March 17, 2025 • 44 mins
Assistant Pastor Ryan Gawrych continues our Hebrews series, preaching from Hebrews 5:11-6:20. Pastor Ryan challenges listeners to confront barriers that hinder spiritual maturity, identifying complacency, empty religious practices, isolation, self-reliance, and skepticism as significant obstacles. He encourages the congregation to move beyond spiritual infancy and complacency by actively engaging in their faith through practice and community involvement.
The sermon underscores that spiritual maturity comes from active discipleship, not passive familiarity with religious rituals. Pastor Ryan emphasizes that true faith involves fully placing one's hope in Jesus, overcoming barriers that keep believers from fully trusting Him. Jesus is presented as the steadfast anchor for the soul, who overcomes every spiritual barrier—complacency, religion, isolation, self-reliance, and skepticism—ultimately securing believers' eternal hope through His unchangeable promise and priesthood.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Our scripture comes from Hebrews 5, 11 through
chapter 6, 20.
About this we have much to say,and it is hard to explain since
you have become dull of hearing.
For, though, by this time youought to be teachers.
You need someone to teach youagain the basic principles of
(00:43):
the oracles of God.
You need milk, not solid food,for everyone who lives on.
Milk is unskilled in the wordof righteousness, since he is a
child, but solid food is for themature, for those who have
their powers of discernment,trained by constant practice to
(01:04):
distinguish good from evil.
Therefore, let us leave theelementary doctrine of Christ
and go on to maturity, notlaying again a foundation of
repentance from dead works andof faith towards God and of
instruction about washings, thelaying on of hands, the
(01:25):
resurrection of the dead andeternal judgment.
And this we will do if Godpermits, for it is impossible,
in the case of those who haveonce been enlightened, who have
tasted the heavenly gift andhave shared in the Holy Spirit
and have tasted the goodness ofthe word of God and the powers
(01:47):
of the age to come and then havefallen away, to restore them
again to repentance, since theyare crucifying once again the
Son of God to their own harm andholding him up to content, for
land that has drunk the rainthat often falls on it and
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produces a crop useful to thosewhose sake it is cultivated,
receives a blessing from God,but if it bears thorns and
thistles, it is worthless andnear to being cursed, and its
end is to be burned.
Though we speak in this way,yet, in your case, beloved, we
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feel sure of better things,things that belong to salvation,
for God is not unjust so as tooverlook your work and the love
that you have shown for his namein serving the saints, as you
still do, and we desire each oneof you to show the same
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earnestness, to have the fullassurance of hope until the end,
so that you may not be sluggishbut imitators of those who,
through faith and patience,inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise toAbraham, since he had no one
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greater by whom to swear, heswore by himself, saying Surely
I will bless you and multiplyyou.
And thus Abraham, havingpatiently waited, obtained the
promise, for people swear bysomething greater than
themselves, and in all theirdisputes, an oath is final for
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confirmation.
So, when God desired to showmore convincingly to the heirs
of the promise, the unchangeablecharacter of his purpose.
He guaranteed it with an oath sothat by two unchangeable things
, in which it is impossible forGod to lie, we who have fled for
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refuge might have strongencouragement to hold fast to
the hope set before us.
We have this as a sure andsteadfast anchor of the soul, a
hope that enters into the innerplace, behind the curtain, where
Jesus has gone as a forerunneron our behalf, having become a
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high priest forever after theorder of Melchizedek.
For when God made a promise toAbraham, since he had no one
greater by whom to swear, heswore by himself, saying surely
I will bless you and multiplyyou.
And thus Abraham, havingpatiently waited, obtained a
purpose, for people swear bysomething greater than
themselves, and in all theirdisputes an oath is final for
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confirmation.
So when God desired to showmore convincingly to the heirs
of the promise the unchangeablecharacter of his purpose, he
guaranteed it with an oath, sothat, by two unchangeable things
in which it is impossible forGod to lie, we who have fled for
refuge might have strongencouragement to hold fast to
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the hope set before us.
We have this, a sure andsteadfast anchor to the soul, a
hope that enters into the innerplace behind the curtain, enters
into the inner place behind thecurtain, where Jesus has gone
as a forerunner on our behalf,having become a high priest
forever after the order ofMelchizedek.
This is God's word.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Thank you, god.
Thank you, josh, for readingthat.
That text was longer than Iremember it being when I was
working on this sermon.
Just slide after slide, alsonewly minted, and I get the
passage on whether or not youcan lose your salvation.
I don't know what's going onthere.
Just a heads up.
This morning my family we'redealing with a cold so I may
cough more than usual, so I'mgoing to pull a Pastor Ben here
(06:02):
and I don't have a Starbucks cup.
I have a Toy Story mug.
It's my six-year-old daughter's.
Anyway, speaking of childishthings, I want to take you guys
back 21 years ago, to the summerof eighth grade.
For me transitioning into highschool.
I can't even believe.
If I was 13, 21 years ago.
That seems strange.
(06:25):
That summer, me and my childhoodbest friends we all lived near
a cul-de-sac together.
We had this brilliant andquestionable idea to build a
three-story tree house, and thistree house was gonna be in the
backyard of my friend's house.
His parents had trees backthere, so they would never know
it was covered, so they couldn'tsee this of my friend's house.
His parents had trees backthere, so they would never know
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it was covered, so they couldn'tsee this three-story tree house
and it was also ethicallyquestionable because we were
sourcing our resources from aneighboring subdivision and
there were new houses beingbuilt.
And so we decided to get on ourbikes and take the biggest
piece of plywood we could findand, around four or five o'clock
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in the evening, go load up thatplywood with two by fours and
all the extra nails and screwswe could find, and that's what
became our tree house.
Well, by the time the treehouse was finished three stories
we nailed two by fours all theway up this tree.
So we get to the third.
I'm just now realizing myparents are here.
I don't even know if theyremember this happened.
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We get to the third floor.
It's finished, we can relax.
This is where we're going to doour homework after school.
And one of our friends said youknow, we really need a zip line
to get down from this.
We can't come back down the waywe came up.
We've got to get a zip line.
So one of our friends somehowgot his parents to get a canned
box of bungee cords from HomeDepot which those are not the
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bungee cords you want for a zipline and a two-inch pulley that
we put some wooden dowels in andI can still remember one of our
friends, little Alan Ford,looking back at us and he looked
up and he said do you think itwill hold?
And to which we all saidabsolutely.
And he plummeted straight downthree stories and we didn't see
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him for a week after that.
But I tell you this story frommy childhood because we all have
that question at some point inour lives.
Will this hold?
Can I trust this?
And as we age that questionbecomes more important.
It may no longer be tree houses, but it's relationships and
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jobs and investments, spiritualand material investments.
So can I trust this?
Can I really put the fullweight of my hope into this?
Can I put all of who I am intothis?
And as we come to our text thismorning, I believe that what we
find is that that's really thequestion that the Hebrews are
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wrestling with.
Can I put the full weight of myhope on Jesus?
Some of them were tempted toremain in the safe zone of
familiar religious practices andold ways of thinking, but in
essence they weren't sure ifJesus had the load-bearing
capacity to sustain their faith,and that question never really
gets old.
You know there's a vast expanseof time between us and the
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Hebrews, but we share the commonexperience of what it means to
be human.
We can hope a little bit harderin visible things and invisible
things.
We know what it's like tomitigate risk, to hesitate, to
hold back, to keep part of ourhope anchored elsewhere, just in
case Jesus doesn't turn out tobe who he says he is.
And so it wouldn't besurprising if many of us came
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here even this morning with thatvery question on our minds and
hearts.
Can I put the full weight of myhope on you, jesus?
See, for the Hebrews theinvisible reality of Christ
didn't feel as certain as thevisible rituals of the old
covenant, or at least that'swhat they were tempted with.
But we're not so far off fromthem as we would like to think.
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For us, maybe, it shows up inthe realm of career and success.
You believe in Jesus.
But deep down, your real senseof security comes from knowing
your career is stable and yourresume is growing.
Maybe it's in the realm ofwealth and lifestyle.
You trust in Jesus.
But your financial cushionthat's what gives you a real
sense of peace your investments,your 401k.
What does your savings accountlook like?
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Maybe it's in the realm offamilies and relationships.
You love Jesus, but your realsense of identity is wrapped up
in your family's success, howyour kids turn out, how they're
excelling, maintaining a goodhome.
These all represent what I'mcalling spiritual comfort zones.
And spiritual comfort zones arethose places in our lives where
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we go to avoid risk, where weflock to to avoid pressing
further and deeper into ourfaith because spiritual growth
is uncomfortable.
So we mitigate our risk and wehedge our bets and we have those
backup plans.
But here's the thing Everyspiritual comfort zone is
simultaneously a barrier toJesus.
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Every spiritual comfort zone issimultaneously a barrier to
Jesus.
Every spiritual comfort zone issimultaneously a barrier to
Jesus.
