I'm going to speak for a few
minutes out of Hebrews 6, 4 to 6, but I want you to turn to
Psalm 81. Psalm 81. I'd like to just read the first
10 verses. This was a passage of Scripture
that I thought on. this week and it was just such
a blessing to me and I'd like to just share it with you as
we rejoice together in our blessed Lord's Word. Psalm 81, sing aloud
unto God our strength. Make a joyful noise unto the
God of Jacob. Take a psalm and bring hither
the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery, blow up the
trumpet in the new moon in the time appointed on our solemn
feast day. For this was a statute for Israel
and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for
a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt, where
I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from
the burden His hands were delivered from the pots. Thou callest in
trouble, and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret
place of thunder. I proved thee at the waters of
Meribah, Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will
testify unto thee, O Jacob, if thou wilt hearken unto me. There
shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any
strange God. I am the Lord thy God, which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide,
and I will fill it." I thought on that last verse
of Scripture there. Open thy mouth wide, and I will
fill it. You know, we're never presumptuous
if we ask the Lord what He's told us to do. That's not being
presumptuous. You need comfort? Ask Him. You need to have your heart settled
in the time of trials and tribulations? Ask Him. He said, open your mouth
wide. I was thinking on that this morning
and I thought, oh, if I but knew what to ask. I don't want to
ask in a foolish way. The first thing I want to say
when I open my mouth wide is, Lord, would You give me a heart
to know what to ask for? I ask for His honor. I ask that
He bless this church. You know, that's a good request.
Lord, would You bless Katie Baptist Church? Lord, would You increase
our borders? That's scriptural. That's out
of Ezekiel 36. I'll increase their borders according
to my pleasure. Lord, would You increase our
borders according to Your pleasure? He said, ask. Oh, that God Almighty
might give us heart to know what to ask for. Let's pray together. Our Father, How wonderful it
is to be able to assemble ourselves together in Your blessed, holy
name. Lord, it is so good to be able
to have a place to come. Thank You, oh, for maintaining
this candlestick, this lighthouse of the glory of God in the person
and face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, there have been so many
places that we know of where the candlestick has been removed,
but You've shown mercy to this place. Thank You. Thank You that
You've taught us. Thank You that You teach us.
Lord, would You help us tonight? Would You settle our hearts and
cause us to truly hear? Lord, if it be Your will, Lord,
would You bless our hearts and ignite our hearts, cause our
hearts to burn, Lord, if you give us understanding, we'll
understand. If you turn us, we'll turn. If
you teach us, we'll be taught. Lord, we're helpless creatures.
We have no ability in ourselves. Lord, help us. Teach us tonight
for Christ's sake. Amen. Take your Bibles and turn
with me to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. I'd like for
us to look this evening in verses 4, 5, and 6. I've entitled this
message, Kept from the Impossible. Kept from the Impossible. The Apostle Paul had instructed
these Hebrews that he was talking to that he said we must go on
unto perfection Meaning we must go on into maturity. We're not going to go back. That's what we've been studying.
We're not going to lay again the foundation. And what he meant
by this, we're not going to go back to the pictures, types,
shadows of the law. That was the foundational truth. You know the Gospel was set forth
in that. You know that. You know that when that The priest
took that animal and slew that animal. You know that that's
set forth. The glorious Lamb of God. You know that. He's been revealed
now. The perfection of those foundational
truths has been set forth. We're not going back to that.
