Transcript

This is the fifth part of the series of messages that I’ve entitled “The Pretenders”. And we’ve drawn these messages out of the truth of verses 4 through 6. We have to remember when studying the book of Hebrews that the writer is writing to a mixed audience. He knows there are genuine, true believers here. But also he’s aware that there’s quite a group of false professors, unbelievers who at least think they are or look like they are believers. I call them pretenders.

And when you get to verses 4 through 6, actually even the following verses beyond that, the writer to the Hebrew Christian church, knowing there’s a sizeable group of unbelievers there, addresses that issue particularly and specifically and with great thoroughness. He doesn’t just give it a line and then go away. He has five different ways of stating how they are pretenders but they are not the real thing. I was thinking as I was meditating on this text before this morning’s message of how modern Baptist life and evangelical life mirrors this same situation. I do not know of a respected Christian leader who does not say that a vast percentage of our church members today are really pretenders. They are not truly converted. They may be trusting in something some pastor told them or some evangelist told them. As Voddie Baucham said they may have walked to the magic place in the building or something thinking that got them into heaven or made them a child of God. But nevertheless, they’re not true believers.

Page Patterson, the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary says that forty percent of our Sunday morning attenders are not Christians. And so we know this is a problem that is both historical in the church and contemporary in the church. And I believe that’s why God gives us numerous passages like Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through 6 so that we can humbly with discipline and discernment look at our souls, check ourselves out. Another phrase in scripture says to test yourself and see if you’re in the faith.

So we come to the fifth installment. Let me just review the titles of the earlier messages, building on verse 4 of Hebrews 6. HE speaks of those who have once been enlightened, and then you have to go down to verse 6 to find out the, uh, corresponding emphasis, which is, “and then have fallen away.” Enlightened, but not truly saved because they fell away. And we entitled that message “The Enlightened Mind with An Unchanged Heart.” That was part 1.

And then you come to another phrase in verse 4. It says, “Have tasted the heavenly gift.” You go down to verse 6, “and have fallen away,” which proves they were never truly converted. And we entitled that message as “Tasting Christ, but Not Swallowing Him.” I entitled it specifically that way because the Greek word geuomai for tasting is not the word for swallowing or partaking or embracing or even digesting. And he used that word particularly here. Just to take a taste but not get the real, whole thing within you.

And then the third message, from the third phrase of verse 4 of our text, “and having been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,” then verse 6, “and then fallen away,” which means they were never truly converted. I entitled that “Experiencing the Work of the Spirit, but Not the Regenerating Power of the Spirit.” I think that is an essential understanding that we must have today. Can I say this to you, right in the middle of this review? Brothers and sisters, this is a day for discernment in the church. Discernment, being able to discern the façade from the real substance. Being able to discern religious, even conservative, uh, uh, hypocrisy if you will, on the outside when there’s not the real substance on the inside. We live in a day where the dire need of the hour is discernment. Not everything that’s exciting, not everything that looks good, not everything that calls itself God or Christ or salvation or a good church is really the true thing. Remember the church in Revelation, where our Lord looked at that church and says, “You have a name that you’re alive, but you’re dead. Everybody talks about what a great lively exuberant church you are,” but then the Lord says, “But you’re dead. You’ve learned how, learned how to put on a, an atmosphere, a front, but the real thing’s not there.” The Spirit may indeed be working, but the regenerating, life-changing power has not occurred in your heart.

Then number four, still in review, we come to verse 5 now, and it says, “and have tasted,” geuomai again, “tasted the good word of God.” The good word of God refers to the gospel. We talked of this as being a tasting of the goodness of the gospel, but not the power of the gospel. It’s very, very possible, I submit to you, even prominent, there are many who can say from their heart they greatly esteem and, uh, respected the glorious, historical truth of Christ dying for sinners and what great love that is and they embrace that, but they’ve never been changed by it.

You can talk to pagans today, those who outright deny the Christian faith and they will tell you, “Your message is the most wonderful message we’ve ever heard, that all men are sinners and God’s a holy and just God and God would so sacrifice and have such love He’d send His very Son to take your place at judgment and receive your wrath and condemnation.” And a person can know that and be stirred by that, that’s what the text is pointing out, and yet still not be a Christian.

And then we come to today’s message, the last part of verse 5, “and the powers of the age to come,” you have to back up to the first part of verse 5, “have tasted the powers of the age to come,” and then verse 6, “and then fallen away,” which shows they were never truly converted. And I’ve entitled this fifth part, today’s message, “Having Some Comforts of Heaven, Yet Their Future is Hell.” Having some comforts of heaven, yet their future is hell.

