What Happens If You Fall Away?, Part 2

Thank you, Kristen If you have your Bible, Hebrews 6, verses 1 to 8, this is week 3 on the third warning in the book of Hebrews We started looking at Hebrews 5, verse number 11, a couple of weeks ago, and now we're going to move down to verse number 8 to help you understand the Third warning The warnings began in chapter 2, verses 1 to 4 It talked about the danger of drifting And then in chapter 3, verse number 7, the danger of disbelief And now the danger of dullness of hearing

And the writer of Hebrews has said that he would like to go on and move on from Talking about Melchizedek and the priesthood, and how Christ is in the order of the Melchizedekian priesthood But he can't And he tells them in verse number 11 that he can't because they are slow, dull of hearing, they are sluggish. in their hearing He says they need to move away from the elementary principles of the or of God or the law of God, the A of the Old Testament He wants them to move on from that, but they can't because of their Dullness of hearing

He also tells them that they are unskilled or without experience in the righteousness of Christ That's how you know that he's referring to the unbeliever in the warning passage, not the believer, that they have no experience whenever It comes to the righteousness of Christ And so when you come to chapter 6, verse number 1, he says, Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, in other words, a ph or phiome, moving beyond, putting away A total detachment from a previous position and moving on to another position It's a word that means to Be far removed from

You need to move away from where you have been and move on to maturity in Christ, a positional maturity in Christ It's not a spiritual progress, but it's an immediate positional Of maturity We saw that in Hebrews 7 twice in Hebrews chapter 10, excuse me, Hebrews chapter 10, that talks about the perfection of the believer when he moves on to that place where he is Totally embracing the Messiah So he's totally giving his life to the living God That's what the writer of Hebrews is moving them toward He wants them to understand that they need to move away from the elementary

Teachings about the Christ And then he says, Let us press on to maturity or to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead Eternal judgment, and this we will do if God permits In other words, these foundational elements of Old Testament Judaism you need to move away from And we will do this if God permits, because God is in charge and God Overrules everything Okay, and that's where we left off last week And this is what he now says in verse number four

For, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away Way, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucified themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame For ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it, and brings forth vegetation, useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God

But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned Okay, so the bottom line is this There are many people who teach that this portion of scripture Is about los your salvation Now, we don't believe you can lose your salvation, but there are many people who do believe that Well, the problem is, if it does teach you can lose your salvation Then it also teaches it's impossible for you to ever get it back again Okay? So you have to understand that

If this portion of scripture does teach that you can lose your salvation, it also teaches you can never come to a place where you can get it back again But we don't believe the Bible teaches you can lose your salvation We know that based on what the Lord God says in John chapter 10, verses 28 and 29 We know that from what the Bible says in Philippians 1, verse number 6, where we are confident in this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ We know this from 1 Peter 1, verse number 4, that we are kept by the power of God

We have an inheritance that's undefiled, that never fades away, that's reserved in heaven And we are kept by the power of God Well, if God's power can't keep you, nothing can And so, for us to believe that somehow we can lose our salvation would diminish the omnipotence of God That God is an all-powerful God, but we are kept by the power of God So, this verse is not teaching the fact that we can somehow lose our salvation, that we can somehow lose what God has granted to us, that God has Has pre for us to have happen in our lives that we are sealed into the day of redemption

No, it doesn't teach that at all, it teaches something completely different Because it's written to those who are not belie And so we've tried to spell that out for you the last couple of weeks to show you why the passage does teach that these people do not know. the Lord Jesus But he does say something very unique as he explains what happens to people who have experienced certain aspects Of the gospel and they falling away It's a serious warning It's a warning given to these Jew people Who have come to a place where they are intellectually convinced of who Jesus is They believe in Jesus

But they have yet to move away from their rituals of the Old Testament, their ceremonial washings, as we talked about last week To move away from laying their hands on dead sacrifices and laying their hands on the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world To move away from those Old Testament rituals to embrace Christ as their Messiah, as their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ These Jewish people had seen everything and had heard everything there was to know about the Messiah

And because they had seen it all, because they had heard it all, he's telling them: if you don't leave where you have been, And embrace Christ as your Messiah, you are in danger of coming to a place where it will ever be Possible for you to be renewed to repentance again In fact, he says it will be impossible And some say, well, he just means difficult No, he means impossible And we know that because three other times he says it in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 6, verse number 18, he makes it very clear when he says these words, Hebrews 6, verse number 18