We're not going back to the law. We're not going back to those
pictures and types and shadows. Now tonight we're going to consider
the preserving mercy of God toward all that He has everlastingly
loved and purposed to save from their sins. God has a purpose. And the Apostle is going to show
in these verses of Scripture, 4, 5, 6, he's going to show what
our absolute need is of being kept by the power of God through
faith and what would happen if Almighty God did not keep His
people by His sustaining grace. And I'm telling you, if He does
not keep us, we're not going to be kept. We're kept, the Scripture
says, by the power of God. So this scripture tonight, these
three scriptures, is going to teach us what if. What if? have been done and they had been
done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. I told
you this before. That Scripture has always just
intrigued me. Here was the Lord of glory saying,
not only what will happen and won't happen, but what could
have happened had He permitted it. If I would have permitted
the gospel to have been sent to Sodom and blessed it, what
would have been the difference in him sending the gospel to
Sodom or sending the gospel to Katie? What was the difference? The grace of God. The purpose
of God. That's the only difference. If
the works that had been done here had been done in Sodom,
it would have still been here. Now that's sovereignty. That's God. This is what would
have happened if. Well, tonight we're going to
look at what Almighty God says would have happened had He not
kept His people, kept them by His grace, kept them by His power. We know before we even begin,
without a shadow of a doubt, that all that the Father has
chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that all that the Son
has redeemed by blood, we know that the Spirit of God is going
to call them out of darkness. We know that. Almighty God has
in that eternal and everlasting covenant of grace purposed to
save His people. And they're going to be saved.
John 10, 27, 28 says, hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life." Now,
is it eternal life or is it not eternal? Is it iffy or is it
not? Is it certain or is it not? I
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man plucked
them out of my hand." Now, is that so or is it not? I give
eternal life. They shall never, never perish. Now here's the reason that the
sheep must be kept. Verse 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 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. impossible for those who were
once enlightened. That sets forth this truth. Those who were converted one
time, once enlightened, those that were converted one time,
not that it would be impractical, not that it would be hard, but
there's no possibility The Apostle is set forth under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God. Those who were one time converted,
enlightened, made to see, Ephesians 1.18, the eyes of your understanding,
being enlightened. To say it like this, somebody
explains something to you and you say, I see, I see. I see
what you're talking about. You're not talking about this.
He's talking about this. He's talking about understanding
that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may
know what is the hope of His calling and what is the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. It is the work
of the Spirit of God to illuminate a soul, enlighten a soul. The eyes of a man's understanding. He's born in spiritual darkness. But in regenerating grace, 2
Corinthians 4, 6 says, for God who commanded the light, the
light of Christ Himself 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. It's impossible It's impossible. It's impossible. We're going
to talk about something that's impossible here. It's impossible
for those who were converted one time, and a man can only
be converted one time, who were once enlightened and have tasted
the heavenly gift, those who have eaten by faith of Christ,
the unspeakable, indescribable, inexpressible gift of Almighty
God. Let me ask you this. What tongue
can set forth the inexpressible glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you set forth? How do you express Him? Who can form the words? Who can
do justice to His work and His worth? We talk about the Lord,
and rightly so, that He walked before Almighty God and in word,
thought, and deed, never offended. Perfect. Do you know how far
below that falls in the expression of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ? And we all know it. We realize it. Christ Himself, the heavenly
gift. Peter says in 1 Peter 2, 2 and
3, as newborn babies, desire the sincere milk of the Word,
that you may grow thereby. If so be, you've tasted that
the Lord is gracious. You know that's something that
you just can't explain to somebody. Just tell them, say, you know
what? He just tastes. He tastes life. The savor of
Christ is wonderful. They hear what you're saying,
but it's going to take a new heart to actually taste of the
heavenly gift. It's impossible for those who
were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. The earnest of your salvation. You know, I told you last Sunday,
The Spirit of God is given. Christ in you. The Spirit of
God is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ in you. The hope of glory. The earnest
of salvation. There's a deposit. And there is part of what we shall absolutely fully
enjoy. When I say part, I mean this. We're frail creatures. I was
doing some studying today and I was going through
the book of John in John 3. It was, let's see, John 3.31. I'll just read you. John was
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ telling His disciples,
He that cometh from above is above all. That's what John said.