Now let me read all of the text together and we’ll look at this message. Beginning in verse 4: For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

Now once again, when you see the word in verse 5, the word tasted, it means just to sample, just to get a flavor in your mouth, not to swallow and partake of. Not enjoying the full. We’ve talked about that a couple of times already, so we’ll not spend much more time there. But let’s get to the specific phrase in the last part of verse 5 that we’re to look at today and that is the powers of the age to come. Let’s talk about what he means by the age to come. This refers to, if you will, the church triumphant. The church when she’s perfected and glorified and beautified with her Lord, where? In heaven, in His realm, in His presence. When she’s won the victory and she’s glorified with her Lord and with her God in heaven. Beautified and glorified. This it the realm, the age to come speaks of that realm of the angels, the realm of the glorified saints. You see, once you’re a Christian, you’re always a Christian, you’re just, uh, for a season down here limited in your imperfections. And then one day you’ll be glorified with the Father in heaven. That’s the age to come, that other realm, that other kingdom that we’re going to. The, the place of great beauty and wonders and the pleasures of God’s presence, and all of these able forever. Sometimes it’s called the eternal state. A place where all evil and all heartache and all sorrow will be past. Sin is forgiven, guilt banished, sickness and death defeated, that’s the age to come.

So all of these things are of God and these are conditions that are characteristic, if you will, of that age, of that other realm, that other kingdom. And they are unchanging and they are eternal. So he’s saying here, “There are those who tasted something of the wonders and the blessedness and the pleasures and even have some comforts that that is their home, yet hell is their true future. Really, they’re just pretenders.

He uses the word powers of the age to come, that’s a, that’s a neat way that God is describing heaven. He didn’t just say, “They tasted heaven.” He says, “They tasted the powers of the age to come.” What does he mean by this? I think he’s pointing out something very important here. He’s saying the power that makes heaven heaven is also a power that into, that to a degree has worked in the heart, but not savingly worked in the heart. Interesting, isn’t it? To be honest with you, before I spent that hours I have spent in Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through 6, I would have told you a lot of the working in the hearts of those who are just pretenders and are not regenerate is just the work of Satan. And I’m not saying that does not happen and that’s not true, but this text tells you it’s the true working of God, but not a saving work, not a saving work.

Now, fathers, are you listening to your pastor this morning? Did you hear what Voddie Baucham reminded us of? In your home you’re the prophet, the priest, the protector, and the provider. It is your job, dads, to lovingly, compassionately, diligently, maturely, with discernment make sure your children are truly converted and not mislead and not deceived and not a part of this age’s easy believism that’s sealed a lot of souls for hell. Because this text points out to us the powers that make heaven heaven can be tasted and yet never save a person and make them truly converted.
You see, God’s power both secured the wondrous privileges of heaven and His power sustains those wondrous privileges that are in heaven. By the power of God, heaven is glorious. You know, we don’t think about these things, do we? We just think, “Well, it’s glorious and no sickness, no death, no disease.” All that’s true, but why is it true? It’s true because there is a true, intelligent, almighty personal God and His power makes it that way. And He’s also promised that as we congregate together and serve Him little touches of that power can be felt down here. Sometimes there’s a miraculous healing. Sometimes there’s a miraculous returning of some rebel and then often, praise His name, we’ve seen several this past week, there’s that miracle of all miracles, the conversion of a sinner to devotion to God through His Son Jesus Christ. We get little touches of it, but nothing like what we’re gonna know when we get to heaven. By His power heaven is glorious. By His power heaven is beautiful. By His power heaven is pleasurable. I want to say to you again, God made you desire pleasure. He made you to be a being that wants pleasure. And that’s good. It’s just that in the perverseness of our fallen, sinful state, we lust after the pleasures down here that are not lasting and that are harmful, and God loves us so much He’s in the process of working on us, converting us, sanctifying us so that He can squelch out inferior pleasures and get our hearts pointed toward the superior pleasure of Himself, which we’ll know for all eternity.

Who was it that said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”? The unthwartable, undiminishing, eternal pleasures of God. God’s power makes that true. Heaven is sin free. God’s power makes that to be true. Heaven is sickness free, by God’s power. And by God’s power heaven is death free. These things that make it heaven heaven are the works of God. They’re His powers because number one, they’re trophies of our God’s triumph over all of our enemies that try to prevent us from having them. God says, “You’re my child.” God said, “I paid for you on the cross. I bore the wrath and the judgment you deserve. When I die, when I died for you in My Son on the cross, I claimed you as My own. You are My treasured one.” And Satan and all of His domain and the Antichrist spirit and the powers of this present world would work to keep us and prevent us from enjoying God in heaven. But God’s power secures these privileges for us. That’s a wonderful truth.

