March 27, 2022

Going on Unto Perfection

Series:
Passage: Hebrews 6:1-3
Service Type:

This sermon was unfortunately not recorded. Here's a summary with some of the sermon notes.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

 

Let us go on unto perfection About becoming "perfect"

  • 1Cor 13:9 "we know in part"
  • 1Cor 8:1-2 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
  • Phil 3:13-14 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Repentance from dead works

  • Acts 19:4-5 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

 

Faith toward God

  • John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

 

Hebrews 6:2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

 

Baptisms, washings

  • Noah in the ark: 1Pet 3:20-21 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
  • Passed through the sea: 1Cor 10:1-2 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
  • There's a strange idea on baptism that it was ONLY and OT ordinance, and that it no longer applies to NT believers. I think that is very shallow and false. I think when we look at this Scripture we have to weigh what it means in light of what is baptism (or washings)? I think in this case it is talking about OT washings, here in the plural form as "baptisms". Some translations nowadays do put washings.
    • I think an important piece of this puzzle is John the Baptist. Even though he was only about 6 months older than Jesus (earthly age), He was told by someone to go and baptize. (John 1:32-33 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.). We know it was God who sent John, (Jn 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John). Also, John was filled with the Holy Spirit (God) from his mother's womb. We don't see this type of baptism in the OT at all, I believe such ideas are only speculation, and wrong. Yes there was washing of Aaron and his sons (Lev 8:6). There was washing from uncleanness, like if someone had leprosy and got rid of it (Lev 14:1-9, see v8), or if someone had touched a dead body (Num 19:11-13), etc.
    • Acts 19:4-5 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
  • NT washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5)

 

Laying on of hands

  • Not on sickness, but on OT principles and rules of laying hands on animals to place the sins of the people on the animal. James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
  • Lev 1:4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
  • Lev 4:24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord: it is a sin offering.
  • Lev 16:21-22 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
    • Ps 103:11-13 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

 

Resurrection and eternal judgment

  • Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:8)

 

Hebrews 6:3 And this will we do, if God permit.

 

  • God is the source of knowledge
  • God in Christ is the fulfillment of everything that was foretold and foreshadowed, we can not know or learn anything without His enabling and permitting. In this case learning about the substance instead of the shadows.

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