If you get to six—oh no, one of my kids ripped the page out of my Bible. Can I borrow a Darby Bible? You sure? Oh, this one looks worn out. That’s good. Sorry, I don’t want to take your Bible.
We’ve been looking into this concept of going from milk to meat, as the Word of God mentions this concept. One of the places where it is discussed is in Hebrews 5 and the beginning of Hebrews 6. To start with, I want to read Hebrews 5:12 for the sake of context, so that we can continue in this milk-to-meat theme.
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have again need that one should teach you what are the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food.
For every one that partakes of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But solid food belongs to full-grown men, who on account of habit have their senses exercised for distinguishing both good and evil.
I want to continue into Hebrews 6:1-3.
Wherefore, leaving the word of the beginning of the Christ, let us go on to what belongs to full growth, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God,
of the doctrine of washings, and of imposition of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment;
and this will we do if God permit.
Notice that phrase: “repentance from dead works and faith in God.” This is what we will look at today.
One more verse is Hebrews 9:14. This again contains the phrase “dead works.”
How much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered Himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?
In some translations, it says, “to serve the living God.” How much rather shall the blood of the Christ purify your conscience from dead works to worship the living God?
Lord, we commit this time into Your hands. We look to You; we believe on You. Lord, we pray that You would speak to us through Your Word, that it would be alive to us again in this moment as we read and contemplate. Lord, we pray that we would behold You, see You, and that You would reveal Yourself to us.
May faith rise up in us, that we could call upon Your name and believe on You. Whatever maturity level everyone is at in this room, Lord, all of us want to turn to You, believe on You, trust in You, and look away to You, the Leader and Completer of our faith. Lord, we trust in You right now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As I mentioned, we have looked recently into the topic of going from milk to meat. At the beginning of this passage in Hebrews, we wanted to establish one thing very solidly: the foundation on which we stand for all growth.
There is a need to go on to full maturity. But if we are not clear about where we stand, we become confused along the way, and it hinders our growth. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3 that no one can lay another foundation, which is Christ. No one can remove our foundation, but we can become confused, and it will trip us up.
Christ Himself is the very ground from which all our growth comes. That cannot be burned up. He Himself is the rock from which the whole house is being built. That stone, that rock, that boulder, can never be removed.
Once we initially believe on the Lord Jesus, once we first come to Him, we are there. We are alive in Christ. We are immovable. Our salvation is stable and solid and cannot be removed from us.
With that basis, we can grow. We do not have to be afraid of needing to get saved again, or worry, when someone tells us to do something, that we have not done enough and that God may not accept us. We realize that we are accepted in Christ alone.
Because we are accepted in the Beloved, we are in the very heart of God, and He will never leave us nor forsake us. This is a place where we rest. But from there, there is a calling. After you become a Christian, you sense inside a calling to go forward—a calling unto full growth.
There is a need to grow up from being a baby Christian to being an adult Christian, a mature Christian. As the picture of milk and meat is mentioned here, and also in 1 Corinthians 3, there is a desire of the Lord for us to receive the milk of the Word—the Word of grace, everything we have in Christ—but also to be able to chew the meat of the Word, solid food.
We discover more and more of what we have received in Christ. But as we go on, the Lord brings us from milk into meat: from the discovery, “This is what I have received in Christ,” to the discovery, “This is what Christ’s life is like through me. This is Christ in me, and He lives His life through me.”
The Lord is constantly drawing us and wooing us, in a sense, by the loveliness of all that we have received in Christ. He urges us on to discover more of that grace living through us. Each step of the way is a discovery on both sides.
As the Lord commands us to chew a little more solid food, He gives us a little milk with our steak. It is like the land of Canaan: as you discover the land, you find that it is flowing with milk and honey. Where there is milk, there are also cows to eat.
As you take your steps along the way, you see how good the Lord is. Then you suddenly realize that His life is within you and that He wants to shine that goodness through you. Step by step, He draws us on, giving us that craving for more of Him. We see more of Christ, and then He brings us into living more of Christ.
Today, we want to take one aspect of this growth process. We are going to start at the roots, in a sense, at the foundational spot. These teachings in Hebrews 6 are called the elementary teachings, or the beginning of the Word of the Christ.
The word beginning is actually the same word as corner in Scripture, like when the corners of the sheet were brought down before Peter in a dream. It gives the idea of a beginning that branches out into something more.