May not mean much to you right now, but when I go visit you someday in the nursing home, it’ll get more precious to you. OR when you come visit me one day. I’ve been studying how preachers die. It’s not fun. Once they can’t scream and shout and run around and do stuff they just kind of throw them away. That’s okay. The Lord knows. He takes care of His own. You know, a lot of us will die lonely, except for God. He’ll be there in His power. He’ll hold you. He’ll keep you. His love will envelope you. And He’ll take you home to the glories of heaven His power has secured for you. I’m telling you, He’s a good God.

So they are trophies of God’s triumph over all of our enemies that would try to prevent us from having them. But also these privileges of heaven are called powers because no opposing power can ever prevail against them. No one ever will be able to walk into heaven and change things or remodel the place. God keeps it just the way it is. They are firmly established in Christ Jesus.

Back to our text. He said there are pretenders who actually have tasted some of the glories of it and yet fallen away and yet fallen away. So by tasting the text emphasizes that these pretenders have come to something of an understanding of the surpassing glory of the coming age, that is that eternal age or heaven, but heaven, but rather yet hell is their future. Is that you today? Oh, friend, is that you today? Do you really know that He’s yours? Do you really know that you’re converted? Do you really know that He’s changed your heart?

Balaam is a good example of having this hope but it being a false hope. In Numbers 23 verse 10, the Bible says, and this is Balaam the old false prophet, the old pagan talking. Listen to what Balaam says. He says, “Let me die the death of the upright and let my end be like his.” Balaam wasn’t a true child of God, but Balaam had some confidence, he had some hope that heaven was his home. He envied and desired the happy death of those who truly know God, but he didn’t, and heaven was not his home.

Jamison, Faucet, and Brown say in their commentary that Balaam is a representative of a large class in the world who express a wish for the blessedness which Christ has promised to His people but are adverse to imitate the mind that was in Him. That means there’s something in this class of pretenders that really desires and in many of them really believe that heaven is theirs, yet they don’t have the working power in their hearts and minds to think on Christ and to serve Christ and to follow after Christ. They’re still enslaved to self. And that’s the only true lord and the only true master they have.

Let me remind you there is a faith that’s a temporal faith. It’s a human faith. All men have faith. It’s not saving faith. It’s human faith. It’s a non-saving faith, a faith that can discern, a faith that can taste something of the glory and the happiness of heaven that’s now concealed from our sight and our senses. But it’s not real saving faith. It’s the deepest level of self deception that these pretenders can descend into. He can in a flesh produced faith become convinced that the glories and the wonders and the pleasures of heaven and even possess a low esteem of this present world yet be lost, tasted the powers of the age to come, yet be lost, a pretender.

Now you would ask me a question. How can this be? How can a person even begin to acknowledge that this present world is not worth living for and even have something of a genuine desire to go to heaven and be lost? Well, the world’s full of religions just like that. The world’s full of religions that talk about denying yourself and giving up the world and giving yourself away and living unselfishly and living for another land or for another world. IF you’re a Hindu, you’re living for nirvana. You reach that place of just nothingness, whatever that is. Let me ask you a question. How can a person become deeply enthralled with a lover and have heard from that lover’s lips that they’re not longer interested, that they don’t like them, they don’t want a relationship? And that person can strive after that relationship even though it’s over, and they can risk their job, their friends, their family relationships, even jeopardize their life by chasing after this obsession for this lover they once had. How can they live so foolishly, so devotedly? Because they believe it in their heart that it ought to be the thing, that it ought to be real, that they ought to have that relationship. We do it all the time, don’t we?

How can an adult be deceived to invest their money in some unscrupulous investment scheme, sometimes even their whole life’s savings knowing all along the way that there’s warning after warning after warning this is not real? Because they wanted to believe it in their heart and they did, and they could taste it. Good word. They could taste the wealth of the income they thought was coming to them, but it wasn’t real.

