Musick-al Note # 169
The Hebrew writer stated in Hebrews 6:4-6, “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they have crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.”
How shocking is that word “impossible” as Paul uses it here, and how out-of-step it seems when we consider the boundless love and infinite grace of God. But notice the passage does not say it is impossible for God to forgive, it is impossible to renew such a one to repentance. Let us notice that one can be so hardened by immorality that it becomes impossible to renew him. He reaches a point beyond which he becomes so hardened by sin that he will not respond to the invitation to come to Christ in repentance. Jesus said, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:36). “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then lust when it has conceived, brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished brings forth death” (James 1:14-15).
Sin hardens one’s heart to the extent that ultimately he “is unable to discern between good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14); not being nourished in the Spirit as he should be. Paul described the decay to the ancient Romans that sin had caused men to become “vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened” and he said “for this reason God gave them up to uncleanliness, vile passions, and reprobate mind (Romans 1:24). When a man reaches the point that God gives him up, he has reached the point of no return.
Many good men have intended to become a Christian for many years, but they have put it off, and probably like Felix, most likely at first they were terrified over their failing to be obedient to God in their lives, but each occasion of putting off obedience they hardened their hearts to the extent that finally they are never to be disturbed with the gospel message of salvation. In Hebrews it is written, “Today if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Hebrews 4:7 “Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Truly, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us, not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). As long as a man will repent, God will forgive him, but when a men reaches the point that he will not repent, then he reaches the point of no return and it is impossible to renew him again.
Gordon Musick
Musick-al Notes 