Hebrews 1-6
December 29, 2014


Sometimes what Paul says is a little hard to understand, and I want to reassure anyone reading about something he says in Chapter 6.   Paul seems to be saying that we don't get any second chances.  If we accept Christ and operate for a time under the power of the Holy Spirit, and then fall away, we can never come back.      Even though that's what he seems to be saying, it doesn't line up with the rest of the Bible.   For instance, in Ezekiel 18 it says in several places that "if righteous people begin to sin they will die, and if unrighteous people quit sinning they will live".   Therefore, if we chose to reject Christ, we will die in our sins.   If we at some later point realize the error of our ways and repent again, we will be saved from our sins.
Jesus himself said that we should forgive the sins of others "seventy times seven" which is a figurative way of saying "as many times as it takes".    Or take the nation of Israel as an example.   When the nation was just, they were blessed, but when they began to sin they were rejected.   The same people who were rejected then repented, and they were blessed again.    This is the message that God intended to give to us through the prophet Hosea, who was commanded to take an unfaithful wife, and even go to her and accept her back when she had been unfaithful several times.   The illustration is of God's people being unfaithful to God, and He keeps taking  us back.
If He wasn't going to accept us and give us a second chance, these accounts wouldn't be in the Bible.    Since they are, and the Bible cannot conflict with itself, Paul must be speaking of some other truth.

Maybe what Paul was trying to say was this:  If we know Christ, and then as some point reject the idea that He is the way to salvation...there isn't any other way to heaven, so we are lost.   We cannot enter into heaven if we reject the only way in.   In that way of thinking, it is "impossible to be forgiven" because we have closed the door on the only person who is able to forgive us.

If however, we realize the error of our ways and repent again, then I think we are able to be forgiven.  This is the promise of God, that He will forgive if we confess.    I have a person interest in this passage, because today I feel the presence of the Lord within me, and in my work.  I see the evidence of His mighty hand working in my life.   And I have asked for forgiveness several times.   I believe that each time God was faithful to forgive me, but I was not deeply enough in love with Him to remain in His love.   The desires of live pulled me back in, because I wanted them more than I wanted God.  

There came a time when I called out again, a little later in life.  And this time I was open enough to allow the Lord to take root in my life.   None of us is impervious to sin and or failure, so I won't put myself on any pedestal.   The Lord knows that I don't need to be there....probably more than most.
However, I was a christian, then clearly was not one, and then became one again.   This is the faith in which I now stand, and I testify that God is able and willing to forgive you.

If you think you are beyond His grace, you are mistaken.  His grace and mercy are unfathomable.  You cannot get beyond His compassion for you.   Even in your sin He loves you more purely than any human ever could.   You have only to be truly repentant and you will experience life anew.

If you need forgiveness, I pray that you ask!


PR