Scripture Reference: Hebrews 6:4-8
?For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. [7] For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; [8] but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.?
Tons of debate and theological differences?
-Literal to how it is written?
-Figurative, and God didn?t mean it that way?
-Paul didn?t know what he was saying?added to
this?
-Isn?t even intended to be in the Bible and it is down-right wrong?
Hopefully we will be able to draw some kind of conclusion from this tonight?
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Let?s begin by looking at the words?
The Greek Words for ?apostasy? [abandonment, desertion, or a forsaking of one?s principles] only appear twice in the NT?
-These are in the NOUN form of the word?
Acts 21:21, ??and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.?
2 Thes. 2:3, ?Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the (a) apostasy [rebellion or falling away] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.?
(a) - 1 Tim. 4:1, ?But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons??
Then?here in Hebrews 3:12?it appears as a VERB?
Hebrews 3:12, ?Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.?
-It is often translated simply?departing or turning away?as well.
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This Greek word literally means??Standing Away??from God.
-It refers to abandoning what one has previously believed and experienced in Christ.
-It involves the disowning of Christ and a departure from the Body of Christ and the Christian Faith.
à Meaning that apostasy is the CONSEQUENCE of a DELIBERATE (knew what you were doing, and did it intentionally) and VOLITIONAL (not forced or coerced to, but did by your own free choice) choice to ?depart fro the living God?.
à So then, if you are ever wondering if you no longer in ?the fold??according to this definition?it would lead us to believe that this should not be a concern, since the ones falling away are the ones who have DELIBERATELY and VOLITIONALLY chosen to abandon the faith.
à However, if you do have these questions?I do want to say this?
-You might be feeling this way for a number of reasons?one of which is a while of living in sin, or being unrepentant.
-Therefore?REPENT and SIN NO MORE!
-Walk with ?the fold??after all, Jesus did leave the 99 to find the 1 who wanders off?and we occasionally do that, and must be taught about how to stay with the Body once again.
Groundwork that we must understand?
1) In order for one to be involved in apostasy?they must have first been one who HAS experienced the blood of Christ in regeneration?and sanctification. They must have been renewed through the Holy Spirit?s work, and had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
a. There MUST be a relationship with God that is cultivated and maintained!
b. Illustration is found in John 15:1-8
i. The believer is the branch that remains in relationship with Christ, the vine, and is secure and has life in Christ!
ii. However, should a believer become hardened in his heart towards God, and chooses to break their relationship of grace and union with Christ?they will be broken off and burned the Bible tells us.
2) Therefore, the Bible gives many URGENT warnings concerning this grave possibility of ?falling away?.
a. Thus, trying to motivate us to persevere in faith and obedience.
b. These warnings are not figurative, but they are alarming to the fact that apostasy is a REAL and EVIDENT possibility in our lives.
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Steps that lead to apostasy?
1) A believer, through unbelief, fails to take the truths, exhortations, warnings, promises, and teachings of God?s Word to heart with the utmost of seriousness?
Luke 8:13, ?And those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.?
2) The realities of the world become greater that the realities of God?s Heavenly Kingdom?and the believer gradually cease to draw near to God through Christ?
Opposite of what Hebrews 4:16 exhorts us to do??Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.?
3) Then, through the deceitfulness of sin?this one becomes more and more TOLERANT of their sin in their lives. Therefore, they no longer live righteously, hating wickedness!
1 Cor. 6:9-11, ?Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, [10] nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And 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.?
4) Then, through the hardness of their hearts, and because of them rejecting God?s way?they ignore the repeated voice and rebuke of the Holy Spirit. Their conscience become seared?
Ephes. 4:30, ?And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.?
5) Finally, when the Holy Spirit is grieved?His fire is also put out and His temple is violated! And the ?un-welcomed guest? will leave the rebellious host?L
This is what David was praying against when he wrote Psalm 51:11??Do not cast me away from Thy presence, and do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me.?
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This passage here lays it right out, and very plainly for us?
Romans 8:13, ??for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.?
Prayer?
For our friends & family that are wandering away on this path right now!
For our own hearts that have been enticed to wander away from the Lord, and we can see ourselves in one of these stages right now!
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Now?for the passage at hand, Hebrews 6:4-8
?For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. [7] For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; [8] but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.?
This phrase in Hebrews 6:6, ?have fallen away? is the terminology that I want to tackle first.
-Other versions say, ?if they fall away? or ?shall fall away??
This is a phrase, that in the Greek is an aorist participle, which changes the way that most interpret this?
