Text: Heb. 6:1-3

• We are to go on to perfection
• "Leaving" = "having left once and for all"
• Illus. I learn my ABC's in order to go on to better things like reading, Shakespeare, science fiction, Louis LaMour. I learn the basics of hammering nails that I can go on to the better things of building something useful. We learn the basics of the Christian life so that we can go on to the better things of teaching others (5:11-14) and the better things of spiritual maturity.
• "Let us go on" = "let us be carried forward" since it is God who enables us grow. We water and prune, God gives the increase.

1. Elementary Doctrines
1. Viewpoint that is refers to basic Christian doctrines
1. Repentance & Faith
1. Two sides of the same coin (Acts 20:21)
2. Repentance: to change one's mind to the extent that it also causes a change in behavior
1. It is not a mere feeling of remorse
2. It involves more than just a change of mind
2. Baptisms & Laying on of Hands
1. "Baptisms" is plural and could be referring to "washings"
1. Baptism into the body of Christ
2. Water baptism by immersion as symbolism for identification with Christ
3. Could refer to the fact that "washings" is symbolic of being cleansed from sin (Acts 22:16)
2. Laying on of Hands
1. Share in a blessing (Lu. 24:50; Acts 19:6)
2. Set apart someone for service (1 Ti. 5:22)
3. Apostles ability to impart spiritual gifts to some (1 Ti. 4:14)
3. Resurrection & Eternal Judgment
1. Resurrection
1. Jesus' resurrection
2. Our future resurrection
2. Eternal Judgment
1. Note the move to universalism
1. Graham notes
2. Schuller asks, "What do you think is the future of Christianity? Graham responds, "I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re membes of the Body of Christ...He’s calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ because they’ve been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something they don’t have, and they turn to the only light they have, and I think they are saved..."
3. In McCall’s "I used to believe that pagans in far-off countries are lost¾ were going to hell¾ if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. I believe that there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God...and therefore plenty of other opportunities of saying ‘yes’ to God."
2. Viewpoint that they refer to basic teachings of Judasim
1. They were to go on past the immature and the basics of Judaism and grow up into Christ
2. Six teachings important to Judasim
1. Repentance from dead works

Works of the Law that no one ever kept fully

2. Faith is an OT principle as well as NT (Hab. ; Gen. 15:6)
3. "baptisms" refers to the ritual "washings" of the OT
4. "laying on of hands" refers to placing hand on the animal before offering a sacrifice
5. OT presented the "baby" view of a general resurrection and of judgment. It did not go into detail like the NT. We must go on to the resurrection of Christ and the other resurrections detailed in the NT.
2. Eternal Security
1. Various views of Hebrews 6:4-6
1. Jewish believers

who lived in a unique period of time and had to be warned not to return to Judaism. This was a possibility as long as the temple was standing. They faced a unique situation that no one today faces. It was possible for them to go back and thus "lose their salvation." This would no longer be possible today.

2. Threshold Jewish believers

Jewish people who came to the threshold of salvation who professed salvation but who were not genuinely saved.

3. Hypothetical case

Based on 6:9 "we are persuaded better things of you." Let’s suppose you do not go on to maturity, does this mean that you could lose your salvation? No! Because this would put Christ to an open shame and require that He be crucified afresh.

4. Apostasy possible with subsequent salvation

This is the view of many Arminians, especially of the Church of God persuasion. It is possible to lose your salvation.

5. Apostasy possible without the possibility of salvation (FWB)

Apostasy is possible, but if it happens, it is final and cannot be reversed because Jesus could not be crucified again for you.

6. Warning to believers who could commit the "sin unto death"

This is referring to true believers. The "falling away" is not becoming "unsaved" but one of "falling alongside of" sinners. It is possible for a Christian to so harden his heart that he will not repent and will commit the "sin unto death." It is also possible that it is referring to the inability to repent or return to a former condition. For example, Esau "repented" with tears and sought for the blessing but was unable to have it returned to him. In the same way, a person can sin to the point of forfeiting a blessing or position in which it is impossible for them to be brought back to their former state. For example, a pastor who commits adultery forfeits his qualification to be a pastor and cannot be brought back to repentance in the sense that he can no longer meet the qualifications for being a pastor. His crucifying the Son of God afresh and bringing Him to an open shame caused it to be impossible for him to be brought to repentance in the sense of restoring him to his position. Yes, he could repent of his sin, but that would not change some of the consequence of that sin.

2. Examination
1. Is it addressed to possessors of mere professors?
1. Arguments for mere professors
1. Oliver B. Greene: "Tasted but did not partake or eat of Christ."
2. They went along with God up to a point, but never came to a saving knowledge
2. Arguments for being true possessors (my view)
1. You couldn’t find a better description for a Christian
1. "tasted" is the same word used in 2:9 where Jesus "tastes" death for every man. Jesus actually experienced death just as the person in 6:4 actually experienced salvation
2. "Once enlightened" means "enlightened once and for all"
3. "Partakers" means "sharing with"
2. The book is written to believers who are to go on to maturity, not to mere professors who need to become possessors
2. What is the "fall away?"
1. It is not the usual word for "apostasy."
2. parapiptw is used, not apostasia which means that "come along side of."
3. The falling away does not have to refer to falling away from salvation, but from Christian living. There is a difference.
3. Repentance
1. "crucify" and "put" are present participles
2. This means that it could be translated "while they are crucifying and putting..."
3. A person cannot repent while he is living in a sinful condition but could repent when he quits living like that
4. Impossible
1. What does it mean for it to be impossible to be renewed?
2. Esau "repented" with tears but it was impossible to get back what he had lost
3. It is possible to get to the point that you forfeit the fruit or ministry or the right of ministry and it is impossible to be brought back to repentance
1. It is impossible to renew a pastor who commits adultery
2. It is impossible to...
5. What do they fall from?
1. Do they fall from salvation? No! Interpret the obscure by the plain.
2. They fall from Christian living to the point that they commit the sin unto death and cannot repent
6. Eternal security argument
1. Verses To Consider
1. Romans 8:29

"predestined to be conformed"

2. Romans 8:30

"justified, glorified"

3. Romans 8:38-39

"nothing shall separate"

4. John 6:37-40

"I shall lose none"

5. John 10:28

"No man can pluck them out"

6. John 3:36

"hath eternal life"

7. 2 Peter 1:4

"partakers of the divine nature"

2. 5 Concepts to Consider
1. We are saved by faith, kept by faith

2 Tim. 1:12, 1 Pet. 1:3-5

2. Our sins were paid in full

John 19:30

3. We are a new creature

2 Cor. 5:17

4. We are sons of God

John 1:12

5. We are saved unto good works

Eph. 2:10

3. Energetic Service