And so this morning I want tolook at our passage from that
perspective, from theperspective of barriers.
I think there's five barriersin our text this morning.
So we're going to go throughfive barriers.
The last one will be ourconclusion, and the first
barrier is the barrier ofcomplacency, and I get that from
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verses 5, 11 to 14.
So if you want to turn to yourBible there now, we'll be
working through that.
So we're in chapter 5 and thenthe front half of 6.
So we're working through 5, 11to 14 right now.
Now, one of the most interestingthings about this passage, our
text this morning, particularly6, as we head up to the opening
verses of 6, is that itshouldn't even really be here.
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It shouldn't even really bepart of the book of Hebrews.
This section the back half of 5and the first half of 6, is
actually a detour.
What the author wants to bedoing is he wants to be
unfolding the riches of Christ'spriesthood and connecting it to
Melchizedek, but he can't do it.
He can't do it why?
Because the Hebrews have becomecomplacent or, as we'll see,
dull.
Look with me at 5, 8 to 11.
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So 8 to 11 precedes just acouple verses our text this
morning, but it sets up thepoint that I'm making here.
8 to 11 in chapter 5, it saysand being made perfect, he
became the source of eternalsalvation to all who obey him,
being designated by God a highpriest, that is, jesus, after
the order of Melchizedek.
And then our passage begins inverse 11.
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About this we have much to say,but it's hard to explain
because you have become dull.
So these people are apparentlysluggish, they're slow to engage
.
But more than that, excuse me,the author says they're
spiritual infants, people whoshould be able to talk about
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things like christ andmelchizedek, but unfortunately
they can't because they stillneed milk.
Verse 12 now here's the thing.
The hebrews don't lackintelligence.
What they lack is engagement.
Some beautiful things aboutjesus are right in front of them
, but they're not able torespond to it.
And this is actually a reallybig deal to jesus.
(13:16):
Think about revelation 3, whenhe's talking to the churches,
the church at sardis, jesus saysyou have the reputation of
being alive, but you're dead.
Jesus says in matthew's gospelthat there will be a day where
people will stand before him onthe last day, fully expecting to
be welcomed in, only to hearthe words depart from me.
I never knew you Listen.
(13:37):
Jesus makes it clear that oneof the most dangerous spiritual
conditions is not rebellion,it's complacency.
In other words, it's possibleto feel spiritually safe while
actually being in great danger.
Our physical realities andbodies will tell us even.
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It's possible to be comfortableand near death at the same time
.
And the reason complacency thisis important, the reason
complacency is so dangerous isbecause it doesn't feel
dangerous.
It doesn't feel like rebellion,complacency, just feels like
nothing.
How wrong could it be?
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My wife and I, many of you mayknow, just welcomed our fifth
child, isla.
She's strapped to her right now, as she is most Sunday mornings
, and that was late December, soI guess she's almost three
months old now, and one of myfavorite things to do is to get
home from work and I ask Sierraif she's fed Isla, and if she
has, I'm in luck because thatmeans I get a milk-drunk baby,
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and if anyone has ever had amilk-drunk baby, I get a milk
drunk baby, and if anyone hasever had a milk drunk baby, it's
one of God's greatest gifts inthe world.
There's smiles, there's gigglesand there's long naps, and
that's that's really what I'mlooking for.
So I get home, I get on thecouch and I take Isla and I'll
put her on my chest and she'llstart to go to sleep and I'm
thinking maybe I'll be there for30 minutes or so, then I'll get
back to doing what I need to dotypically.
Typically, I'll throw on a show, maybe Netflix, or something
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like that.
Before I know it though, I'msix episodes deep into a baking
competition.
I care nothing about Everysingle one of my limbs lost,
circulation and responsibilityis but a distant memory to me.
Sierra's actually said we'vehad this discussion.
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She thinks I do this so that Ican get out of the nighttime
bedtime routine with our fourother kids, and I do so public
confession.
But spiritual complacency is alot like that it doesn't
announce itself, there's noflashing red lights and before
you know it you're spirituallymotionless.
And if there's one thing ourtext makes clear up to this
point, it's this, and it'simportant you don't just drift
into maturity.
You can drift away frommaturity, but you don't drift
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into maturity, you have to workat it.
One pastor I admire said thisbefore.
He said it's easy to be a fanof Jesus.
He goes on to say in many partsof the Western world Jesus
still has cultural appeal.
Some admire his ethicalteaching, others appreciate his
love for the marginalized andsome even see him as an
inspiring historical figure.
You guys may even have friendsand know people in your own life
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who that's true of.
But here's the thing A fan isnot a Christian because a fan is
not a disciple.
A fan is not a Christianbecause a fan is not a disciple.
And that's exactly the problem.
Here, like so many other placesin scripture, hebrews is telling
us that spiritual maturitycomes not just through hearing
but through doing.
(16:34):
Look with me at verse 14, itsays the mature have their
powers of discernment trained bywhat?
Constant practice, constantpractice.
Listen, you won't everexperience the fullness of Jesus
if your understanding of theChristian life is mostly
characterized by absorbinginformation.
You have to follow Jesus withyour hands, with your feet and,
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most importantly, this text istelling us with our hearts.
In other words, the antidote todullness of hearing is zealous
doing.
You need both of those thingsto live a flourishing Christian
life and to experience thefullness of Christ Hearing and
doing so.
At least one question we have toask ourselves this morning
before we move on, is am I justa fan of Jesus or am I following
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him?
Where have you stoppedresponding to Christ's call in
your life?
Because the warning of Jesus inthese opening verses is very
clear If Jesus no longer movesus, it's not because he's
changed, it's because we have.
Maturity comes through practice, trust grows through use and
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discipleship happens when westop settling and we start
seeking.
So that's the barrier ofcomplacency.
But there's another barrier andthat's the barrier of religion.
And now we'll get into chaptersix.
I get this from six, one toeight Again, if you want to look
there.
Chapter six, verses one toeight barrier of complacency.
Now the barrier of religion.
And I want to be up front withwhat I mean by that before we
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get too far into this, just sowe're not building anything up
and you have a clear idea ofwhere I'm going with this.
What I mean by the barrier ofreligion is it's possible to be
really close to spiritual thingsand be spiritless.
It's possible to be near thefamily of God and far from the
Father.
Look with me at the first twoverses of chapter 6.
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Therefore, the author saysTherefore, let us leave the
elementary or basic doctrines ofChrist and go on to maturity,
not laying again a foundation ofrepentance from dead works and
of faith toward God, and ofinstruction about washing, the
laying on of hands, theresurrection of the dead and
eternal judgment.
The author lists foundationalteachings here Repentance, faith
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, teachings about washing excuseme prayer, resurrection,
judgment.
These are all good things.
But here's the issue None ofthese things are uniquely
Christian, are they?
Remember the audience here?
Likely Jewish Christians.
Every Orthodox Jew in the firstcentury would have affirmed all
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of these things.
These are all things they wouldhave been cool with.
See, the problem wasn't thatthey were rejecting Jesus.
It's that they weren't quitesure he alone was enough, or at
least that's what they werebeing tempted with the idea of
that.
They wanted him, but they alsowanted their rituals, just in
case.
In other words, religion hadbecome a way to hedge their bets
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and in the process, religionitself, a gift from God, had
become a barrier to God.
Now notice also that the authordoesn't say okay, since you're
still immature, let me give youmore milk.
Paul does that elsewhere inscripture, in 1 Corinthians, 2
or 3.
I can't remember where it is.
He says to the spirituallyimmature in Corinth he says I
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gave you milk, not solid food,for you were not ready for it
and you still aren't ready forit.
But here the author's remedyisn't to stoop down, it's to
lift them up.
It's a different approachaltogether.
At verse one look at verse onehe says let us go on or let us
press on.
It was in our call to worshipthis morning from Paul and
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Philippians.
Let us press on.
See, the Christian life oughtto be one of constant
self-assessment, both ofourselves and of our brothers
and sisters, and that's notjudgment.
The and of our brothers andsisters, and that's not judgment
.
The sign of a spirituallymature body is that we can speak
truth and love to one anotherand receive it.
(20:37):
Well, jude tells us this at theend of his letter.
If you guys have, if it's beena while since you've been in
Jude, it's very short, you cango home and read it today.
At the end of Jude there's oneof my favorite lines in all of
scripture.
He tells us what ourresponsibility is to one another
.
We have one responsibility andthat is to keep one another in
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the love of God.
Ultimately, jesus does that,but he's given us the
responsibility and the gift andprivilege of doing that as well.
And Jude says there's two waysof doing that.
There's two ways we keep oneanother in the love of God.
He says well, one, you can havemercy on those who doubt.
Or two, you can save others bysnatching them out of the fire.
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That's what the author ofHebrews is doing here.
Sometimes we stoop down, othertimes we call up, but the author
of Hebrewsrews is is callingthem to press onward towards the
barrier of religion.
