marked His promise with an oath, His nature is unchanging, His nature is truth.
Numbers 23:19-20 reminds us, God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!
In the declarations of God, we have a powerful hope.
Powerful people have hope in God, He is the anchor that will keep us safe through all the storms of life.
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.
Is that your declaration this morning?
Is your hope firm and secure in Jesus?
As we come to our time of communion,
I will close with this:
In Danger our hope has a name, His name is Jesus.
In our Diligence, we can love Him and serve Him.
In our Declaration we can proclaim:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
When darkness hides His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
The communion table reminds us of His oath, His covenant, His blood.
Our certain hope of sins forgiven and eternal life is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
His body was broken for us.
His blood shed for us.
He has conquered sin.
He has conquered death.
He has set us free.
He has saved us.
