The scripture reading this morning is 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses one through 22. As you will see, this is a very parallel passage, largely, to the one that we're going to be looking at again this morning, Hebrews chapter six. And so we begin 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse one. For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it's written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed, lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that's not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there's one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then that food offered to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagan sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? And there again is the word of God giving us sober warning, things written in the Old Testament as examples then for us. Well, let's ask the Lord's blessing then on the ministry of his word as we look further at Hebrews chapter six. Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you for revealing yourself to us, and specifically sending your Son into this world, the living Word of God, who came into this world as our Savior to show us yourself, that we might look at him and know and know you. And we thank you, Father, that you've written these things down for us in the Bible. We hold it in our hands and that we can, by your grace and through your spirit, read it, and grow in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. And we pray, Father, that that would be what happens this morning, that by your Spirit empowering your Word, you would shape us and fashion us further into the image of Christ. And we pray, Father, if there be anyone here today or listening to us elsewhere that if they don't know you, perhaps they're still dead in their sins and blind to the lost state of their soul. Father, we pray that you might show them mercy, open their eyes, and grant them faith that they might be saved. And we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. Yes, well then, here we are at Hebrews chapter 6 once again in this series that we began. acronym TULIP. And we are following up on the last point of the five points of Calvinism, the perseverance of the saints. And it will take us one more time, one more time next week to conclude this examination of Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through Six, the doctrine that we call the perseverance of the saints is the Bible's teaching that every single one of God's elect will without fail be brought safely home in Christ. That is to say every single person who is born again through faith in Christ will never be lost. They will most assuredly be brought safely into the presence of Christ. At the same time, we've seen that scriptures such as the one we've been examining here in Hebrews 6, standing by themselves and at first glance seem to teach just the opposite thing, right? That a Christian, a regenerate person can, as is often put, lose their salvation and end in hell. And you can think just a little bit about this subject and you will see how important this is. How are we as Christians to live day by day? Can we have this assurance that we are in Christ today, and we will still be in Christ tomorrow, and we will be in Christ for all eternity? Or do we approach the Christian life as one of, okay, I've been saved. I'm born again but now it is up to me. Well you heard Dr. Godfrey talking about this this morning. It's up to me now to somehow keep myself in that condition or even more so as Rome would teach is that now it's up to me to earn and merit and my own righteousness then by works and penance and acts of contrition and all sorts of things. So how do we approach this subject. How do we approach life in Christ then, you see? And you also notice that this subject certainly touches upon, we won't have time to look at that this morning, but it certainly touches upon this question of the unpardonable sin, you see. Is there a sin that is unpardonable? The Bible says Yes, yes there is. Well the problem is that as we say Arminian theology that denies the perseverance of the saints really says that there are lots of unpardonable sins that that nobody really pins it down and says if you do this well this is what we mean by this is how you can lose your salvation if you do this and this and so on. It is very vague and that's why people that are caught up in that false teaching They might be genuine Christians but they live their life in Christ in great confusion and in fear. Arminian theology is found in groups like the Methodists, Nazarene, Quaker, Pentecostal groups, Charismatic groups, and so on. And of course, as I've said, in the Roman Catholic Church as well. Roman Catholicism even pronounces anathema. Cursed by God, anyone who teaches that you can be assured of your salvation, that you can know with certainty then that you are in Christ and that you will always be in Christ. And then, of course, that follows Rome in their teaching of this purgatory, that that false doctrine follows right on the heels of it, you see, because if a person hasn't done enough supposed good works to reach a level of righteousness which is acceptable to God in this present life, then they're going to have to spend an indefinite time in purgatory, suffering and earning that righteousness before they can merit salvation and so on. Cruel, unbiblical heresies like that that hold people then in bondage. We've mentioned before, that this subject cropped up big time in the Reformed churches of the Netherlands in the 1600s through the teaching of a pastor there named, I think his first name was Jacobus Arminius, Jacobus Arminius. There were a minority number of pastors who adhered to his position as well. And ultimately they filed a petition which was known as a remonstrance. It was basically a petition, petitioning the civil authorities, the government, because back in those days there were even leaders in the churches that held the view that the government was to be the civil authorities were to have authority in the church, specifically in regard to church discipline and so forth. And of course, that's something that the Bible says, absolutely, absolutely not. God has ordained the civil authorities, on the one hand, to strike fear into the hearts of the lawless and the wicked and so on. That's a separate authority, a separate ordained authority than the church. Nevertheless, that was an issue there. So these pastors filed this remonstrance or