Hebrews 6:7-8
2 August 2026
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
(Hebrews 6:7-8)
Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of Hebrews, to chapter 6. It can be found on page 1003 on our church Bibles. We are continuing our series, working through this book, and we're going to begin reading from verse 4 down to verse 8. Our focus this afternoon will be dealing with verses 7 and 8. This is the word of God.
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.” Amen.
Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it is infallible, that it is the authoritative guide, direction in the lives by which we live, revealing who you are, revealing the truth by which we can be saved through the saving blood of Christ, the means by which we know how to live. And Father, we thank you that this is the word which has an impact in the hearts of your people. So, help us to understand all the more what it means to be a believer in Christ. We pray we would consider these distinctions. as we come now to this next section in the Book of Hebrews, for we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
So, a reminder of what we spent such time dealing with in verses 4 to 6, that it is impossible, it's impossible for one who has in life been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, shared the Holy Spirit, tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, having experienced, tested all of these things, to then fall away. It is impossible for such a one to be restored again to repentance.
And we considered the category of such a person within the context of the professing Christians, within the professing church. That this is not someone who's simply pretending to be a Christian, but really, they're at it. No, this is someone who has experienced, much, one who we would conclude, yeah, that seems like that looks like a Christian. And then for them to make shipwreck of that faith, to deny Christ as their Lord, to walk away from all that they professed. Such a one is in a perilous condition to the point where we read that they cannot any longer be restored.
That's what we dealt with earlier. in Hebrews chapter 6. And it is a situation that should make us sit up and take note. And it is a situation by which the author to the Hebrews dwells greatly. In a book that is so rich in its doctrinal clarity, precision and depth about the richness and superiority of Jesus Christ, this something of a tangent, something of a pastoral pause is very much timely because of the concern for the way by which the Hebrew Christians are moving forward. With that temptation to go back to the Old Testament system of the priesthood, looking to the ways that we would now know as types and shadows. And so, there's this pastoral exhortation, this warning being given of this danger. And with this danger having already been laid out in verses 4 to 6, we come now in verses 7 to 8 with an illustration of the categories that we're dealing with.
So, this entire sermon is one big illustration that's given to make a point. Now, just as a way of something of a slightly amusing story, which I don't often share from the pulpit, I recall many years ago, when I had been preaching for a while and being given these encouragements, even these exhortations myself to include a lot more illustrations in my preaching. And one of the main arguments was, well, Jesus and the Bible is full of illustrations and so therefore you should do the same thing. And in my head, I was thinking, well, you're actually making my argument for me in that because there are so many illustrations in the Bible, like Hebrews chapter 6, 7 to 8, I'll just use them and I'll unpack them because they're already in the Bible. Now that's not to say that illustrations don't have some relevance and can make points and that's exactly what we have here. That's exactly what we have here. An illustration that is being given, an agricultural illustration, to help us to visualize one of the most difficult and complex doctrinal arguments maybe anywhere in scripture. So, this is very much about what we've just been arguing from in Hebrews 6:4-6. Because there's a picture given, and it's a picture that, as we read through it, it's quite straightforward to grasp. There is rain, and there is a land, and there are two different reactions, two different responses in the two verses that are given.
So, in verse 7, We have a reaction, a response of the land to the rain that produces a crop. And in verse 8, we have a reaction, a response of the land to the rain, which bears thorns and thistles. One good and one bad. So, the picture, the illustration is designed to be simple enough that we can grasp this picture. I get what is being said here. But what we need to spend our time dealing with is how this relates to what we have just been unpacking. And by the grace of God, we pray that this illustration would help us to have an even clearer understanding of what the argument of Hebrews 6:1-8 has been all about.
Because there could be some of this first category in verse 7, the professing Christian who is truly born again, who maybe has some struggles, doubts of maybe their assurance of salvation, and passages like this should be an encouragement to you of the salvation you have in Christ. But similarly, equally, there are also those, as we've already been thinking about, who are in churches, maybe members, maybe serving, maybe even getting up and preaching, who think that they're saved, and they're not. And passages like this, illustrations like this, are designed to give a pointed and much needed warning of this very spiritual category. So, we have these two spiritual categories that are given, of the rain on the land, one that has a positive outcome, one that has a negative outcome. So, let's get into the text now. And we begin very briefly with this first word, for.
