Hebrews 6:1-3
The Christian Curriculum
The book of Hebrews is a powerful Book that every Christian should
read and understand. The fact that God gave it and preserved it
testifies to that.
But the book of Hebrews is also a deep Book. It deals with some
topics that to understand, one will likely have to study, to pray,
and to seek God; but is that not what our Lord calls upon us to do
anyway?
As the title suggests, the book is written to Hebrews, another name
for Jews—but it teaches the Christian important truths about God’s
gift of salvation.
There were two groups of Hebrews to which this Book was directed:
1. Unsaved Jews who were considering Christ as their Messiah. I
refer to these Jews as standing Jews "standing in the valley
of decision." If they accept Jesus as their Messiah, their
priests will cast them out of Judaism and many of their
families will disown them.
2. Believing Jews who were re-thinking Jesus as their Messiah.
Sadly, some—because of the high costs of accepting Jesus as
their Messiah—were thinking of renouncing Him. That is an
act that I cannot comprehend, but then my faith has never
cost me very much so perhaps I have no right to think that I
would.
In these three verses, the writer calls upon his readers to grow up,
to move beyond the basics, to graduate from spiritual nursery school.
In doing so, he mentions six doctrines that are nursery school
doctrines.
If you have not been saved very long and do not understand these
doctrines, do not let it bother you. Just keep growing. However, if
you have been saved for a time and do not understand these things,
be bothered. This text is setting a standard of knowledge that
Christians should know.
There are six doctrines mentioned here. It is doubtful that I will
be able to discuss all six at one setting so we will look at three
this morning, and the Lord willing, three more next Sunday.
Let’s see how far we can get.
I. Christians should know the doctrine of repentance from dead works.
A. I hope that all understand repentance.
1. Repentance is necessary for salvation and whether you
profess to be a Christian or not, I pray that you at
least know how to be saved even if you have never done
so.
2. The word "repent" means to reconsider, to reverse your
course, to change your way of thinking about a topic.
3. When I speak about repentance, I most often talk about
repenting of sin and of the relationship we have had
with Jesus Christ.
a. At one time, I thought of sin as "my business."
(1) This is my life and I can do what I please and I
don’t care what you, God, or anyone else thinks
about it.
(2) Then I repented.
(a) I heard that God created me, loved me, and
that I would have to stand before Him one
day to give an account of my sin.
(b) I changed my mind about sin being only my
business and not caring what God thought.
(c) I realized that my sin was hurting me,
others, and God, and became ashamed of it.
(d) I decided I wanted to quit sin but did not
know how.
(e) I repented.
(f) Repentance is one of the important steps
of salvation:
i. Hear the truth.
ii. Be convicted.
iii. Repent
iv. Believe
b. At the same time, I changed my mind about God and
Jesus.
(1) Before, I had not cared much about God.
(2) "Out of sight, out of mind" was my philosophy.
(3) But as I saw how wicked my sins were, I also saw
how good God had been.
(4) I saw that God put on flesh to come pay for my
sins.
(5) I repented of my defiance and rebellion against
God.
c. This kind of repentance, along with faith in who Jesus
is and what Jesus did, produces salvation.
B. However, while repentance is mentioned in this verse, it is
not the repentance of my sin or the repentance of who Jesus
Christ is. The writer here speaks of doctrine of repentance
from dead works.
1. Repentance still means to change my mind about something
but here the topic is dead works.
2. What are dead works?
a. Dead works comes from the notion that by doing good
works, I can somehow erase my bad works.
b. True salvation is trusting in the works of Jesus to
change our sinful condition—not our own.
c. The Jews were especially bad to think that since God
gave the Old Testament law, obeying it could somehow
produce forgiveness for the times they disobeyed it.
(1) They believed that one good work canceled out the
other.
(2) So the more money they gave, the more nice things
they did, the better they were to others, the
more likely they were to go to heaven.
d. This is not just a belief of the Jews.
(1) I have met many who believe their good works will
be weighed against their bad works and if they
have enough good works, God will let them enter
heaven.
(2) That is NOT what the Bible says.
Re 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
(a) The ONLY way to go to heaven is have your
name written in God’s Book of Life.
(b) The ONLY way to get your name written in the
Book of Life is to trust in Jesus’ works
for you on the cross.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.