Even though these elementary teachings are foundational, they grow into something more. When Hebrews 6 says, “Let us go on to full growth, leaving the word of the beginning of the Christ,” it does not mean to leave it altogether. Leaving the beginning does not mean leaving it alone; it means going forth from there.
The same phrase is found in Hebrews 3, where it says to hold fast the beginning firm until the end. So we do not leave the beginning by forgetting it, neglecting it, losing it, or moving on to something totally different. Instead, we grow from it.
It is a corner that branches into something more. It is a root that grows. Hebrews 6 gives the picture of a field, a garden, or a husbandry receiving grace. It is like a grapevine, with roots dug in and growing forth. The trunk is almost like a twisted root, growing together into the vine and then bearing fruit.
There are basically three sets of teachings:
Although there are six items, they fit best when divided into pairs. The first pair speaks of the past: repentance from dead works and faith in God. The second pair speaks of our present course: baptisms and the laying on of hands. The third pair speaks of the future: resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
At the very beginning of a Christian life, the first thing the Lord teaches is repentance from dead works and faith in God—even before baptism. The term “dead works” is not common, even in the Bible. We see works, works of the law, and works of the flesh, but “dead works” is a unique phrase.
Still, the understanding is there right from the beginning as we are saved. A dead work is an action whose nature is dead. When someone gives in, gives up, turns to Christ, and believes on the Lord Jesus, the main thing they are repenting from is trying to be saved by their own ability.
They may have a particular sin on their heart. They may feel loneliness, stress, or uncertainty about their purpose in life. But however it is understood, the conscience knows, “I need a Savior. I need to trust in Someone else.”
Everything that stands against that confession—“I need His help; I need Him to save me”—is dead works. Technically, all our actions before salvation are dead, because Ephesians 2:1 says that we were spiritually dead in our sins.
Before I am saved, I am spiritually dead to God. Therefore, my dead works are anything I do before God while I am spiritually dead to Him. But I want to be alive to God. So I turn from whatever I have—whatever that whole package is.
The main thing the conscience holds is this: Will I receive the Savior or not receive the Savior? Whether the experience is confessing many sins or coming to Him weary and heavy laden, all of it is gathered into one confession: “I need a Savior. I cannot be saved by myself.”
The conscience understands this, even if the mind has not fully understood it. At the great white throne judgment, the books of all that has been done will be opened. The good, the bad, and the ugly will all be listed. The conscience will know: “I am a sinner. I am a failure. All my works are dead.”
As Isaiah 64:6 says, our righteous deeds are as filthy rags. Everything I have done that seems good has a mixture of what is not good within it. But the one issue is this: Did you receive My Son or not?
Revelation 20 says that everyone whose name was not found in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. It is the one issue. It is the one dead work that must chiefly be repented of: refusing the Son of God.
Jesus said to Nicodemus that He did not come into the world to judge the world in the sense of exposing every individual sin. The world is judged by this one sin: they did not receive the Son of God.
Hebrews 9:14 says that our conscience is cleansed by the blood. As we turn from our dead works and believe in God, our conscience is cleansed or washed clean by the blood of Jesus, so that we may worship and serve the living God.
The conscience is that place within us where we know that we have done something wrong. It is our spiritual inward sense that says, “That is sin,” “That is not right,” “I should do this,” or “I should not do that.” That place is cleansed from dead works.
The very first step is to realize, “I need the Lord Jesus to save me.” I believe on Him, and because He died for me and made the way for me to be saved and have life, I turn to Him.
When we speak of the blood spiritually, we mean that He died on the cross. His body bled because He died for our sins. When we say that His blood washes us clean, we mean that the work He did on the cross takes away all our failure, dead works, and sins.
I turn from that. His death on the cross—His blood—washes me clean. Now I behold Christ, I am born again, and I receive eternal life. Hallelujah. This is repentance from dead works and faith in God.
As a new believer grows, the conscience begins to awaken to particular sins. The believer hears the Word, hears others share, and the heart says, “Amen, that is right. It is wrong for me to gossip. It is wrong for me to speak badly about someone. It is wrong for me to curse. It is wrong for me to bend the truth and exaggerate.”
The believer discovers sins, confesses them, and the blood of Jesus cleanses from sins. Fellowship with God is maintained. Then another sin appears, the believer confesses again, and the conscience is washed clean again.