So, verse 7 begins, “For land that has drunk the rain”. Now that's important just to highlight for a moment because that enables us to see in just the way in which the structure of the grammar is unpacked that this is connected to what has just been argued. So, in verse 6, we're dealing with it's impossible for those who've fallen away to restore them again to repentance, since they're crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. And then we have, “For land that has drunk the rain”. So, we go on to this picture, this illustration, to give an image, a picture of the point that's just been made. So that needs to be stressed because it is very important to see this illustration is about that argument. So, we have, “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it”.
Now, it's interesting as we come to the meat of this text that it is an illustration being given from something agricultural, something of the land of God's creation. Now we're just going to spend a couple of minutes going in a slight tangent, but it's actually a tangent which will help us to see just why this is so rich an illustration given. Because the tangent we're going to go on is to see the importance of God's creation and how even rain on the land is something so blessed for God's creation. So, that's a slight tangent, but it is still of relevance to understanding why this is an important picture. Because throughout the Bible, this is something that we see from creation itself. For example, in creation we see that the Lord articulates the necessity that any land has for rain. Something mentioned in Genesis 2:5 when the Lord says that the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land. Namely a problem. We also have in Acts 14:17 – “Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good, he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”
So, one of the beautiful pictures that we have when it comes to the land and creation is that it points to our creator, the giver of life, the one who gives life and the means by which life can flourish. So, how do the plants, how do the crops become fruitful? Only because God provides the means by which these crops can grow and the fruit can be produced. And a key central way that God provides this provision on lands like ours is the bringing of rain. Here's where we end the tangent and then we draw out the illustration to say this is something we should give thanks for. Think in the summer we've been seeing these forest fires in the Cairngorms and we've been thankful for rain but not just in terms of stopping disaster also to be thankful for the way by which the land, the earth is watered and provided for. That's something we should give thanks to God for.
Now, as we come to see the giving, the bringing of rain we also see that it is God's blessing and it can also be an example and evidence of his curse upon people. So, in Jeremiah 14:22 – “Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.”
So, this is the testimony of the people of God who see there is something distinct in the God that they worship in that, yes, He is the one who provides the rain waters upon the earth. The false gods do not. And just as God promises to give His people Israel rain in due season, as we see in Deuteronomy 11, to bless them, we also see examples of when He withholds rain to warn them, like we saw in Amos 4:7. And that's because the impact of rain upon this land is impactful. And this is where we come to the details of our illustration. It is impactful. The rain has an impact on the land. And this is something we see in Isaiah 55:10-11 where it says – “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Now that is quite a spectacular passage in Isaiah 55. And it very much links to the picture that we have in Hebrews 6:7-8. The Lord is giving us the picture of what the rain does to the earth. It does not come back and come back empty. No, when it comes upon the earth, it waters the earth and it produces something. That's the point. That's the picture that we have. It's not these raindrops getting collected and they've done no good. No, they have an impact. They bring forth this sprout. And then we liken this to the Lord's Word. As it goes forth, it does not return empty.
Now think on this, brothers and sisters. Even now, as the Word of God is being proclaimed, as you spend time reading, studying, maybe studying together the scriptures with other believers, it does not return empty. It has an impact. We saw back in Hebrews 4:12 – “For the word of God is the living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow.” That's the impact that God's word has upon the hearer. And yet as we're dealing with here in these verses, there is that positive impact here in verse 7, but then we'll come to the negative impact in verse 8.
Now in dealing with this positive impact, it says “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, so the land coming, watering the earth, it then goes on to say, and produces a crop useful”. And produces a crop useful. That's God's Word going forth and having an impact. Now think of the impact that God's Word has, for example, with Israel, His chosen people, in the Old Testament. We see that God provides His messengers, servants who were sent to proclaim the truth of who God's Word is. We have prophet after prophet, and it has that impact. And we have the parable of the tenants as we come in Matthew 21:37 to the eventual sending of God's own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It has an impact.