So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie Now, is it difficult for God to lie or is it impossible for God to lie? It's impossible for God to lie Then, over in Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10, verse number 4, it says, For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins Is it difficult for them to take away sins, or is it impossible? For the blood of bulls and goats take away sins It's impossible And then, of course, over in Hebrews 11, verse number 6, it says, Without faith it is Impossible to please God

Okay, so the write of Hebrews makes it very clear that it is impossible to be renewed to the place of repentance If, having seen it all, heard it all, you walk away from it and go back to Judaism and do not embrace Christ as your Messiah And follow him as your Lord and Savior Now listen to what he says Because there are many people, we told you last week, that for 1,900 years this passage has been debated And they debate it because they believe that this is talking about people who were Christians But it doesn't. I want you to notice that what he doesn't say is important

The writer of Hebrews doesn't use in verse 4, in verse 5, any phrase Like regeneration, just, sanctification, salvation Any words that we would use that would describe the saving work of the gospel Okay? So, none of the terminology used in the Old Testament to speak of salvation is used But he uses phrases That speaks about people who have seen and heard everything there is about the Messiah, but yet not embraced the Messiah Let me explain that to you He says they had been enlightened Okay? They had been Enlightened In other words, they have come to an intellectual percept of the truth

They become mentally aware and have been instructed in something that would cause them to see something But just because they had been enlightened doesn't mean they were sa Let me give you an illustration Matthew chapter 4, verse number 16 Matthew 4, verse number 16, says this It says, The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned Matthew is quoting from the book of Isaiah, speaking about the light that would come when Messiah arrived Speaking of those in Galilee

The people in Galilee had been enlightened Light had dawned Does that mean that everybody in Galilee was saved? No But they had been Enlightened because Jesus is the light of the world The Bible says this in John chapter 1 Verse number 6: There came a man sent from God whose name was John He came as a witness to testify about the light So that all might believe through him He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light There was the true light, which coming into the world Enlightens every man That's the Messiah He is the true light that enlightens every man

It doesn't mean that every man is saved But he does enlighten every man Remember when Simeon Would take the Christ child into his arms eight days after his birth He would talk about how the light of the Gentiles Has dawned It doesn't mean that every Gentile now who has seen the light has embraced the light and is born again No, even Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, in Luke chapter 2, speaks about it this way

He says, Because the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise, s you in, from on high will visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace So he sees the Messiah as the light who comes to enlighten every man But it doesn't mean because they had been enlightened That they were saved But because they had seen the light, and because the light had dawned in Galilee, and the Messiah was the light They were res for what they saw They were responsible for For what they had heard

And so it's important for these Jewish people to realize that the Messiah had come and that they had been Enlightened, but to continue in unbelief, but to continue not to embrace Christ as the Messiah, but to walk away They were in danger of apostasy, turning their back on what they know to be true And then it says Second of all, that they had tasted the heavenly g Okay? Now, because you taste the heavenly gift, does that mean that you receive the gift? Question comes: What's the gift? Well, the gift could be the Holy Spirit

But because the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the next phrase, we'll say that this doesn't refer to the Holy Spirit It could refer to the gift of grace, the gift of salvation Ephesians 2:8, 9 For by grace are you saved through faith that not yourselves It is a gift of God Could be that It could be the fact that Jesus Christ is called the unspeakable or the indescribable gift in 2 Corinthians 9, verse number 15 But they had only tasted the gift Some will say, well, what about chapter 2, verse over 9, where Jesus Christ Tasted death for every man He did

He not only tasted death for every man, he drank in all that death was So let me show it to you this way In John's Gospel, the fourth chapter, it talks about not just tast living water, but drinking living water Christ had come to the woman of Samaria and said, Give me a drink And he said in verse number 10, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water Verse 13: Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst

But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life So Christ is speaking of him as the living water, but not just tasting the water, but actually drinking. the water Having tasted the water, you want to drink in all that the water is Another analogy is about Christ being the the bread of life in John 6 Remember that? In John chapter 6 The Lord said in verse number 3: Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven

