I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles now and turn with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter
6. Hebrews, chapter 6. Hebrews, chapter 6. I've entitled
this message, Can a Believer? in the Lord Jesus Christ, can
a believer ever be lost? Hebrews chapter 6, I'd like to
read three verses of Scripture, 4, 5, and 6. Hebrews 6, 4, for
it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have
tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy
Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and of the powers
of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them
again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the
Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. Now, when we've read those words, I'm going to be honest with you.
If we understand not what the Spirit of God is saying through
the writer to Hebrews, if we don't understand what He's saying,
that's got to be one of the scariest passages of Scripture that you
can read. I can tell you this on the authority
of God's Word, that this passage of Scripture is one of the greatest
passages of Scripture of encouragement to the believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is an absolute passage of
great peace and comfort for God's people. The Holy Spirit of God
moved upon the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 40, verses
1 and 2, and this is what the Spirit of the Lord said, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably,
that is, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. And cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, and she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. That word double,
there's a lot of ideas on what it means. I'll
tell you what I think it means as closely as I can tell. The word double there means a
folding over. A folding over. A covering. A covering. An atonement. A putting away. You tell my people,
you comfort her, and this is what I want you to say to her.
The war's over. The battle is over. The king
himself has finished the work. It's done. Your warfare is accomplished
and you tell her that her iniquity is pardoned. And she's received of the Lord's
hand a covering. Now you comfort her. And that's what I want to do
this morning. I want to be a comfort to us. I need comfort just like
you do. I need to hear this word just
like you do. Because, listen, I'm just a helpless, frail sinner. Saved by the grace of God. If
I've got any hope at all, it's because God has chosen to show
mercy to me. I need to hear what the Lord
has to say. The Lord said concerning His people. Now listen, this
is what I know about eternal security. I'm going to settle
this right here. This is what Spirit of God has
penned concerning the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what the Lord said. When the Comforter has come,
He's going to bring back to your memory the things I said. Now
let me tell you what He said. Let me tell you what the Lord
said. He said, My sheep, And God has a sheep. He's got an
elect. He's got a people. My sheep hear
my voice. And I know them. And they follow
me. And listen to this. And I give
unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Now let me ask you this. What's
the possibility of one of God's elect being saved and then lost. What's the possibility? None.
None. No possibility. I give them eternal life. The Father, according to that
everlasting covenant of grace, gave a people to the Son. And
the Son, according to that same covenant of grace, has eternally
stood as the surety of the sheep. I'm going to answer. What do
they owe? I'm going to pay. What do they
need? Holiness. They'll have it. They'll be in me holy and without
blame before the Father in love in Christ. The Spirit of God,
according to that everlasting covenant of grace, has declared
that God's Word, the gospel of God's grace, is the means by
which He, the Spirit of God, is going to call out the sheep.
He's going to come to them in mercy. And without them seeking
Him, how do you know a man doesn't seek God? Well, God said he doesn't
seek God. No man seeketh after God. That's
what Scripture says. Who was Saul of Tarsus looking
for? He wasn't looking for the Lord.
Who was Matthew looking for when the Lord walked by him and said,
follow me? Almighty God, by His Holy Spirit, comes in power to
the objects of God's mercy. The Father gave the Son before
the foundation of the world. And the Spirit of God comes to
them under the sound of the gospel and opens their heart like He
did Lydia's. And they attend to the words
spoken. God saves His people without
their help. I'll tell you that. He gives
them a new heart and now with a new heart they're willing,
willing to call, willing to love, willing to come. But until the
Lord gives them a new heart, they're dead. They're dead. The
Lord Jesus Christ gives His people eternal life. This is the record,
John said, 1 John 5, 11, 12, that God has given unto us eternal
life. This life is in His Son. He that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. God's people, in regenerating
grace, are begotten again unto a lively hope, a living hope,
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for them, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Now let me
ask you this. Based on God's Word, can a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ be lost? No. No. No. Now, with that foundation,
let's see what God has to say concerning this passage of Scripture.