Look back at history. Tell me how millions of regular, many well-educated, thoughtful citizens would line up in passionate support for Hitler and his Nazi philosophies and support his wicked scheme that he’s gonna rule the world and even the extermination of millions whom Hitler deemed inferior. How could they do that? Because they wanted to believe it, that he was the messiah, that he was gonna usher in a new age and a new utopian society. So it’s not hard at all to understand how folks raised in the Bible belt, raised around Bible teaching could really want to be in heaven and really believe they’re going and taste something of it but be lost, lost.

They just want it to be true in their hearts. They believe it to be true in their hearts. In faith, they conceive it as if it’s already theirs. Is it possible? Is it possible? That the person could be on their deathbed and have a peace about the next life and be completely lost? I can tell you this. My father gave no good evidence of conversion, no good evidence at all that he was a child of God, but within days of his death he could look you square in the eye and say, “I have no fear about death and where I’m going. None.” With conviction he could tell you that.

Catholics, not attacking Catholics personally, but the theology, the belief system of the Roman Catholic church and other works salvation groups in the millions have confidence that in their rituals and in their religion that they can feel and see themselves going to the glories and the pleasures of heaven because they believe the system they bought into will take them there. But it won’t. They can feel and see the glories and the pleasures of heaven because they believe it’s theirs, but it’s not. It truly is a matter of mind over matter. They’ve got it in their mind. They’re, they’re grasping it with their minds, but the matter, the reality the substance is lacking so much. They condition themselves to so believe that it gives them a form of peace and a form of assurance in their hearts that heaven is their rightful home. But they are badly deceived.

Here’s one of the things to look for in a pretender. A pretender that has tasted something of heaven and believes heaven’s their home, here’s one of the ways to check out your heart and check out whether you’re truly converted. Pretenders have minimalistic standards for their discipleship. They generally want to think, “What’s the bare minimum to get in, and that’s all I want.” Did you hear what I just said? Minimalistic. “What’s the minimum that this is gonna cost me? Okay, I’ll tithe if I really have to. I’ll be faithful.” Mostly just the minimum standards of honoring God. That’s all they want. They’re not interested in a lifestyle and a lifetime of pursuing God. A lifestyle and a lifetime of seeking God through His Word concerning how’s my marriage supposed to look and function? How am I supposed to raise my kids? What am I doing wrong? What am I to do for God through the church and in world missions to advance His kingdom? How can I know my Lord better? No, they’re not interested in that. “Just give me the minimum qualifications. That’s all I want.” I’m telling you, our churches are packed full of that philosophy.

We were talking about a brother that has gone wayward, and some of the elders were talking just this morning about pursuing that brother, and we’ve been doing that. And we ought to do that. But you know, I thought, you know, maybe when people join the church we should ask them, “Now are you the kind of Christian that’s gonna work with us and go after others, or are you the kind that’s gonna sit at home that we go after? Which one are you?” According to scripture, only one of the two look like they’re saved. The minimalistic standard is a good evidence that you’re just a pretender. You just wanted insurance. You just wanted to get the blessings and the glories and miss the hell. But God’s never given you a heart that treasures Christ and loves Christ and yearns after Christ. Now listen to me. And when your heart yearns after this world and when your heart dishonors Christ and when your heart turns away from Him, because we all do that, you heart’s broken because the real thing’s in there. Still have a flesh package, amen? Still in this flesh body that has its lusts, its desires, its worldliness. And we at times fall into that, but we’re never comfortable there. We’re crushed, we’re convicted. And I see a weird thing happens, weird to the world. Here’s a weird thing that happens. You start wanting to sit under the kind of preaching that makes you crushed. You start wanting to be under the kind of preaching and teaching and a church that practices biblical policies in the church, though they make you a little fearful and little uncomfortable and a little nervous because something in your heart says, “I need that and I want to be closer to my God because I’m not a pretender. Something’s real in here.”