petition with the civil authorities to ask the government to protect them. from being disciplined by the church, because the church's position was a reform position on these issues, including the perseverance of the saints. Well, the controversy grew, and it was causing all kinds of division. So they called a church, an assembly of the churches, called the Synod of Dort, and they met in order to deal with this subject. Now, what happened was, It was the remonstrance, it was the followers of Arminius. Arminius had died by that time, so he wasn't there, but his followers actually were the ones that formulated the original five points. You see, the five points of Calvinism that we talk about are not really, it wasn't really so much the reformed church, the Calvinists that came up with those points, as it was the remonstrant group And in it, they set forth their theology in regard to especially the doctrines of salvation. And what they did was, in their teaching, they put salvation back in the hands of man. rather than in the sovereignty then of God. Well, the Synod of Dort rejected Arminian doctrine and answered their five points with the five points that we call the five points of Calvinism. and so on. The Apostle Paul, in his day, anticipated these kinds of objections to the gospel, to the security, eternal security of the believer. For instance, Romans chapter six. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. You see, our Minyan point here is that objection to the security of the believer is that that's going to cause people to just think, well, I'm eternally secure. I can never lose my salvation. I can never fall away from Christ. So I can just go out and sin all that I want, you see. And of course, that's what Paul is addressing here. In fact, what he says is if you're born again, you've become a slave all right a slave of righteousness and you will be characterized by a desire to obey Christ not to not to disobey him. Well one of the scriptures which the Arminian theology points to and supported their position, is this one that we've been examining. So let's read it again, Hebrews 6, verses four through eight. For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it's worthless. and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned." Well, you see that there are several operations of the Holy Spirit that the Apostle mentions here, enlightened, tasted, shared, and so on, those verse. And we looked at that one term, enlightened, last time. We mentioned that these are not the normal terms that the Bible uses to refer to Christ's genuine people. And I think that you can see that. Words like justification, sanctification, and adoption don't appear here. But later on, after he's examined the apostate and his purpose in setting out the condition of these apostates and the qualities that characterize them, his purpose here is to cause us to fear, to cause us to shake. Remember, these are people who had become, the Hebrews had become dull of hearing, these Hebrew Christians. They'd become careless, floating along. They hadn't been growing then in Christ. And so he is showing them here the danger of apostasy and to shake them up. And it serves as a warning to us as well. But later on, After he's finished with this section, starting at verse 9, he turns back to their condition. He says, though we speak in this way about the apostate, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation. God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you've shown for his name and serving the saints as you still do. He had mentioned those things about the apostate, you see. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish. but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Largely the book of Hebrews is summed up, the purpose of it is summed up right there. You know when you think of the book of Hebrews, you often think of chapter 11, right? Hebrews 11, kind of the hall of fame of faith. It begins by talking about faith and it goes down through Abraham and Moses and a whole litany of Old Testament saints that serve as our example. And why is he doing that? He wants to encourage the Hebrew Christians and he wants to encourage us to imitate their faith, be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. That's his purpose. Some people have suggested, and probably rightly so, that the book of Hebrews is actually a sermon in and of itself and should be treated as such and read right on through from beginning to end. But he's showing here, as we've said, how incredibly dangerous it is. to drift along presumptuously instead of striving and pressing on to maturity in Christ, not to earn God's this righteousness by which he has to count us righteous, that's already been done in Christ. But because of that righteousness, because of what Christ has done for us, because people that are just floating and drifting are in danger of apostasy. It is the apostate then that the apostle is talking about here. And he's warned us about this in other places in Hebrews, for example, chapter 2. Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels, this is the Old Testament, proved to be reliable, every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape? Because we have a greater privilege even than the Old Testament believers did. How shall we escape if we neglect Such a great salvation. It was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. So he's all of these privileges, you see. What of the person who is just, eh. neglecting them. I was excited at one time about the gospel and so on and experienced these blessings of the Holy Spirit, but I'm just kind of, I don't particularly need that stuff anymore. That route, that's what he's warning us against. He warns us again in chapter 10, anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God? And that's what the apostate does. And has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace. For we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So when we maintain that a Christian... That is a person who is genuinely born again. There isn't really any other kind of Christian, is there? People use the title Christian for this and Christian for that, but there's really only one kind of person that's a Christian. That's the person who's in Christ. That's the person who is born again. But when we teach that such a person can never be lost, we are not teaching and promoting spiritual carelessness. Quite the contrary, as you've seen in these passages. We do exactly what the Bible does. We assure