Because I'm telling you, this passage of Scripture has been
used by trying to scare people, whip God's sheep, you know, frighten
them into doing something. And I know this, I know God's
sheep are not going to be lost. So now, what is the Spirit of
God saying? Alright. For it is impossible. Now we're going to talk about
something that's an impossibility. Now what is the impossibility? That's what I want to know. What
is impossible? It says, it starts off, for it's impossible What
is impossible? Well, it's in that first part
of the latter part of this passage, but in verse 6, if they shall
fall away to renew them unto repentance. If they shall fall
away. It's impossible. If they shall
fall away to renew them unto repentance. So here's the impossibility. If a person can be lost, that
was truly saved if they are lost, which already we've established
that they can't be. But if they could be, if they
could be lost, the impossibility would be for them to be saved
again. So now if you've got somebody
telling you, now you can be lost and saved again, you can say,
well, no. No, if you're ever saved and you're lost, you're
gone. And I'll show you that, Lord willing, before this message
is over. So let's begin by asking this question. To whom is the
Spirit of God speaking? Or of whom? Of whom is the Spirit
of God speaking? Well, let's just read the Word
of God. And let's just let the Spirit
of God tell us Who is he talking about? For it is impossible. Alright? Here's the first thing
we know about the ones of whom the Spirit of God speaks. It
is impossible for those who were once enlightened. That is, for
those who were enlightened the first time. To give light to,
spiritual light, To make see. The scripture says the seeing
eye, the hearing ear, who gives that? The Lord. The Lord does. So those who were once enlightened,
enlightened concerning what? Concerning what? Well, two things
actually. Number one, enlightened according
to man being an impotent, spiritually impotent sinner born in Adam. If God Almighty ever teaches
a man, a woman, that they have no spiritual power. I mean, you
know, we can walk around, I can pick up this book, I can do this,
I can move my hands, I can do stuff. But I'm talking about
something that would merit salvation before God, something as far
as pleasing God. For those who were once enlightened
to find out that man by nature has no power with God, What can
a man do to please God? Nothing! Nothing! If Almighty God ever teaches
a man that, that man has been taught of God. And then, secondly,
enlightened to this fact, that the only one that God's pleased
with is the Lord Jesus Christ. And to be found in Him, from
before the foundation of the world. For God Almighty to have
put me, because I'm going to tell you something, being myself,
being able to put myself in Christ, ain't going to happen. That don't
happen. Everybody that was ever put in
Christ, when were they put there? Well, according to Ephesians
1, 4, from before the foundation of the world. So where were you?
Or where was I? when everyone was put in Christ.
We weren't here. Not physically. In the mind of
God, yes. But not physically. So if a man
or woman is going to be found in Christ, they must have been
there from before the foundation of the world, or they weren't
there. It's like the Lamb's Book of Life. I grew up people telling
me that a recording angel, every time somebody gave their heart
to Jesus, the recording angel wrote a new name in the Lamb's
Book of Life. That's not what God said. This book was written
from the foundation of the world. So, for those who were once enlightened
to see what they are by nature and to see who Christ is. Enlightened. Ephesians 1.18 says, the eyes
of your understanding. being enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. God Almighty must
enlighten a man. Man's born in spiritual darkness
and unbelief, but in regenerating grace, the Holy Spirit illuminates
spiritually. The objects of God's mercy. 2
Corinthians 4, 6 says, For God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So first of all, the ones that
are being spoken to or of are those who were truly enlightened. I mean, I'm talking about not
just play-like. Not just a little, I mean enlightened. For those who were once enlightened
and describing those and have tasted of the heavenly gift.
That is to experience by spiritually eating. That is of the heavenly gift
himself. Those who have tasted. and experienced,
you know, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, you know
what that means? Who lives by the life and death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means, by faith.
Eats the bread of heaven by faith, partakes of Him, those that have
tasted of the heavenly gift. When the Lord was speaking to
a woman at a well, there in Samaria, and the Lord you know, told her,
she said, give me a drink of water. And she said, how is it
that you being a Jew ask me, a Samaritan, for water? And the
Lord said to her in John 4.10, If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, thou
wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living
water. Christ himself is the gift from heaven. to God's people. Almighty God has graciously given
Himself those who have tasted the heavenly gift Himself. So
here, those spoken of are those that's been spiritually enlightened,
have tasted the goodness of Christ, vitally united to Him by grace
through faith, who know That salvation and pardon is by the
good pleasure of Almighty God. That's who's being spoken of.
And then thirdly, it says that concerning those, and were made
partakers. of the Holy Ghost. Now, partakers,
it means to be associated with or made to share in the influences
of the Spirit of God, of the Holy Ghost Himself. Partakers,
those indwelt by the Spirit of God, who is the pledge or the
earnest of our heavenly inheritance, The Spirit of God Himself, who
is the earnest of our salvation, partakers of the Holy Spirit,
as He bears witness to our spirit that we are the children of God,
heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. Listen, Romans 8 and
9 says, you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the
Spirit of God dwell in you. You're a partaker. with the Holy
Ghost. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. So, this description right
here, those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, That can only
be said of a believer. That's the only ones that are
described there. And the scripture says concerning
this description, verse 5, "...and have tasted the good word of
God, those of whom the Spirit of God has given a taste to be
able to eat by experience, the good word of God. They've experienced the comforting
and confirming value and virtue of the quickening power of God's
word in their hearts. The Apostle Paul writing to the
church at Thessalonica said this concerning the comfort that they
have. He said, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love, your patience
of hope, and our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God, and our
Father knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God, for our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power. and
in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. These that are spoken
of right here, what they've done is, they have tasted the good
word of God. By faith, they've savored Christ
as he's set forth in the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel. And
they've seen him! to be the only message of the
Scriptures, not all the promises of God are in Him. Yeah and Amen. It's done. It's over. I said a while ago,
when we hear a message preached, this is what we're asking for.