Choir, you know what one of the real marks of a good church is? We offend a lot of people. It is. I’ve even heard some people are a little offended about the way you carry on when you sing sometimes. ‘Cause pretenders want minimalistic standards. They’re marked by an arrogant conceit that they’ve done what is necessary to gain heaven and that’s all they need to do. You may ask, “Pastor, why do you have such a passion that our churches need revival and reform? Why do you have such a passion that our churches have got to change some significant things about the way they function and what they believe and what their standards are?” Well, first of all, open your eyes. Let me tell you why. At nineteen years of age, God saved me. He invaded my life and He saved me. And I joined a Southern Baptist Church. I wasn’t looking for one, I just stumbled into one and it looked good to me. And almost immediately I was indoctrinated by well meaning people about this minimalistic easy believism that you’ve done your little deal, you’ve jumped through your little hoop… And by the way, I didn’t do the deal because I was saved in my car and nobody told me to pray a prayer. And so I stayed confused and frustrated and worried about this, this human non-biblical notion that, “You did your deal. You, you said a prayer. You jumped through a hoop and that gives you insurance. You’re not going to hell, and that’s all you need to be concerned about.” That’s one of the reasons why I think our churches need revival and reform. We don’t need to take baby Christians and put them in such a state that they have to work for years to dig out from under and deprogram the garbage before they can start growing and program in the truth. And that’s one of the reasons this church exists is to humbly, and I mean that, humbly be an example of true biblical Christianity, never perfect, but to model the truth of conversion, the truth of church membership, the truth of church leadership, the truth of holiness and purity in the body, and let the world know the old Book still works. It still works. Not only is this Word inerrant. It is sufficient. And I would leave as your teaching pastor today if the majority of you said, “It’s inerrant, but we’re gonna have to trust the world and sociology and slick church growth dudes to know how to build the church.” I’m not, I’m not into that. We’re gonna go by this Book. If it draws them, it draws them. If it repels them, it repels them. We’re gonna stand right here.

But a pretender has minimalistic standards in their discipleship. There’s an arrogant conceit, “Now I’ve done what I’m supposed to do, and I’m okay.” There’s not that ongoing heart attitude, now listen to this, church. There is not that ongoing heart attitude to humbly and diligently seek to examine their lives so that in their lifestyles daily, weekly, monthly as they go on they’re affirming and affirming and affirming and affirming that they are a child of God. That is a biblical understanding of Christian assurance.

Well, I’m gonna close here, and I want us to have a season of prayer. And tonight we’re gonna go to Second Peter chapter 1. In Second Peter chapter 1 we find that, now listen to what I’m gonna tell you, progressive sanctification is assurance of salvation. We’ll talk about that tonight. It’ll be another good text for dads. You say, “Boy, you’re putting pressure on us dads.” You need pressure because when I, God through me puts pressure on you, you know what happens? You get on your knees more, dads. You say, “Oh, dear me. Just because my child raises his or her hand at Vacation Bible School doesn’t mean they’re going to heaven.” And I want to tell you something. If that meant they’re going to heaven we’d have a hundred verses that said if they raised their hands they’re going to heaven. It doesn’t say that. We’ve got to look for the converted heart. And we’re gonna look at another good passage of scripture to give us assurance that God has done the work in our hearts, that regenerating work and that repentance and faith that didn’t just happen back there but began at a point, yes, but should be continuing in our lives. Greater at times, weaker at times, but continuing in our lives as the true children of God. And by the way, can I say this to you? Is it not refreshing to hear a prominent, well respected, intellectual theologian like Voddie Baucham say the same things we’ve been saying? God’s beginning to move in this. And it’s gonna, I think God’s doing a work. There’s gonna be some opposition because some of the old guard don’t like talk this way. None of them been able to show me biblically where we’re off, not at all, but they just don’t like messing up the system. I tell you what we ought to do. We ought to bury the system and just get to the Word of God.

You know what Voddie Baucham told me right before I took him to the airport? We spent, let’s see, we spent Wednesday together just hanging out, fellowshipping. We spent some time with Brother Paul Washer just sharing our hearts and our convictions and the need for our churches to be revived and reformed in their policies and the way they approach things, particularly in the area of conversion. Define what is conversion. What does it look like? And we threw around some things and we realized that you know if we keep standing here there’s gonna be a lot of opposition, gonna be a lot of talk. Have you got the guts for it? Will you stand for truth at a cost? A lot of you already proving that, and I thank God for you. But Voddie was sitting there in the van. He put his head back and he looked over at me and he said, “I look forward to getting into a lot of trouble with you.” What does that mean? I don’t know.

But far more important than any of that this morning do you know you’re His? Do you know He’s changed you? One of the people I counseled this week, and I’ll close with this, said, “Pastor, you know God has been working in me and I’ve been more interested in the Bible. I’m more interested in church. I’m more interested in the people of God. I’m more, I more desire to be around them.” And then they said, “But Sunday morning I felt the weight of my sin. I saw my sin in a new, deep way, and it broke my heart. And my trust is in Christ and I have a peace and a release and a joy that Jesus has forgiven and lifted that weight of sin.” That’s what we’re looking for. God bringing the conviction and the repentance and faith. Have you experienced that? Why don’t you seek the Lord in prayer at this time. Let’s bow together in prayer.