What we have to notice throughout Scripture is that God’s Word is filled with both warning of judgment and the proclamation of comfort. This is extremely evident in the Old Testament prophets. In one passage they will speak of God’s impending judgment to those who will not repent obey God’s Word but then turn and offer comfort to those who are putting their trust in the Lord and His Word. The New Testament is no different. We see both aspects in this section at which we have been looking. The author’s words about the dangers for those who are spiritually immature are now tempered by words of comfort to those who are genuinely following Christ. And in chapter 5:11-6:12 we have come full circle. The author has given a sober and scathing rebuke to those who might be on the verge of rejecting Christ but now he proceeds to give a word of encouragement to those who have been converted and are faithfully living by the grace of Christ.
The key idea in this passage is that though there may be some in a Christian community who need to still enter the rest the Father has provided through Christ and could possibly fall away, still there are those who need the encouragement to see the Lord’s work in their midst to continue diligently living out their faith.
I. Introduction – The author’s conviction
As we come to this next section of material the author gives his readers some encouragement. Not all he saw in the congregation was cause for alarm. And he notes it here. From an outward perspective he saw indications showing the genuine faith of the individuals he addressed. He warned them severely in the previous verses to keep them from a false sense of security in Christ. For a faith in Christ that does not remain is no real faith at all. But although he warned them severely he now lets them know he does see evidence of genuine faith. And he wants to encourage them to remain in it.
In the opening verse of this paragraph the author now states his conviction concerning their faith. He says, “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking this way.” The word “convinced” that he uses, describes a deep conviction toward his readers. You could say he is sold out to the fact of his readers’ genuine faith. He tells them he is convinced of these better things that accompany salvation. He is convinced his readers had truly undergone conversion and was now expressing this to them. There may have been those about whom he was concerned but now he lets them know why he has changed his tone.
II. The Evidence of Their Conversion
As we notice the body of this section the author describes the evidence of their conversion. He notes three evidences to show why he thinks the majority of his readers have truly experienced conversion to Christ.
A. Their love
The first evidence he notes is their love. In verse 10 he says, “God is not unjust to forget your work and the love which you have shown.” They were accomplishing a work due to the love in their hearts. Genuine supernatural love is found only in the Christian realm. Why are we able to have authentic love? The Scripture notes in Romans 5:5, “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us. He, whose first fruit is love, lives in us. We can love because God has poured His love within our hearts. We can pour our love out to others because God has poured His love in. And when we live by the power of the Spirit of God we truly begin to evidence the fruit of the Spirit. We can’t really love as the Spirit of God loves until He lives in us. We can’t love our enemies, we can’t love those who hate us and we cannot live out the true spirit of love in unselfishness until the Spirit of God has control of our lives.
Also in his first letter, the Apostle John says, “We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” And so love for our brothers and sisters in Christ is an evident token of conversion. We do not seek to take advantage of them in any way. We truly have a heart to seek their good even to the point of laying down our lives for them. This isn’t a natural love. It is a supernatural love and its work can only be accomplished by the Spirit of God who lives in us. When Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 (the first being love) he notes that against such things there is no law. He may mean there is no law that can produce these things. No one can make a law to love or be joyful or patient. Only the Spirit of God living within us can produce such love. And only when we walk in the Spirit can we see the results of this. Yes these people were showing real love in their lives and the author said in this love he saw an evidence of their conversion.
B. Their commitment
The second evidence the author notes that showed they had been actually converted to Christ is their commitment. In verse 10 he says the work and love they showed was directed “toward His name.” These believers had shown a real commitment to the name of Christ. And if you remember this was the issue the author had addressed previously. Would they accept Christ as the central necessary stumbling block of the Gospel or would they try to avoid persecution by skirting the issue of the necessity of Christ for salvation. Remember now, because of the crucifixion of Christ the unbelieving Jews understood Jesus to be accursed of God. Therefore, those Jewish individuals who came to trust Jesus as their Savior had a real difficult time with their family. Perhaps they would be stoned for receiving Jesus or simply disowned from the family. And consequently some who claimed to be Christians might not be willing to side with Jesus and, as the author says later in the letter, “go outside the camp and bear the reproach of Jesus.”