He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. And
this is what He... He didn't say that those preachers
that God calls are worldly. He said earthly. In the best
and most knowledgeable of men, there's still that savor of humanity
about them, of fallenness, earthliness. Because we know in part, we prophesy
in part, we know in pieces, we don't understand everything,
we see through a glass darkly, but we see. We are made partakers
of the Holy Ghost. There's a part, there's an understanding
that we have right now that shall fully be set free. And we'll fully know as we're
known. Now that's amazing. We'll see
Him as He is and we'll know Him and be like Him. Be like Him. We're made partakers of the Holy
Ghost. Romans 8 and 9 says, You are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you. And if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. So it is impossible for those
who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Verse 5, And have
tasted the good word of God. Those who have savored Christ
in the Gospel, And they realize that the Scriptures, these are
they, the Lord said, that testify of Me. They see Him. They're looking for Him. They're
searching for Him. They see Him in the Word. And
where they don't see Him in the Word, they realize, I'm not seeing
it aright. He's there. I know He's there. But they've tasted that good
Word of God, that all the promises of God are in Christ, and they're
yea and amen. Only a believer relishes this
Book, relishes these Scriptures, relishes this Word. This is God's
Word, and they derive comfort and peace from it, and they see
the beauty of Christ in it. It's impossible for those who
were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift and made
protectors of the Holy Ghost, tasted the good word of God and
the powers of the world to come or have tasted of the works of
power of a coming age is what the literal is. It takes a new heart to believe
that there is actually a time coming when we will truly behold
the glory of Almighty God in our blessed Savior. It is not that a believer wants
to be saved and not go to hell. He wants to be where Christ is. He desires to see His blessed
Redeemer and to be with Him. That's who He looks for. He's
looking for Christ. It's like the two disciples of
John. You know, Master, where dwellest
thou? Where do you stay? Where are
you? I know that heaven and earth
is going to pass away. I know that His Word is going
to endure forever. I know there's a coming of time,
a day of judgment, when God's going to separate the sheep and
the goats, when Almighty God will usher in the bride without
spot, without fault, without blemish. And there's the confidence
that a believer has of his security in Christ. I know this. that He will never leave me and
never forsake me. I believe that. I believe that
there's actually coming a time when I shall see Him. I shall be in His presence. I shall behold His beauty and
His glory. He prayed that. Father, I will. Those that You've given me, be
with me. where I am. Now you listen. You've tasted of the powers of
the world to come. You know that this life is fleeting. You know we're getting older. You know the effects of sin is
taking its toll. You know it is. You know it is.
And this life that is but a vapor We talk about that. But what
is the hope of glory? We've tasted of the powers of
the world to come. The Scripture says, verse 6,
if they shall fall away. I'm talking about those once
enlightened that tasted of the heavenly gift truly. made partakers
of the Holy Ghost, tasted the good word of God, the powers
of the world to come, if they shall fall away, if they themselves apostatized. Now, I know this, that those
who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift
truly and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and truly tasted
the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come.
I know that every one of them, Almighty God chose them in electing
grace. I know He did. Nobody save those
that Almighty God has everlastingly loved and purposed to save in
Christ. I know that those are the ones
that God's called out of darkness. I know it. I know that. I know
that. I know that that's the sheep
if they fall away. I looked up that fall away. It's
used one time in all the Scriptures. One time. Right here. having fallen away, if they apostatize." That phrase right there, fall
away. It's from the root word that
means this. Now listen to this. It is to
descend from a higher place to a lower. Fall away. It's to go from a higher place
to a lower. Now I know that we've all been
born in a lower place, and by the grace of God in Christ, lifted
in Christ into life. I know that. But to go from a
higher place to a lower. It also means to fall into ruin. Man's already born in ruin. Man's
already born dead in trespasses and sins. So these here that's
talking about falling away, it means those who were truly in
life. This word, falling away, that
phrase, deals with going from a place of life to a place of
death. It speaks of having gone from
death to life, then back to death again. That's what it's talking
about. So I know what it's talking about. It's talking to fall away
completely. Fall away from grace. That's
what it means. I understand. And I know that
there are some that say it, that you can be saved and then lost
and then resaved and then lost, not according to this Scripture.