He's snatching them out of thefire and that really is the
danger of verses four to six.
If you've ever had the question,can I lose my salvation?
(21:41):
You've most likely been pointedto this passage.
But four to six isn't reallytalking about whether or not we
can lose our salvation.
Look, look with me real quickat verses four to six isn't
really talking about whether ornot we can lose our salvation.
Look with me real quick atverses four to six.
We'll read through some ofthose things there.
These people had beenenlightened okay, likely
baptized, tasted of the heavenlygift, possibly the Lord's
Supper, shared in the HolySpirit okay, at the very least,
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if it wasn't the Holy Spirit,they at least shared in the
gifts of the covenant communitya spirit-filled covenant
community, and experienced thepowers of the age to come.
They witnessed miracles.
They were not void of Jesusentirely, but they were at risk
of not experiencing him in theway that Jesus desires all of us
to experience him, which iswith richness and a fullness and
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a depth of both mind and heart.
Look, I intentionally decidednot to make my sermon this
morning about centered aroundthe question whether or not you
can lose your salvation, and Idid that because this text isn't
trying to answer that questioneither.
It's not even suggesting thatyou can.
But I do want to say this verybriefly about that whether or
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not, you can lose your salvation.
The reason you can't lose yoursalvation is because you can't
lose what Jesus has given you interms of salvation.
You can't lose what Jesus hasgiven you.
More importantly, jesus can'tlose what the Father has given
him.
You can't lose what Jesus hasgiven you.
Jesus can't lose what theFather has given him.
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You can't lose what Jesus hasgiven you.
Jesus can't lose what theFather has given him.
John 10.
Go home today and spend 10minutes in John 10.
I am the good shepherd.
I leave the 99 to go after theone.
My sheep know my voice.
I will not lose any of them.
Jesus can't lose what's beengiven to him.
This text isn't about thepossibility of losing your
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salvation.
It's the possibility of thebarrier of religion.
The real warning of thispassage is that you can be
surrounded by the things ofJesus and still miss him.
A helpful way to think aboutthis and it's kind of relevant
when we talk about falling away,potentially falling away is
there was a falling away ofsorts that happened around COVID
.
We all had to leave someversion of leaving the church or
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experiencing it in a new way.
Some never returned.
We got comfortable, you know,with church from a distance.
Some never returned, some did,and you know.
Another hot topic during thattime was vaccines.
Of course it still is to thisday.
But the point of a vaccine isit's helpful here.
A point of a vaccine is it'ssupposed to give you a weakened
form of the disease itself sothat hopefully, your body
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creates antibodies and by thetime you come, or whenever, that
is, whenever you come intocontact with the disease itself,
you either are symptomless oryou experience it to a lesser
extent than you would haveotherwise, it, to a lesser
extent than you would haveotherwise.
Spiritually speaking, it'spossible to be immunized against
Jesus.
You can be exposed to justenough Christianity to feel safe
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when in reality you're stillvery much exposed.
Listen, it's possible for peoplewho think they're closest to
God to be furthest from Him.
That is a warning.
And it's possible for peoplewho think they're closest to God
to be furthest from him.
That is a warning and it'sscary.
It's every bit as scary as thequestion of whether or not you
can lose your salvation.
But that's not what this text isabout.
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It's about the barriers that weput in front of Jesus, between
us and Jesus, particularly herethe barrier of religion.
So the last thing I'll say hereis Jesus gives us two things to
counteract every barrier wecome up against in our lives.
He gives us his spirit, whichwe can't spend as much time as
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I'd like to this morning talkingabout, but he gives us each
other.
He gives us the church, hegives us brothers and sisters
and spiritual mothers andfathers.
And so that'll lead us into ournext point, which is the
barrier of isolation.
So we've looked at the barrierof complacency, religion and now
isolation.
And I get this from verse nineto 11.
Six, nine to 11.
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We weren't meant to followJesus alone.
That may seem obvious, but Ithink it's worth repeating.
We weren't meant to followJesus alone.
That may seem obvious, but Ithink it's worth repeating.
We weren't meant to followJesus alone.
We need one another to call usback when we drift, to challenge
us when we start clinging toold patterns.
Now, this point might not beobviously apparent when you look
at this text at first glance,but I do think it's here.
(26:02):
Look with me at verse 9.
It says Though we speak thisway, yet in your case beloved,
though we speak this way, yet inyour case, beloved, we feel
sure of better things, thingsthat belong to salvation.
This is the only time in theentire letter that the author
(26:25):
refers to the Hebrews as beloved.
It's the only time entireletter that the author refers to
the Hebrews as beloved.
It's the only time and that'ssignificant because after all
the strong warnings, he stopsand reminds them of who they are
.
That's because he knows he'snot just speaking to individuals
, he's speaking to brothers andsisters and what he's doing is
he's anchoring them back intothe body of believers, he's
(26:47):
giving them some of theiridentity back.
And that's because he knowsthat the Christian life and
Christian growth in theChristian life doesn't happen in
isolation.
Springtime is here or about.
I don't know what goes on withthat.
What is that thing up norththat's like, yeah, the groundhog
.
I can never remember that.
I don't know if it's winter orspring.
(27:08):
In Florida it's always springor summer.
Anyway, weather is warm.
It was hot yesterday, and sobarbecues are out, people are
grilling, and you'll know ifyou've ever used a charcoal
grill before.
One of the things you'll noticeis that when you pull a coal
from the fire, it doesn't go outinstantly.
So it might be a little red.
You can tell it's hot.
(27:28):
It's still burning, but it willeventually go out.
And that's what happens whenyou try to do Christianity alone
.
At first we might feel fine,we're still glowing, still warm,
maybe even for a season on fire.
But if you give it enough time,the coal cools, the flame fades
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and the light will die.
That's what happens when wepull away from the Christian
community.
It might not happen overnight,but over time our faith cools,
convictions fade and we forgetwho we really are.
You know, one of the most commonlies we believe when we
struggle spiritually is I justneed to work this out on my own.
It's a busy week.
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It's been a busy month.
I've got this project.
It's going to be finalized in acouple weeks.
I just need to get to thatfinish line.
I can do this myself.
I'll work it out on my own andthen I can come back into
community.
But faith was never meant to bea private project.
It it's always meant to be.
It was designed by God to be acommunal pursuit.
When we isolate, we forget whowe are.
(28:40):
When we isolate, we drifttoward false identities.
When we isolate, we stagnate.
And that is why this communityright here, all of us in this
room is so essential, and thiscommunity is different than any
other community you will everexperience in this life.
(29:04):
Herman Bovink is a theologianfrom the late 19th century,
early 20th century, and he hasmany of you may be familiar with
this works in here, but he hasthis really great essay that he
wrote early on in his career.
It's called the Kingdom of God,the Highest Good, and in that
essay he says this about thecommunity of God.
He says the kingdom of God is akingdom of free personalities
(29:26):
where each personality hasreached its full development.
But it is also a kingdom offree personalities who do not
live separated from each otherlike individuals, but who
together constitute a kingdomand are bound to each other in
the most complete and purestcommunity.
Listen, we're not just a clubof shared interests.
(29:49):
We're not connected to oneanother by mere hobbies and
backgrounds and careers.
We may share some of thosethings, but that's not what is
bringing us here.
Those things haven't formedthis community.
We are bound by Jesus himself.
No other community in the worldcan claim that.
Listen, every single one of youis here this morning, not
(30:14):
because of what you'reinterested, but because of who
capital W is interested in you.
Jesus made this, jesus made NewCity.
He's continuing to make NewCity and because of that our
unity is not fragile.
We can have confidence as wemove forward in life together,
(30:38):
even amidst transitions.
Jesus has made this community,so are you trying to follow
Jesus alone?
Have you drifted from community?
You know, community startedabout a month ago, month and a
half ago.
Do a quick self-assessment.
This is about the time that westart to pull away a little bit,
because life gets busy and wetell ourselves we'll come back
(31:00):
at the end of the semester.
How's your attendance in yourcommunity?
How faithful are you being toyour circle?
Press on.
We were never meant to survivein isolation, which leads us to
our next barrier.
So complacency, religion,isolation and self-reliance.
(31:24):
Look with me at verse 12.
The author says so that you maynot be sluggish, but imitators
of those who, through faith andpatience, inherit the promises.
You know, it's fascinating thatthe remedy to spiritual
sluggishness isn't moreindependence, more private time,
more alone time, moreself-determination.
(31:45):
It's imitation.
And it's fascinating that it'simitation, because imitation is
something that we deeply resist.
In our culture.
Imitation feels like a stepbackwards.
We celebrate originality,self-expression, authenticity,
carving your own path, and oneof the most overused phrases,
(32:07):
and it's beaten to death at thispoint is be true to yourself,
follow your heart.
We've heard it all before, butit's the time in which we live
and we know it well.
Find your own way, don'tconform.
Now there's a way in which, withthis illustration, I'm going to
contradict what I'm saying.
