Planted and Watched Over
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4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
There are some things that you learn as a married couple. You get used to each other in several ways, but what I want to bring to our attention is how we get used to driving with each other. Leanna and I learned to drive together, what I mean is she knows how to keep me focus on the road when needed.
She realized that when I am distracted or talking about serious matters I can get very distracted, so she has to repeat the warning until I hear what she said. For example, as we are driving she might say red light, red light. The tone of the warning will vary accordingly to the danger, for example, if there is deer that is suddenly crossing the road she will not say, “Marcos look a deer is crossing the road”. Instead, she will say “deer, deer, deer” with increased intensity.
This reminds me of a few years ago we were driving on I-75 and the traffic was “stop and go”, then finally it cleared up so everyone was going faster, we were probably going 60 mph when Leanna screamed and braced for impact because the cars in front us had suddenly come to a full stop.
I slammed on the brakes and the car was leaving rubber marks on the road. The only thing we could think was we are going to slam into the car in front of us, we were braking so hard I couldn’t move to the other lane. Thankfully the car behind us was able to move to the next lane. I could also see a semi-truck behind us jumping up and down as it was braking. When we stopped, we were less than a foot from the car in front of us and the truck behind us was able to stop because the car in between us move over to the other lane.
Leanna’s reaction, and not the words she said, was the most serious warning that day. How I responded to the serious warning had an effect on the outcome for us.
Today as we study the passage from Hebrews, we hear one of the most dramatic, and serious warnings that there is in the Bible. It is like my wife screaming and bracing for impact. In the same manner, how we respond to this most serious warning will have an effect on the outcome for us. The intention is serious. This is more serious than life and death situations because it is about eternal life and death, eternal habitation in heaven or hell.
This is one of the reasons why I love the letter to the Hebrews so much, it brings us to our knees in adoration and worship of Jesus for who He is, and it brings us down to our knees as we recognize the seriousness in considering matters that will have an effect on us for eternity. This passage today should remove any trivial attitude that we might have about following Christ.
Before we dive into these verses, we should briefly look at the context. Chapter 6 v1 is where we find the commandment to press on to maturity, then the author concludes the previous section in v3 by saying “And this we will do if God permits” That we are utterly dependent on God’s grace to enable us to press forward to maturity.
Now verses 4-8 give us an illustration of this utter dependency on God by showing a situation where pressing on to maturity and repentance is impossible. This warning should cause every true believer to tremble from being in this situation and recognize our dependency on the Sovereign God.
But what does it look like when repentance is impossible? It is described like this:
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
There is so much in this passage. First, this is considered by many if not by all scholars to be the most difficult passage in all of the book of Hebrews, maybe one of the most difficult passages in all of the New Testament.
It is important to say that there are at least four different views on the interpretation of this passage, and each view has its own difficulties. Whatever position we might hold, it must be based on Scripture and not our own likes or preferences. At the same time, we should hold our position with humbleness recognizing that not everyone will agree with us, in the same way, you might not agree with me today, but I’ll attempt to show from Scripture and not my own preferences and opinions.
But what everyone agrees is that these verses teach us that true believers will persevere to the end. Bruce a commentator states
“Once more our author emphasizes that continuance is the test of reality. In these verses he is not questioning the perseverance of the saints; we might say that rather he is insisting that those who persevere are the true saints. But in fact, he is stating a practical truth, those who have shared the covenant privileges of the people of God, and then deliberately renounce them, are the most difficult persons of all to reclaim for the faith. It is indeed impossible to reclaim them, says our author.”
Let’s examine now the situation of when repentance is impossible. V4-5 describes someone that receives great blessings and has high religious experiences. And as we hear these words, we might think of someone that we know and wonder if they fit in this description. The text here is not intended for us to discern where someone else is, we should pray for others, that God will change their hearts. We need to remember that we are not going to judge them, God is the Judge and we need to be concerned about our own walk with Jesus.