But the author says this is not the case with those whom he has seen. They have shown a great commitment toward the name of Jesus. They are not being secretive about it but they are openly showing the fact they have embraced Jesus Christ as their Savior. There are those, however, who make some claim to Christianity but who find the name of Jesus a little too controversial to bring up. Among those within the church they may mention Jesus freely but get outside of the circle and they will speak of God but not Jesus. They are a little ashamed of Him and His Words and His claims. To those without real faith He becomes like that black sheep of the family about whom no one wishes to speak in public. But I think those who would seek to have some association with Christianity but not the Christ of the Scripture would do well to heed Jesus’ own words from the Gospel. In Mark 8, Jesus said, “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the Holy angels.”
Those who wish to be undercover Christians now will be ashamed when Christ returns. They will not enter the glorious kingdom of the Lord. Those who refuse to stand with Him now will not stand then. But the author of Hebrews saw every indication that those to whom he was writing were standing with Christ. He said they showed great commitment to the name of Christ. They were exalting the name of Christ. Their work and love was excelling because of the name of Christ. So instead of a cause for concern the author sees this as a cause to rejoice in their conversion. The apostle Paul made a similar remark to the Thessalonians in his first letter to them. He said, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Thessalonians also, under heavy persecution continued to work and show their love for the name of Jesus.
C. Their service
The third evidence the author notes that showed him they had been genuinely converted to Christ is their service. At the end of verse 10 he says the work and love they demonstrated in the name of Christ was seen in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. Their service was a strong evidence of their conversion.
We will cover the topic of their service in just a moment but let us digress shortly to speak about who these saints are of whom the author speaks. There is much confusion today about saints. Unfortunately even in Bible preaching churches people may not fully understand who the saints are. They are mentioned often in Scripture and so we should look at the passages that mention them.
The term “saint” comes from a word that means “those who have been made holy.” And in the context of the New Testament it refers to everyone who has been sanctified or made holy by their faith in Jesus Christ. From its use you can clearly see it refers to all who were together in the churches. It didn’t speak of a particular group. Saints does not describe one group of people in the church that happened to be more holy than the rest. The reason for this is the holiness these people possess is given by the Lord. And when are they made holy? When they place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Let’s read some of these examples. In the opening verses of 1 Corinthians Paul says this, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” Not only does Paul call all the Corinthians saints but also everyone else who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus. And think about who these Corinthians were Paul was calling “saints.” They had petty divisions in their church. They wouldn’t conduct church discipline for those who were blatantly involved in immorality. They were bringing lawsuits against each other. They were participating in the Lord’s Supper in an ungodly manner. They weren’t separating themselves from worldly practices. They were being show offs. And yet Paul calls them saints. In 1 Corinthians 6 this is even clearer. In 6:2 he says, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?” Did you see this? He said saints would judge the world. Then he said “You” Corinthians would judge the world. He equates the Corinthian church with the saints.
In 1 Corinthians 14:33, Paul says, “”For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” He refers to large groups of people as saints. This should make it clear saints are not a select few in the church. Also Paul is calling them saints while they are still alive. This is not something they are hoping to attain but something that all those who believe have become by the sanctifying power of the blood of Christ.
In the letter to the Philippians the apostle Paul closes his letter in 4:21 this way, “Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.” Now how can you greet them if you had to wait until they were dead to determine if they would be declared a saint? Now other passages make it clear the saints were not a select group in the church but all those who made up the church. They were certainly those who had called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the next time you hear someone say, “Isn’t she a saint?” about a Christian friend you know then say, “Yes, she has trusted Jesus Christ as her Savior.” You might get an opportunity to explain.
