Bibles and turn again to the
book of Hebrews chapter 6. Before we begin, let's ask the
Lord's blessing. Our Father, this evening, we thank You so
for allowing us the privilege to be here. It's so good to be
in the midst of Your people in the presence of our blessed Savior
as He is among us. We pray that You would bless
the Word, cause us to hear It calls us to rejoice. It calls
us to enter in to the joy of the Lord. It calls our hearts
to burn. With understanding and joy, we
ask, Lord, teach us. Help us. We are so frail. We are so easily swayed because
of the presence of sin. Lord, fix our minds. Keep our
minds this evening. here and here to the glory of
our blessed Savior. For it is in His name we pray,
Amen. Last week we looked at what the
Apostle Paul had set forth as an impossibility. There is no possible way that
God's people can be lost. Not those regenerated by the
grace of God. The Scripture clearly sets forth
that we are saved by the power of God. And it is through faith That
doesn't mean because of faith. It means by the means of God
keeping us believing. That's how you know it. How do
you know that Almighty God has done something for you? You believe
God. And you're kept through faith,
understanding, rejoicing. Paul the Apostle, He was talking
to a group of Hebrews. And he was telling them the absolute
necessity of God Almighty keeping His people because they could
not keep themselves. If I were to give you an example
and say, If you jump off the Empire State
Building, if you do, you're going to die. That doesn't mean that
you're going to do it. I'm telling you what will happen
if you do that. That's what's happening right
here. The Apostle Paul set forth that which was absolutely impossible. It was a truth showing why God
Almighty must keep His people because if He doesn't keep them,
they're not going to be saved. Now, let me tell you what was
said last week and then also in verses 7 to 8. That's where
we're going to be tonight. Paul is going to give an illustration
from really a farmer. In verses 7 and 8, he's going
to give an illustration. What he had told the Jews, he
said, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,
illuminated by the grace of God, by the Holy Spirit, those who
were the first time, truly, men are only regenerated one time. For those who were once enlightened,
once enlightened to see the glory of Christ and have tasted of
the heavenly gift. They've eaten and they've experienced
Christ, the unspeakable grace of God, and were absolutely made
partakers, those that were truly made partakers of the Spirit
of God, sharers in the Holy Ghost. and have tasted of the good word
of God." They see the glory of God and the savor of Christ in
the Scriptures. They truly are. Powers of the
world to come. They've been taught by God's
Spirit, given the confidence to know the blessing of eternal
security. If they shall fall away... Now
let me tell you this. There's a difference. in falling
and falling away. The Scripture sets forth if a
good man, regenerated by the grace of God, if he falls, he's
going to get up. He'll get up. It's possible even for a man. Let me give you a good example
from Scripture. Whenever Peter, And I'm going
to give you this illustration. I started to say this, and what
I was about to say is so. A man can absolutely set forth
in the heat of the moment, in the passion of a moment, deny
that he even knows the Lord, and still be a regenerated man.
Peter did it. Three people said, You're one
of his. No, I'm not. Your speech betrays
you. I'm not. I saw you with him and
he swore and he cursed. I don't know the man. I don't
know the man. But what happened? He got up. He got up. David, God kept him. There's a difference in falling
and falling away. Now let me tell you what falling
away actually is. It is to absolutely be released by Almighty God. It is to absolutely have that
which was life at one time and death, spiritual death, given
back. It is to be able to release yourself
from the everlasting hands of an almighty God. It is to be able to separate yourself
from Him who loved you and gave Himself for you. It is to absolutely
grasp hold again of darkness and impart it into yourself.