Over and over, there is repentance from dead works and faith in God. At this beginning stage, sins are often obvious outward sins—things found plainly in Scripture and things about which the conscience speaks loudly.
The more repentance happens, the more the believer begins to hate sin. Death came through sin, so sinful actions can rightly be connected with dead works. Yet sins do not disconnect the believer from the foundation. They do not take the believer away from eternal life with God.
Sin does affect present fellowship. When the conscience is filled with sin, faith can feel shipwrecked, like water has come into a boat and it is sinking. But when that hole is sealed through confession, the conscience is cleansed by the precious blood.
The dirty water is taken out, the boat rises, faith rises, and we behold Christ again. We can say, “Hallelujah. I can worship the living God. I can serve the living God. Repentance from dead works and faith in God—I am back.”
Growth happens. Sins are overcome by the precious blood. The mind is renewed through repentance. What was once a strong temptation becomes uglier and uglier. After repenting many times, a believer begins to say, “I hate that sin. Temptation, flee from me. Get behind me, Satan.”
At the beginning, a new believer naturally has first works, or works of faith. Revelation 2 speaks of first love and first works. First Thessalonians 1 speaks of the works of faith of new believers.
Because a new believer has trusted so deeply in the Lord Jesus, almost whatever that believer does is motivated by the love of Christ and by leaning on Him. Even with mistakes along the way, the overall response is works of faith.
That first response becomes consecration: “I give my life to the Lord. I want to be baptized.” The believer continues to take steps. Eventually, there is a conviction that the Lord has work for the believer to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10 brings all of this together:
For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is God’s gift:
not on the principle of works, that no man might boast.
For we are His workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.
We are not saved by works apart from faith. No one can stand before God and say, “I earned my place in heaven.” But after salvation, there is work. We have been created in Christ Jesus for good works—works God prepared beforehand for us.
Eventually, sins of omission also show up in the conscience: things we know we should be doing. The Lord may speak to us about being regularly in the Word of God, meditating on it, reading it, letting it dwell in us richly, having fellowship, and sharing with others.
When we neglect these things, we sense, “I should have done that.” At even a baby stage, believers learn something mature believers sometimes need to learn again: we cannot simply sit still. There are works to do, diligently, by faith.
The movement from dead works into the realm of faith leads into works of faith. Milk becomes meat. As our hearts are overwhelmed by the love of Christ, faith rises up and says, “Let us take a step forward and do something by faith.”
This is what makes a work a work of faith: I lean on Him to do it. If I can do something with no prayer, I am in danger of doing a dead work. Whatever maturity level I am at, if I can do something without Him, it is dead.
As believers grow, the Word of God brings a major spiritual experience: the division of soul and spirit. Hebrews 4:12 speaks of this dividing work. As believers offer their bodies as living sacrifices to worship and serve the living God, our great High Priest works upon that living sacrifice.
With the double-edged sword of the Holy Spirit, He begins to divide and separate soul and spirit. Little by little, convictions connected to the Word show us: “That is God. That is not God. That is spirit. That is soul. This is you, and this is Me.”
As this happens, believers discover a new kind of dead work: the works of the flesh. Galatians speaks about the works of the flesh. The first discovery is often the corrupted, sinful actions that arise from the flesh.
Before, I saw sin merely as sin: “I lied; that was a sin.” Now I discover that the action came from my flesh. It was me, yes, but it was me in the flesh.
In this context, the flesh is the soul corrupted by sin. Each of us has a unique experience of flesh. One person’s flesh may appear as anger; another person’s flesh may appear meek on the surface but be deceptive, backbiting, or self-serving underneath.
The discovery is that whatever I do by the flesh will turn out badly. Whenever I do something bad, it is my flesh. I am no longer only repenting from sins; I am repenting from the flesh behind the sins.
I repent of living by the flesh. I turn back and believe on the Lord Jesus. By His Spirit, He dwells in my spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in me, and I can live by the Holy Spirit. He can live through me.
More and more, I hate the flesh. I see that flesh monster within me, and I want to reject it. But at first, I may not know what to do. I only know repentance from dead works and faith in God.
Then comes a fresh discovery of the glorious gospel. Christ died for me, and His blood washes me clean from my dead works of flesh. But He shows me something more: He died for me, but on the same cross, I was crucified with Christ.
