Six. Now, if you would ask me. What
passage of Scripture has scared me more than any other passage
of Scripture in the word of God, I would say it would be the one
I'm getting ready to read. Let's read it together. Hebrews,
Chapter six, beginning in verse four. 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. For the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet
for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is
nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. But, beloved,
we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany
salvation, though we thus speak. Now, when I look at this passage
of Scripture, and when I read this description, particularly
in verses four and five, of 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. I've looked at that and asked
myself the question, do you mean to tell me that you can experience
that? And still perish. Now, if that's what that means,
what makes me think I even know the Lord? If that is what that
means. Now. It's a solemn fact. That we've seen many people who
seem to be believers. Who did not continue in the faith? How many people have we seen
come and go over the years. And our Lord tells us of them
in the parable of the sower. Would you turn with me there
to Luke chapter eight? Beginning in verse 11. He'd already given the parable
of the sower, and now he's giving his explanation of that parable.
Verse 11, now the parable is this, the seed is the word of
God, those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the
devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they
should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they which
when they hear, receive the word with joy. And we're talking about
the truth right now. They received the word, they
received the message of the gospel, and they rejoiced in it. They
say, I believe this. They received the word with joy. And these have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation they fall away. They're there no longer. And
they which fell among the thorns are they which when they have
heard go forth and are choked. with cares and riches and pleasures
of this life, and they bring forth no fruit to perfection,
but they that on the good ground are they which in an honest and
good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth
fruit unto patience." Now, notice how he said that these hearers
that were spurious, that were false, brought not forth any
fruit unto perfection. Now, in our text, in Hebrews
chapter six, the main idea is going on to perfection. Going
on to maturity, he says, let us go on to maturity, perfection,
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works.
Now, the life of the believer is not to be at a standstill. It's just not. He said, let us
go on to maturity. or perfection, not laying again
the foundation of repentance from dead works. I'm to grow
in grace. You see, living things grow. Dead things do not grow. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
4. Ephesians chapter 4. Paul says, beginning in verse
11. And he gave some apostles. And
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting, for the maturing, for the growing up, for the completing
of the saints, for the work of the ministry. For the edifying,
or the building up, of the body of Christ, till we all come in
the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, a mature man, a grown-up man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love,
we may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted
by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part maketh increase, growth of the
body unto the edifying or the building up of itself in love."
Now, as we saw last week, these Hebrews had become dull in hearing,
slothful in hearing, they had lost the ability to hear and
to discern the difference between good and evil. That's what he
warns them about. He said, you've become dull of
hearing. That's why I can't say these things regarding Melchizedek. You've become dull in hearing. And he says, let us go on to
perfection, not being dull in hearing. Now, beginning in verse
four. He says. In Hebrews, chapter
six. For it is impossible for those
who are once enlightened. It's impossible. Not improbable,
but impossible. Matthew 19, verse 26. You see,
there's some things that are impossible. Matthew 19, verse
26. The disciples asked, who then
can be saved? And our Lord said, with men it
is impossible. What's impossible? Salvation. In Luke 17, verse 1, the Lord
said, It's impossible, but that offenses will come. It's impossible. They're going to happen. Wherever
you've got men, it's going to take place. But woe to him through
whom they come. Hebrews 6.18 says it's impossible
for God to lie. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
Somebody says, My God can do anything. Well, no, He can't.
