I.      Introduction

Hope doesn’t come easily.

This world is troubled.  Dr. Young has been speaking on the problem of evil this month, and evil has been a problem ever since the fall of Adam to the beheadings in Syria.  And it permeates our lives, confronts us on the television, on the internet, in the news and even in marketing and advertisements.

And from a worldly perspective, it’s not getting better.  When our hope is based on circumstances, those same circumstances can be depressing.  When tragedy hits close to home, we are faced with a choice:  run from God because we feel that somehow He has let us down, or run toward God as the only source of peace and comfort in a troubled world.

I don’t know what you’re going through, or what you’ve been through.  We will all go through trials – loss of a job, or loss of a home, or loss of a loved one.  I do know that you’ve been through fire – we all have – and they can be difficult things to talk about.  But you’re here, and that’s good.  The fact that you’re here speaks volumes about your faith and your hope.  If we trust in our own abilities during difficult circumstances it often leads to disappointment, but hope in our Lord Jesus Christ will never disappoint.

Today’s lesson is on Hebrews 6, and since we’ve recently mentioned the “once saved, always saved” as a tenet of our faith, at first glance, today’s verses look to give us trouble with “once saved, always saved.”  Let’s look at Hebrews 6:4-8.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,  who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance.  To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.  But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Is this a contradiction to “Once Saved, Always Saved?”  I don’t believe so, and I’ll tell you why, but first let us lay a foundation so that we may fully understand this.

          II.      Infallibility of Scripture

Let’s talk first about the law of non-contradiction and the infallibility of scripture.  It’s important to understand that faith and reason go together.  Faith in unreasonable things is nonsense.  Reason, without faith, leads to futility.  Faith and reason together lead to truth.

First, the Law of Non-Contradiction.  This law simply states that something cannot be both true and false at the same time.  If I tell you “A is B” and then later say, “A is not B,” then something is wrong.  Both statements cannot be correct at the same time.

If you meet with some friends of yours, a married couple, and you say, Is it true that you are pregnant?”  And she says “Yes!” and he says, “No!” you know something is not true.  Maybe he doesn’t know.  But one thing *you* know is that they both cannot be right.  Numbers 23:19,

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

And God exists, or He doesn’t.  Can both statements be true?  God is eternal, or He isn’t.  Can both statements be true?  Reason and faith go together to either accept or reject God, God cannot both be true and untrue at the same time.

God himself is a perfect demonstration of the Law of Non-Contradiction.  God is His Word.  If He says something, it is true.  So, is the bible true?  What does the bible say about itself?

2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

Some bibles use “inspired” here, but “God-breathed” is more accurate.  The Greek scripture uses two words meaning “God” and “breathed” so I’m going to translate that as “God-breathed.”

And 2 Peter 1:20-21

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.  For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

What the bible says about itself is that the Holy Spirit himself wrote the bible through men.  If God is truth, and God is His Word, and the Word is the bible… there is no wiggle room.  The bible is true, or the bible is not.  It cannot be both true and untrue.

What does Jesus say about scripture?

John 10:34 discusses a very different topic, but it’s interesting what Jesus says –

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law […] and Scripture cannot be set aside…

Jesus says “It is written” and quoted scripture to make a point, and he even confirmed many events that seem supernatural.  He confirmed Adam and Eve were created by God, he confirmed the flood of Noah, he verified the destruction of Sodom, he quoted and referred to a dozen Old Testament prophets and kings.  He even confirmed Jonah was swallowed by a big fish.  And in Matthew 4:4, when answering the devil,

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

“Every word.”  Jesus says one cannot set aside scripture, picking up the best parts and disregarding the rest.  We can either accept the bible as the wholly, inerrant Word of God, or not.  Excluding verses because they are uncomfortable, or we don’t understand them, makes no sense.  The word is true, or it is not true.  It cannot be both.  And every word of the bible is important.

Divine inspiration means you can trust God’s Word over everything else. It means there are no contradictions. It means Scripture contains the objective revelation of God and is the basis of authority. Even though human authors wrote the words, the Bible originated as an action of God.

       III.      Once Saved Always Saved

So where do we get “Once saved, always saved” from?  Let’s start with 1 John 5:13

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may *know* that you have eternal life.

John doesn’t say “think” we have eternal life.  John says so that we may *know* we have eternal life.  It’s not arrogance to say that I know I will go to heaven.  It’s confidence, not in my ability, but in Christ’s sacrifice.  Once a person places their trust in Jesus, God immediately and irrevocably grants that person eternal life and salvation and a guaranteed place in Heaven that can never be lost, regardless of what they do or what they don’t do. It’s not based on you or me, it never was. It’s entirely based on what Jesus did.

How about John 5:24, where Jesus says,

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

Jesus uses certain Greek tenses of verbs here to make His point.  When He says, “has” eternal life, Jesus uses the present tense.  Then He switches to future tense, “will not be condemned”.  Jesus says believers have it already!  And if that wasn’t clear enough, Jesus says the believer “has crossed over from death to life.”  Jesus switches present tense to perfect tense, and is saying that the believer has already crossed, always will be crossed over from death to life.  We are new creations already, we don’t become new creations after we die.  We *have already* crossed over, we *have* eternal life, and *will not be* condemned.  Past, present and future.

1 Peter 1:3-5,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

John 3:36,

Whoever believes in the Son *has* eternal life.