Now if we know and we see and believe this, this takes us to the very impact that the Gospel has on those for whom it bears fruit, for those for whom it brings about salvation. And that's the point that's being made. There is an impact that the rain, the water of the word if you like, is having upon this soil, this land which is producing this crop. That's dealing with the Christian. Verse 7 is dealing with the Christian. And that's something to be encouraged by. Because it is very clear and it's very explicit. It's saying – “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.”
Now this is a striking declaration. It says of this land, those for whose sake it is cultivated. It's not saying in verse 7, those who have decided to accept this word. It's saying those for whose sake it is cultivated. So, there is something specific, there is a design, an electing design of God, the giver of this word, this word which will not come back empty. There is a design for those who it is for, for those who it is cultivated for. And that's the people of God, those who are chosen by God. And so, for example, when a person comes to true saving faith, a conviction of their sin, a repentance, a belief in Jesus Christ, what has happened in that person's life? Well, that word has been received. It's been received in the heart that is given to them. It's cultivated in them. It changes them. It transforms them. That's the land. which is receiving this word. That's the blessing which is being spoken of here.
Now another crucial point which links very closely to what we've been dealing with earlier in Hebrews chapter 6 is that this therefore cannot be, it cannot be the Arminian's argument that this is therefore something that you can lose. Notice it is saying that this produces a crop. It does something in you, Christian, the true born-again believer. Something happens in you to produce this crop. For those it's cultivated for, it is that blessing from God. The illustration is not saying that, well, everyone receives this blessing and then some crops go bad. Like some can lose their salvation, but some can keep their salvation. And that's the whole point of what Hebrews 6:4-6 is about.
So, the fruit of verse 7 is very different from what is produced in verse 8, which is dealing with the category of person warned about in verses 4 to 6. And this is why we have the illustration here in verses 7 to 8 to solidify that Hebrews 6, is not arguing that you can lose your salvation. No, the saved people are verse 7. The unsaved are those who experience and taste much, but they're in the category of verse 8. And this illustration is given to help to identify the distinction. As the land of verse 7 receives the rain, The true believer, the true born-again believer, it is producing transformative fruit. That is what happens in the saved Christian. 1 Peter 1:23 – “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”
So, the heart and the soul of the true believer is made alive. We're made alive by the Spirit of God. We're made ripe for this word, this rain which is upon them, by which you as the believer receive the word. You're blessed by it. It shapes your mind, your affections, your entire life. This is the vine which produces the fruit. This is the land which bears the crops. And just as a way of inference, but a necessary application. This is also why the word must be proclaimed. It is the rain by which a crop can come. Especially at a time like this. Right now, as we gather as the Lord's people. It's not the job of the preacher to come to entertain and to satisfy your worldly carnal pleasures. No, it is to come, to receive the rain. This is what you need. And the Christian of verse 7 longs to hear that, longs to be fed by that, to be saturated in that, because you come with a longing as that land to be producing that crop. That's what it produces in you, to come every Lord's Day, and each time even we come to the word of God with a longing that there would be an even greater and insatiable hunger and a desire for the word of God. That's what is produced in us, that there will be an even greater urgency to reach the lost with the good news of Jesus Christ, that there will be an even more readiness in our posture, in our attitude, in our desire to be gathering together and individually before our God in prayer. That there would be a longing to be made more like Christ because Christ is who we belong to. That's the crop that is produced. That is the fruit that is produced in the life of the Christian.
When some make this false premise argument of well, once you're saved it doesn't matter. Is that what you're arguing? If you can't work for your salvation then what does it matter? What utter folly. When we understand that we cannot work for our salvation because of our sin, it's only by the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, what we're understanding is this produces a change. We're changed; we're transformed by it. And so therefore we live a transformed life. There's a renewing of our mind. There's a shaping of our affections. There's a maturing of our faith. That's the crop. That's what we long for, what we hunger and thirst for. That's what we pray for in the life of the Church, that such fruit would be evidenced as it is at work and produced in us. Galatians 5:22-24 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
May the fleshly desires in me be crucified. May the anger in me be put to death. May the lust that drives me be ended. May this fruit be what shapes me. And so, Philippians 1:11 - “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” That's what we pray for. That's what we long to see in the building up of this church. That we would grow in this way, upon this foundation, by this fruit being produced. And we know that this is possible. This is reality for the verse 7 category, the true Christian who drinks the rain that falls upon it and what it produces, this blessing from God.