I hope it doesn't come acrossthat way, but I just said, pop
(32:29):
culture tends to contradict thevirtue of imitation, and what
I'm going to do for us thismorning is pull us back to the
greatest cultural decade thatever existed, which is the 90s,
and give you an example from theLion King.
Disney's 90 had it figured out.
Disney's 90 had it figured out.
So there's this scene in theLion King.
(32:50):
We all know it well and I'mgoing to give away the ending.
So if you haven't seen it, Ithink it's been like 35 years.
But there's a scene in whichMufasa dies.
Simba's uncle, scar, has sortof you know, put together this
extravagant plan about how he'sgonna kill Simba's father.
Mufasa dies and Simba leaves.
(33:10):
He can't go back.
Scar's on the throne and hegoes on this little personal
journey to find his identity,but also in some sense, to leave
some of his responsibilitybehind.
Eventually he comes back andyou guys can picture that scene.
It's nighttime, he's on theplanes and the skies are shining
up in the sky.
It's clear sky, no clouds, justbeautiful stars.
And his father's face comestogether in the stars Mufasa and
(33:30):
Mufasa.
And Mufasa says this this is aline from a Disney movie.
He says you have forgotten whoyou are, so you have forgotten
me also.
You have forgotten who you are,and so you have forgotten me.
Simba thought he could make hisown way.
(33:51):
Mufasa calls him back and whathe's doing is he's reminding him
of who he is.
That's exactly what the authorof Hebrews is doing here.
He's reminding us that faith isnot a self-made journey.
So the next logical question iswell, what does biblical
imitation look like?
(34:12):
Well, jesus doesn't say expressyourself.
Jesus says deny yourself.
So the next logical question iswell, what does biblical
imitation look like?
Well, jesus doesn't say expressyourself.
Jesus says deny yourself.
And that's a hard sell becausewe've been conditioned to think
that self-expression is theultimate good.
But Jesus says that to trulyfind life, you have to lose it.
It's the only way that meansthere will be moments in life
(34:36):
you can be sure of this if youhave to deny yourself in order
to find life, if you have tolose your life to find life,
there will be times and momentsin this life when following
Jesus feels like you are dying.
There will be times whenobeying him feels like you're
losing something essential towho you are.
There will be days when thepath of discipleship feels like
(35:00):
it's stripping away somethingcore to your identity.
But here's the paradox andhere's the promise.
That's exactly how you becomeyour true self.
The gift of authenticity is atthe end of the path of imitation
.
The gift of authenticity thatwe're all after is at the end of
(35:23):
the path of imitation.
Listen, when Jesus says followme, he's not trying to erase you
.
Jesus isn't going around thisworld copying, pasting himself
all over the place somehow.
This is one of the greatmysteries of our faith and I
(35:43):
would just encourage you ifyou're new to Christianity and
you don't know what it means tofollow Jesus yet, get
comfortable with mystery.
One of the great mysteries ofour faith is that when we follow
Jesus, he's able to make usboth like him and more like the
version of us who he thought upin the first place.
We don't become less of who weare.
(36:07):
We become more fully who wewere meant to be.
You don't lose yourself whenyou follow Jesus.
You find yourself.
So Hebrews reminds us that weweren't meant to figure it all
out on our own, and that Jesusknows us better than we know
ourselves.
What Hebrews offers us isChrist reliance as an antidote
(36:32):
to self-reliance on the path tolife.
So we've looked at the barrierof complacency, religion,
isolation, self-reliance.
But there's one more barrierand we get that from verses 13
to 20, and that's the barrier ofskepticism.
And this is going to be ourconclusion.
I have no idea what time I'm at, okay, no, I don't know what
(36:53):
time I'm at, but we'll concludehere.
The barrier of skepticism.
We get this from verses 13 to20.
We struggle with promises, westruggle with promises, we
struggle to keep them, westruggle to believe them, and
(37:15):
there's any number of reasonsfor this, but maybe, maybe one
reason is because we've been letdown before.
Maybe we know what it's like tohope in something and that
thing we're hoping in neverfully materializes.
So we don't get excited aboutthings anymore because we don't
want to be let down.
Maybe, deep down, we know ourown limitations because we've
(37:39):
broken promises before, and sowhen God makes a promise.
What we do is we map our ownexperience of what it's like to
receive and give promises toother humans and we map that
onto him and we say that must behow God works.
Can I trust him?
Can I put the full weight of myhope in this Jesus?
(38:01):
That is the barrier ofskepticism.
And here's the problem withskepticism.
What skepticism does is itkeeps us on the edge of trust,
close enough to consider Jesus,but never fully leaning on him.
It keeps us on the edge oftrust, close enough to consider
(38:22):
Jesus, but never, ever fullyleaning on him.
So we never experience him theway that he intended us to, even
in this life, in the land ofthe living, as we spoke about
earlier life, and the land ofthe living, as we spoke about
earlier.
And skepticism feels safe, muchlike complacency.
There's always a littleinsidious component to each one
of these barriers it's that theydon't feel dangerous.
(38:42):
Skepticism works likecomplacency because it feels
safe, because it keeps us fromrisk, but what it's really doing
is it's keeping us from rest.
And yet Hebrews is saying youdon't have to wonder if Jesus
will hold.
Look at verse 13.
For when God made a promise toAbraham, since he had no one
(39:08):
greater by whom to swear, heswore by himself.
God has no higher authority.
He can't swear by the heavensbecause he made them.
God can't swear by a kingbecause he crowns them.
God can't swear by a judgebecause he rules them.
(39:29):
He can't swear by the starsbecause he named them.
He can't swear by the mountainsbecause he rules them.
He can't swear by the starsbecause he named them.
He can't swear by the mountainsbecause he moves them.
He can't swear by the nationsbecause he names every one of
them.
There's no higher authoritythan God, and so he swears by
himself.
And here's why that matters.
(39:50):
That means that the certaintyof God's promises aren't resting
in our ability to hold on tothem, but in God's ability to
hold on to us.
The certainty of God's promisesdon't lie with us, they lie
with him, and that's a goodthing.
That's what Hebrews is tellingus.
(40:11):
God does in Christ.
In Christ, he says I willforever hold on to you.
In Christ, he says I willovercome every barrier between
you and I Verse 19, this iswhere we'll end.
He says we have this as a sureand steadfast anchor of the soul
.
Listen, brothers, sisters, Godanchors your soul, your very
(40:31):
soul to himself in Christ.
Isn't that incredible?
You're not in danger of fallingaway.
You are anchored to the Fatherhimself, your very soul, through
his son, jesus Christ.
(40:52):
But you know what else he does?
Look at the back half of verse19.
He gives us a Jesus that entersinto the inner place behind the
curtain.
Listen, if you hear nothingelse this morning, cling to
these words.
Jesus takes us places we can'tgo on our own.
Jesus takes us places we couldnever go on our own, namely into
the presence of God.
(41:12):
Namely into the presence of God, and this is what that means.
This is why it matters for usthis morning.
There's no barrier between youand God that Jesus hasn't
already overcome.
I'm aware of naming all thesebarriers, the way it could make
us feel internally.
There's a distance that wemight experience, but there's no
(41:36):
barrier between you and Godthat Jesus hasn't already
overcome.
To complacency, jesus stayedawake in the garden while his
disciples slept To religion.
Jesus stood silent before thehigh priest because he was the
sacrifice they didn't know theyneeded.
To isolation.
(41:58):
Jesus betrayed excuse me, judasbetrayed him.
No one knew isolation betterthan Jesus.
Jesus left his place ofexaltation to be with us.
Judas betrayed him, matthewdenied him or, excuse me, peter
denied him and the father turnedhis face away.
Denied him and the fatherturned his face away To
self-reliance.
Under the weight of the cross,jesus didn't try to muster
(42:24):
enough energy to keep himselfupright.
He collapsed for you and hislast words were into your hands
I commit my spirit, I givemyself to you and, finally, to
skepticism.
The crowds mocked Jesus.
They said look at him, a king,a messiah.
He can't even save himself.
But three days later and we'llcelebrate this in a few weeks
(42:46):
three days later, jesus becamethe only person to ever raise
himself from the dead.
Brothers and sisters, jesustakes our barriers onto himself.
They hang with him on the crossand they die with him on the
cross.
So can we put the full weightof our hope in Jesus?
(43:07):
Hebrews tells us there'snothing more sure in this world
than Jesus himself.
Let's pray, father, you knowour hearts better than we do.
You see, where we have settledinto complacency, where we've
(43:29):
traded Jesus for empty religion,where we've pulled away in
isolation, where we've relied onourselves and where skepticism
has crept into our hearts.
But you have not left us toourselves.
You have given us your son, youhave given us, jesus, our
perfect high priest, our sureand steadfast anchor by your
(43:49):
spirit.
This morning, jesus, wake us upwhere we have grown dull, draw
us near where we've kept ourdistance, and lift our eyes off
of ourselves onto you, jesus.
