Word of Salvation – Vol. 45 No.23 – June 2000

The Earnest Pursuit of Assurance

Sermon by Rev A Van Drimmelen

on Hebrews 6:9-12

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 5:11-6:12

Suggested Hymns: BoW 359; Psalter Hymnal 451; BoW 463; 182

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to begin with an illustration.  You be the judge if it is relevant.

Suppose that you are a gymnast.  You are doing a floor exercise in competition and have made a good beginning.  You are in the middle of your routine and suddenly you find yourself growing very weak, almost limp.  You start to get a little wobbly in your arms and legs.  You set yourself up for a series of back handsprings that are supposed to climax in a double back flip with a full twist.  As you turn and begin your handsprings, fatigue sets in and causes you to be terribly uncertain about completing your routine.  You hit your last handspring with all the strength you have left.  You try to get the height you need for the double back flip.  Your elbows buckle very slightly.

Then, as you leave the ground the strangest thing happens.  Everything goes into slow motion.  You seem to be moving at just an inch per second.  And as you climb higher into the air you hear a voice from the side of the mat.  And you recognise it as the voice of your coach.

What I am picturing here are the members of Christ's church to whom this letter of Hebrews was written.  They are the gymnasts in this picture, and the writer of Hebrews is their coach.

As he writes today's text, he is catching them in mid-air.  If they can hear him and respond they are going to land on their feet.  They will have completed their routine and perhaps even earned a good score, say an 8.5 or 9.1.

But if they don't hear him, their fatigue will cause them to falter and fall.  Half way through mid-air, in their double back flip, they may come down on their head and even break their neck.

The text might also be catching you in mid-air this morning.  If so, I hope you listen carefully to the coach so that you land on your feet and finish the life of faith and obedience God has called us to.

Let me show you where I get this idea of his catching them in mid-air.  Consider first of all Hebrews 6:10 – “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him (lit. ‘in his name') as you have helped his people and continue to help them....!"

Now, from that verse it looks as though their church is doing alright doesn't it?  They have done works of love; they have done them in the name of God, that is, in reliance on Him and for His glory.  And they have served the saints, and are still serving them.  This is why I said the gymnastic routine of their life had a good beginning and even while going into this routine it looks as though the judges will give a very high score – about 9.1, maybe even better.

But only the sharpest judges and a good coach can detect the problem at this point.  What problem?  Look at chapter 5:12-14.  These verses contain the exhortation to do better.  In these verses you can't help but detect the coach's disappointment.  He expected them to do much better than they were actually doing.  In chapter 5 verse 14, the writer tells them what their problem really is.  “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

First of all, they don't seem ready to digest the solid food that the writer wants to give them.  That solid food is for the mature, he says, “but you are not mature.”  Verse 11 says they are slow to learn.  Why?  What's the root of the problem?  Verse 14 takes us deeper.  They don't have the ability, and have not trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.  (Incidentally, the Greek word for 'trained in this verse is the word from which we get 'gymnast' in English).

The problem with these people is that they are not very accomplished at separating what is good from what is bad, what is right from what is wrong.  There has been some sort of lapse in their training; they just don't seem to have what it takes to make for a strong finish.  They ought to be morally alert and sharp and discerning and discriminating in their battle with sin and evil.  But they aren't.  Their ability to discern seems to have lost its edge.

Why?  Does this verse allow us to go deeper?  Yes it does.  There is one other phrase in the verse we haven't looked at yet, the phrase, ‘constant use'.  “Solid food is for the mature, for those who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (5:14).

So, why aren't these people mature and ready to move on to more advanced teaching?  Because their ability to make good moral choices is not being used.  They seem not to have the ability.  Things are morally fuzzy.  They've lost the cutting edge of insight between good and evil.  Why?  Well, because they had no practice, no 'constant use'.  Verse 13 means that they have failed to go on with the teaching about righteousness.  They had not been working out with what they knew to be righteous, holy and obedient to God's Word.

In short, they had it all in their creeds and confessions, but nothing in their daily, practical living.  The moral and ethical implications of the knowledge they do have were just beyond them.  While they knew the content of the gospel, they had not discovered the 'how' of the gospel.  And, in fact, they were in danger of losing it altogether.  And so they are not ready for the meat of advanced teaching.

These days the modern educators will tell you there is no better way to educate than to provide 'hands on experience'.  Teach, catechise your young people, attend Bible Study faithfully and regularly and the words of the text stand true: "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Heb.5:14).  No use teaching solid food unless there is the constant use', the hands on' experience of the gospel, training to distinguish good from evil.

Leaders, teachers of the church, we need to develop the 'constant use' component of spiritual training.  Fathers and mothers in our homes, our children's faith is never more real than when our children are using it, living it and experiencing the training of righteousness.  For God's glory and for the work of His kingdom.

