Thoughts on life's experiences and God's nature by Robby Hyche…

Someone was having difficulty with the following two sets of verses from Hebrews 6 & 10 respectively…

“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted rthe 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. ”

“26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned lthe blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?”

Both of these need to be done in context. And really they both deal with the same issue even though they are separated by a lot of space. Both are leading up to the discussion of faith.

The writer is talking to a group of Hebrews who are struggling with this thing of faith and grace. We believe that our salvation is by by grace alone through faith alone. But these folks have grown up thinking that their works mean something for salvation. But Paul (if Paul wrote this), is trying to explain that this is not simply acknowledging a basic understanding of these things. In chapter 11 he will explain the find of faith required to have this salvation. Much like the passage in Mark 3 that we are looking at, we cannot expect to be given a blank check forever. God expects our faith to have some substance. Saving faith requires that we give ourselves to God completely and trust him as Lord. He is our king and the one we answer to alone.

It is interesting how prophetic these passages are because I think it describes a lot of people in our churches.

When a body of believers begin to come together, God will bless them. Not just financially. In fact, these guys were probably not rich. But they have the blessing of God, peace of heart, and a family of faith. Having this place to belong and feeling the joy due to the spirit is what is promised in the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22-23). Other folks who are not believers will come into the fellowship who see this and in an indirect way will participate and benefit from the lives of true believers. But if you press them on it, they will say yeah that’s good and I am glad that my kids are hear to learn some morality but I don’t believe all that stuff. In fact, I have a friend in our church who sat under my teaching for years and that is EXACTLY what she said to me! This scares me for her because Paul says it is impossible for that person to come to repentance. They have scorned God’s power. They’ve scorned the grace He gives. They benefit from His church. But they want their own way! This is why Paul says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”(Phil 2:12). Know that you’ve surrendered to Jesus!

The folks described in these two passages have heard the gospel, they understand what is required of them, they have tasted of the gift – but not drank! So it is like they are crucifying Christ over and over by their rejection of him.

Someone like this is “sinning willfully” and is placing themselves under the law. The idea is that if we reject God’s grace then we are by default asking to be judged by the law. This is a bad move because none of us will pass the test under the law,

One more idea. Remember the parable of the soils in Luke 8:4-21? There is only one person who is truly saved in that passage. That may mess up you up a bit if you’re not careful. At least one of those folks demonstrated some fruit but was not saved. Jesus himself said that many will come to me in the last day and say, “didn’t we cast out demons in your name?” Jesus tells them to depart for he doesn’t know them. Matthew 7:22.

This is not to scare you or anyone. Salvation is a very personal matter. No one can look at you and say “you are saved.” Only God can! Make sure that you know that you know. That is why I repeat to myself and others, whatever light God gives you, follow it. Whatever grace He gives you, use it. Whatever command He gives you, do it.

Why did Jesus not tell folks who he was?  Theologians call this the “Messianic Secret.”  There are maybe several reasons for this.  Basically, Jesus keeps his Messianic title a secret until the “right time.”  The right time has to do with:

A friend of mine asked me this question last week: “I finished the Old Testament and have started working my way through Matthew. I have always wondered about this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit being the only unforgivable sin.”

It boils down to what we say blasphemy is. Some would say just speaking ill of the Holy Spirit would qualify or maybe “cussing” the Holy Spirit. But I tend to think it is a constant, continual rejection of the Holy Spirits power, work, influence, existence, and ability to make change in the lives of people and our world. In Revelation (?) we are told that things will get really bad when the Holy Spirit withdraws himself during the tribulation. That is a key thought for me. We do not realize just how much God, through the work of the Spirit, keeps evil at bay in our time. Satan, sin, and death lean against the gates like a leaky dam and pour their sewage over here as much as possible. We get the impression from scripture that the Spirit is slowly withdrawing from here. After Christs return, the last regiments of the Peacekeeping forces here will withdraw and Satan will make a last stand.

Blasphemy my friend is a denial of this so much to say God is dead and we are all there is. It is not so much that a person like this CANNOT be saved… God’s grace is capable of saving this person! The problem becomes that when we continually, deliberately, and stubbornly reject God’s grace then we decide our own destiny – so much so – that there is no longer a sacrifice available for us. God will not come where He is not wanted and will finally pull up the stakes and leave. There is in this sense no sacrifice for this kind of sin!

2010-09-26 Does He Really? from FBC Trussville on Vimeo.