To fall away and not be renewed.
Posted by appolus on March 6, 2022
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.(Heb 6:4-6)
This has always been a controversial subject, that which is spoken of in these Scriptures. Theologians of every stripe have applied it and misapplied it in order to make it fit into their own dearly held doctrines and theologies. In the first sentence of these verses we see that it uses the word impossible. You do not need to be a Greek scholar to figure out that word, it means what is says. The word enlighten means to illuminate. It is the Holy Spirit who illuminates. He does not bring illumination to the unsaved. The saints minds are illuminated and the revelation of the Word is illuminated in our hearts. This is the heavenly gift whereby we, the saints, are made partakers of the Holy Spirit. We, the saints, have tasted, have glimpsed the power of God and the Kingdom that is and was and is to come. If we, the saint, fall away, we are told, it is impossible to be renewed again unto repentance, seeing that we would crucify Him again and put Him to an open shame. Now that is the plain word of God saints.
In Chapter 12 of Hebrews, after going through a long list of heroes of the faith in chapter 11, we are reminded that we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses. We are told that we are to lay aside the sin that so easily besets us. We are to run the race with endurance. We don’t tend to like that word, endurance, to endure. Yet we are reminded that our Lord Jesus endured the cross. He also endured hostility from sinners. We are further reminded that the Lord scourges every son and that we have not to despise such scourgings, rather we are called to endure them and if e do God deals with us as sons. In this, our subjection to the King of Kings, as His precious bond-servants we become partakers of His holiness and despite the pain of it all, it leads to the “peace-able fruit of righteousness to those who “have been trained by it.”
A standard sized apple tree can take up to eight years to bear apples after it has been planted. There are multiple seasons that must pass before we begin to see the fruit of the tree. The enduring of chastening and our “subjection to the Father of spirits,” in these seasons causes life to spring forth from that which formerly had no life. We become partakers of His Holiness and this leads to the bearing of much fruit, the peace-able fruit of His righteousness. Those who will not endure, despite the fact that they have been enlightened, they have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, shall fall away and not be renewed again. There are sons, and there are those who render themselves illegitimate. The things that can be shaken are being removed and the things that cannot be shaken shall remain, shall stand. For you saints have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn. You are registered in heaven to God, the judge of all. (Heb 12:22-24)
A Call To The Remnant 
Lisa said
I have sort of encountered, I think, and experienced something pertaining to the subject of this article.
My husband and I have been married 12 years this month. He turns 50 next month. When we married, he led me to believe that he was a Christian man. I did pray about whether or not I should marry him and I did have peace about it so I went ahead.
Long story short, it wasn’t long after we married that I was able to conclude that he was a false convert. I did my best to stir him to listen to sermons with me, to pray with me, read and study and talk about the scriptures with me. He wanted nothing to do with it. Wasn’t the least bit interested. Made all kinds of excuses. These are things he did with me when we were dating, including going to church together. But after marriage now he had no interest. Whenever I questioned him to his face on several different occassions about whether he was really in the faith or not, he would get angry and defensive and always say the same thing, “I believe we should do these things separately in our own private times.” Stupid I know, but that’s what he would tell me.
So I got to the point after the first 3 or 4 years of marriage or so that I was going to stop bringing it up and do my best to keep the peace in the home and as the Apostle Peter exhorted wives, I decided to be the quiet submissive wife type and just pray for him in my private prayer times that the Lord would convict him about his true condition and that he repent and come to Jesus and be saved, because at this point I think he still really believed he was Christian, but he was deceived and he wouldn’t listen to me. In his mind he really believed he was a wonderful Christian person. And in many ways he was. But only on the outside. He had many good deeds. But he didn’t know or follow Jesus, and didn’t care to. He had no hunger or thirst for the word of God. No desire to pray. He was still a dead man, dead in his sins.
So then some years after that, just a few years ago now, I was alone with God in fervent prayer crying and pleading with him on behalf of my loved ones to save them. While I was specifically praying for my husband, I very matter of fact, no mistake, heard God speak to me loud and clear inside my head, “I have rejected him as being a priest unto me.” I was shocked. I stopped dead in my prayers. I couldn’t believe what I heard him say, but he said it. And after hearing it, I knew what he was saying.
Some may say that’s not biblical, God wouldn’t do that and if he did, he wouldn’t tell you. For those who may be young in the faith and don’t know, the very words that I heard God speak to me that day are in the book of Hosea 4:6. It is very biblical, and it is what God pronounces and does in his judgment process prior to His punishment on his people.
We aren’t taught about this kind of thing much in the churches these days. So many people believe they have lots of time to get themselves right with God. But it’s just not true. The Spirit of God will not strive with man forever. Every time a person resists the Holy Spirit he is in more and more danger of being forsaken forever by God. Every time a person resists the Holy Spirit they become more and more stiffnecked and they harden their own hearts more and more. And from what we read in the scriptures, after awhile of this God gets fed up and delivers them over to their own sinful desires and to their own destruction just as the bible describes. David Wilkerson has a powerful sermon message on this very subject entitled: When Jesus Shuts the Door. I highly recommend listening to it. It’s a subject that’s not much understood or talked about nearly enough.
When the Holy Spirit of God is done dealing with a man it is final. I have heard this from godly men throughout the years. They knew the Lord once, then they backslide for years, and then God gives them a dream or sends them a message that if they don’t get right with Jesus right away this one last time he is going to kill them. I’m not kidding around, I have heard this multiple times from different godly men throughout the years in their testimonies. And in their fear of God they quit the bars, and they quit the substances, and they quit the women. And they were grateful to him for it!!! Because they knew they were going to go to hell and they didn’t want to die and go there. And they were so grateful to him for the warnings. So frightening. My heart is pounding just typing those words. Knowing the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. But who teaches on that anymore these days? It is a rare message. But it is a necessary one.
So I share my story and my experience with my own husband to remind people, that God isn’t messing around. He is nobody to take lightly. He is patient with us, that is true. But he gives us each only a space to repent. Nearly all of his parables spoke about false converts and their punishments. We can find examples of alotted spaces of time to repent all throughout the scriptures, most notably (in my opinion) in the book of Revelation. The church of Thyatira — Jezebel and her children. Folks, Jesus ain’t one to mess around with. We can only do so much for people, tell them, talk to them, warn them, pray for them. And it is true that even God himself will only do so much for people. And then you have to, at some point, just stop.
So many false messages being preached on never giving up on people, there is always hope for them up until their last breath. It’s rubbish. It’s just not true. For some maybe. But definitely not for everybody. And especially not for those who call themselves Christians.
Some people just don’t want Jesus, they don’t want to be born again, they don’t want to repent of their sins or their lifestyles, they don’t want a new heart, they don’t want to be new creatures, they don’t care anything about having their sins washed away, they care nothing about heaven or eternal damnation or the punishments of hell, and they never will. It’s just true.
Look at Israel. Look at the mess of King David’s family. Just examples. But God is just. Jesus is the righteous and just Judge. And we need always to remember that. His thoughts and his ways are so far higher than our own. Just keep trusting God, saints, even though things don’t always work out the way we had imagined or hoped, or in the way we think they should. He is always righteous, he is always good, and he always knows best.
God bless and keep all the saints. Keep the faith. Don’t quit. Keep on enduring and persevere to the end. Stay in the vine. Stay close to Jesus. Remain in him and let his words remain in you. Love in Christ to all the saints.
appolus said
Very well said sister. I was married almost ten years when I got saved. My wife was not and still is not a Christian, we just had our 40th wedding anniversary. In many ways it’s easier for me because she makes no claims. God bless you sister…….bro Frank.