Sure of Better Things

“Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:9-12 ESV)

If we read the New Testament Scriptures thoroughly, book by book, and chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, in context, and we pay attention to the context, as a whole, we will be taught what it means to be saved from our sins and to have the hope of eternal life with God. And it is NOT what so many people are teaching today. For it is not that we can just confess Jesus with our lips and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed us, but regardless of how we live.

Let’s Look at the Context

So context is critical here. For in the previous verses the writer of Hebrews (possibly Paul) was encouraging the believers in Jesus Christ to move on to maturity in Christ and into the deeper things of God and of our faith. And then he spoke of how those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and then have fallen away, that it is impossible for them to be restored again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God.

Now, that can be somewhat open to interpretation, and I believe other Scriptures may say something which may appear to be in opposition to what this appears to be saying, so we may have to look further into this to get its true meaning. For example, in James 5:19-20 we read that if anyone among us who are believers in Christ wanders from the truth and one of us brings him or her back from their wandering, we will save their souls from death and cover a multitude of sins. So they would have to repent of their sins and turn back to the Lord in renewed faith in Christ, would they not?

And then we read the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 where 5 out of the 7 had wandered from the faith in some form or another and so they were being called to repent and to turn back to the Lord or God would judge them. And so there must be a difference between wandering from the faith and falling away from the faith. And if you read several commentaries on this, you will find a variety of opinions on what this is actually saying. 

But let’s simplify it by stating what Jesus and the NT apostles taught, and that is that if sin is what we practice and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God. So, if you are professing faith in Jesus Christ, but you are still living in sin, and you are deliberately and habitually sinning against God and other humans, if you do not repent and turn to God or back to God, but you go on living in sin and not in walks of obedience to the Lord, then heaven is not your eternal destiny. And you are not saved from your sins.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Though We Speak in This Way

So, when he said, “though we speak in this way,” he was referring to what he had just said about those who fall away and cannot be restored back to true faith in Jesus Christ. Definitely, if they are in that fallen condition when our Lord returns, according to many Scriptures, they will not inherit eternal life with God. And this is why we are encouraged in the Scriptures that we must continue in our Lord steadfast in faith and in walks of obedience, and not in sin, and in walks of holiness, until the end, if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

So, what do verses 9-12 tell us? He was sure of better things of those to whom he was addressing these words – things that belong to salvation. So, what things belong to salvation? Well, that is another debatable subject, but if we search the Scriptures, and if we read them in context, we will soon learn that what belongs to salvation is obedience to our Lord, no walking in deliberate and habitual sin, but walking in holiness and righteousness. And it is doing the works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them, and it is to love God and our fellow humans and other believers.

And then pay close attention to the wording in verses 11-12, for they state what I was talking about two paragraphs prior to this one. We must continue in earnest and in steadfastness of faith in walks of obedience and in doing the works of God and in our service to our fellow Christians (the saints) until the end, in order to have that full assurance of hope to the end. And it is through these walks of faith, by the grace of God, and in His power and strength, that we will inherit the promises of God. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those DOING the will of God the Father (Matthew 7:21-23).

God is Not Unjust

But let me add a positive word of encouragement here to all you followers of Jesus Christ who are serving the Lord with your lives in ministering to the body of Christ and in the sharing of the truth of the gospel with the people of the world. God is not unjust. He will not overlook our work that we do in love response to God, and in obedience to his will and purpose for our lives, and according to the gifts he has given us individually, and with regard to the individual assignments he has given us within the body of Christ. 

For if we are, in truth, serving the Lord Jesus in ministry, in doing what his word teaches that we all must be doing, we are going to be faced with persecutions, false accusations, mistreatment, and abandonment, and we will be cast aside as unwanted because we do not fit the modern day profile of what a “good Christian” looks like. For we don’t fit with the modern day “church” model. So we will be regarded by the majority as weird or as crazy or as “hyper religious” or whatever is negative and not complimentary.

But we can be encouraged that God has called us, and he has equipped us, and he is using us in the ways in which he intended for us even before we were born into this world. And he will complete the work he began in us as we continue to yield our lives to his control, and as we continue to walk in his ways, and not in the ways of this sinful world, and if we continue to honor him with our bodies and to be his servants and witnesses in encouraging the saints of God and in sharing the truth of the gospel.

Hear my Voice 

An Original Work / July 9, 2012

Based off Psalm 27

The Lord is my great salvation.

He’s the stronghold of my life.

When my enemies attack me,

My heart will not fear at all.

Though a war break out against me,

Confident in Christ I’ll be.

Of the Lord, I ask that I may

Live with Him eternally. 

Hear my voice, Lord, when I call you.

Merciful to me You’ll be.

Though my relatives forsake me,

My Lord God will receive me.

Teach me Your way, O my Jesus.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

I will sacrifice to my Lord.

I will sing with joyfulness.

I am confident that I will

See the goodness of the Lord.

All the richness of His blessings,

My Lord has for me in store.

He asks me to be of courage;

To be strong and to take heart,

Patiently as I wait for Him,

And from Him to ne’er depart.

https://vimeo.com/119813963