3. To trust in your good works is to trust in dead works.
4. Repent—change your mind—of such notions.
II. Christians should know the doctrine of faith toward God.
A. This is also a doctrine that begins at salvation.
1. One cannot repent of His rebellion toward God if he does
not have faith toward God.
2. Notice the writer did not say have faith IN God but
TOWARD God.
a. Having faith IN God can produce salvation.
b. Having faith TOWARD God cannot but at least it is a
start.
c. Just because I shoot TOWARD a target doesn’t mean I
will hit. I have to put the bullet IN the target
to do that.
d. So the writer here is not referring to a faith that
necessarily hits the target but one that at least is
aiming in the right direction.
3. Where does faith toward God start?
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him.
a. We must believe that God is, a doctrine that is
greatly under attack today.
b. Further, we must believe that God is good.
(1) Sadly, many today who will even consider that
there is a god automatically think that if God
exists, He is the One who causes—or at least
allows—all of our problems.
(2) First, God did not cause our problems. Man did
when he sinned.
(3) Second, what God allowed was for man to make his
own choices. It is man’s continued bad choices
are that keeps the bad coming into this world.
c. Then we must believe that God will save us if we ask.
(1) If you do not believe that God will save you, I
dare to say that He will not.
(2) Such faith is basic to salvation.
Ac 24:24 And after certain days, when Felix
came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess,
he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the
faith in Christ.
Ro 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood….
Ga 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus.
4. Prayerfully, having faith toward God will lead you to have
faith IN God, but faith has to start somewhere.
B. However, faith is also how the Christian lives his life
everyday.
1. Four times in the Bible, God echoes the words, "the just
shall live by faith,"
\\#Hab 2:4, Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11, He 10:38\\
a. The are those who have been justified before God, the
saved.
b. How shall the justified live? Walking in faith!
2. Why? Because you cannot live as a Christian lives
without the daily exercise of faith toward God.
a. We are to read, study, memorize God’s Word.
(1) Why?
(2) Because by faith we believe that God will use the
Bible to speak to us, to direct us, to guide us.
b. We are to abide in prayer for healing, help, guidance,
and fellowship with God.
(1) Why?
(2) Because by faith we believe that God is listening
to our prayers and will answer them.
c. We are to stand against sin, Satan, and the world to
proclaim God’s opinion on their behavior.
(1) Why?
(2) Because we are to have faith that God will stand
with us and accomplish His will in every
situation.
d. We go to church. Why? Because we have faith God will
meet with us.
e. We face death with hope. Why? Because we have faith
that we will see our loved one again.
III. Christians should know the doctrine of baptisms.
A. Notice that God used the plural of the word baptism.
1. Why?
2. Because there are several baptisms, yet only one is
really important.
B. The only baptism that counts is being baptized by the Spirit
of God into the Body of God.
1Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have been all
made to drink into one Spirit.
1. When a sinner gets saved, he is immediately baptized by
the Holy Ghost into God’s family, called the body of
Christ.
2. You do not see it and some do not feel it, but it happens.
C. There is a water baptism.
1. This is what the preacher does at church.
2. It is a baptism but it is only symbolic of what the Holy
Ghost has already done.
3. John alluded to this when he baptized.
Matt 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance: but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to
bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost,
and with fire:
a. Our baptism is a little different even from what John
did.
b. First, when John baptized, the Holy Spirit had not
come yet so baptized in water first and the Holy
Spirit baptized later.
c. Second, we are not just baptizing unto repentance but
unto faith in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.
(1) Again, Jesus had not died yet. Those people did
not even know at that time that He was going to.
(2) He has now so those being baptized are saying
they believe in the death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus.
4. So there are two baptisms, one by the Holy Spirit of God
and one of water, usually performed by a minister.
5. But the one that really counts is the one the Holy Spirit
does.
a. If the Holy Spirit has not baptized you, then what I
do will not mean anything.
b. If the Holy Spirit has baptized you, then you are to
be obedience and let me immerse you into water but
the one that really counts is His.
D. Some think that water baptism is part of salvation.
1. I disagree with that enough to argue with you on it.
2. I believe water baptism is a picture of salvation.
3. I believe Peter nailed it when he said water baptism is
"the like figure" of our salvation, not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience toward God. \\#1Peter 3:21\\
Now remember, these are not deep doctrines. The writer called these
the "principles of the doctrine of Christ," meaning the beginning,
the first, the corner doctrines.
1. Do you get them? If not, let’s talk.
2. Do you believe them?
3. Are you doing them?
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