I think the reason Satan doesn’t want us to realize we are saints by God’s call is because he knows we are less likely to live like the saints God has made us if we do not understand our true position and standing before God. It rather reminds me of one of the stories my children saw. It was called “Lambert.” It was about a lion raised by sheep. The lion never acted like a lion because he thought he was a lamb. Well Satan knows if we think we are still sinners instead of saints we will live more like sinners than saints. But when God saved us He changed our nature from that of a sinner to that of a saint. This is why the apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6, lists what we used to be and declares these things are not true any more. In verse 10 he says, “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” God calls us to live in our new position and not to languish in our old one. When you do this you despise what God has made you to be instead of living in the power He affords you through His Holy Spirit. If you have called out to Christ to save you from your sin you do not need to live in defeat but you can live in victory.
Now let’s get back to our passage in Hebrews. Who are the saints to whom the author says they are ministering? There are two possibilities. They are either those the author mentions in chapter 10 who have been imprisoned for the sake of Christ with whom he says his readers have been showing care and concern. He could also be referring to Jewish believers in Jerusalem whom they helped. Other parts of the New Testament refer to the distress that took place to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem and the churches in other places took part in a relief effort to help. Whenever this relief effort to help the church in Jerusalem is spoken of, the Scripture refers to those in the churches in Jerusalem as the saints. So the author could be referring to either of these two groups.
Regardless who these were to whom they were ministering the author of Hebrews says such effort showed the genuineness of their conversion. Other Scripture backs up this concept that the works we do as believers stem from our faith. James says, “Faith without works is dead.” And Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Notice that transformation comes first. We become God’s workmanship and then we produce good works. The author has observed how they are serving others and wants them to know he sees this as an evidence of their authentic salvation.
So let’s touch on this for a moment. Why did God make us new creatures in Christ? He made us new creatures in Christ so we would produce good works. Our transformation from death to life is a sign from God He has equipped us to serve Him.
When God makes us His handiwork it allows us to produce good works for Him. There is a place for good works in the life of the Christian. But the place of them always follows our salvation. Our good deeds are never the cause of our salvation. God has a great purpose and plan in good works. But they do not secure our salvation. They are just the evident token of our having already been saved.
Those who get the cart before the horse will end up being cast out of God’s presence because they never knew God by faith. God transforms us first (from death to life) and then calls us to good works that bring honor to Him. Never does Scripture describe the reason of our justification before God as our good works. We don’t do good works so God can transform us. God has transformed us therefore we can do good works
Our redemption in Christ is available so we would be purified and THEN partake in good deeds. God’s forgiveness has never been available as a reward for those who do good deeds. This is the chasm that exists between evangelical Christianity and legalistic religions that bring damnation upon those who follow them. From the Scripture we see works are always to be a result of our forgiveness not the cause of our forgiveness.
William Wilberforce, who fought to abolish slavery in England in the 18th and 19th centuries, was a strong Christian who stated this truth most clearly when he said, “The true Christian. . . knows therefore that this holiness is not to PRECEDE his reconciliation to God, and be its CAUSE; but to FOLLOW it, and be its EFFECT.” He concludes saying, “That, in short, it is by FAITH IN CHRIST only that he is to be justified in the sight of God.” This is what leads to freedom in being able to live righteously for God.
And likewise we must do good works. It is sad to hear of a person who trusts in their own effort to attempt to secure eternal life for themselves. But it is also sad to hear of one who says they have been justified by faith and yet refuse to allow their life to be conformed into one of good works. It is very likely this person also does not have eternal life. They speak of faith but their faith has no teeth. James says people who are mere hearers of the Word, people who are merely conversant about the Word but are not living out the Word (who have no love for the Word) may never have come to repentance in what they call faith. He says they are merely deceiving themselves. And James asks the question, “Can this kind of faith save them?” Can this belief that is merely intellectual but not effectual save someone? Can a belief without repentance save? No it cannot.