and to have no life whatsoever spiritually. None. That's falling
away. To release yourself. Now, if
they shall fall away, if they should apostatize, it's impossible. That's impossible. God's people don't fall away. They're kept by the power of
God. Now I'm telling you all this
to show you the illustration that Paul is going to give in
just a few minutes. If those should fall away, if
those should rip themselves away, to renew them again unto repentance,
to restore them back into a state whereby they previously sat in
a state of grace. Why? seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh and they put Him to an open shame." Now,
this shows you the impossibility of a man being lost. It's impossible. It's impossible. Thanks be unto
God, it's impossible. Because if a man could be lost
after being saved, There's no other salvation. Now here's what the Apostle Paul
was saying. Almighty God chose a people before
the foundation of the world, chose them in Christ, His blessed
Son, the surety, the substitute, the redeemer. He, the Lord Jesus
Christ, came into this world made of a woman, made under the
law, and obeyed perfectly under the law. God Almighty, in word
and thought indeed, never one time did He ever deviate in thought. Never! Based on the Word of our
Father. That's my beloved Son whom I
am well pleased. You hear Him. He laid down His life. He was
absolutely made what we are. Almighty God, with Him being
made sin, forsook Him. He died. Under the judgment that
was due because of our sins, Because of what we are would
have been due us. God never put His people under
wrath. He's always looked at the Son. He's always looked at the surety. He never looked at the sheep
to answer. Never, never, never. He's never
looked to the sheep to answer. Never. He always looked to the
surety. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world. live before God Almighty as the
representative, the federal head of all of God's sheep, made sin,
laid down His life, put away the guilt, paid the debt as their
absolute substitute. Paul said, I was crucified with
Him. In Him died under the judgment
of God that His people might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Now there's the substitute who is the Lamb. The justice
of God has been satisfied. God is honored. The law is honored. All has been made right before
God Almighty. If you can apostatize from that
and go back into a state of spiritual death, where are you going to
go? It's impossible. It's impossible. The best has
been given. God's salvation has been given. If you could be lost after that
and you can't thanks be unto God, where are you going to go?
It's impossible for those once enlightened, tasted of the heavenly
gift, made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have tasted the good word
of God, the power of the world come, if they shall fall away,
and they can't, to renew them again unto repentance. See, they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, put Him to an
open shame. It would take another Savior,
and there's but one. It would take another election, another crucifixion, another
resurrection from the grave. It would take another ascension. There is no other life. Men talk about losing their salvation
and being renewed. No. Where are you going to go? It is absolutely imperative that
God keeps His people, because if they could be lost and Christ
put to an open shame and be shown that He couldn't keep His people,
where are you going? No, it's impossible. It's impossible. God's people
are never lost. The Lord said, I give them eternal
life. They're never going to perish. You can't get away from Him.
Aren't you glad for that? Now let me show you. Paul's now going to give an illustration. And it's in verses 7 and 8. And
he's going to give an illustration from nature that everybody understands
to prove the point that he just set forth concerning the absolute,
number one, necessity of God keeping His people and the absolute
assurance of their salvation. God Almighty has pledged His
own name, His own Son, His own honor. Paul says in verses 7
and 8, 4, and it is, here's the example, For the earth which
drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth
herbs meet or fit for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth
blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns,
briars, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to
be burned." Now what did he just say? Paul said, I'm going to
give you guys an illustration showing you what I meant. He said, let's take a piece of
ground. Let's take a parcel of earth
as prepared as a garden, a parcel. And this field, it's been plowed
with the best plow you could possibly have. There's no better
plow. than what you plowed it with. We're going to fertilize
it. We're going to buy the finest fertilizer that you can possibly
buy. There's no better fertilizer
made. This is the best. This is the
best. We're going to plant the finest
seeds that can possibly be had. This is the best. This is the
best of whatever we're planting, corn or beans or whatever. We're
going to plant the best that we can possibly plant. So we've got the best ground,
we've got the best machinery to plow it with, we've got the
best fertilizer, we've got the best herbs, we've got the best
everything. Everything is top of the line. It's no better, it's no better
than this. This field has rained. This rain comes from heaven,
and it just drinks in the rain. It wasn't just a little sprinkle
just here and gone. We had a good rain. It drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and it bringeth forth herbs fit meet for them by whom it's
dressed. the blessing from God. God Himself
blesses this. These plants, that dirt, that
fertilizer, He planted what He expected to
have. If in that field, where all that
plowing, planting, fertilizing took place, where the blessing
of God was upon it. When that rain came down and
fell on that herbs, if briars and thistles was the only thing that came
up, or if it was half good and half bad. And the best has been
given. The best has been done. Then the conclusion is going
to be, what else are you going to do? Where else are you going
to go? You've had the best of everything. If rise and thistles comes up They're nigh unto cursing whose
end is to be burned. What else are you going to do? You say, well, I'd buy another
kind. You bought the best. I'll plow it with something else.
You had the best. Now, let me just bring it right
down to earth. Here's a garden. And in that garden, Almighty
God has sent His Word. It's the best. It's the best. God Almighty sends the rain of
the blessing of His Holy Spirit. Where God Almighty sends His
blessing and God Almighty blesses what God Almighty planted You're
going to have fruit produced there. But if there's others in the
midst, tares, and all it is is briars and thistles produced
in those places, what else are you going to do? Where else are you going to go?