The NASB renders it right when is says, ?having fallen away?, but is doesn?t quite do it justice.
-And, the ?if? is not in there either?
The tense of this word really defines what it is saying?
àAnd it is depicting the actions that have taken place in the PAST?PRESENTLY?and into the FUTURE?as they will continue to happen by the choice of the person.
Meaning that one wrong choice hasn?t been the thing that messed the life all up?
But rather, it was a series of choices in the past?CONTINUING on even now?and most likely will continue on in the future because of the pattern that is shown presently and in the past?
-So a person?s apostasy is not immediate, but it is kind of gradual?
-It has taken a season and a series of bad decisions to bring the soul to this point of abandoning the faith.
Therefore, for the writer in verse 4 to say that it is IMPOSSIBLE to restore these ones that have really known the truth, but have forsaken it?it only true in the sense that these ones are IMPOSSIBLE because they have laid such a ground work in their lives AGAINST the Lord that they will not receive again.
-God is able to forgive and to restore anyone in any situation?
-But, when you have ?bunkered yourself in? against the Lord?he will not pound your doors down?He is a gentleman.
So, it is impossible in the sense that the one WILL NOT [will?s to not] be redeemed and restored unto Christ again.
-And his decisions in the past?.present?and also in the future will confirm his will.
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If backsliding continues in the course of a person?s life, and it remains unchecked?a person can reach a point of no possible second beginning.
-They had been saved, but deliberately refused God and hardened their hearts towards Him and His Spirit?they continue to sin willingly?and they refuse to repent and return unto God?
-These just MIGHT reach a point of now return! Not by God?s choosing, but because of their own free will. Proverbs 29:1, ?A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.?
-There is a limit to God?s patience!
Matthew 12:31-32, ?Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. [32] And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come.?
It has been alluded to, that Hebrews is a reference to the ?Unpardonable Sin??
What is the ?Unpardonable Sin??
-Could it very well be that that sin is hardening your heart against the Lord so much so that you will never repent again of your sins, and find redemption for your soul???
-The unpardonability of it is that God was never requested to bring pardon to you for your sins?because of your resentment, and your callousness, and your refusal to ask BECAUSE YOU DIDN?T EVEN KNOW YOU NEEDED OR WANTED IT!
Now, this point of ?no return? cannot be defined in advance!
SO THEN, the only safeguard for you and me is to listen to this?Hebrews 3:7-8, ?Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ?Today if you hear His voice, [8] do not harden your hearts as WHEN THEY PROVOKED Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness??
Ø Don?t deny the Holy Spirit in your life!
Ø Don?t ignore God?s voice when He gives you a warning!
Ø Listen, and heed His call and correction!
Ø Do all that you can to hate sin, and hate the life that you had before Christ!
Ø Do not let sin, and your flesh romance you back into its lair!
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Last comments on apostasy?
Backsliding is a danger for all of us, however, apostasy does not occur without you being involved in constant and willful sin against he Holy Spirit.
Those who genuinely become concerned about their spiritual condition and have desires in their hearts to return to God?have NOT committed the unpardonable sin. Their desire to be near God is an evidence of that.
-God clearly defines in the Scripture that He desires for NONE to perish, but that all would come to repentance.
Even the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, after all that he had done, and had wandered so far from home?still was eagerly received back into his father?s arms at the end!
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The Natural Conclusion
God confirms what is just said with that natural laws?
-Often times, natural laws are linked to spiritual laws because BOTH have the same originator.
-And for this reason, natural phenomena can also serve as spiritual analogies!
Nature supports that truth that the neglect of proper cultivation of the land will lead to worthless results?
-And in similarity, the refusal to adhere to the Scriptures, and to cultivate a wholesome Spiritual life, will also lead to a spiritual bankruptcy in your soul.
The thorns and the thistles are reminiscent of Genesis 3, when God cursed the land, and the people had to till the land in order to find fruit from it.
-And that same principle applies to our lives as well?
-We must cultivate our spirit man, because there will be no good fruit that will just naturally come from it, unless we have planted the Word within us, and developed the fruit from it.
And remember what use these thorns and thistles have?
They are of no use, but to be burned?
A steep warning for us to hear in relation to what will become of the careless?the hard-hearted?and the rebellious one.
-The lukewarm, He will surely spit out!
Warning!
Be on guard?
Purify your life and heart?
Don?t just hear the Word, but live by it?
Secure your relationship with the Lord on a daily basis!
