Hebrews 5:11-6:12 | An Encouraging Warning
The Signal Flare: Understanding the Warning of Hebrews 6
The Fear of Falling Away
Have you ever feared that you or someone you love could walk away from faith forever? Hebrews 6 contains what many consider the most terrifying verses in the Bible. It speaks of those who have "tasted the heavenly gift" and yet "fall away," stating it is "impossible to restore them again to repentance."
But these verses are not meant to drive us to despair; they are meant to act as signal flares. Just as a GPS warns you of an upcoming hazard to keep you on the right path, the writer of Hebrews uses this warning to prevent us from ship-wrecking our lives.
Milk vs. Solid Food: The Danger of Apathy
The warning begins with a critique of spiritual immaturity. The readers had become "dull of hearing." They wanted to stay on "milk"—the basic, comfortable concepts of faith—rather than moving on to "solid food."
Spiritual maturity is not about how many facts you know; it’s about discernment. According to Hebrews 5:14, the mature are those who "have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice." If we aren't practicing our faith, we are drifting. And drifting, left unchecked, leads to a hardening of the heart.
Exposure vs. Transformation
The most sobering part of the message is the concept of exposure without transformation. It is possible to:
Be enlightened by the truth.
Taste the goodness of the Word.
Experience the power of a Christian community.
...and yet never truly submit to Jesus.
The writer uses an agricultural metaphor: two plots of land receive the same rain. One produces a useful crop; the other produces thorns and thistles. The difference isn't the rain (God's grace); it's the response of the soil (our hearts).
The Hope: God Remembers
The sermon concludes with a massive shift in tone. "Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things." (Hebrews 6:9).
The evidence of salvation is not perfection, but earnestness. God is not unjust; He does not forget your work and the love you have shown. If you are worried about your heart being hard, that worry is actually a sign of life. A truly hardened heart doesn't care about God's warnings. If you desire to cling to Christ today, that is the greatest evidence that His grace is still at work in you.