Christ's people that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. But at the same time, we walk in the fear of the Lord and we issue warning to those Christians, people who claim to be Christians, but are being neglectful and careless in striving then to follow him, you see. The church today so often holds back on those warnings, right? Because that's not really something that people seem to want to hear. But we're not doing anyone any favors if we let them continue to be neglectful, to float along. I don't relish having to, as a pastor, having to tell someone, you're being careless in your attendance to the Lord's day. You're being careless. We don't see you In church, you see, I don't like, I don't like to have to do that. I don't like to have, but the fact of the matter is I probably haven't done it enough than over the years because we need that kind of encouragement and it should be given in an encouraging way. Come on, come on, let's go, let's meet together on the Lord's day. The Lord could come at any time, the day is drawing near. Let's gather together and encourage one another to love and good deeds and be careful or else we're going to fall away, you see. But if you think about it, we all need those kinds of warnings. We all need that kind of positive admonishment, don't we? Because we can all tend to grow then neglectful. And that's what the book of Hebrews then does. Well, let's take a look. Let's move ahead here then. and take a closer look at that next descriptive phrase. This is still one of the privileges that these apostates have experienced and it's worded that they have tasted the heavenly gift. They've been enlightened and they've tasted the heavenly gift. Later on, we'll see that they've tasted the good word of God as well, and we'll look at that next time, but here it is, tasted the heavenly gift. What does it mean to taste? What is this heavenly gift then that it's talking about? Well, this is directly related, isn't it, to the scripture that we just read in 1 Corinthians 10. Listen to the first part of that again. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. Now what he's doing, really, the same thing, 1 Corinthians 10 is saying the same thing as Hebrews 6 is trying to get across. What Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 10 is he's talking to people who are Christians, but they need to be shaken up here. And in their case, the Corinthians had been just playing a little bit loose about participation in the pagan idolatry temples and so on around them. And so Paul says, I want you guys to think about the people who, led by Moses, came out of Egypt in that first generation. I want you to think about them. He says, our fathers, they were all under the cloud, the presence of God. He could have thrown in the pillar of fire by night, right? It was right there, the Shekinah glory of God, visible right there, all passed through the sea. They were right there. They saw God use Moses, raise his staff, and the Red Sea, when the Egyptians are bearing down on him, parted. They walked through on dry land. And then it came back together again and wiped out the Egyptians. They saw that. They all passed through the sea. And in that sense, they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They were right there. with him, present then with him. All ate the same spiritual food, manna from heaven. They were fed by God and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them. Moses struck the rock, water gushed out, the rock was Christ, it was really Christ present with him. And then the punchline, nevertheless, With most of them, God was not pleased. Their carcasses rotted in the wilderness. That's really then what happened. They never entered the promised land, two of them, basically, from that first generation. And so he's saying, I don't want you to be unaware of this. The hearing of the gospel The blessing and gifting of the Holy Spirit as he enlightens the mind to the truth of Christ, even witnessing the mighty acts of God's power, growing up in a Christian home and seeing the example of godly parents, being in a faithful church year after year and hearing the word of God truthfully preached, does not ensure that a person will ever see the promised land. Those are good things. Some of them are necessary things, but in and of themselves, not a single one of those things or all of them put together will guarantee that a person will ever see heaven, will never be in Christ's kingdom. You must be born again. Now, why is it that it doesn't take effect? Why did these people perish in the wilderness? Hebrews 3 tells us, as it is said today, if you hear his voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, for who were those who heard and yet rebelled? They heard God's voice. It wasn't some mystical hearing or feeling. They heard the thundering voice of God there on Sinai. Who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt by Moses? And Moses hadn't listed everything. Think of the plagues that they all witnessed beforehand in Egypt. They saw it. God's mighty hand, his deliverance. And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? And here it is. Here's why. All of those privileges did not result in them entering the promised land. This is the reason. So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. They would not believe God. They would not obey God. So these apostates here in Hebrews 6 had tasted the heavenly gift. What does that mean? What is this experience or privilege? Well, here's good old John Owen again to help us out on this. And I kind of summarize what he said. He said, the second thing asserted in the description of them, these apostates, the first one being that they were enlightened, right? The second thing is that they have tasted of the heavenly gift. What is meant? by heavenly gift, and what? By tasting of it. Incidentally, let me say there at that point, there's a good Bible study method there, right? You read the verse, you look at the verse, you look at it, you look at it, and then you need to just stop. Don't just move on and assume you understand everything, but ask some questions. Hmm, tasted the heavenly gift, tasted of the heavenly gift. What is the heavenly gift? What does it mean to taste of it? And you can see that you won't understand the passage if you don't have the answer to those questions, you see, all right? As far as I can observe, says Owen, dorea, that's the Greek word for gift here, that word is nowhere used in scripture except to mean