We ask this in your name, amen.
Hello everyone.
This is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Our scripture comes from Hebrews 5, 11 through
chapter 6, 20.
About this we have much to say,and it is hard to explain since
you have become dull of hearing.
For, though, by this time youought to be teachers.
You need someone to teach youagain the basic principles of
(00:43):
the oracles of God.
You need milk, not solid food,for everyone who lives on.
Milk is unskilled in the wordof righteousness, since he is a
child, but solid food is for themature, for those who have
their powers of discernment,trained by constant practice to
(01:04):
distinguish good from evil.
Therefore, let us leave theelementary doctrine of Christ
and go on to maturity, notlaying again a foundation of
repentance from dead works andof faith towards God and of
instruction about washings, thelaying on of hands, the
(01:25):
resurrection of the dead andeternal judgment.
And this we will do if Godpermits, for it is impossible,
in the case of those who haveonce been enlightened, who have
tasted the heavenly gift andhave shared in the Holy Spirit
and have tasted the goodness ofthe word of God and the powers
(01:47):
of the age to come and then havefallen away, to restore them
again to repentance, since theyare crucifying once again the
Son of God to their own harm andholding him up to content, for
land that has drunk the rainthat often falls on it and
(02:09):
produces a crop useful to thosewhose sake it is cultivated,
receives a blessing from God,but if it bears thorns and
thistles, it is worthless andnear to being cursed, and its
end is to be burned.
Though we speak in this way,yet, in your case, beloved, we
(02:32):
feel sure of better things,things that belong to salvation,
for God is not unjust so as tooverlook your work and the love
that you have shown for his namein serving the saints, as you
still do, and we desire each oneof you to show the same
(02:53):
earnestness, to have the fullassurance of hope until the end,
so that you may not be sluggishbut imitators of those who,
through faith and patience,inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise toAbraham, since he had no one
(03:14):
greater by whom to swear, heswore by himself, saying Surely
I will bless you and multiplyyou.
And thus Abraham, havingpatiently waited, obtained the
promise, for people swear bysomething greater than
themselves, and in all theirdisputes, an oath is final for
(03:36):
confirmation.
So, when God desired to showmore convincingly to the heirs
of the promise, the unchangeablecharacter of his purpose.
He guaranteed it with an oath sothat by two unchangeable things
, in which it is impossible forGod to lie, we who have fled for
(03:58):
refuge might have strongencouragement to hold fast to
the hope set before us.
We have this as a sure andsteadfast anchor of the soul, a
hope that enters into the innerplace, behind the curtain, where
Jesus has gone as a forerunneron our behalf, having become a
(04:28):
high priest forever after theorder of Melchizedek.
For when God made a promise toAbraham, since he had no one
greater by whom to swear, heswore by himself, saying surely
I will bless you and multiplyyou.
And thus Abraham, havingpatiently waited, obtained a
purpose, for people swear bysomething greater than
themselves, and in all theirdisputes an oath is final for
(04:49):
confirmation.
So when God desired to showmore convincingly to the heirs
of the promise the unchangeablecharacter of his purpose, he
guaranteed it with an oath, sothat, by two unchangeable things
in which it is impossible forGod to lie, we who have fled for
refuge might have strongencouragement to hold fast to
(05:12):
the hope set before us.
We have this, a sure andsteadfast anchor to the soul, a
hope that enters into the innerplace behind the curtain, enters
into the inner place behind thecurtain, where Jesus has gone
as a forerunner on our behalf,having become a high priest
forever after the order ofMelchizedek.
This is God's word.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Thank you, god.
Thank you, josh, for readingthat.
That text was longer than Iremember it being when I was
working on this sermon.
Just slide after slide, alsonewly minted, and I get the
passage on whether or not youcan lose your salvation.
I don't know what's going onthere.
Just a heads up.
This morning my family we'redealing with a cold so I may
cough more than usual, so I'mgoing to pull a Pastor Ben here
(06:02):
and I don't have a Starbucks cup.
I have a Toy Story mug.
It's my six-year-old daughter's.
Anyway, speaking of childishthings, I want to take you guys
back 21 years ago, to the summerof eighth grade.
For me transitioning into highschool.
I can't even believe.
If I was 13, 21 years ago.
That seems strange.
(06:25):
That summer, me and my childhoodbest friends we all lived near
a cul-de-sac together.
We had this brilliant andquestionable idea to build a
three-story tree house, and thistree house was gonna be in the
backyard of my friend's house.
His parents had trees backthere, so they would never know
it was covered, so they couldn'tsee this of my friend's house.
His parents had trees backthere, so they would never know
(06:46):
it was covered, so they couldn'tsee this three-story tree house
and it was also ethicallyquestionable because we were
sourcing our resources from aneighboring subdivision and
there were new houses beingbuilt.
And so we decided to get on ourbikes and take the biggest
piece of plywood we could findand, around four or five o'clock
(07:08):
in the evening, go load up thatplywood with two by fours and
all the extra nails and screwswe could find, and that's what
became our tree house.
Well, by the time the treehouse was finished three stories
we nailed two by fours all theway up this tree.
So we get to the third.
I'm just now realizing myparents are here.
I don't even know if theyremember this happened.
(07:29):
We get to the third floor.
It's finished, we can relax.
This is where we're going to doour homework after school.
And one of our friends said youknow, we really need a zip line
to get down from this.
We can't come back down the waywe came up.
We've got to get a zip line.
So one of our friends somehowgot his parents to get a canned
box of bungee cords from HomeDepot which those are not the
(07:51):
bungee cords you want for a zipline and a two-inch pulley that
we put some wooden dowels in andI can still remember one of our
friends, little Alan Ford,looking back at us and he looked
up and he said do you think itwill hold?
And to which we all saidabsolutely.
And he plummeted straight downthree stories and we didn't see
(08:11):
him for a week after that.
But I tell you this story frommy childhood because we all have
that question at some point inour lives.
Will this hold?
Can I trust this?
And as we age that questionbecomes more important.
It may no longer be tree houses, but it's relationships and
(08:31):
jobs and investments, spiritualand material investments.
So can I trust this?
Can I really put the fullweight of my hope into this?
Can I put all of who I am intothis?
And as we come to our text thismorning, I believe that what we
find is that that's really thequestion that the Hebrews are
(08:53):
wrestling with.
Can I put the full weight of myhope on Jesus?
Some of them were tempted toremain in the safe zone of
familiar religious practices andold ways of thinking, but in
essence they weren't sure ifJesus had the load-bearing
capacity to sustain their faith,and that question never really
gets old.
You know there's a vast expanseof time between us and the
(09:18):
Hebrews, but we share the commonexperience of what it means to
be human.
We can hope a little bit harderin visible things and invisible
things.
We know what it's like tomitigate risk, to hesitate, to
hold back, to keep part of ourhope anchored elsewhere, just in
case Jesus doesn't turn out tobe who he says he is.
And so it wouldn't besurprising if many of us came
(09:40):
here even this morning with thatvery question on our minds and
hearts.
Can I put the full weight of myhope on you, jesus?
See, for the Hebrews theinvisible reality of Christ
didn't feel as certain as thevisible rituals of the old
covenant, or at least that'swhat they were tempted with.
But we're not so far off fromthem as we would like to think.
(10:02):
For us, maybe, it shows up inthe realm of career and success.
You believe in Jesus.
But deep down, your real senseof security comes from knowing
your career is stable and yourresume is growing.
Maybe it's in the realm ofwealth and lifestyle.
You trust in Jesus.
But your financial cushionthat's what gives you a real
sense of peace your investments,your 401k.
What does your savings accountlook like?
(10:24):
Maybe it's in the realm offamilies and relationships.
You love Jesus, but your realsense of identity is wrapped up
in your family's success, howyour kids turn out, how they're
excelling, maintaining a goodhome.
These all represent what I'mcalling spiritual comfort zones.
And spiritual comfort zones arethose places in our lives where
(10:44):
we go to avoid risk, where weflock to to avoid pressing
further and deeper into ourfaith because spiritual growth
is uncomfortable.
So we mitigate our risk and wehedge our bets and we have those
backup plans.
But here's the thing Everyspiritual comfort zone is
simultaneously a barrier toJesus.
(11:05):
Every spiritual comfort zone issimultaneously a barrier to
Jesus.
Every spiritual comfort zone issimultaneously a barrier to
Jesus.
And so this morning I want tolook at our passage from that
perspective, from theperspective of barriers.
I think there's five barriersin our text this morning.
So we're going to go throughfive barriers.
The last one will be ourconclusion, and the first
barrier is the barrier ofcomplacency, and I get that from
(11:26):
verses 5, 11 to 14.
So if you want to turn to yourBible there now, we'll be
working through that.
So we're in chapter 5 and thenthe front half of 6.
So we're working through 5, 11to 14 right now.