For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life Life to the world So the bread that comes down out of heaven is the Messiah He gives life to the world But can you just taste the bread without eating the bread? Well, the answer is no For he says in verse number. 48: That he is the bread of life Verse 53: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last day, for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him So, the Lord makes it very clear that you just can't taste the living water You must drink the water You must not just taste the bread You must eat the bread You must drink my blood You m Flesh In other words, you must embrace all that I am You must give yourself to me You just can't have just a little taste of me You must accept all that I am

So, when the writer of Hebrews says that they had tasted of the heavenly gift, he's talking about, as the psalmist would say, in Psal 3, verse number 10: Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good Having tasted, That the Lord is good, you want to embrace all that He has to offer In fact, He says in 1 Peter 2, remember this? As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word Since You have tasted of the goodness of the Lord If you have tasted God's goodness, you want to drink in the Word of God You want to embrace all that God's Word is You want to desire it as newborn babes desire the pure

Milk of the word Why? Because you know everything about who Christ is You can't get enough of Him, right? And since you have tasted The goodness of the Lord, you can't wait to take in all that the Lord has for you Okay? Very important to understand this Tasting is not drinking Drinking living water is committing yourself after your first t to tr salvation

Now there was an illustration that a writer of Hebrews has already given in Hebrews chapter 4 about The children in the wilderness, and when they had tempted the Lord in the wilderness, and the spies who went into the promised land and came back And they had tast the pr land They had tasted the fruit of the land They had tasted the beauty of the land, but when they came back from the land, they would not em on The land They would not embrace the promises of Christ when it came to all that the land had for them Having tasted it, they would not drink it in

Having tasted it, they would not embrace it Having tasted it, they would not commit themselves to it The B of Hebrews, having already used that illustration, doesn't do it here, but he talks about moving beyond tasting to drinking in the living water So he talks about those who had once been enlightened, those who had tasted the heavenly gift Those who had become part of the Holy Spirit And some would say, Well, see, now they had the Holy Spirit No, that's not what it means To be a part of the Holy Spirit means to be as with the work Of the Holy Spirit

Okay? Now, you can, as a believer, associate yourself with the workings of the Spirit of God But as an unbeliever, what happens is that you associate yourself with what the Spirit of God happens To be doing It's a term that can refer to Christians, but remember, Christians are indwelt by the Spirit They are filled with the Spirit They are baptized by the Spirit They are sealed by the Spirit They go way beyond associating themselves with the Spirit The Spirit God actually ind them and possesses them Them See? Big difference there Illustration: the book of Acts

If you've got your Bible, go to the book of Acts, the eighth chapter Book of Acts, the 8th chapter You have a man by the name of Simon And Simon is a partaker of the Holy Spirit He associates himself with the working of the Holy Spirit It says in verse number 9: Now there was a man named Simon who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria Claiming to be someone great In other words, he was tooting his own horn He was telling everybody how great he was

And they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, This man is what is called the great power of God And they were giving him attention, because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts But when they believed Philip, Preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women al Next phrase, even Simon him belie Does that mean Simon was saved? Some would say yes Simon believed. I mean, after all, Philip was preaching the kingdom of God, right? He was baptizing people

And so some would say that Simon truly became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ because it says he believed But remember John chapter 8, verses 30 and 3 There were many who believed In Jesus, right? John chapter 2 There were many who believed in him, but he was not committing himself to them because he knew what was in the heart of man Just because you say you believe in Jesus doesn't really mean that much Because I know a lot of people who believe in Jesus, but they don't know Jesus So it says this Even Simon believed

And after being baptized, whoa, Simon was believing, he baptized by Philip Wow, can you imagine that? Can you imagine a guy believing in Jesus and being baptized? Well, he truly must be saved He continued on with Philip And as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed Now, when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit For he had not yet fallen upon any of them They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus

Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit And when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles, Hands, he offered them m Great things were happening, great things than he had ever done The signs of the apostles and the ministry of the Spirit of God was so magnificent It went way beyond anything Simon ever did What do I got to do to buy that? Because if I can buy that, bottle that, I can sell that

So it says Saying, give this authority to me as well, so everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. I want to do what you guys do. I want to lay my hands on people so they too can receive the Holy Spirit How much is it going to cost me? But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God

Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray, the Lord, that if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you, for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness And in the bondage of iniquity, no believer is ever to be said, in the bondage of iniquity, you have been set free from that bondage, right? You've been set free from Satan's bondage No longer are you enslaved to sin, but you're enslaved to the righteousness of Christ Simon Magus, he believed He was baptized He had been one who had been a partaker of the Holy Spirit