Those who have truly been enlightened and tasted of Christ, made in
union with, for takers of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good
Word of God. They see Christ. They believe
that this is the power of God unto salvation. If they fall
from a higher place to a lower, the Scripture sets forth, it
is impossible. Impossible. to renew them again unto repentance. That is, to restore them once
more into a state of life. A state whereby their minds were
changed back to love Christ. If they were there and they fell,
apostatized, fell from grace, to renew them back. Now, I do know this. I know that
a believer is plagued with the presence of sin. I know that.
But he'll never fall away. Psalm 37, 23, 24, The steps of
a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in His
way, and though he fall, And I look this up. Though he fall
into calamities, is what the word means, or finds disappointments
in his path, though he falls, he shall not utterly be cast
down or cast out. Why? For the Lord upholdeth him
with his hand. The Lord takes hold of him and
will not let him fall. Listen, let me tell you something. There is no difference in our
old man, our old nature. There is no difference in our
old man and the old man of an unbeliever. We are all dug out
of the same pit. There is no difference. We are
all falling in Adam. No, the difference is that Almighty
God has chosen to show mercy to some. And He will not let
them fall. There are things that you've
thought and I've thought that other people have thought too. But for the grace of God, Almighty
God is going to deal with them after their own sin. But for
those chosen in Christ, Almighty God took and laid on Him the
iniquity of us all, all of His people, all of His elect. Christ
said, I lay down My life for the sheep. Christ said that. Christ said, I lay down My life
for My people and they shall never perish. It is absolutely by the grace
of God that God keeps us. He will not. Almighty God, for Christ's sake,
upholds and forgives for Christ's sake all that is found in His
Son. He will not let them perish. What do you think Almighty God
would have done to David? What do you think God would have done
to David if He dealt with David only in David? There's no difference
in me and you, as you know that. You say, well, I've never done
that. Yes, you have. Yes, you have. In your mind, you have. Yes, you have. I'm telling you it's by the grace
of God. for one to fall away, a regenerated
sinner. He would have to be able to tear
himself away from the everlasting arms of God's mercy. He would
have to be able to remove that new heart and reinstall that
old stony heart that reigns and rules. That old heart, that old
stony heart, he said, I'll take it away. It doesn't rain anymore.
The presence of sin is there. But I'm going to tell you something.
That old heart doesn't rain in the life of a believer. Christ
does. And I know the struggles. I understand. I know. Paul said in Romans 8,
38, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. It's impossible. If they should
fall away, if they fall away, it's impossible. to restore them back to a position
of repentance for this reason, seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. And God
is not going to have His Son shamed. This is what would happen
if they should fall away. If God didn't keep one, if one
fell away, for whom Christ died. God's not almighty. God couldn't keep His own. Christ didn't finish it. They would be saying by their
falling away that the God of all grace and power couldn't
keep them, that He was a failure. they would by their apostasy
put Christ to an open shame. Can you imagine? God forbid. They would make Him a public
spectacle that He was impotent. Oh, the mercy of God that keeps
for Christ's sake all that He has eternally loved. It's impossible. For those that once enlightened,
tasted the heavenly gift, powers of the world to come, that they
follow the way to renew them again unto repentance, see they
crucify to themselves the Son of God fresh and put Him to an
open shame. God Almighty is going to be honored.
God Almighty is going to have His people, all of them, all
for whom Christ died. They're going to be there. Trophies
of His mercy and grace. Spectacles of His power. His crown. His glory. His honor. Isn't it wonderful
to know that we don't keep ourselves? We're kept by Him who is able. He's able. to keep you from falling,
able to keep you from falling. That's good news. For Christ's
sake, that's good news. Amen.