Introduction
Are you pressing on with Jesus toward maturity, or are you tempted to drive dangerously close to the cliff edge of drifting away? The central lesson of Hebrews 6 is this: God calls me to keep building on the gospel foundation, to heed the warning against falling away into dead works, and to rest in the full assurance of hope anchored in Christ. Hebrews can feel like a mountain road, beautiful, but with sharp turns and steep drop-offs. Hebrews 6 is one of those “mountain pass” passages. Yet the goal isn’t to terrify tender consciences; the goal is to bring you safely to very good news: a hope that can be sure. I’m reminded of a story: a wealthy man interviewed drivers to carry his children along a cliffside road. One driver bragged he could drive within a foot of the edge. Another said he could get within inches. The third said, “I’d stay as far away from the edge as possible to keep the children safe.” That third driver is the one you hire. In the same way, Hebrews keeps putting up road signs: don’t drift, don’t harden your heart, don’t become dull, stay near Christ.
Main Points
Are you pressing on with Jesus toward maturity, or are you tempted to drive dangerously close to the cliff edge of drifting away? The central lesson of Hebrews 6 is this: God calls me to keep building on the gospel foundation, to heed the warning against falling away into dead works, and to rest in the full assurance of hope anchored in Christ.
Hebrews can feel like a mountain road, beautiful, but with sharp turns and steep drop-offs. Hebrews 6 is one of those “mountain pass” passages. Yet the goal isn’t to terrify tender consciences; the goal is to bring you safely to very good news: a hope that can be sure.
I’m reminded of a story: a wealthy man interviewed drivers to carry his children along a cliffside road. One driver bragged he could drive within a foot of the edge. Another said he could get within inches. The third said, “I’d stay as far away from the edge as possible to keep the children safe.” That third driver is the one you hire. In the same way, Hebrews keeps putting up road signs: don’t drift, don’t harden your heart, don’t become dull, stay near Christ.
Stay Far From the Edge
Hebrews has repeatedly warned believers who are tempted to turn from Jesus because of confusion, persecution, or fatigue.
- Warning against drifting: “Pay much closer attention… lest we drift away” (Heb. 2:1).
- Warning against unbelief: “Take care… lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart… leading you to fall away from the living God” (Heb. 3:12).
- Warning against dullness: “You have become dull of hearing” (Heb. 5:11).
I want you to hear the heart behind these warnings: God is not trying to make you obsess over the cliff. He is trying to keep you close to Christ, where the road is safe.
Build On the Gospel Foundation
Hebrews 6 begins with a command:
“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity…” (Heb. 6:1)
This is not a call to abandon the gospel basics, it’s a call to stop living as if we’re forever re-laying the foundation. The author lists foundational realities: repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection, eternal judgment (Heb. 6:1–2). Many of these were foreshadowed in the Old Testament, but now they are fulfilled in Christ.
So I say to you, gently but clearly: don’t be content with spiritual infancy. Keep going from “milk to meat.” Grow in doctrine, grow in endurance, grow in worship, grow in holiness. The risen Christ is not the beginning of your life with God; He is the foundation for a lifetime of maturing.
Press On With God’s Help
Hebrews adds this hopeful line:
“And this we will do if God permits.” (Heb. 6:3)
I love the balance: real responsibility (“let us go on”) paired with God’s sovereign enabling (“if God permits”). This is not a call to white-knuckle your way into maturity. God designed spiritual growth the way He designed physical growth, newborns are meant to grow.
So when you feel weak, don’t interpret weakness as abandonment. Interpret weakness as a summons to depend: “Lord, permit my growth. Sustain my faith. Keep me near.”
Take the Warning With Full Seriousness
Now we come to the difficult section:
“For it is impossible… if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God…” (Heb. 6:4–6)
This is meant to warn us of real danger. The author describes someone who has experienced profound spiritual privileges: enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, partaken of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the age to come (Heb. 6:4–5). Then comes the alarming phrase: “if they fall away… impossible… to renew again to repentance.”