Now, one of the most interestingthings about this passage, our
text this morning, particularly6, as we head up to the opening
verses of 6, is that itshouldn't even really be here.
(11:48):
It shouldn't even really bepart of the book of Hebrews.
This section the back half of 5and the first half of 6, is
actually a detour.
What the author wants to bedoing is he wants to be
unfolding the riches of Christ'spriesthood and connecting it to
Melchizedek, but he can't do it.
He can't do it why?
Because the Hebrews have becomecomplacent or, as we'll see,
dull.
Look with me at 5, 8 to 11.
(12:10):
So 8 to 11 precedes just acouple verses our text this
morning, but it sets up thepoint that I'm making here.
8 to 11 in chapter 5, it saysand being made perfect, he
became the source of eternalsalvation to all who obey him,
being designated by God a highpriest, that is, jesus, after
the order of Melchizedek.
And then our passage begins inverse 11.
(12:31):
About this we have much to say,but it's hard to explain
because you have become dull.
So these people are apparentlysluggish, they're slow to engage
.
But more than that, excuse me,the author says they're
spiritual infants, people whoshould be able to talk about
(12:53):
things like christ andmelchizedek, but unfortunately
they can't because they stillneed milk.
Verse 12 now here's the thing.
The hebrews don't lackintelligence.
What they lack is engagement.
Some beautiful things aboutjesus are right in front of them
, but they're not able torespond to it.
And this is actually a reallybig deal to jesus.
(13:16):
Think about revelation 3, whenhe's talking to the churches,
the church at sardis, jesus saysyou have the reputation of
being alive, but you're dead.
Jesus says in matthew's gospelthat there will be a day where
people will stand before him onthe last day, fully expecting to
be welcomed in, only to hearthe words depart from me.
I never knew you Listen.
(13:37):
Jesus makes it clear that oneof the most dangerous spiritual
conditions is not rebellion,it's complacency.
In other words, it's possibleto feel spiritually safe while
actually being in great danger.
Our physical realities andbodies will tell us even.
(13:57):
It's possible to be comfortableand near death at the same time
.
And the reason complacency thisis important, the reason
complacency is so dangerous isbecause it doesn't feel
dangerous.
It doesn't feel like rebellion,complacency, just feels like
nothing.
How wrong could it be?
(14:20):
My wife and I, many of you mayknow, just welcomed our fifth
child, isla.
She's strapped to her right now, as she is most Sunday mornings
, and that was late December, soI guess she's almost three
months old now, and one of myfavorite things to do is to get
home from work and I ask Sierraif she's fed Isla, and if she
has, I'm in luck because thatmeans I get a milk-drunk baby,
(14:42):
and if anyone has ever had amilk-drunk baby, I get a milk
drunk baby, and if anyone hasever had a milk drunk baby, it's
one of God's greatest gifts inthe world.
There's smiles, there's gigglesand there's long naps, and
that's that's really what I'mlooking for.
So I get home, I get on thecouch and I take Isla and I'll
put her on my chest and she'llstart to go to sleep and I'm
thinking maybe I'll be there for30 minutes or so, then I'll get
back to doing what I need to dotypically.
Typically, I'll throw on a show, maybe Netflix, or something
(15:03):
like that.
Before I know it though, I'msix episodes deep into a baking
competition.
I care nothing about Everysingle one of my limbs lost,
circulation and responsibilityis but a distant memory to me.
Sierra's actually said we'vehad this discussion.
(15:31):
She thinks I do this so that Ican get out of the nighttime
bedtime routine with our fourother kids, and I do so public
confession.
But spiritual complacency is alot like that it doesn't
announce itself, there's noflashing red lights and before
you know it you're spirituallymotionless.
And if there's one thing ourtext makes clear up to this
point, it's this, and it'simportant you don't just drift
into maturity.
You can drift away frommaturity, but you don't drift
(15:52):
into maturity, you have to workat it.
One pastor I admire said thisbefore.
He said it's easy to be a fanof Jesus.
He goes on to say in many partsof the Western world Jesus
still has cultural appeal.
Some admire his ethicalteaching, others appreciate his
love for the marginalized andsome even see him as an
inspiring historical figure.
You guys may even have friendsand know people in your own life
(16:14):
who that's true of.
But here's the thing A fan isnot a Christian because a fan is
not a disciple.
A fan is not a Christianbecause a fan is not a disciple.
And that's exactly the problem.
Here, like so many other placesin scripture, hebrews is telling
us that spiritual maturitycomes not just through hearing
but through doing.
(16:34):
Look with me at verse 14, itsays the mature have their
powers of discernment trained bywhat?
Constant practice, constantpractice.
Listen, you won't everexperience the fullness of Jesus
if your understanding of theChristian life is mostly
characterized by absorbinginformation.
You have to follow Jesus withyour hands, with your feet and,
(17:00):
most importantly, this text istelling us with our hearts.
In other words, the antidote todullness of hearing is zealous
doing.
You need both of those thingsto live a flourishing Christian
life and to experience thefullness of Christ Hearing and
doing so.
At least one question we have toask ourselves this morning
before we move on, is am I justa fan of Jesus or am I following
(17:22):
him?
Where have you stoppedresponding to Christ's call in
your life?
Because the warning of Jesus inthese opening verses is very
clear If Jesus no longer movesus, it's not because he's
changed, it's because we have.
Maturity comes through practice, trust grows through use and
(17:45):
discipleship happens when westop settling and we start
seeking.
So that's the barrier ofcomplacency.
But there's another barrier andthat's the barrier of religion.
And now we'll get into chaptersix.
I get this from six, one toeight Again, if you want to look
there.
Chapter six, verses one toeight barrier of complacency.
Now the barrier of religion.
And I want to be up front withwhat I mean by that before we
(18:06):
get too far into this, just sowe're not building anything up
and you have a clear idea ofwhere I'm going with this.
What I mean by the barrier ofreligion is it's possible to be
really close to spiritual thingsand be spiritless.
It's possible to be near thefamily of God and far from the
Father.
Look with me at the first twoverses of chapter 6.
(18:31):
Therefore, the author saysTherefore, let us leave the
elementary or basic doctrines ofChrist and go on to maturity,
not laying again a foundation ofrepentance from dead works and
of faith toward God, and ofinstruction about washing, the
laying on of hands, theresurrection of the dead and
eternal judgment.
The author lists foundationalteachings here Repentance, faith
(18:54):
, teachings about washing excuseme prayer, resurrection,
judgment.
These are all good things.
But here's the issue None ofthese things are uniquely
Christian, are they?
Remember the audience here?
Likely Jewish Christians.
Every Orthodox Jew in the firstcentury would have affirmed all
(19:15):
of these things.
These are all things they wouldhave been cool with.
See, the problem wasn't thatthey were rejecting Jesus.
It's that they weren't quitesure he alone was enough, or at
least that's what they werebeing tempted with the idea of
that.
They wanted him, but they alsowanted their rituals, just in
case.
In other words, religion hadbecome a way to hedge their bets
(19:36):
and in the process, religionitself, a gift from God, had
become a barrier to God.
Now notice also that the authordoesn't say okay, since you're
still immature, let me give youmore milk.
Paul does that elsewhere inscripture, in 1 Corinthians, 2
or 3.
I can't remember where it is.
He says to the spirituallyimmature in Corinth he says I
(19:56):
gave you milk, not solid food,for you were not ready for it
and you still aren't ready forit.
But here the author's remedyisn't to stoop down, it's to
lift them up.
It's a different approachaltogether.
At verse one look at verse onehe says let us go on or let us
press on.
It was in our call to worshipthis morning from Paul and
(20:17):
Philippians.
Let us press on.
See, the Christian life oughtto be one of constant
self-assessment, both ofourselves and of our brothers
and sisters, and that's notjudgment.
The and of our brothers andsisters, and that's not judgment
.
The sign of a spirituallymature body is that we can speak
truth and love to one anotherand receive it.
(20:37):
Well, jude tells us this at theend of his letter.
If you guys have, if it's beena while since you've been in
Jude, it's very short, you cango home and read it today.
At the end of Jude there's oneof my favorite lines in all of
scripture.
He tells us what ourresponsibility is to one another
.
We have one responsibility andthat is to keep one another in
(20:58):
the love of God.
Ultimately, jesus does that,but he's given us the
responsibility and the gift andprivilege of doing that as well.
And Jude says there's two waysof doing that.
There's two ways we keep oneanother in the love of God.
He says well, one, you can havemercy on those who doubt.
Or two, you can save others bysnatching them out of the fire.
(21:21):
That's what the author ofHebrews is doing here.
Sometimes we stoop down, othertimes we call up, but the author
of Hebrewsrews is is callingthem to press onward towards the
barrier of religion.
He's snatching them out of thefire and that really is the
danger of verses four to six.
If you've ever had the question,can I lose my salvation?
(21:41):
You've most likely been pointedto this passage.
But four to six isn't reallytalking about whether or not we
can lose our salvation.