He had been associated with those who saw the works of the Spirit of God But it doesn't mean he was saved How about Judas? Judas is a classic example Of someone who fits all these categories He was enlightened, was he not? Sure enough Had he tasted of the heavenly gift? Absolutely Was he a partaker of the Holy Spirit? Absolutely Was he associated with the works of the Spirit of God? You bet Absolutely But he did not know the Lord So the writer of Hebrews continues

Not only have you once been enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift, partakers of the Holy Spirit, but on top of that, On top of that, you have tasted the good word of the L In other words, You had actually heard and been taught the very truth of the word of the Lord Everything about God, the Spirit of God, and the Christ You had t the good wor of the Lord Remember Herod Antipas, Mark chapter 6, who imprisoned John the Baptist? The Bible tells us in Mark's Gospel, in the sixth chapter Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe

And when he heard him, he was very perplexed But he used to enjoy listening to John Heron and Ant had loved to hear the words of John He loved to hear John preach He was mesmerized by John But it doesn't mean because Herod had tasted the good word of the Lord that he ever gave his life to the Messiah He didn't When you think about that, you think of all the people who come to church, a church like ours Who have a chance to taste the good word of the Lord every week? They might come on Wednesdays, they might come on Sundays

They might be involved in a women's Bible study or a men's Bible study or a couple's Bible study, and they week in and week out get to taste the good word of the Lord They get to be associated with the working of the Spirit of God among the people of God They've even been enlightened by the truth that's been given because Christ is the light of the world It doesn't mean they've embraced the Messiah But if they come to a place When there's an opportunity to make a decision for Christ and they don't do it, and they decide to go back into their previous lifestyle

They're in danger of coming to a place of falling away where it would be impossible to ever renew them again to repentance In other words, they become unsav God has done everything for them and now can do nothing for them Because he gave them everything Now they become unsavable because it's impossible to renew them again, once again, to the place of repentance Herodant was one of those individuals

He liked the simple message of God, but when it came time To make a decision about the Messiah and the kingdom of God and John the Baptist, he would forsake God's man, he would forsake God's message, turn his back And never embrace the Messiah that was preached by John How sad The problem is when you have a chance to taste and see that you stop there That's the problem Because it says, next, that they tasted the power of the age to come Tasted of the powers of the age to come What does that mean? They were able to see The signs and the wonders of the apostles

Remember what it says back in Hebrews chapter 2, verse number 4? It says Hebrews 2, verse number 4 God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will In other words, they had been able to taste The powers of the future millennial kingdom We don't even get that, right? I mean, we don't get to see the powers of the future millennial kingdom by all the different signs and wonders that take place like they did with the apostles We don't get to see that They did They observed that They saw it firsthand

Could you imagine? Can you imagine? Imagine being around someone who had literally been healed from their blindness Healed from their inability to walk instantaneously? That Peter and John could say, Silver and gold have I none? Take up your bed and walk And they were able to do that Can you imagine being able to Be around someone like Lazarus or Jairus's daughter or the widows from Nain, whose son had been raised from the dead, and witnessing firsthand a resurrected life? But yet, having tasted the powers of the age to come, and yet never embraced the Messiah from whence the powers came

That's where they were So the Rite of Hebrews goes through this litany to show them where they had been, what they had seen What they had heard to show them there was nothing else to see There's nothing else to say We've said it all, you've heard it all You've already seen it all What else is there to show you? Nothing Nothing So that's why he says these words in Hebrews chapter 6 Having tasted, or having been enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift, been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of the Lord and the powers of the age to come, and then Fall away

Only time that phrase is used in the New Testament is right here Interestingly, it's used twice in the Old Testament In the Greek Septuagint, to speak of those who apostasize the faith Those who commit apostasy Those who know the truth, having heard the truth, having seen the truth And then turn away from the truth, walk away from it, never embracing it And so it's a phrase that speaks about those who turn away from the obvious truth of the gospel So he says, Fall away, it is impossible to renew them again to rep It's impossible to restore them

It's impossible to put them back into the original position or the original condition where they have the opportunity to make a decision and repent It's impossible to do that Once you've gotten to that place, once you've heard it, you've seen it, you've tasted of the heavenly gift, tasted the power of the age to come Been a partaker of the Holy Spirit of God, once you've gotten to that place and you've never embraced the Messiah, you fall away You turn back now You go back to Judaism You go back to your Old Testament rituals You go back to your old lifestyle