Where's the Lamb? Show me the Lamb. If you're going to sit
here and just tell me, waste my time on stuff, you know, on
a newspaper article, on current events, or what's going on over
there in Israel, or what Iraq is doing, or North Korea, or
whatever, you tell me about the glory of Christ. That's the only
thing I want to know. You tell me about Him. Only a
believer, relishes the truth of God's Word. Only a believer
wants to hear of Christ. Tell me how He's put away my
guilt. Only a believer derives comfort from the Scriptures and
beholds the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only a believer
has tasted of the good Word of God and the powers of the world
to come. The force or the miracle of the
coming age. Believers have tasted by faith
right now. Let me tell you, you that know
Him, you that God Almighty has called out of darkness, you've
tasted by faith the powers of the world to come. You know,
we speak of heaven. We speak of being in air of God,
a joint air with Christ. We speak of God's power to sound
the trump of God and the heavens open up and the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ coming back with the saints and the angels
and the dead in Christ rise and we which are alive on this earth
meet Him in the air How much do you know of that? Well, what
you know, you know by faith. You know it. You know it. But
you know this. We hadn't seen it by experience
yet. But I tell you what you know
by faith. You've tasted of the good word
of God and of the powers of the world to come. There's some things
that we have yet to truly behold. But oh, the power of God, this
is what we believe, to accomplish what He said He's going to do. I truly believe, and Lord help
mine unbelief, I truly believe that by the grace of God that
I'm going to see Him. I truly believe that. And with
anxious anticipation, And still being mixed with that wonder
of, Lord, these things that I know truly are, help me to believe
them. Lord, I want to. I do, but I
want to. Lord, increase my faith. I believe that all God's people
are going to see Him and be with Him. I believe we are. What are
we going to have in that place being an heir of God and a joint
heir with Christ? I don't know. And anybody that
tells you they do is kind of speaking beyond what the Scriptures
has been pleased to reveal. But I know that John 17, 24,
Father, I will, that those that Thou hast given me be with me
where I am, that they may behold my glory, the glory that I had
with You. before the foundation of the
world. What does that mean? It's good. It's good. But I can
tell you this, I see it by faith, but I believe the power of God
to accomplish what He said He's going to do. I've tasted of the
good word of God and the powers of the world to come. Now, if
those that we have just considered, If those, I'm talking about true
believers, that's who it's talking about. If those, verse 6, if
they shall fall away, it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put
Him to an open shame. If they shall fall away, Do you
know how many times that phrase right there, fall away, is found
in the Word of God? One time. Right here. Those two
words right there, let me tell you what they mean. It means
to apostatize. That is, to deviate from the
right way. To fall away from true faith. To fall away from worship of
Jehovah. If those right there that have
been set forth, if true believers, if they could, if they should
fall away, if they shall fall away. And the Lord Jesus Christ
says they won't. They won't. If they shall. I'm going to just throw out something
right here. Why do you think the Spirit of God would say that?
If they shall. It is to set forth two things. Number one, the power of God,
that they won't. And number two, a warning. A warning of steadfastness to
God's people. If I take one of my kids, when
they were little, and we went out to Lookout Mountain in Tennessee,
guard rail right there, If you get on the other side
of that guard rail right there and jump off, you're going to
die. If you do. Am I telling them to do it? No.
I'm warning them. I'm telling them this is what
would happen. This is what would happen if you did. That bottle
right there that's got that skull and bones on it right there,
if you drink that right there it's going to kill you. If you
do. I'm not telling them to do it.
It's a warning. It's a warning of protection.
but also I'm setting forth my knowledge to watch over them,
and protect them, and to keep them, and to guide them, and
direction, and give them direction. If they shall fall away, which
they can't, they cannot, it's impossible to renew them, if
they were to apostatize, and I'm going to come down to the
end of it and show you what's being said, is because they crucified
themselves the Son of God afresh. This is where I'm coming to.
