Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 20
Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
Isaiah 57:12 I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.
“Yeah, I know our works can’t save us. But once we are saved then we do those works to get rewards.”
No… fleshly works will not profit men in eternity.
Psalms 73:12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
Good works in the flesh only prosper IN THE WORLD.
But SPIRITUAL good works produce a HEAVENLY, eternal profit.
Not only is a Christian now ABLE to produce a heavenly profit, but that is the ONLY thing that he is able to do:
Psalms 1:3-4 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Does EVERYTHING YOU DO… prosper?
Can you apply that to THIS WORLD???
Do you know anyone who NEVER loses money in the stock market?
NEVER labours in vain? NEVER fails to do something that they TRIED to do?
Go sow some apple seeds in your yard. Will every one of them prosper?
Go be a doctor and try to heal people. Will you always prosper?
Go be a lawyer, and try to put bad guys in jail. Will you always prosper?
Go try to negotiate peace in the Middle East. Will that prosper?
Try this… Go to a local church where there is gossiping, and fighting, and envy, and bitterness, and hatred in their midst… and try to fix that church. Good luck!
You don’t think the PASTOR of that church is trying to profit them???
Maybe, you eventually do help! But, not EVERY SINGLE THING that you do, or try, “shall prosper” that church, will it?
And… if a man’s GOOD works… don’t ALWAYS prosper… how much less “whatsoever he doeth”?
Do you prosper every time you sin??? Every time you lie, or steal, or commit adultery???
Psalms 1:3 And he shall be like a tree .. .that bringeth forth his fruit … and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
If your Earthly works (good or bad) don’t ALWAYS produce an EARTHLY profit, how can you say that earthy good works are the fruits of a good tree, producing spiritual fruit; spiritual profit?
Every single true good work that a Christian does produces true good fruit; EVERY SINGLE ONE!
So how can “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper”, POSSIBLY apply to men’s FLESHLY good works on Earth? It can’t!
This is ONLY true of a Christian’s spirit, in the Spirit.
ONLY a Christian’s works CAN prosper, and EVERY ONE OF THEM, DOES prosper, because they are worked in Heaven, IN CHRIST.
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Good works done IN THE LORD produce true good things: heavenly good things. “Better things” than the things that can be seen on Earth.
Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
There are things that ACCOMPANY salvation. There are FRUITS that come along with it.
But the things that accompany salvation are NOT men’s fleshly good works on Earth.
The things that accompany salvation, are not VISIBLE good things. They are SPIRITUAL good things.
When a Christian sows his seed, it ALWAYS produces an ETERNAL PROFIT.
And when it is quickened in another man, it always supplies that man with BETTER THINGS. (The same 100% profitable seed).
2 Timothy 3:15-17 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
To furnish is to supply. (Deu 15:14, 1Ki 9:11)
Before salvation, a man LACKS the supply/substance necessary to do even a single true good work.
But instantly, when a person is saved, their spirit is made PERFECT, and they are furnished (supplied) with His WORDS (His substance – His water/bread/oil/clothing/light/spirit/life).
Then that person is CAPABLE of working EVERY good work.
He has been created unto, and furnished unto, ALL good works.
But not a single one of men’s good works, in the flesh, under the sun, profits God at all.
Thus, every good work you do in the flesh, even every good one, is going to be rejected.
Titus 1:15-16 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
Either everything is pure, or NOTHING is pure. No in between!
If you have ONE impure work/lust/thought, then NOTHING you do is pure!
Notice “BEING”, not DOING. It’s not what they DO that is the problem. It is what they ARE.
THAT is why their all their works… even the “good ones”… are reprobate.
What is “reprobate”?
Jeremiah 6:30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.
I believe reprobate means, FAKE! To the unknowing, it looks good/valuable. But it is like FAKE silver!
God will reject EVERY good work of the flesh, as a FAKE. As impure! As corrupt! … Every one!
Mankind CANNOT do a TRUE good work in the flesh. He is completely incapable of it.
AND THAT… is EXACTLY why Jesus had to CREATE US… IN HIM… UNTO good works.
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Only those created IN CHRIST, as new creatures, are ABLE to do true, SPIRTUAL good works.
But if you believe fleshly works matter, then you are BOASTING, and you are NOT saved by grace. You…
Hebrews 12:15 … fail of the grace of God …
Unto Unfeigned Love
1Peter 1:22 is yet another passage the false brethren use to justify their doctrine of, “good works are proof of salvation”.
I know we haven’t yet dealt with the problem texts in Hebrews 6 & 10, but I want to detour from “fail of the grace of God” one or two more times, before we really dive into Hebrews. I’ll try to keep them short, but I think its ESSENTIAL to really understand the true doctrine of salvation FIRST.