How do you decide what to watch or not to watch on television?  How do you make a decision on what CD to buy or not to buy?  What did your children do on holidays?  Something that really does show they are training for righteousness?  Are we in the business of training one another to distinguish good from evil so that by constant use we will go on to more advanced teaching?

Now what are we to make of this first century church?  In Chapter 6 verse 10 we read that these people have worked, loved, helped God's people and are still helping them.  But in 5:11-14 we read that they are immature and unable to distinguish good from evil, not able to go on to the solid food of the gospel.

Is the writer contradicting himself here?  No, my answer is that the author is catching them in mid-air.  He sees both things.  He sees some work, love and helping, the works of righteousness, but he also sees evidence of neglect and drifting and a lack of constant use.  The one gives him hope that they will land on their feet and finish the routine of righteousness.  The other makes him concerned that they could land on their head and break their neck.

It is only the coach with a good eye who knows when a gymnast has been slacking off.  He sees whether he is easily winded.  He notices whether he is unsure about where to make a good solid grip with his hands.  The toes are not quite pointed, the fingers have no strength, and the landings are off balance.  It's clear to the coach that progress has levelled off, and things are starting to go backward.  There is just no way that this gymnast is ready for anything more advanced.  He can tell when a gymnast is falling behind in training and exercise.

So what does the gymnast need?  What can the coach do for such a gymnast as this?  Well, the gymnast needs at least two things:

1.  He needs some help right away.  He needs to get down out of this double back flip and onto his feet safely instead of his head; and

2.  He needs some new standards for practice and exercises so that he doesn't keep drifting backward and ultimately give up the sport – which, in this picture, stands for the Christian life.

And these are the two things our Biblical coach actually does for him.  First he tries to bring the gymnast to a safe landing.  Remember, he is in a dangerous position doing his double back flip with fatigue setting and experiencing uncertainty and instability.  There are a lot of Christians who get themselves into desperate situations because they have spiritual fatigue setting in, they neglect their salvation (2:3), they've drifted away from the Word (2:1), they've lost the ability to distinguish good from evil (5:14; cf Rom.12:2), and now they are in a situation where they feel they are hanging by their spiritual fingernails and could drop any minute.

A sign of that might be that they're in a crisis, a marriage quickly deteriorating, a job or business going horribly wrong.

Well, here is this gymnast in mid-flight about six feet off the mat, upside down and just about to lose his bearings and come down on his neck.  We've got to put him in slow motion because the coach has to have time to say what the Bible says.  I think the coach says two things.  Actually, he is shouting these things in love: "Find the floor!”  “Find the floor!”  Which means, get the floor in view.  When you are doing a back flip, you're a goner if you don't get your bearings from the floor.  If all you see is a swirl of ceiling lights and grandstands you're done for.  “Find the floor!"

Can you hear our Biblical coach this morning shouting from Hebrews 3:1 – "Fix your thoughts on Jesus!" or 12:2, "Fix your eyes on Jesus!”  Jesus is the one surety: He is the Rock, the Foundation.  Get Him in view when everything else in your life is swirling and you will land safely.

The coach knows that panic is the worst enemy in the middle of a dangerous routine.  And panic comes from a growing sense of weakness and uncertainty - or we might say, a lack of assurance in the Christian life.

And the main cry of this letter to the Hebrews is: Hang in there.  Jesus is sure!  God is sure!  The cross is sure!  The covenant is sure!  The promises are sure!  Fix your attention on the things that are sure!  Find the floor!

That's the first thing the coach shouts to the gymnast in mid-air.  The other thing he shouts comes straight from Hebrews 12:12, “...strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.” (NIV).  “Lift your drooping hands!  Strengthen your weak knees!" (RSV).

We might say, pull yourself together!  Get your hands up!  Tuck up your knees!  In other words, the coach wants him first to get his bearings by fixing his attention on the floor.  But then something else has to happen for the gymnast to land safely.  The sight of the floor, has to have a strengthening, reassuring effect in his body.  That's what the coach wants when he shouts, “Lift your drooping hands!  Strengthen your weak knees!" He means, respond to the floor.  The coach of Scripture pleads with us to keep us from breaking our necks again and again.

I will admit that some of us are so used to hearing the commands of Scripture often that now we regard them as burdensome and pressuring.  We shouldn't feel that way.  We should think of the commands of Scripture as the cries of a coach who wants us to land on our feet and finish the routine of a righteous life and inherit the gold medal of glory.  "Find the floor” wherever you are in your Christian life.  Turn your eyes to Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Then exercise your faith in works of love and obedience.  Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus and your faith will be strengthened.  Your ability to make good moral choices will be well trained.  You will be able to distinguish good from evil.  You will make progress toward maturity.  And you will have the full assurance of hope, and that will make you ready for the toughest routines your coach may ever push you to try, for His glory.

Amen.