So what is the evidence that our faith is real? What is the evidence that our faith has been accompanied by repentance? It is good works. Good works have never saved anyone but are the outworking of true faith.
Two individuals with whom I had spoken some years ago both claimed to be saved but had a child together and were living together outside of marriage without any plans of rectifying such a situation. They were completely comfortable in their arrangement. They saw no need for repentance from it. And as far as I know they are still in this situation. It seems from Scripture people like this are merely deceiving themselves into a false hope. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that God has transformed us. He has brought us from death unto life so our new life would be filled with good works.
Let’s think on Ephesians 2:10 just a little longer. “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” God has good works planned for your life if you are a believer. If we are His workmanship then so are the good works He has ready for us to accomplish. And we ARE to accomplish them. And we will accomplish them because God has prepared them to be accomplished. I think He has prepared us to accomplish them (in our transformation from death to life) and Ephesians 2 says He has actually prepared the good works themselves. We could say they were prepared beforehand in the sense that when we were made alive and raised up with Christ and seated with Him in heaven they were awaiting our arrival for us to carry them out.
Now make sure you don’t misunderstand and become legalistic in this. We don’t go looking at what we have to do and say, “OK I’ve got my checklist of good things to accomplish today and by my strength I’m going to take care of them.” We can carry them out because we are carried by God. He has raised us up to walk in newness of life. And the things that will spring out of our life are what we now enjoy to do. These good works in the name of Christ are the joy and rejoicing of our hearts. Let us remember God has raised us up for this very purpose. He has planned for us in His good will that we would accomplish good deeds in the power of His Name. I have listed a few good works Scripture mentions. I hope this will encourage you to see the good works you have already been doing for God but not limit your scope to these few in living out the beautiful life God has for you in Christ. The doctrine of the Gospel is to be beautifully adorned by the good works the Spirit of God inspires in us. And when we are led by the Spirit of God to accomplish these good works, others will see the beauty of Christ and want to know Him. Here is this short list:
Caring for the sick
Visiting the prisoner
Encouraging the orphan and widow
Raising your children in the love and discipline of the Lord
Providing financially for your family
Providing spiritually for your family
Remaining unspotted from the world
Keeping our minds and hearts pure from evil
Speaking the truth in love to those without the truth
Showing kindness and gentleness to those who are trapped in sin
Helping those who are trapped in sin to extricate themselves
Bringing a meal to someone
Making friends with the friendless
Providing clothing for someone
Focusing on others beside yourself
Praying for others in need; praying WITH others in need
Sending a note to someone
Seeking to carry out justice
Walking humbly with God in front of others
Lending to those who ask of you
Blessing those around you with kind words and not with cursing
Remembering the poor
Practicing hospitality in your home
Submitting to government authorities
Bearing the weaknesses of others
Being patient with others who are not like you
Helping the stranded stranger on the road
And I hope you understand there are 1000’s of other good things God has for us to do that are not even on my radar screen but God has planted on yours. These are things God has planned for you to do today and tomorrow and throughout your life as you testify to the life changing power of the Gospel of Christ.
John Wesley, the 18th century preacher of the Gospel greatly used by God, said, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
Today, many in the church wouldn’t hold to Wesley’s sentiment. Theirs might sound like, “Get all the entertainment you can, in every venue you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” The longing in Christian circles today is for coffee houses and concerts instead of caring for and comforting others. America has found a shallow Gospel that says, “Me first.” This is no Gospel. The true Gospel says, “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee” not “Take my trouble and my pain give me only what is gain.” We have become so self-focused we fail to focus on Christ and what He would have for us to do. Will we come to the end of our lives as Christians and hear from our Master, “Well done good and faithful servant?”
Are these evidences of conversion unmistakably apparent in your life? Can you confidently see the work of Christ springing out of your faith and living before others? If you cannot I hope you will seek to set in motion the faith you have in Christ. Or if you do not have faith in the saving work of Christ you will put your trust in Him today to save you from your sin and make you His own child.