Hebrews 6 & 10 are used to teach works salvation, the same way as all these other passages that we’ve been explaining to this point. And 1 Peter 1:22 is yet another, used the same way.
“Well if you’re really saved, you won’t keep sinning on purpose! That’s what it says in Hebrews 10:26!”
“We’ll if you’re really saved, you WILL do good works! That’s what it says in Ephesians 2:10!”
“Well if you’re really saved, you WILL love others! That’s what is says in 1 Peter 1:22!”
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Just like the other passages we’ve been dealing with, you have to take this in BINARY, and you have to divide flesh from Spirit.
If a Christian is “purified unto” TRUE LOVE of the brethren (kind of like being “CREATED unto good works”), then we must conclude that before a person is saved, he is not CAPABLE of loving with TRUE, UNFEIGNED, LOVE.
If a lost person or an Old Testament saint could do it, then it can’t be TRUE love.
“Well my motivation is cleaner”, they think.
But that just isn’t true. Motivation isn’t the problem. Understanding is the problem, and men’s CAPABILITY is the problem.
So what is the explanation – the true interpretation of this passage?
Here is how TRUE love (unfeigned love) works:
- To LOVE God is to BELIEVE on Jesus.
- God’s commandments are to (1) love God and (2) love the brethren.
- To love God is to KEEP His commandments.
- We must KEEP God’s commandments to get saved.
- To KEEP is to retain (i.e., to hold, to guard, to preserve).
- God’s Commandments are His words.
- To KEEP His commandments is to RETAIN His WORDS.
- A person loves God when he believes the gospel unto salvation.
- A person loves the brethren when he believes the gospel unto salvation.
- At salvation a man receives the love of God in him.
- At salvation a man received the love of the brethren in him.
- The love of God is in Christ.
- A saved person loves the brethren, in Christ.
- A saved person loves the brethren AND his enemies, when he wins souls.
- To LOVE God is to BELIEVE on Jesus.
John 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
(“X, and Y” doesn’t by itself prove the equality/parallel. But if it is made elsewhere, it strengthens it.)
1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
In terms of the doctrine, in terms of salvation: to believe on Jesus, is to love God.
1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
- God’s commandments are to (1) love God and (2) love the brethren.
1 John 3:23-24 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
For all my preaching against the Old Covenant, I believe that the 2 commandments of the law of Moses (love God, love your neighbor), were a picture of the true requirements of the New Covenant. The New is pictured by the Old. In the NT, we DO need to do these two (2) things: love God and love the brethren.
The New law is spiritual, not carnal. So we must do these two things SPIRITUALLY.
Apr 22 2025
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 20
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 20
Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
Isaiah 57:12 I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.
“Yeah, I know our works can’t save us. But once we are saved then we do those works to get rewards.”
No… fleshly works will not profit men in eternity.
Psalms 73:12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
Good works in the flesh only prosper IN THE WORLD.
But SPIRITUAL good works produce a HEAVENLY, eternal profit.
Not only is a Christian now ABLE to produce a heavenly profit, but that is the ONLY thing that he is able to do:
Psalms 1:3-4 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Does EVERYTHING YOU DO… prosper?
Can you apply that to THIS WORLD???
Do you know anyone who NEVER loses money in the stock market?
NEVER labours in vain? NEVER fails to do something that they TRIED to do?
Go sow some apple seeds in your yard. Will every one of them prosper?
Go be a doctor and try to heal people. Will you always prosper?
Go be a lawyer, and try to put bad guys in jail. Will you always prosper?
Go try to negotiate peace in the Middle East. Will that prosper?
Try this… Go to a local church where there is gossiping, and fighting, and envy, and bitterness, and hatred in their midst… and try to fix that church. Good luck!
You don’t think the PASTOR of that church is trying to profit them???
Maybe, you eventually do help! But, not EVERY SINGLE THING that you do, or try, “shall prosper” that church, will it?
And… if a man’s GOOD works… don’t ALWAYS prosper… how much less “whatsoever he doeth”?
Do you prosper every time you sin??? Every time you lie, or steal, or commit adultery???
Psalms 1:3 And he shall be like a tree .. .that bringeth forth his fruit … and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
If your Earthly works (good or bad) don’t ALWAYS produce an EARTHLY profit, how can you say that earthy good works are the fruits of a good tree, producing spiritual fruit; spiritual profit?
Every single true good work that a Christian does produces true good fruit; EVERY SINGLE ONE!
So how can “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper”, POSSIBLY apply to men’s FLESHLY good works on Earth? It can’t!