John 6:47,

I tell you the truth, he who believes *has* everlasting life.

It’s an irrevocable contract Jesus makes with us when we confess Him as our Lord, written here in the Good Book for us to read the fine print anytime we wish. What does Jesus promise to do for us as our Lord?  Well, here’s the fine print of the contract.

Hebrews 10:17, God says, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” You and I can’t forget, as hard as we try, but God will remember no more. Poof, it’s as if they never happened. With the blood covering from Jesus, we become pure in God’s sight.

Philippians 4, our names are inscribed in the Book of Life. Again, not *will be* inscribed. They *are* inscribed.

Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Now. No condemnation. Freedom.

Micah 7:19, “You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Deeper than the Titanic, our sins are buried in the sea.

1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” The Holy Spirit lives in us, takes up residence, and gives our conscience a kick-start.

Galatians 4:6, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.” We become adopted by God, we are His children, His heirs. We are no longer slave to sin and the death that comes with it.

Romans 8:31-33, God has chosen us, we are God’s elect, and if God is for us, who can be against us?

Ephesians 1:13-14, “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.” Marked, sealed, identified, stamped. Seems like every translation I read used a different word here. Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours. We are indelibly branded, permanently stamped, and guaranteed our inheritance.

John 10:27-28, Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” Jesus becomes our shepherd, we becomes His sheep, He gives us eternal life, we will never perish, and no one can change that.

Any loopholes left in this contract? Romans 8:38, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Looks like an absolutely iron clad contract to me, how about you?

This salvation we already have. This eternal life we already have. Heaven is a destination where we go when our mortal chores are through, but our place there is already guaranteed. Peter says praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that our inheritance awaits us and to rejoice. Rejoice! Again I say, rejoice! I rejoice because I know if I could do something to lose my salvation, I’d have done it already. I’ve messed up so many times and if I was given a second chance, I’d just lose it again. Sometimes I can go for 6 or 8 hours in a row without sinning, but then I wake up and have to get out of bed. This is great news, knowing we’re eternally saved. In order for us to lose our salvation,

somebody would have to find some sort of loophole in the contract that isn’t up or down, present or future, angel or demon, and convince Christ not to love us anymore,

change us from Christ’s sheep into a toad,

remove the brand He sealed onto us,

snatch us right out of the hand of Jesus even though He chose us,

cancel God’s adoption papers and write us out of the will,

evict the Holy Spirit out of His home in our heart and tell him to find someplace else to live,

dive to the very bottom of the ocean and dredge our sins back up,

remind God of all the things He’s promised to remember no more,

and make God into a liar for putting all these promises down in writing.

Ya know, I just don’t see any of that happening.

We can *know* we are saved.  Jesus wants us to be confident.  Doubt is washed away, knowing our eternal destination.  Our hope is secure.

         IV.      Don’t Walk Away (Hebrews 6:4-8)

What was our bible verse today?  Oh yes, Hebrews 6:4-8.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,  who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance.  To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.  But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Now we know what it does not say due to the Law of Non-Contradiction.  Our salvation is secure.  We must remember that this letter was written to Hebrews, former Jews, now Christians, whose faith was being tested.  Some wanted to return to their Jewish traditions and hope the Romans would leave them alone.  Their hope based on circumstance, not salvation.

It is possible for churches to consist of both true believers and also those who pretend to be believers.  Christians are generally nice people to be around, who can blame them?  But when times get tough, abandoning Christ is a sign of unbelief.  Christians will live with assurance of their salvation and a holy reverence for God.

I think some light is shed on this passage on the Greek words for “falling away.”  The Greek work “apostosia” isn’t used, but “parapipto” is which literally means “to fall alongside.”

I think the writer may have been using a hypothetical case, sort of like this:

“Let’s suppose you do not go on to maturity.  Does this mean that you will go back into condemnation, that you will lose your salvation?  Impossible!  If you could lose your salvation, it would be impossible to get it back again, and this would disgrace Jesus Christ.  He would have to be crucified for you again, and this could never happen.”

If you look at the pervious verses of Hebrews, the author uses “we” and “us”, but this verse switches to “those”.  This supports the author’s may have been using a hypothetical example.

I notice the last verse says, “In the end it will be burned.”  It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 3,

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

I love that part, the builder will receive a reward.  What is this reward?  I have no idea, but if Jesus is handing out rewards in Heaven, I’m going to stand in line.

            V.      Conclusion

I think when we fall away, we miss out on God’s perfect plan for us.  We can choose to be disobedient.  Surely the Israelites did, over and over.  But I think when we do that, we walk off the paved road and into the thorns and brambles.  Last week, Theresa mentioned that in Deuteronomy, God had blessings he was going to provide to Joshua, but because of disobedience, they would now have to work for what God was going to provide for free.  The way we practice our faith is like that.  We may have eternal life, but if we rebel, we will struggle.  And God wins that struggle every time, doesn’t He?

So what does “fall away” mean here?  I think it speaks to the heart.   I think instead of falling away, we should be striving to fall forward.  When in trouble, pray.  When in doubt, seek His glory in the creation around you.  Learn how to doubt our doubts.  When saddened, yearn for peace.  God asks us to depend on Him when we are troubled, not run from Him.  The choice to run away from God or run toward God is up to us.  Running away multiplies the problems, running toward God gives us hope.  Trust in the salvation we already have.

To God be the glory.