Christians have wrestled with these verses for centuries, and faithful believers may land in different interpretations. But we must not blunt the warning. The text is intentionally sobering: there is a kind of drifting, hardening, and turning that becomes spiritually deadly.
Understand “Falling Away” In Hebrews’ Context
To understand what “fall away” means, I keep it tied to the flow of Hebrews itself. Hebrews 3:12 uses the same idea: falling away flows from an “evil, unbelieving heart” that departs from the living God. And Hebrews 6:1 names the danger: going back to “repentance from dead works.”
Here’s the key: the writer is warning Jewish-background believers who are tempted to abandon Christ and return to the old sacrificial system, something that once prefigured Jesus but now, after the cross, has no saving power. Later Hebrews explains:
- The law was “a shadow of the good things to come” and could never “make perfect” by repeated sacrifices (Heb. 10:1).
- “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4).
So if someone rejects Christ and tries to find repentance and renewal through what God has already fulfilled and replaced in Jesus, they are turning away from the only true sacrifice. That’s why the author says they “crucify again… the Son of God” and put Him to open shame (Heb. 6:6). It’s not that Christ is insufficient, it’s that abandoning Him leaves no other sufficient remedy.
Refuse Modern “Dead Works” For Renewal
Most of us aren’t tempted to offer animal sacrifices. But I still need you to recognize the same heart-pattern today: when my view of the cross grows dim, I will be tempted to look elsewhere for cleansing, relief, renewal, or righteousness.
Dead works can look “religious” and familiar:
- trusting rituals as if they re-secure my standing with God,
- outsourcing my conscience to a human mediator instead of going boldly to Christ,
- treating penance, performance, or rule-keeping as my real savior,
- returning to a former system that once defined me.
The warning is not, “If you sin badly enough, God won’t take you back.” The gospel itself tells us the opposite: where sin abounds, grace abounds more (Rom. 5:20–21). Think of Peter, his denial was grievous (Mark 14:66–72), yet Jesus restored him personally and fully (John 21:15–17). That’s not a gospel of fragile mercy; that’s a gospel of conquering grace.
The warning is this: don’t trade the living Christ for substitutes. Don’t seek renewal in what cannot renew. Don’t rebuild what Jesus has finished. When Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He meant you never need another sacrifice, another mediator, another system to make you clean.
Conclusion
Hebrews 6 drives us through a mountain pass to bring us to safety: press on to maturity, take the warning seriously, and cling to Christ as your only true hope. The right response to this passage is not panic, but perseverance. Stay far from the cliff edge. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Refuse dead works. And let the God who saved you also be the God who grows you.
If you feel the weight of this warning, don’t run away from Christ, run to Him. Warnings in Hebrews are loving guardrails. They are meant to keep you on the road where hope becomes not fragile, but sure.
Father, thank You for speaking to us through Your Word. Help me leave spiritual immaturity behind and press on to maturity in Christ. Guard my heart from drifting, dullness, and unbelief. When I’m tempted to look for renewal in dead works, turn my eyes back to Jesus, the once-for-all sacrifice and my great High Priest. Strengthen my assurance, deepen my repentance, and anchor my hope in what You have finished through the cross and resurrection. Keep me near the living God, and bring me safely home. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
Hebrews 6 drives us through a mountain pass to bring us to safety: press on to maturity, take the warning seriously, and cling to Christ as your only true hope. The right response to this passage is not panic, but perseverance. Stay far from the cliff edge. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Refuse dead works. And let the God who saved you also be the God who grows you.
If you feel the weight of this warning, don’t run away from Christ, run to Him. Warnings in Hebrews are loving guardrails. They are meant to keep you on the road where hope becomes not fragile, but sure.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for speaking to us through Your Word. Help me leave spiritual immaturity behind and press on to maturity in Christ. Guard my heart from drifting, dullness, and unbelief. When I’m tempted to look for renewal in dead works, turn my eyes back to Jesus, the once-for-all sacrifice and my great High Priest. Strengthen my assurance, deepen my repentance, and anchor my hope in what You have finished through the cross and resurrection. Keep me near the living God, and bring me safely home. In Jesus’ name, amen.