Look, look with me real quickat verses four to six isn't
really talking about whether ornot we can lose our salvation.
Look with me real quick atverses four to six.
We'll read through some ofthose things there.
These people had beenenlightened okay, likely
baptized, tasted of the heavenlygift, possibly the Lord's
Supper, shared in the HolySpirit okay, at the very least,
(22:04):
if it wasn't the Holy Spirit,they at least shared in the
gifts of the covenant communitya spirit-filled covenant
community, and experienced thepowers of the age to come.
They witnessed miracles.
They were not void of Jesusentirely, but they were at risk
of not experiencing him in theway that Jesus desires all of us
to experience him, which iswith richness and a fullness and
(22:28):
a depth of both mind and heart.
Look, I intentionally decidednot to make my sermon this
morning about centered aroundthe question whether or not you
can lose your salvation, and Idid that because this text isn't
trying to answer that questioneither.
It's not even suggesting thatyou can.
But I do want to say this verybriefly about that whether or
(22:49):
not, you can lose your salvation.
The reason you can't lose yoursalvation is because you can't
lose what Jesus has given you interms of salvation.
You can't lose what Jesus hasgiven you.
More importantly, jesus can'tlose what the Father has given
him.
You can't lose what Jesus hasgiven you.
Jesus can't lose what theFather has given him.
(23:09):
You can't lose what Jesus hasgiven you.
Jesus can't lose what theFather has given him.
John 10.
Go home today and spend 10minutes in John 10.
I am the good shepherd.
I leave the 99 to go after theone.
My sheep know my voice.
I will not lose any of them.
Jesus can't lose what's beengiven to him.
This text isn't about thepossibility of losing your
(23:30):
salvation.
It's the possibility of thebarrier of religion.
The real warning of thispassage is that you can be
surrounded by the things ofJesus and still miss him.
A helpful way to think aboutthis and it's kind of relevant
when we talk about falling away,potentially falling away is
there was a falling away ofsorts that happened around COVID
.
We all had to leave someversion of leaving the church or
(23:52):
experiencing it in a new way.
Some never returned.
We got comfortable, you know,with church from a distance.
Some never returned, some did,and you know.
Another hot topic during thattime was vaccines.
Of course it still is to thisday.
But the point of a vaccine isit's helpful here.
A point of a vaccine is it'ssupposed to give you a weakened
form of the disease itself sothat hopefully, your body
(24:15):
creates antibodies and by thetime you come, or whenever, that
is, whenever you come intocontact with the disease itself,
you either are symptomless oryou experience it to a lesser
extent than you would haveotherwise, it, to a lesser
extent than you would haveotherwise.
Spiritually speaking, it'spossible to be immunized against
Jesus.
You can be exposed to justenough Christianity to feel safe
(24:38):
when in reality you're stillvery much exposed.
Listen, it's possible for peoplewho think they're closest to
God to be furthest from Him.
That is a warning.
And it's possible for peoplewho think they're closest to God
to be furthest from him.
That is a warning and it'sscary.
It's every bit as scary as thequestion of whether or not you
can lose your salvation.
But that's not what this text isabout.
(24:59):
It's about the barriers that weput in front of Jesus, between
us and Jesus, particularly herethe barrier of religion.
So the last thing I'll say hereis Jesus gives us two things to
counteract every barrier wecome up against in our lives.
He gives us his spirit, whichwe can't spend as much time as
(25:20):
I'd like to this morning talkingabout, but he gives us each
other.
He gives us the church, hegives us brothers and sisters
and spiritual mothers andfathers.
And so that'll lead us into ournext point, which is the
barrier of isolation.
So we've looked at the barrierof complacency, religion and now
isolation.
And I get this from verse nineto 11.
Six, nine to 11.
(25:41):
We weren't meant to followJesus alone.
That may seem obvious, but Ithink it's worth repeating.
We weren't meant to followJesus alone.
That may seem obvious, but Ithink it's worth repeating.
We weren't meant to followJesus alone.
We need one another to call usback when we drift, to challenge
us when we start clinging toold patterns.
Now, this point might not beobviously apparent when you look
at this text at first glance,but I do think it's here.
(26:02):
Look with me at verse 9.
It says Though we speak thisway, yet in your case beloved,
though we speak this way, yet inyour case, beloved, we feel
sure of better things, thingsthat belong to salvation.
This is the only time in theentire letter that the author
(26:25):
refers to the Hebrews as beloved.
It's the only time entireletter that the author refers to
the Hebrews as beloved.
It's the only time and that'ssignificant because after all
the strong warnings, he stopsand reminds them of who they are
.
That's because he knows he'snot just speaking to individuals
, he's speaking to brothers andsisters and what he's doing is
he's anchoring them back intothe body of believers, he's
(26:47):
giving them some of theiridentity back.
And that's because he knowsthat the Christian life and
Christian growth in theChristian life doesn't happen in
isolation.
Springtime is here or about.
I don't know what goes on withthat.
What is that thing up norththat's like, yeah, the groundhog
.
I can never remember that.
I don't know if it's winter orspring.
(27:08):
In Florida it's always springor summer.
Anyway, weather is warm.
It was hot yesterday, and sobarbecues are out, people are
grilling, and you'll know ifyou've ever used a charcoal
grill before.
One of the things you'll noticeis that when you pull a coal
from the fire, it doesn't go outinstantly.
So it might be a little red.
You can tell it's hot.
(27:28):
It's still burning, but it willeventually go out.
And that's what happens whenyou try to do Christianity alone
.
At first we might feel fine,we're still glowing, still warm,
maybe even for a season on fire.
But if you give it enough time,the coal cools, the flame fades
(27:57):
and the light will die.
That's what happens when wepull away from the Christian
community.
It might not happen overnight,but over time our faith cools,
convictions fade and we forgetwho we really are.
You know, one of the most commonlies we believe when we
struggle spiritually is I justneed to work this out on my own.
It's a busy week.
(28:18):
It's been a busy month.
I've got this project.
It's going to be finalized in acouple weeks.
I just need to get to thatfinish line.
I can do this myself.
I'll work it out on my own andthen I can come back into
community.
But faith was never meant to bea private project.
It it's always meant to be.
It was designed by God to be acommunal pursuit.
When we isolate, we forget whowe are.
(28:40):
When we isolate, we drifttoward false identities.
When we isolate, we stagnate.
And that is why this communityright here, all of us in this
room is so essential, and thiscommunity is different than any
other community you will everexperience in this life.
(29:04):
Herman Bovink is a theologianfrom the late 19th century,
early 20th century, and he hasmany of you may be familiar with
this works in here, but he hasthis really great essay that he
wrote early on in his career.
It's called the Kingdom of God,the Highest Good, and in that
essay he says this about thecommunity of God.
He says the kingdom of God is akingdom of free personalities
(29:26):
where each personality hasreached its full development.
But it is also a kingdom offree personalities who do not
live separated from each otherlike individuals, but who
together constitute a kingdomand are bound to each other in
the most complete and purestcommunity.
Listen, we're not just a clubof shared interests.
(29:49):
We're not connected to oneanother by mere hobbies and
backgrounds and careers.
We may share some of thosethings, but that's not what is
bringing us here.
Those things haven't formedthis community.
We are bound by Jesus himself.
No other community in the worldcan claim that.
Listen, every single one of youis here this morning, not
(30:14):
because of what you'reinterested, but because of who
capital W is interested in you.
Jesus made this, jesus made NewCity.
He's continuing to make NewCity and because of that our
unity is not fragile.
We can have confidence as wemove forward in life together,
(30:38):
even amidst transitions.
Jesus has made this community,so are you trying to follow
Jesus alone?
Have you drifted from community?
You know, community startedabout a month ago, month and a
half ago.
Do a quick self-assessment.
This is about the time that westart to pull away a little bit,
because life gets busy and wetell ourselves we'll come back
(31:00):
at the end of the semester.
How's your attendance in yourcommunity?
How faithful are you being toyour circle?
Press on.
We were never meant to survivein isolation, which leads us to
our next barrier.
So complacency, religion,isolation and self-reliance.
(31:24):
Look with me at verse 12.
The author says so that you maynot be sluggish, but imitators
of those who, through faith andpatience, inherit the promises.
You know, it's fascinating thatthe remedy to spiritual
sluggishness isn't moreindependence, more private time,
more alone time, moreself-determination.
(31:45):
It's imitation.
And it's fascinating that it'simitation, because imitation is
something that we deeply resist.
In our culture.
Imitation feels like a stepbackwards.
We celebrate originality,self-expression, authenticity,
carving your own path, and oneof the most overused phrases,
(32:07):
and it's beaten to death at thispoint is be true to yourself,
follow your heart.
We've heard it all before, butit's the time in which we live
and we know it well.
Find your own way, don'tconform.
Now there's a way in which, withthis illustration, I'm going to
contradict what I'm saying.