And you embrace Christ when you have the opportunity You've come to a place where it'll be impossible to ever renew you to repentance again How sad is that? That is so tragic And the question comes: how can that be? Why is that? The right of Hebrews tells you What's he saying? He says very clearly these words: Since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God And put him to open shame So, what does that mean? That simply means this, that they, having seen it all and heard it all, have come to the same conclusion That the crucifiers of the Messiah came to

They have come to the same conclusion that Jesus is not the Messiah That Jesus is not the Savior of the world That there is another way to heaven It's not through Jesus Christ And they aligned themselves with those who sided against the Messiah And they give a hearty amen to his crucifiers That's what it means And some will say, well, I wouldn't do that You might not take the nails and dry them into his hands, but because you have rejected the obvious truth before your eyes, that's exactly what you were doing

You are rendering a verdict on the Messiah that all the crucifiers rendered against him And you once again put him to open shame You once again claim that he is guilty and not innocent That's why it's such a tragic position That's why it's impossible to renew you to repentance again Having seen everything and heard everything, you say, you know what? I don't believe it. I'm going to go back to my old lifestyle. I'm going go back to the way things used to be. I'm going go back to the way I always have done it before And I'm going Rest right back there

And what you've done is you have said very clearly that Jesus Christ is not the Messiah He deserved everything he got And therefore, I side with the crucifiers That's why it's impossible to renew you again to repentance, to bring you back to that place once again That's why the right of Hebrews talks about the dullness of hearing You know, when we want to Immunize someone from a disease

We give them a little bit of that disease and a vaccination, don't we? Do you know that sometimes when you come to church and you hear a little bit of what the gospel is, and you just keep hearing it and hearing it and hearing it, you become immun You become vaccinated against the truth You become dull of hearing, slow and sluggish because you didn't make a decision when you had the opportunity to make a decision You didn't give your life to Christ when you had that opportunity That's why the Apostle Paul says today is a day of salvation, not tomorrow, today

That's why Hebrews also said in Hebrews 3: Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts, as in the day of provocation in the wilderness, because all those people died in unbelief Don't do it Once you hear the gospel, if you don't make a decision, you're in danger of coming to a place where it would be impossible to renew you again to repentance Don't go there And he gives an illustration in verses 7 and 8 He says it very carefully, these words

For ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation, use to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives the blessing of God But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless And close to being cursed, and its ends are burn up He simply says, Look, the gospel of God's grace falls on the ground And some of that ground is wet and supple and brings forth great fruit But others here, the gospel, it doesn't bring forth any fruit whatsoever

And that's how you know he's talking to unbelievers through the illustration he gives about vegetation and the growth of that vegetation once the glorious gospel falls down upon the ground All that to say is that every one of us in the room needs to know for certain that we have embraced the Christ, the Messiah That we truly believe that Jesus Christ is who he said he says he is And we have Turned our back on the old way of living and given our life to Christ The writer of Hebrews gives a dire warning Later in the book of Hebrews, he will give y another warning

And in there, he will say these words Chapter 10, he says, If we go on sinning will, verse 26, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins If you have somehow received the knowledge of the truth, you've heard it You just keep on sinning willfully There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. but what? A terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries And anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses

How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve? Who has trampled under foot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean, the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified And has insulted the sp of grace Wow To trample underfoot the Son of God means to treat the Son of God as if he is worthless And how can we treat God's Son worthless when He is so worthy of honor and praise and glory? Oh, the writer of Hebrews is not going to give up He's going to keep pounding the same truth over and over and over again He wants them to embrace the Messiah Not run from the Messiah

Not go back to old covenant found But to embrace the truth that Jesus Christ is exactly who He says He is, and you need to come to saving grace Let's pray Father, we thank you for today and the opportunity you give us to spend in your word We are such a blessed people And we pray for all who are here today If there be anyone among us who has been a part of our assembly, having tasted the good word of the Lord, having been enlightened, having Been a partaker of the Holy Spirit, having the opportunity to embrace the Messiah And they've yet to do so

We pray that today would be the day that they would not fall away, turn their back from that which they know to be true But they would embrace Christ, beg his forgiveness, beg for his mercy They may truly be called sons of the living God We pray in Jesus' name Amen.