What other hope do you have If you have sat under the gospel
of God's grace and heard the unsearchable riches of the glory
of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, are you going to
go back to the law? Are you going to go back to free
will, works, religion, if the best does not save a man? And only God Almighty is going
to save a man. What other hope do you have? There's only one thing that can
be done if Almighty God doesn't produce life. You burn the briars and the thistles. Paul is saying, telling these
Hebrews, you guys, we're not going back. We're not going back
to the first, the foundational truth that was set forth in the
law. You're not going back to that. We're going on into maturity. The life of a believer is a going
on. It's a continued walk. It's a
growing in grace. We don't go back. If God Almighty
cannot produce fruit, who else is going to produce it? There's
no other alternative. God Almighty has set forth, and
He set forth this perfectly by His parable of the sower. This
is exactly what the parable of the sower was all about. A sower
went forth to sow, and he sowed some seed. It was the gospel. The seed is the gospel of God's
grace. And some of it fell by the wayside, and the birds came
Picked it up. Took it away. Some of it fell
on stony ground. It sprang up quickly for a while,
but when the heat of the persecution of the gospel came forth, it
withered. There was no root there. Some
of it fell on thorny ground. And it came forth. But in time,
the cares of this world choked it out. Crowded it out. But some of it fell on good ground.
And God blessed it. It was the same Word. The only
difference is God Almighty blesses it. Now my question is this. If that fruit that was produced
on good ground, if it could tear itself away from the very union
of Christ, If that which came forth and produced thirty and
sixty and a hundredfold, if it could tear itself away, if God
Almighty couldn't keep you, if the Lord Jesus Christ did not
bind His people to Him and keep them, if He couldn't keep you,
where would you go? Where are you going to go? It's
impossible. It's impossible to renew them
again unto repentance. There is no salvation if you
can fall away, but you can't. You can't. If God's purpose and power and
grace can be frustrated, and oh, how I thank Him tonight that
for those that were once enlightened tasted of the heavenly gift. Those that God Almighty has called
out of darkness. Oh, I do know that they can fall.
I know they stumble. And you that know Him, you know
that too. And it grieves you. You fall. Think how many times we've fell
since we got here tonight. How many times we've deviated
in our minds. How many times we've, you know,
Do you realize that but for the grace of God that that one infraction
would have put you in hell if you were not under the blood
of Christ? One. If you could have fallen away,
you couldn't have been renewed, thanks be unto Him that the glorious
power of God Almighty keeps His people, keeps them bound to Him Isaiah 55, 9 says this, 9 and
10, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but waters the earth and maketh it bring forth in
blood. that it may give seed to the
sower, bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth
out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." The glorious peace, comfort, joy, that a believer
has is knowing this, that Almighty God has purposed to save him. He's given him a heart to come
to Christ. I was thinking about this the
other day. What does it really mean to come to Christ? Here's what it is. It is to, by the grace of God,
flee from every other false security that you've got. It's to come
to Christ and to forsake all other. A person that has come
to Christ does not look at all to themselves for any security
in anything that they've done. Nothing. Nothing. Not your praying,
not your reading. You don't even look to your faith
as a source of your salvation. You come to Christ. That's what
it is. It's to forsake all other. Think about the miracle of God's
grace and power that He would keep His people. Men speak of being able to fall from grace
as if it's almost a thrilling thing for them. It's to be able
to kind of get away for just a little bit and kind of renew
themselves back in the frivolity of the rebellion of this world.
But that's okay. Don't worry about it. I'll just
repent. I'll just go down and rededicate
myself or something like that. I'll go to confession. I'll go
to confession Saturday night. Don't worry about it. That's
fine. That's fine. God Almighty keeps His people.
He has given His only begotten Son. There is life in no other. There is life in no other but
Christ. There is hope in no other than
God Almighty, God's will, God's purpose, God's grace, God's power. If you could fall from that,
There'd be no hope for you. God's going to keep His people
and He's going to keep them to the end. And they're going to
behold the indescribable glory of His grace and will forever
thank Him and praise Him that He's redeemed them out of every
nation, kindred, tribe and tongue. May God cause our hearts to rejoice
in the glorious blessing of preservation for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand together.