The text here is intended for us to consider where our heart is. Do we love Jesus and hate sin? or do we tolerate sin and compromise just a little bit, while we are deceiving ourselves thinking that we are following Jesus without truly obeying Him.
The verses here in Hebrews 6 seem very similar to me to the words of Jesus in Matt 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
When we put side by side the words of Jesus and Heb 6:4-5 we see that there is no security in external appearances, no words we might say, no spiritual experience, not even if you cast out demons in Jesus’ name. It doesn’t matter how many years you have been coming to church, or how many times you heard the gospel clearly proclaimed. It doesn’t matter how many years you have served in the church, or if you have proclaimed the gospel to others, or if you were instrumental in someone else coming to faith. Also, being a pastor doesn’t make one a true follower of Christ.
There were many that were physically healed by Jesus and follow Him but didn’t love or obey Him. Remember Judas, he followed Jesus for 3 years and he was one of the 12 apostles, he ate bread with Jesus and saw all the miracles. This is an example not only of an apparent follower of Christ but someone that was commissioned by Jesus to be one of very few selected apostles. Externally Judas was no different than the others. When Jesus said one of you will betray me, the disciples didn’t all turn and look at Judas, they were disturbed questioning who is it.
V4-5 describes someone who had great spiritual experiences, someone who has tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and after all this experience turns away putting Jesus to open shame.
6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
This verse not only says they have fallen away but that they are crucifying again the Son of God. We might ask: how can one re-crucify Jesus?
I could try to answer that, but Piper gives a better answer than I can, he says:
One reason is that Christ was crucified the first time to make his people pure and holy. That’s why he shed his blood. He died to sanctify us. He died to make us pure and holy and devoted to him So when we turn our backs on purity and holiness and devotion, which his cross was designed to bring about, we say yes to the impurity and worldliness and unbelief that nailed him there in the first place. This means we crucify him again.
There is another reason this kind of falling away is a re-crucifying of Christ. When a person chooses against Christ and turns back to the way of the world and the sovereignty of his own will and the fleeting pleasures of earth, he says in effect that these are worth more than Christ is worth. They are worth more than the love of Christ and the wisdom of Christ and the power of Christ and all that God promises to be for us in Christ. And when a person says that, it is the same as saying, “I agree with the crucifiers of Jesus.” Because what could shame Christ more today than to have someone taste his goodness and wisdom and power and then say, “No, there is something better and more to be desired.” That puts him to a public shame.
It is one thing for a stranger of the faith to resist Christ. But it is another thing for a person who has been in the church and has been enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift and become a partaker of the Holy Spirit and tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the age to come — it’s another thing for that person to say after all those blessings and all those experiences, “I think what the world offers is better than Christ.” That is a re-crucifying of Jesus and putting him to public shame worse than any outsider could, who never tasted the truth.
This reminds me of the judgment that Jesus pronounced in Matt 11:20-24
“20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
There are many people who have heard the gospel over and over, and some have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and might even have experienced miraculous physical healing by the hand of the Lord or performed great signs in the name of Jesus, but after a time turn their backs on Jesus, what a dreadful end they will come to.
THE QUESTION
As we are studying these verses there is a question that you are probably considering. According to this verse, does this mean that a true follower of Christ can lose their salvation?
As you might imagine not everyone agrees on this answer. But here is my take on it. I think the author of Hebrews gives us some clues in the context of the passage to indicate that it is possible to have all these blessings and all these high spiritual experiences and deceive ourselves into thinking that we are saved. The external evidence might give us a false sense of security. We might be deceived into thinking that our hearts were changed.
Nothing external can give us the security of salvation, no works, no signs, not saying the sinners' prayer, not coming upfront, no tears, no baptism. But it is a heart that loves Jesus and despises sin in our own hearts. A true follower of Jesus will consistently and constantly repent and trust in Jesus. A true follower of Christ will give up the whole world to have Jesus. However, as I said last week. I have seen too many who call themselves Christians who only hate sin when their sin is exposed and are not willing to act in accordance with their professed repentance.
