Restore them again to repentance.

Hebrews 6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, ² of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. ³ And this we will do, if God permits. ⁴ For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵ and have tasted the good 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 again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. ⁷ For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and produces vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; ⁸ but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

⁹ But, beloved, we are convinced of better things regarding you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we are speaking in this way. ¹⁰ For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, by having served and by still serving the saints. ¹¹ And we desire that each one of you demonstrate the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, ¹² so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises.

¹³ For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear an oath by no one greater, He swore by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, “indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply you.” ¹⁵ And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear an oath by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath serving as confirmation is an end of every dispute. ¹⁷ In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to the heirs of the promise the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us. ¹⁹ This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and reliable and one which enters within the veil, ²⁰ where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

In today’s text it says: It is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and produces vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.  I believe that all scripture is inspired by God and that His word is true. We must be careful though with this portion of scripture. It is not our place to view others through the lens of these words. In Matthew 7:1-2 Jesus says: “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”  In the same way, we need to not allow the devil to convince us that this applies to us, that because we still sin, it is impossible for us to be restored. Look at Adam and Eve, they tasted the heavenly gift of God. They were given heaven on earth in the garden. They walked with God and talked with Him. Yet they stumbled and fell away. Even though there were consequences of their sin, God restored them. James 3:2 says: We all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to rein in the whole body as well.  Surely none of us are perfect. In truth, that’s what our life in Christ is about. We become perfected in Him day by day. Romans 8:28-29 says: We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. God neither causes us to sin, nor does He want us to sin, but He will cause all things, even the mistakes that we make, falling away from Him, to work for our good. If we continue to love Him, He will cause us to be conformed to the image of Christ, to be restored to His image and likeness as He created us. Genesis 1:26-27 says:  Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

In John 16:5-15 Jesus says: “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, grief has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me; and regarding righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer are going to see Me; and regarding judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you.”  No matter how far a person has fallen, or how frequently they stumble, if they are open to the conviction and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they can be restored. In Mark 3:28-29 Jesus says: “Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”  If a person refuses to accept the conviction and guidance of the Holy Spirit, they can no longer be restored.  1 John 1:5-10 says:  God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.  Those who deny the truth of God’s word, calling what God calls sin acceptable, lie and do not practice the truth, they are deceiving themselves and the truth is not in them. In Isaiah 5:20 God says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit, for the grace by which we are saved. Thank You for the truth of Your word. Thank You for the guidance and conviction of the Holy Spirit, that we can be restored to Your image and likeness in Christ.  Amen.