Now we contrast this with verse 8. Now again, it must be stated to clarify once more, verse 8 is not talking about a crop that was good and then turned to thorns and thistles again as though you could lose your salvation. No, we're dealing with a different category from verse 7 now here in verse 8. And that category is something that we often see warned of. Something Israel is constantly warned of. And something we see even in the New Testament. In Acts 13:40-41, one such example - “Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about: Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; For I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.”
We've seen this very warning already in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews 3:12, which warns of the evil, unbelieving heart. Referring back to a generation of Israel, not pagans, a generation of Israel, which fell in the wilderness in Moses' day. They received much. They tasted much and they saw the mighty works of God. They even covenanted with God and what happened to them? They fell. It was thorns and thistles, ultimately worthless. Now dealing with the land producing thorns and thistles image that we have in verse 8. This is a picture that's striking because again this also links to something we find during the time of creation. Because the same phrase appears in Genesis chapter 3:18. When the curse is upon the earth, we see that this is the case because nature is no longer in step with sinful man. And so, Genesis 3:18 says, because nature is no longer in step with sinful man, “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.”
So again, from an agricultural example, we have land producing thorns and thistles. God's creation as a result of the fall and the curse upon the earth, thorns and thistles will be produced. And the reason for something so awful is because man is under that curse of the law. That's why we have the thorns and thistles, which is the result of sin. Now the thorns and thistles, that's not the explicit sin issue itself. No, it's the result of sin. So, these thorns and thistles, that's the best that this cursed land has to offer. It's the best that the flesh has to offer. Now that's the startling thing here. A sinful heart, a heart which is not truly right with God, truly born again, not truly born again, could receive this rain on this land. Even as we've seen in this chapter, those who've been part of the church sat up, they've tasted and experienced much, even shared in the Holy Spirit, and yet, and yet, they're still in the unregenerate condition. So truly, in the heart of that land, that individual, it is a land that does not, cannot, will not produce a crop. It's just worthless. And that's the startling and damning picture of one who in their heart ultimately rejects God. Going back to what we've dealt with in verses 4 to 6, even and especially here this category, the one who has tasted, they've seen it. Like Israel, they've seen the mighty works of God. They've professed faith in Christ, they may be gone under the waters of baptism, they've been part of a church for many years, then they abandon it, they make shipwreck of that faith. Well, this is the fruit or rather the lack of where we effectively have the house which is left desolate (Matthew 23:38).
The Puritan John Owen speaking on this verse says, these latter, verse 8, bring forth fruit like mushrooms. They come up suddenly, have oft times great bulk and goodly appearance, but are merely a forced excrescence. They have no natural seed or root in the earth. They do not proceed from a living principle in the heart. They don't proceed from a living principle in the heart. And this is where we're drawing to a close the kind of negative side, the big warning of this section in Hebrews 6. The warning of that danger of apostasy. And where we have two simple yet very clear categories being given. Category one, verse 7, the saved that will bear fruit, this crop, a blessing from God. Category two, verse 8. those who are not saved, a category of those who make shipwreck and deny the faith they once professed.
And that's it. That's why the consequence is a damning and sobering picture. Because if it's just thorns and thistles, what can be done of it? Of what good is it? Just use the agricultural picture and think, oh there's a nice beautiful crop over there, I'll get some nice fruit, this looks lovely. Then you look at the thorns and thistles over there, what are you going to do with that? Well, we see in verse 8, worthless, worthless. Can you imagine and consider and maybe even think of any individual that you know, have known of in this very category where the Word of God is saying of what is produced in them. Condemnation is worthless. This should make us shudder. This should make us shudder in this warning of the making shipwreck of our faith. Because in this proclamation of being worthless and near to being cursed, in the end, what will happen to it? It's thrown out and it's burnt. The picture of damnation, the picture of the ultimate category consequence of those who are apostate. And it's something that we see in one of the illustrations that the Lord Jesus gives if we turn back to Matthew chapter 13 as we draw this to a close. So, turn with me to Matthew chapter 13 and we'll begin reading at verse 24. So, here we have the parable of the weeds. We've got thorns and thistles in Hebrews 6. We've got weeds here in Matthew 13. So read verses 24 to 31.
