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Few passages in all the New Testament have been as hotly contested in theological controversy as the above. The sharpest disagreement over them is between two basic interpretations: (1) those who contend that its subjects are the saved who fall into deep apostasy from the Christian faith and become hopelessly lost; and, (2) those who maintain that it is speaking of awakened sinners who cast off all the light of the gospel given them and become hopelessly lost.

Both of these views cannot be correct. One is true and the other is untrue. The people spoken of in Heb. 6:4-6 were either saved people or they are unsaved people.

Now, I must admit, and any preacher would have to admit, that this is a difficult passage. And, there is not a single great doctrine of the faith that is without its "problem texts." We do not question the deity of Christ simply because we stumble on a single text that may seem to be in conflict with it. How dare we use any views of a few texts, some of which are hard to be understood or explained by us, as a means to annul that which is clearly established by the universal witness of the Scriptures! Such ground is trodden, not by the Spirit of Truth, but by the cloven foot of one who so misused the Scriptures in tempting the Son of God.

That which is clearly established by the Bible is the perseverence and final destiny in glory of all God's redeemed. Jesus is a Mighty Savior, an eternal Savior, and when He saves He saves for ever. He himself has said, "they shall NEVER perish" (John 10:28). He has said, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35-39). He that hath begun a good work in His own WILL perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6). The book of Hebrews itself makes one of the strongest statements in all of Scripture for the final perseverence of the saints: "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul" (10:39).

Therefore, whatever you may think about Heb. 6:4-6, one thing is for certain: saved people are not being discussed. This you must believe or believe that the Bible contradicts itself. Because I believe that the Bible is harmonious in its teaching, I affirm that the lost and ONLY the lost can be in view in Heb. 6:4-6.

Furthermore, I affirm and will now proceed to prove that ANY lost person is in danger of becoming reprobate concerning the faith, having once been awakened by God to salvation in Christ. Like the Hebrews of 6:4-6, it becomes impossible to renew them again unto repentance if they turn away from that which God brought them to and enabled them to believe.

WHO is it impossible to renew unto repentance? Notice that the description of these people is very technical. The apostle doesn't flatly state that they were saved, but casts them in a list of carefully descriptive details. He comes as close to saying they were saved as they had come to actually being saved:

1.  Those who were "once enlightened." The word "once" chosen here means "once for all," and such is its force in Heb. 9:28; 10:10; and Jude 3. The word "enlightened" means "to give light or knowledge by teaching," and such is its force in I Cor. 4:5 and II Tim. 1:10. It is translated "illuminated" in Heb. 10:32. The New Testament revelation can enlighten a man's understanding and change his views of God, Christ, salvation, etc. -- all without conversion.

2.  Those who "have tasted of the heavenly gift." Salvation is the free gift of God, from heaven and leading to it. Jesus did not say he that "tasteth" of Him as the heavenly bread shall live forever, but "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may EAT thereof, and not die" (John 6:50). Something can taste mighty good to you, but it will not do you any good unless you eat it. Not he that tasteth of Christ shall live for ever, but he that "eateth" of Him. Some people sit in church for years with only a taste of what they need to eat by faith.

3.  Those who "were made partakers of the Holy Ghost." The word translated "partakers" here is not the same as that used in Col. 1:12, but is a weaker term meaning "companions." What better way to describe empty professors who mingle with saved people in church that actually have the Spirit of God? A lost man can externally experience the Holy Spirit's conviction and reproof (cf. Acts 7:51) without having Him internally. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Rom. 8:9).

4.  Those who have "tasted the good word of God." The "good word of God" is the gospel, and is particularly related to the gospel as the fulfillment of God's promise (cp. Rom. 1:1, 2; 10:16-17). God promised salvation, and the gospel of Christ is its fulfillment. Thus, God made "good" on His "word," as He did in Jer. 29:10, "I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you." To "taste the good word of God" is to be made fully aware that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God's promise, that this is HE who was to come. But such knowledge is all they have, and they are as those who are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (II Tim. 3:7). They study, study, study, believe to be true what they learn, and will go to the great Old Testament prophecies of Christ for proof that He fulfilled them, and miss the new birth experience. Herod heard John the Baptist "gladly" (Mark 6:20), and then had him beheaded for his rash vow to wicked dancer.

5.  Those who have "tasted...the powers of the world to come." It is to fully realize, as the Jewish council did, that "this man doeth many miracles" (John 11:47). It is to be given personal "witness" by God, "both with signs and wonders and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will" (Heb. 2:4). Such witnessing proof comes to the lost today when they behold miraculous answers to prayer in the name of Jesus.

"If they shall fall away" -- fall away from these things -- every one of which was placed in their path by the blessing and favor of God -- falling away from what they had been enlightened to, experienced a taste of, and made a companion of, they have what can only be described as "an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God" (Heb. 3:12). The shame of Christ's crucifixion is the level of their wickedness, for their rejection of such mercies crucifies Him "afresh," and to answer God's gracious awakening with unbelief puts Him to an open shame.

It is a fearful thing for the Word of the Lord to come unto a man, but come it does. And when it does, one must seek the Lord Jesus Christ while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near (Isa. 55:6). If a man will not receive Him as one enlightened by God, tasting His heavenly gift, relishing its goodness, surrounded by the working and presence of the Holy Spirit, and understanding plainly what he must do to be saved, it will be quite impossible to renew him unto repentance once he falls back into his natural, unawakened, and careless condition.

To the lost, I must say that all of this is why you should come to Christ NOW -- now while you're in church, now while you hear and understand. Don't you see that you being in church is nothing but the grace of God to bring you to His Son? There will come a day when you no longer attend church on Sundays. You will go back to the world on the Lord's Day, and have no more desire to come to church. Take up the means of grace God has given you NOW, and come looking to Christ and His Cross for eternal redemption.

(END OF SERMON)
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