Still have doubts? Take his yoke!

 Read Hebrews 6

What’s going on here? Have we abandoned once saved, always saved?  That’s for the next service. Stick around to find out where you will be spending eternity. I have an advanced copy of the list.

We talk now about moving forward.  We talk about building upon a foundation. We talk about not being lazy in our discipleship.

Most scriptures have messages for the lost: Repent and Believe. They also have messages for the disciple:  Put your talents to work at once. Grow in God’s grace. Wake up! Pay attention!

Take his yoke Learn from him. Put his words into practice.

We are not just pouring the foundation. We are building the house. We only need to build the foundation one time. Now it’s time for uprights and crossbeams and the eternal search for a good two-by-four.

Now is the time for discipleship. OK, but what about this falling away business? I will jump ahead a few chapters. Listen to God’s word.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,

“In just a little while,

    he who is coming will come

    and will not delay.”

 And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith.

    And I take no pleasure

    in the one who shrinks back.”

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

We are not those who shrink back. Yes, we sin, but sin is not our objective.

We are not those who shrink back. Yes, we miss the mark on a recurring basis, but only the enemy tells us that our salvation is forfeit.

Jesus says confess and get back in your race.

If you have tasted God’s goodness in salvation, how can you desire anything else? The sinful person that you once were wants his old job back, but Jesus will not let you go.

He has saved you and you have not been lost to the enemy. So, what now?

How I rejoice when I get to use this word in a message.  What now?

DISCIPLESHIP

We take his yoke.

We learn from him.

We put his words into practice.

We who have received the good news and embraced the gift of salvation take the message of life and hope to our neighbors and to the world.

These words are to come. They are in the chapter just before an extensive discussion on faith. Here they are.

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

We have faith and we are saved.  So why then do these words test me and my faith and make me wonder about my salvation?

If they do, we have not taken his yoke, learned from him, or put his words into practice.

For when we take his yoke, learn from him, and put his words into practice, doubt is eviscerated.

We no longer doubt. We are not the wave tossed about on the sea.  We are the faithful.

Want to get rid of doubt? Put his words into practice.