Hebrews 6:4-6

2. What Does It Mean To Fall Away?

3. What Is Meant By “It Is Impossible To Renew Them To Repentance”?

4. What Does It Mean To “Crucify Again For Themselves The Son Of God” And “Putting Him To Open Shame”?

5. Why Is This Important?

I. Who is He talking about? Let us examine the evidence…A. They were once enlightened: This is a once for all action that cannot be repeated. It is the same word used in Heb. 10:32. Everything points to a once for all reception of the salvation message. B. They have tasted the heavenly gift: Heavenly gift is a synonym for salvation. The Greek word here for taste is to experience something fully, not just stick it on your tongue. In Hebrews 2:9 Jesus tasted death for everyone. C. They have become partakers of the Holy Spirit: To partake was used in 3:1 and 3:14 for our heavenly calling and being in Christ. The word and phrase meant a close association with the Holy Spirit, implying receiving Him.

D. They have tasted of the Good Word of God: This is still the word “to experience fully”. The word for word means spoken word, or the good proclamation/command/promise of God. This could be the gospel message or Jesus taken the context of Hebrews and it’s emphases on the spoken word of God.

E. They have tasted the powers of the age to come: This is still “to experience fully” and not lightly. The “powers of the age to come” is not authority but force. It’s the word from which we get the word dynamite. These had experienced the power of God first hand in their life. SO…WHO IS HE TALKING ABOUT? HE IS TALKING ABOUT TRUE BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST.

II. What does it mean to “fall away”? The first thing we need to see is the relationship of this phrase to the previous four. Every piece of evidence says it fits with them, which means the best way to translate this phrase is “who have fallen away”, not “if they fall away”. This is important because then this characteristic becomes a part of a set with the other five, and describes one group of people. The point is in spite of all the blessings this group received, they still fell away. Therefore, the second thing we need to see is the meaning of fall away. Only one time the word occurs in the New Testament. The standard translation for this term is “apostasy”, which is rejecting a former relationship, such as Christ and the church. But this is not a good definition. We need to understand words get meaning from their context. (EX: ‘Gay’ in the 1890’s versus the 1990’s)

Apostasy has traditionally been understood as losing your salvation because you reject the Savior. [BUT…never in the 200 years before Christ’s birth to 100 years after his birth was the word or any form or it ever used in Classic Greek, Common Greek or the Greek Old Testament to mean apostasy].

WELL…what does it mean? It does not mean to lose your salvation, but “to act unfaithfully” or “to sin”. It means a deliberate act of sin by God’s child. Ezekiel 18:24ff speaks of this. Listen to what it says…

According to the word of God, it is the deliberate sin of the righteous which leads to their death if not repented of.

SO…WHO IS HE TALKING ABOUT? HE IS TALKING ABOUT TRUE BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST.

IT IS THE DELIBERATE SIN OF THE RIGHTEOUS WHICH MAY LEAD TO THEIR DEATH IF NOT REPENTED OF.

III. What IS meant by “It is impossible…renew them to repentance”? The first thing we need to see is the importance of impossibility here. It is 100% impossible to renew them to repentance because God won’t permit it (vs. 3). What is this repentance? It is not repentance that leads to salvation. They have that. This is not saving repentance, but sanctifying repentance. This is the repentance that they as believers need in order to deal with their sin as believers. Do true believers ever need to repent? Yes! (2 Corinthians 12:21/Revelation 2:5, 16) So what does this mean? It means there are circumstances in which a place for repentance may not be found, and even if you truly repent, you will still suffer the consequences for your willful sin. Hebrews 12:14-29 tells of two examples: Esau and Israel. Esau was because of his flesh missed the blessing of the birthright. Israel because of her fear and a lack of faith, missed the opportunity to go into the Promised land. They both missed the blessing of God because of willful disobedience. (What’s done is done!)

So…WHAT IS MEANT BY “IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO RENEW THEM AGAIN TO REPENTANCE”? It means that there comes a point in time, even for a child of God, that “what’s done is done”. You may repent of the sin, but there is no place for repentance. It’s too late for repentance to renew you. The choice has already been made, the wheels are already in motion. What’s done is done.

SO…WHO IS HE TALKING ABOUT? HE IS TALKING ABOUT TRUE BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST.

IT IS THE DELIBERATE SIN OF THE RIGHTEOUS WHICH MAY LEAD TO THEIR DEATH IF NOT REPENTED OF.

What IS meant by “It is impossible…renew them to repentance”? IT MEANS “WHAT’S DONE IS DONE”

IV. What does it mean to “crucify again for themselves the son of God” and “putting him to open shame”? First, we need to see that these statements-crucifying and putting to shame- are in the present (continuous tense). These are the only statements in this passage that are like this. These people, of whom the writer spoke, were genuine believers who were willfully sinning. Why? Maybe they had allowed their flesh to guide them like Esau did. Or maybe they had given in to fear like Israel did at Kadesh-Barnea. Maybe it was a little bit of both. Yet because of this they had made it impossible apart from the permissive hand of God to enjoy the blessings of rest in the Spiritual Promised land here on earth and the benefits of their birthrights as children of God. And by their actions they were continually crucifying Jesus again and continually putting him to open shame. They were bringing shame to the name of Jesus because of their willful sin. THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER IS THIS…when you willfully sin as a believer, it is like your crucifying jesus Christ over and over and over again…do you really want that?

SO…WHO IS HE TALKING ABOUT? HE IS TALKING ABOUT TRUE BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST.

IT IS THE DELIBERATE SIN OF THE RIGHTEOUS WHICH MAY LEAD TO THEIR DEATH IF NOT REPENTED OF.

What IS meanT BY “It is impossible…renew them to repentance”? IT MEANS “WHAT’S DONE IS DONE”

What does it mean to “crucify again for themselves the son of God” and “putting him to open shame”? it means when you sin WILLFULLY; it is like you are continuously crucifying Jesus Christ and bringing shame to his name.

(AND HERE’S OUR LAST QUESTION…WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?) Because there are some genuine believers right now in this world-maybe here today-who are willfully sinning against God.

Their reasons may be fleshly, fear-related, or just plain faithless. And they are going to miss the blessings He has for them here. And by their actions, they are crucifying Jesus over and over and over again, and bringing shame to His name. Here is God’s word to them, and to you if your one of them …

STOP! BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE. Let’s go back to Ezekiel 18.

32For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”Ezekiel 18:32 (Ananias and Saphira) (1st Corinthians 11:28) (1 John 5:16-17) GOD CAN TAKE YOU HOME TO HEAVEN IF YOU KEEP THIS UP. STOP-BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!!! DON’T MISS THE BLESSING.