It is a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless, that many who begin the race well soon fall by the wayside. Many, who run well for a season, in time, walk no more among us. Tares are always sown among the wheat. Goats will always be found amongst God’s sheep in this world. Often, those who were once named among God’s saints and honored as brothers and sisters in Christ abandon Christ, his gospel, and his people. Thereby proving that they never were truly one of us (1 John 2:19). Such apostates are described in Hebrews 6:1-6.
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Distinction Illustrated
In verses 7 and 8, the Holy Spirit illustrates the fact that the preaching of the gospel, like rain falling from heaven, has profoundly different results upon the people who hear it. To some it is a savor of life unto life. To others it is a savor of death unto death.
When the gospel is blessed of God to the hearts of chosen, redeemed sinners, by the power of his almighty grace, it springs up unto life everlasting (v. 7). But those who hear the gospel and reject it as a thing to be despised, are themselves rejected of God, cursed forever, and shall be burned like useless weeds in hell (v. 8).
Let us lay these things to heart and soberly consider them. May these warnings and examples ever cause us to run to Christ, lay hold on him with both hands, and hold him with a death grip. However, the passage does not end with such terrifying warnings. Lest any true believer be terrified with the fear that he may, after all perish, the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle to speak in verses 9 and 10 of…
"But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister."
How sweet! How blessed! How encouraging! Though he solemnly warned these men and women, because he cared for their souls, of the danger of apostasy and the necessity of perseverance, he saw in them evident tokens of grace, “and things that accompany salvation.” We do not have to guess what these things are. He names them for us.
There are some things, which always accompany God’s salvation and are tokens of grace wrought in the hearts of men. The Holy Spirit here declares what some of those things are. -- “Your work” – The work to which he refers is, first and foremost, the work of faith (1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:11; Heb. 11:1-2). – “Your labor of love, which you have shown toward his name” – Believers are a people who labor together in the kingdom of God, for the glory of God, serving Christ, being constrained by the love of God in Christ. That which compels us in the service of our God is his love for us, our love for him, and our love for one another. -- This love for God and his people is manifest in free, voluntary service to his people, “in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” Faith in Christ and the love that flows from it causes those who are born of God to minister to, to serve, his saints. As our Savior washed his disciples’ feet, those who follow his example wash one another’s feet, willingly and humbly serving one another.
"And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (vv. 11-12).
In the light of the things we have seen in this chapter, you might ask, -- “How can anyone have assurance that he will, indeed, endure to the end and be saved?” It seems that that is the very question anticipated by the Holy Spirit in these last verses of chapter 6. Here are seven specific things by which every sinner who looks to Christ alone for salvation may have what the Holy Spirit calls “the full assurance of hope.”
1. The Promise of God (vv. 13-15)
2. The Oath of God (vv. 16-17)
3. The Immutability of God (vv. 17-18)
4. The Place of our Refuge (v. 18)
5. The Anchor of our Souls (v. 19)
6. The Finished Work of Christ (v. 20)
7. The Priesthood of Christ (v. 20).
In the light of
these things, every saved sinner, looking to Christ alone, can and should
confidently say, “If God be foe me, Who can be against me? – I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day!” Assurance is not a matter of presumption on the
part of a saved sinner. It is a matter of faith. Any lack of assurance is a
manifest lack of faith. Our great God, who has begun his good work of grace in
us, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He who saved us will also
keep us. He who gave us grace will also give us glory.