I hope it doesn't come acrossthat way, but I just said, pop
(32:29):
culture tends to contradict thevirtue of imitation, and what
I'm going to do for us thismorning is pull us back to the
greatest cultural decade thatever existed, which is the 90s,
and give you an example from theLion King.
Disney's 90 had it figured out.
Disney's 90 had it figured out.
So there's this scene in theLion King.
(32:50):
We all know it well and I'mgoing to give away the ending.
So if you haven't seen it, Ithink it's been like 35 years.
But there's a scene in whichMufasa dies.
Simba's uncle, scar, has sortof you know, put together this
extravagant plan about how he'sgonna kill Simba's father.
Mufasa dies and Simba leaves.
(33:10):
He can't go back.
Scar's on the throne and hegoes on this little personal
journey to find his identity,but also in some sense, to leave
some of his responsibilitybehind.
Eventually he comes back andyou guys can picture that scene.
It's nighttime, he's on theplanes and the skies are shining
up in the sky.
It's clear sky, no clouds, justbeautiful stars.
And his father's face comestogether in the stars Mufasa and
(33:30):
Mufasa.
And Mufasa says this this is aline from a Disney movie.
He says you have forgotten whoyou are, so you have forgotten
me also.
You have forgotten who you are,and so you have forgotten me.
Simba thought he could make hisown way.
(33:51):
Mufasa calls him back and whathe's doing is he's reminding him
of who he is.
That's exactly what the authorof Hebrews is doing here.
He's reminding us that faith isnot a self-made journey.
So the next logical question iswell, what does biblical
imitation look like?
(34:12):
Well, jesus doesn't say expressyourself.
Jesus says deny yourself.
So the next logical question iswell, what does biblical
imitation look like?
Well, jesus doesn't say expressyourself.
Jesus says deny yourself.
And that's a hard sell becausewe've been conditioned to think
that self-expression is theultimate good.
But Jesus says that to trulyfind life, you have to lose it.
It's the only way that meansthere will be moments in life
(34:36):
you can be sure of this if youhave to deny yourself in order
to find life, if you have tolose your life to find life,
there will be times and momentsin this life when following
Jesus feels like you are dying.
There will be times whenobeying him feels like you're
losing something essential towho you are.
There will be days when thepath of discipleship feels like
(35:00):
it's stripping away somethingcore to your identity.
But here's the paradox andhere's the promise.
That's exactly how you becomeyour true self.
The gift of authenticity is atthe end of the path of imitation
.
The gift of authenticity thatwe're all after is at the end of
(35:23):
the path of imitation.
Listen, when Jesus says followme, he's not trying to erase you
.
Jesus isn't going around thisworld copying, pasting himself
all over the place somehow.
This is one of the greatmysteries of our faith and I
(35:43):
would just encourage you ifyou're new to Christianity and
you don't know what it means tofollow Jesus yet, get
comfortable with mystery.
One of the great mysteries ofour faith is that when we follow
Jesus, he's able to make usboth like him and more like the
version of us who he thought upin the first place.
We don't become less of who weare.
(36:07):
We become more fully who wewere meant to be.
You don't lose yourself whenyou follow Jesus.
You find yourself.
So Hebrews reminds us that weweren't meant to figure it all
out on our own, and that Jesusknows us better than we know
ourselves.
What Hebrews offers us isChrist reliance as an antidote
(36:32):
to self-reliance on the path tolife.
So we've looked at the barrierof complacency, religion,
isolation, self-reliance.
But there's one more barrierand we get that from verses 13
to 20, and that's the barrier ofskepticism.
And this is going to be ourconclusion.
I have no idea what time I'm at, okay, no, I don't know what
(36:53):
time I'm at, but we'll concludehere.
The barrier of skepticism.
We get this from verses 13 to20.
We struggle with promises, westruggle with promises, we
struggle to keep them, westruggle to believe them, and
(37:15):
there's any number of reasonsfor this, but maybe, maybe one
reason is because we've been letdown before.
Maybe we know what it's like tohope in something and that
thing we're hoping in neverfully materializes.
So we don't get excited aboutthings anymore because we don't
want to be let down.
Maybe, deep down, we know ourown limitations because we've
(37:39):
broken promises before, and sowhen God makes a promise.
What we do is we map our ownexperience of what it's like to
receive and give promises toother humans and we map that
onto him and we say that must behow God works.
Can I trust him?
Can I put the full weight of myhope in this Jesus?
(38:01):
That is the barrier ofskepticism.
And here's the problem withskepticism.
What skepticism does is itkeeps us on the edge of trust,
close enough to consider Jesus,but never fully leaning on him.
It keeps us on the edge oftrust, close enough to consider
(38:22):
Jesus, but never, ever fullyleaning on him.
So we never experience him theway that he intended us to, even
in this life, in the land ofthe living, as we spoke about
earlier life, and the land ofthe living, as we spoke about
earlier.
And skepticism feels safe, muchlike complacency.
There's always a littleinsidious component to each one
of these barriers it's that theydon't feel dangerous.
(38:42):
Skepticism works likecomplacency because it feels
safe, because it keeps us fromrisk, but what it's really doing
is it's keeping us from rest.
And yet Hebrews is saying youdon't have to wonder if Jesus
will hold.
Look at verse 13.
For when God made a promise toAbraham, since he had no one
(39:08):
greater by whom to swear, heswore by himself.
God has no higher authority.
He can't swear by the heavensbecause he made them.
God can't swear by a kingbecause he crowns them.
God can't swear by a judgebecause he rules them.
(39:29):
He can't swear by the starsbecause he named them.
He can't swear by the mountainsbecause he rules them.
He can't swear by the starsbecause he named them.
He can't swear by the mountainsbecause he moves them.
He can't swear by the nationsbecause he names every one of
them.
There's no higher authoritythan God, and so he swears by
himself.
And here's why that matters.
(39:50):
That means that the certaintyof God's promises aren't resting
in our ability to hold on tothem, but in God's ability to
hold on to us.
The certainty of God's promisesdon't lie with us, they lie
with him, and that's a goodthing.
That's what Hebrews is tellingus.
(40:11):
God does in Christ.
In Christ, he says I willforever hold on to you.
In Christ, he says I willovercome every barrier between
you and I Verse 19, this iswhere we'll end.
He says we have this as a sureand steadfast anchor of the soul
.
Listen, brothers, sisters, Godanchors your soul, your very
(40:31):
soul to himself in Christ.
Isn't that incredible?
You're not in danger of fallingaway.
You are anchored to the Fatherhimself, your very soul, through
his son, jesus Christ.
(40:52):
But you know what else he does?
Look at the back half of verse19.
He gives us a Jesus that entersinto the inner place behind the
curtain.
Listen, if you hear nothingelse this morning, cling to
these words.
Jesus takes us places we can'tgo on our own.
Jesus takes us places we couldnever go on our own, namely into
the presence of God.
(41:12):
Namely into the presence of God, and this is what that means.
This is why it matters for usthis morning.
There's no barrier between youand God that Jesus hasn't
already overcome.
I'm aware of naming all thesebarriers, the way it could make
us feel internally.
There's a distance that wemight experience, but there's no
(41:36):
barrier between you and Godthat Jesus hasn't already
overcome.
To complacency, jesus stayedawake in the garden while his
disciples slept To religion.
Jesus stood silent before thehigh priest because he was the
sacrifice they didn't know theyneeded.
To isolation.
(41:58):
Jesus betrayed excuse me, judasbetrayed him.
No one knew isolation betterthan Jesus.
Jesus left his place ofexaltation to be with us.
Judas betrayed him, matthewdenied him or, excuse me, peter
denied him and the father turnedhis face away.
Denied him and the fatherturned his face away To
self-reliance.
Under the weight of the cross,jesus didn't try to muster
(42:24):
enough energy to keep himselfupright.
He collapsed for you and hislast words were into your hands
I commit my spirit, I givemyself to you and, finally, to
skepticism.
The crowds mocked Jesus.
They said look at him, a king,a messiah.
He can't even save himself.
But three days later and we'llcelebrate this in a few weeks
(42:46):
three days later, jesus becamethe only person to ever raise
himself from the dead.
Brothers and sisters, jesustakes our barriers onto himself.
They hang with him on the crossand they die with him on the
cross.
So can we put the full weightof our hope in Jesus?
(43:07):
Hebrews tells us there'snothing more sure in this world
than Jesus himself.
Let's pray, father, you knowour hearts better than we do.
You see, where we have settledinto complacency, where we've
(43:29):
traded Jesus for empty religion,where we've pulled away in
isolation, where we've relied onourselves and where skepticism
has crept into our hearts.
But you have not left us toourselves.
You have given us your son, youhave given us, jesus, our
perfect high priest, our sureand steadfast anchor by your
(43:49):
spirit.
This morning, jesus, wake us upwhere we have grown dull, draw
us near where we've kept ourdistance, and lift our eyes off
of ourselves onto you, jesus.
We ask this in your name, amen.
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