This is ONLY true of a Christian’s spirit, in the Spirit.
ONLY a Christian’s works CAN prosper, and EVERY ONE OF THEM, DOES prosper, because they are worked in Heaven, IN CHRIST.
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Good works done IN THE LORD produce true good things: heavenly good things. “Better things” than the things that can be seen on Earth.
Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
There are things that ACCOMPANY salvation. There are FRUITS that come along with it.
But the things that accompany salvation are NOT men’s fleshly good works on Earth.
The things that accompany salvation, are not VISIBLE good things. They are SPIRITUAL good things.
When a Christian sows his seed, it ALWAYS produces an ETERNAL PROFIT.
And when it is quickened in another man, it always supplies that man with BETTER THINGS. (The same 100% profitable seed).
2 Timothy 3:15-17 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
To furnish is to supply. (Deu 15:14, 1Ki 9:11)
Before salvation, a man LACKS the supply/substance necessary to do even a single true good work.
But instantly, when a person is saved, their spirit is made PERFECT, and they are furnished (supplied) with His WORDS (His substance – His water/bread/oil/clothing/light/spirit/life).
Then that person is CAPABLE of working EVERY good work.
He has been created unto, and furnished unto, ALL good works.
But not a single one of men’s good works, in the flesh, under the sun, profits God at all.
Thus, every good work you do in the flesh, even every good one, is going to be rejected.
Titus 1:15-16 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
Either everything is pure, or NOTHING is pure. No in between!
If you have ONE impure work/lust/thought, then NOTHING you do is pure!
Notice “BEING”, not DOING. It’s not what they DO that is the problem. It is what they ARE.
THAT is why their all their works… even the “good ones”… are reprobate.
What is “reprobate”?
Jeremiah 6:30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.
I believe reprobate means, FAKE! To the unknowing, it looks good/valuable. But it is like FAKE silver!
God will reject EVERY good work of the flesh, as a FAKE. As impure! As corrupt! … Every one!
Mankind CANNOT do a TRUE good work in the flesh. He is completely incapable of it.
AND THAT… is EXACTLY why Jesus had to CREATE US… IN HIM… UNTO good works.
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Only those created IN CHRIST, as new creatures, are ABLE to do true, SPIRTUAL good works.
But if you believe fleshly works matter, then you are BOASTING, and you are NOT saved by grace. You…
Hebrews 12:15 … fail of the grace of God …
Unto Unfeigned Love
1Peter 1:22 is yet another passage the false brethren use to justify their doctrine of, “good works are proof of salvation”.
I know we haven’t yet dealt with the problem texts in Hebrews 6 & 10, but I want to detour from “fail of the grace of God” one or two more times, before we really dive into Hebrews. I’ll try to keep them short, but I think its ESSENTIAL to really understand the true doctrine of salvation FIRST.
Hebrews 6 & 10 are used to teach works salvation, the same way as all these other passages that we’ve been explaining to this point. And 1 Peter 1:22 is yet another, used the same way.
“Well if you’re really saved, you won’t keep sinning on purpose! That’s what it says in Hebrews 10:26!”
“We’ll if you’re really saved, you WILL do good works! That’s what it says in Ephesians 2:10!”
“Well if you’re really saved, you WILL love others! That’s what is says in 1 Peter 1:22!”
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Just like the other passages we’ve been dealing with, you have to take this in BINARY, and you have to divide flesh from Spirit.
If a Christian is “purified unto” TRUE LOVE of the brethren (kind of like being “CREATED unto good works”), then we must conclude that before a person is saved, he is not CAPABLE of loving with TRUE, UNFEIGNED, LOVE.
If a lost person or an Old Testament saint could do it, then it can’t be TRUE love.
“Well my motivation is cleaner”, they think.
But that just isn’t true. Motivation isn’t the problem. Understanding is the problem, and men’s CAPABILITY is the problem.
So what is the explanation – the true interpretation of this passage?
Here is how TRUE love (unfeigned love) works:
John 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
(“X, and Y” doesn’t by itself prove the equality/parallel. But if it is made elsewhere, it strengthens it.)
1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
In terms of the doctrine, in terms of salvation: to believe on Jesus, is to love God.
1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1 John 3:23-24 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
For all my preaching against the Old Covenant, I believe that the 2 commandments of the law of Moses (love God, love your neighbor), were a picture of the true requirements of the New Covenant. The New is pictured by the Old. In the NT, we DO need to do these two (2) things: love God and love the brethren.
The New law is spiritual, not carnal. So we must do these two things SPIRITUALLY.
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine, Christian Life, False Prophets/Doctrine, Good Works, Identifying False Christians, Problem Texts, Salvation • 0