As Galatians 2:20 says:
I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and that which I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Now I can say, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” The work of the flesh is the old me. I have discovered that I am in Christ, and I am also crucified. This begins a whole new realm of applying the cross.
Since I have been crucified, I can deny my flesh. When I sense that flesh monster rising up, I can say, “No. Stop. I am crucified with Christ. That old man has been crucified.”
That old man, inherited from Adam, was there on the cross with Christ. I am delivered from having to obey sin. I am delivered from having to live by my flesh. This is such a glorious discovery.
There are often one or two sins that a believer cannot overcome by personal effort. These are repeating sins, habitual sins. You repent, hate the sin, and yet feel that you will just do it again. But the Lord shows us that the flesh can never overcome the flesh.
Never try to fix your flesh. Repent of the dead works of flesh and believe in Him. The flesh is not improved; it is crucified. The only option is for it to be dead on the cross with Christ. Hallelujah.
As the Lord continues to divide soul and spirit, He shows us something beyond the carnal works of the flesh. He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.
The division is not merely between flesh and spirit; it is between soul and spirit. The conscience is in the spirit of man. As we are cleansed from dead works to worship the living God, our conscience becomes more sensitive, and we become more experienced in discerning spirit from soul.
Then we discover the self-life, the soul-life, or strength apart from God: the strength of my personality and my person without leaning on Him. There is the life of Christ within us, which we are called to live by, and there is the life of our own strength.
At this point, we discover that everything apart from Christ is a dead work. Everything done in my own strength—whether good or bad, obviously evil or merely “just me”—is dead because it is without Christ.
It is dead because it comes from the old man, Adam. It is dead because it chooses the tree of the knowledge of good and evil rather than the tree of life. It is the choice for my soul to be strong instead of my spirit being strong.
This discovery can become dangerous if we do not return to the foundational teaching. We either go forward in growth and discover something wonderful and glorious, or we become overwhelmed, give up, and go back into confusion.
But we go back to the beginning. How were we saved? Whatever our works were—good, bad, or ugly—they were dead as far as salvation was concerned. Without Him, I can do nothing. As John 15 says, He is the vine, and we must be connected to Him.
So we say: “I have done this before. This was the milk; now I am ready for the meat of it. I repent of dead works. I repent of living by myself. I believe on the Lord Jesus. Lord, live out Your life in me. I trust in You. I lean on You to live.”
This is a threshold of maturity. The Word is still dividing soul and spirit, but a break has happened. The Lord brings us into more and more discoveries of what is me and what is the Lord.
As John the Baptist said in John 3, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” This is what happens in spiritual maturity. What becomes more precious is the precious blood of Jesus, because it cleanses us from dead works to worship and serve the living God.
The Lord shows us the height of His purpose in Christ and Him crucified: conformity to the image of Christ. As Romans 8 says, believers are conformed to His image. The more the cross works and crosses out me, the more it brings out Christ.
The less of me there is, the more of Christ is there. This does not lead to despair. It leads to worship: “Hallelujah. I have died with Christ. I am crucified with Christ.” The Lord is doing something for eternity. He is shining Christ through us.
Man was made in the image of God. Christ is the image of God, as Colossians 1 says. God brings us into Christ and conforms us to His image. We finally reach what we were created for: to bear the image of the glorious God.
All the unglory fades away as He crosses it out through the cross, as we repent from dead works and believe on Him. All minor sufferings and denials of self become shadows of nothing when we see how glorious it is for Christ to shine through a believer.
When we see mature believers, we say, “That is glorious.” When we see someone come through on the other side of consecration—when they have given up something of themselves and Christ shines through them—we see the beauty of Christ.
The beauty of Christ is worth it. The glory of Christ is what we are after. In repentance from dead works, we are not losing ourselves in the ultimate sense. We are discovering who we were created to be in Christ Jesus.
We are discovering the full calling of God for a human being created in the image of God and conformed to the image of Christ. This is repentance from dead works and faith in God. This is the way the Lord takes us unto full growth by faith.
Glory. We worship You. We worship the living God. We thank You that today, in this moment, we can turn away from all our dead works. We can leave these things behind in the light of the glory of the Son of God, in the glory of the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
Lord, as we behold You and see all that You have for us—and beyond that, all that You have for eternity, all that You are after, all that You have purposed for all creation—what can we hang on to?
We let these things go. We give up our striving. We give up our hanging on. We repent from dead works, Lord, and we believe in You and turn to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.