Therefore, I believe that the people described in v4-8 are not true believers, there are five reasons that lead me to think this way.
First, in v 4-8, there is a sudden change in pronouns. Often, since chapter 1 we have seen in this letter how the author includes himself in the commandments, by using pronouns such as “us, our”, like in v 1 “let us”. However, now in v4-8, the author changes it to “them, those” after these 4 verses the author starts again including himself, by using the pronouns “we, us, and you”
Second, these hard verses are followed by v 9, which says “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation” Right after such strong warning the author of Hebrews tells to the readers that he believes that they are saved and will not commit apostasy, that they will not fall away, “we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation”. Not much later in v 11 it says: “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end”
Third, the author gives us an illustration of when repentance is impossible in v7-8.
7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
This illustration does not give us a picture of one field that had life that turns into death, thorns, and thistles. This illustration in v7-8 gives us two different kinds of fields, a fruitful one and a desolate one. Notice that the rain has fallen on both fields, but one produces life and the other death. The rain in the analogy here is the word of God pouring down on the church.
“If we have sat in church with the light and the Spirit and the word and the work of God coming to us and blessing us and even shaping us in some degree, but then turn our back on it, we are like a field without vegetation and will come into judgment. The rain we have drunk (light, Spirit, word, powers) produced no life in the field.” (Piper)
Fourth, there are other verses here in the book of Hebrews that should give us great confidence and assurance:
Heb 3:6,14 and Heb 10:14 “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified”
Heb 13:20-21 “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ”
Lastly, the fifth reason is that there are many verses throughout Scripture that should give us confidence and rest in God.
Phil 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”
1 John 1:29 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
Jude 24 “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy”
John 10:28-29 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand”
However, we cannot miss the seriousness of the warning here in Hebrews of when repentance is impossible. This warning is like when we were driving, and Leanna warned me by screaming and bracing for impact. If you take this lightly you will crash into eternal hell. Like “a dog that returns to its own vomit”
What does this mean for us?
We can NOT put any confidence in the flesh or any external evidence of salvation. Furthermore, we can become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and deceive ourselves. We cannot trust our own hearts.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds
Therefore, each of us needs to repent today. Today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion but turn to Him in humbleness and broken hearts. Recognizing that we depend on God’s grace through and through. The only reason we stand here and fear these words is because of God’s work in our hearts.
We can use the words of Psalm 139 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
O Lord search us, each of us, and show us if there is any hint of sin in our hearts. We recognize that we cannot by ourselves live up to your standard. We need you to come and abide in us, and change us, cleanse us, make us whiter than the snow, and lead us in the narrow path, the everlasting way.
We are going to close by singing the song Yet not I, but through Christ in me by CityAlight. But before we sing, let me read the words for our encouragement. When we reach the end of this life and persevered in the faith we will say it was Christ working in us, despite of us and through us and for us.
What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer; There is no more for heaven now to give; He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom; My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace
To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus; For my life is wholly bound to His
Oh how strange and divine, I can sing, "All is mine"; Yet not I, but through Christ in me
The night is dark but I am not forsaken; For by my side, the Saviour He will stay; I labour on in weakness and rejoicing; For in my need, His power is displayed
To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me; Through the deepest valley He will lead; Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome; Yet not I, but through Christ in me
No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven; The future sure, the price it has been paid; For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon; And He was raised to overthrow the grave
To this I hold, my sin has been defeated; Jesus now and ever is my plea
Oh the chains are released, I can sing, "I am free"; Yet not I, but through Christ in me
With every breath I long to follow Jesus; For He has said that He will bring me home; And day by day I know He will renew me; Until I stand with joy before the throne
To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus; All the glory evermore to Him;
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat; Yet not I, but through Christ in me
To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus; All the glory evermore to Him
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat
Yet not I, but through Christ in me
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat
Yet not I, but through Christ in me
Yet not I, but through Christ in me
Yet not I, but through Christ in me