My God can't lie. My God can't change. There's
a lot of things God can't do. He can't act contrary to his
nature. He cannot lie. In Hebrews 9,
verse 4, it's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
take away sin. And in Hebrews 11, 6, it says,
without faith, it is impossible to please God. And in our text,
it says it's not possible to renew these people to repentance
if they fall away. I've entitled this message Falling
away. Falling away. Can a believer
fall away? Let me say this. If you can. You will. You can write that down. If you
can. You will. Now, there are three
different views of the people described in our text who are
people who have tasted of the heavenly gift. And we're made
partakers of the Holy Ghost. And have tasted the good word
of God and the powers of the world to come, this description
of these people he's talking about, there are three different
views of these people in our text first. Some people say that
these are true believers who fall away and end up being damned. Now, in light of other scriptures,
we just know that's not so. Our Lord said, I give unto my
sheep what? Eternal life, not temporary,
eternal life. And they shall what? Never perish. Do you believe a sheep of Christ
can perish? No! He said they shall never
perish. Why, our Lord would be a failure
if He died for somebody and paid for their sins and gave them
His grace, and they end up falling away. that would bring him to
shame. He was an unsuccessful Savior
and that will never be. Everybody that God elected, everybody
that Christ died for, everybody that God the Holy Spirit gives
life to, everybody who believes the gospel, Christ is going to
keep them. Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. Turn
with me to Romans 8 for a moment. I always read verses 31-34, but
I rarely read verses 35-39, but let's look what that says. Romans
8, beginning in verse 35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it's written,
for thy sake we're killed all the day long, we're counted as
sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we're
more than conquerors through him that loved us, for 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, and just in case I've left anything out, nor any other
creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord." It is impossible for a sheep
of Christ to fall away. It's not going to happen. Now,
we know that from the Scriptures. Remember, whatever you hear,
you've got to be able to throw the whole Bible at it. And no
sheep of Christ can fall away. Now, another view is that this
passage of Scripture is warning us to persevere because you can
come this close. To being saved. Without truly
being saved. You can be enlightened by the
Holy Spirit. You can taste of the heavenly
gift. You can be made a partaker of
the Holy Ghost. You can taste the good word of
God and the powers of the world to come and still miss it. Now,
when I thought that. It absolutely scared me to death. Because I thought, what in the
world makes me think that I'm saved? If that person is described
and they're not believers, what makes me think I'm one? What
makes me think I will persevere all the way to the end? Now, the third view is that the
person here described is a believer. And the important word in this
passage of scripture is the word impossible. It's impossible. It's impossible for them to fall
away. If they have experienced these five things, it's impossible
if they did They could not possibly be renewed to repentance. Now,
whether somebody believes the first view or the second view,
the necessity of perseverance is taught in both. But I want
us to read this passage of scripture and just act like we didn't know
anything, which we don't. And just read it and see whether
you think this would describe a believer or somebody who's
close. It's 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.
Now, is that person a Christian or not? Is that person a believer
or not? Now, if that person cannot be
a believer, boy, I tell you what, I'm just
going to... I have a real hard time. I'd be scared to death. Somebody can have all that and
not be saved, I don't think so. Now let's consider these five
things, these five descriptions, and then we're going to consider
what he means by this passage of scripture. He talks about
those who were once enlightened. Once enlightened. And that word
once means once for all. of perpetual validity. It need
not be repeated. Those who were once enlightened. Enlightened by God. Now, aren't
you thankful for light? Light's what I see. I've been
given light as to who God is. I know God. I know what He's
like from His Word. I've been given light. I know
He's all-powerful. I know He's absolutely sovereign.
I know He's immutable. He can't change. I know He's
absolutely just. I've been given some light as
to who God is. And I've been given some light.
I've been enlightened in light of who He is as to who I am.
There was a time when I didn't understand this. I can remember
when I was a little boy, going over the Ten Commandments and thinking, well,
which ones have I kept and which ones have I not kept? And I think
I figured out I kept at least six or seven of them. Just totally
in the dark. Just natural darkness. And then
God gave me some light as to who I am. Here's the light He gave me.
In and of myself, I, Todd Nybert, am nothing but sin. I cannot not sin. All I do is sin. I can't keep
from sin. And I'm not saying that in any
way excusing it. I'm just saying I've been given
some light as to who I am. I've been given some light as
to who God is. I've been given some light as
to who I am. And I've been given some light
as to how a holy God can accept and embrace and love and save
somebody like me. I've been given some light regarding
the gospel. I understand. God's given me
that understanding. I've been enlightened. But I
understand what was going on on the cross. I understand that
God put His Son on the cross. And I understand that the sins
of His people were placed upon Him. And He suffered the wrath
of God in their stead as a substitute. And I understand that His obedience,
His law-keeping is given to every believer. I understand that there
is a way that God can be just. and yet justify somebody as sinful
as me. And I am relying on Him. I've been enlightened. There's
a time when I didn't see that. I do now. I've been enlightened. Where did I get that light? God
gave me that light. Now, would He give me that light
and send me to hell. Let me show you a passage of
scripture in the book of Judges.