He, Jesus, put another parable before them saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So, when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Now Jesus provides the explanation of this from verse 36 – “Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.”
Now let's just stop here and see. Jesus is speaking in very clear distinct categories. We have good seed, which are those who belong to the kingdom. We have the weeds, which are those who are sons of the evil one, the devil. So that's made very clear. Halfway through verse 39 – “The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, one category, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
It has likely been said in your hearing, maybe on many occasions, that the Lord Jesus spoke and taught regularly on the doctrine of hell. And this is very much one of these pointed and very fiery pictures that we have before us. The weeds which grow up in the midst of those who belong to the kingdom. Context like church. They'll grow up together. The regenerate with the unregenerate. And when the angel comes, when the reapers come, what will happen to those weeds? What will happen to those who are bearing the thorns and thistles? What happens to those who deny Christ, make shipwreck of their faith? Well, they are thrown into the fiery furnace, the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
That is not a category in which you want to be. That is not a place where you want to be. And yet recently in Mike and I's hearing, we literally heard someone apostatize and say, “I know I'm going to hell.” Now brothers and sisters, there can be barely a more sad and startling and shuddering thing than that. This is not a cartoon figure with a pitchfork. This is the eternal damnation of being under the wrath and judgment of the living God. Our God is not to be trifled with. Our God will not be mocked. And especially in the household of God.
And so, the author to the Hebrews comes with a necessary pastoral warning. The danger of making shipwreck, the danger of denying, turning away, rejecting Christ. That is a danger we should take heed of and look to this picture that is given, this illustration of two categories, one which bears a crop, the blessing from God, the true believer, and one which bears thorns and thistles which is worthless and good for nothing but to be cast aside and burned.
Oh, for you, the Christian here this evening, yes, we take note of this warning and it is a warning. And it takes us once more, time and time again, to the Saviour of our souls, to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know, believe, love, adorn and cherish this gospel? This Saviour by whom you are a land which can receive this rain and it can produce a crop. You are nothing but thorns and thistles and worse if it were not for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But tonight, we can revel, we can magnify in that gospel, in the saving power by which what's being done in us now, what's being produced in us now is life changing, it's eternally transformative. That's who I am, in Christ. I hold on to that. I live for that. I love that because I love my Saviour. Oh, may this be our cry. May this be our deep delight, our great satisfaction. Because as we're going to go on to unpack in the rest of Hebrews chapter 6, there are better things than this category of apostasy for those who are truly saved. And we know who and what these better things are entirely based upon. Not your work, not, well you can produce something to get some sort of crop. No, all Christ. Nothing more, nothing else. All-encompassing and all entirely worthy of our praise. Christ. And this gospel by which we are saved, by which this crop is produced.
Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have studied here this afternoon and an illustration that is provided to enable us to see with even greater clarity and precision the danger, the warning of apostasy and to be that land which receives the rain and it produces thorns and thistles worthless to be destroyed. Oh God, may it not be that any would here in this place make shipwreck of the faith that they profess. For true saving faith is one that we cannot lose. But it bears fruit, produces a crop. Oh God, what a delight it is to know that as Christians this produces something in us, that there's a usefulness, there's a vibrancy, there is fruit which glorifies Christ our Lord and Saviour. So, may we do this, may we be this by your grace at work in us, that we would bear that fruit, that we would give glory to our God in our speech seasoned with salt, in our actions driven by a desire for Christ, in a life which is lived in submission to your word. Lord, we are Christ's disciples. Thank you, Father, that this is who we are and whose we are because of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.