But, here is a word that speaks of falling away. Now there is a setting forth
of believers that do fall. That fall. Not fall away, but
fall. Listen to this. For a just man
falleth seven times and riseth up again. The word falleth right there
means to be cast down, to stumble, to ensnare, to fall into distress
and calamity. The best of men are at best men,
frail creatures of the dust, struggling with the presence
of sin. Are there any examples of any
believers that have fallen, stumbled, Yeah. How about Abraham who lied
about his wife, Sarah? She's my sister. My sister. How about David in Bathsheba?
How about Peter denying the Lord? How about Marvin? How about you? Are there examples? Yeah. Is
there a believer in here who would say, I've never fallen?
I don't think so. Not a believer. Not a believer. Stumbled. I'm talking about stumbled
in thought. Stumbled, you know, in intent. How about stumbled in not doing
what we should have? Oh, yes sir. Yeah, we fall. A just man, a justified man falleth
seven times and riseth up again. But in this passage, To fall
away is to be in a state of unrecovery. A state that the Lord has declared
His people shall never be found in. Never. To fall away is to
descend from an upright place in Christ. Now you just think
about this. Fall away. Somebody say, now
a believer can fall away. No they can't. Not according
to the word of the Lord they can. If a believer could fall
away, what the Spirit of God is showing us is what it would
take to recover them. What it would take to recover
them. This is the reason it's impossible. I'm almost there. I'm getting there. to fall away
would be to descend from an upright place in Christ to a position
of ruin. To be cast into a state of spiritual
ruin after having been in a state of spiritual prosperity. To have gone back to death after
you were alive. To fall away would be for the
Holy Spirit to leave you. And the Lord said, I'll never
leave you. I'll never forsake you. It would be for God's grace
to forever cease to be toward a man or a woman. And He says,
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. For one to fall away, a regenerated sinner would have
to tear himself from the everlasting arms of God's mercy, to remove
a new heart, and to reinstall the old stony
heart to its former reign and throne. That's what it's going
to take. That's what it's going to take. For a man to fall away. Somebody talks about, say, well,
I tell you what, if you do so and so, you'll fall away. Buddy,
let me tell you something. You're talking about a mouthful
when you start talking about falling away from God, who said
that they're kept by the power of God through faith. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. He delighteth in his way, though
he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand." If they shall fall away, which they, according
to the Word of God, cannot do, it's impossible to renew them
again unto repentance. Why? And here's the end. Here's the climactic conclusion
of truth. Four. They crucify to themselves the
Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. What do you
mean? It would be that God's salvation,
if a believer could, fall away. That would be setting forth that
the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that the Spirit of God says,
He'll never fail. The one that said it's finished.
To fall away, It's impossible to renew Him unto repentance
because God Almighty has given all that He has. And if Almighty God has given
all that He has Himself, and a man falls away from that, It's
impossible to renew him again unto repentance. That is to say
that the one who was made sin, who suffered for his people and
put away their guilt, couldn't keep them. That they were stronger than
he is. He gave them life. but they were
strong enough to take it back. I don't want it. It is to say
that the blood of Christ shed for the redemption of God's church would have no cleansing power. Is there anything more dishonorable
to the glory of Almighty God concerning the eternal security
of His people than this heinous thought? If somebody comes up
to a believer and says, you have forsaken the faith, you've fallen
away, they'll never fall away from
Christ. They're lying. God's people don't
fall away from Christ. It's impossible. to renew them
again unto repentance. Almighty God has given His Son. That's His beloved Son. To insinuate
that God Almighty purposed to save a people for Christ who
had died for their redemption and to have imputed to them His
righteousness. The Holy Spirit regenerated them,
sealed them until the day of redemption, and then for God
to have them plucked out of His... Now listen, to have God Almighty
have them plucked out of His hand is to say that God Almighty
is not omnipotent. Somebody took something out of
His hand that He didn't want taken out of His hand. If a believer could fall away,
it would be impossible to renew him again unto repentance because
God failed. God failed. It's going to have to be to renew
them again unto repentance. There's going to have to be a
second incarnation of Christ. And it's going to have to be
one other than Christ, because Christ failed. It'll have to
be another one than Him for them to be saved. There's going to
have to be a second Calvary, and it's going to have to be
someone other than the Lord Jesus Christ, because He failed. There's
going to have to be a second justification. There's going
to have to be a second blood, because the first one that the
Lord said was finished wasn't, and man fell away from that.
Oh, thanks be unto God. You're thinking, God forbid the
thought of somebody ever telling a believer, you can fall away. No, you can't. They're lying
to you. They're lying to you. We are
kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation. ready to be revealed in the last
time. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.