the Holy Spirit. Acts 2.38, you shall receive the gift, there's that word, dorea, of the Holy Spirit. And also Acts 8.20 is another reference. The Holy Spirit, then, is the gift of God under the New Testament. And he, the Holy Spirit, is said to be from heaven. After Christ's ascension, he sent the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the great gift of the gospel of the New Testament era. He was the great gift which God would give and by whom God would institute a new way and a new right of worship. Spirit and truth, as in John 4. I should read, in place of the earthly ordinances of Moses. So the heavenly gift, Owen says, and he gives evidence for his conclusion, is the Holy Spirit. So what does it mean then to taste of the Holy Spirit? The apostate has tasted of the Holy Spirit. Well, he continues, this tasting, signifies, means no more than making a trial or experiment of something. So if you go down to the cheese factory, and you go in part of the sections there, they have some tasting samples, little toothpicks there. What's the purpose of that? I want to taste it and see if it's good. I'm going to take a taste of that and see if that's a kind of cheese that I like and that I want to buy. Well, that's kind of the thing that Owen is getting at here, you see. Tasting signifies no more than making a trial or experiment of something. We taste such things by the sense given to us to discern our food. and then either receive the beets. No, you don't receive the beets, let me taste that. Receive or refuse them as we find occasion. Tasting therefore does not include eating, much less digesting and turning into real nourishment what is tasted. Tasting is therefore to make an experiment or trial of something. And to these apostates then, the tasting ascribed to them is that they had an experience of the power of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is preached to them, right? That gift of God in the New Testament era, they had made a trial of the excellency of the new covenant in Christ, a privilege which not all men were made partakers of. And you see his point there. All people are not apostate. Okay, now obviously we know, well yeah, a Christian is not an apostate, he'd been born again, perseverance and so on. But what about the rest of humanity? The rest of unsaved, unregenerate humanity, all of them, when we talk about an apostate, we don't mean just the pagans, all the sinners. An apostate is a person who has been enlightened. An apostate is a person who has tasted of the Holy Spirit in hearing the gospel and then fallen away. That's who the apostate is, and so that's what Owen's point is here. He said the apostate had made a trial or a test of the excellency of the new covenant in Christ, a privilege, this tasting, a privilege which not all men were made partakers of. And by this taste, the apostate, they were convinced, yes, that it was far more excellent than what they had been before hand accustomed to and yet still they rejected, I like the way he puts this, they rejected the fine wheat and returned to their old acorns, you see. They know, what is the unpardonable sin? The unpardonable sin simply put is this, I know the gospel is true. Christ has shown that to me. His spirit has so worked upon me that I know the gospel is true. I know that it's glorious. I know that it tastes good. But I won't have any of it. That is the unpardonable sin, and that's the sin of the apostate. Owen makes application of all this. He says, there is a goodness and excellency in this heavenly gift, which may be tasted or experienced in some measure by people who never received it in their life, power, and effectual working. They may taste the word in its truth, but not in its power. They may taste of the worship of Christ in the church in its outward order, but not in its inward beauty. And here's the danger, a rejection of the gospel, its truth and worship, after some experience being had of its worth and excellency. is a high aggravation of sin and a certain precursor to destruction. That's what Hebrews means when it says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation that's been shown to us and given to us then in Christ? You see, having some knowledge of it understanding of it, experience even of its excellencies, and then to just say, nah, that's really good stuff, all right, but nah, I'm gonna go back to the world. And what Owen is emphasizing here is what the Bible emphasizes, is that there are, well, how shall I put it? I suppose we can word it like this. Hell is going to be a lot hotter. for a person like that than for the person who never, never heard the gospel, okay? There are, in fact, this is a great aggravation of, hell is not a great place for anybody. But, you see, there certainly are, it relates to what Jesus said to, was it Bethsaida, Capernaum, you know? If Sodom and Gomorrah would have seen the works that I've just done in front of you, these miracles, they would have repented a long time ago. And it's gonna be worse for you, woe to you. Capernaum and you know, there's about four cities there that he mentions and he says, woe to you because they would have repented. It's gonna be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah. in the day of judgment than for you. This is why, to say it once again, the church pew, where the gospel is faithfully preached, where the word of God is preached, is a most dangerous place. It's a blessed place for those who hear and believe. But for those who hear and just take a taste, right, take a little You know, partake in the excellencies of it and so forth, and then just walk away, fall away. It is a dangerous, dangerous place. It would be better in the day of judgment than they never heard. These are sobering things, and I hope that the gravity of them strikes you because that's really the purpose. that God has for us here in Hebrews. It is to strike us for our own good so that we don't grow careless and dull in our walk with Christ. You know, we have so many avenues today to hear the word of God, don't we? And you'll talk to Christians sometimes. And this actually is true, and I can understand this. Somebody might say, you know, I'm just not much of a reader. I don't read very much, you know. And some of you may be like that, and some of us just like books a lot, and we read and so on. But some people don't, for one reason or another. But you know, There's never a good reason for not hearing the word of God. And there's many ways, if you don't like a book, right? Then, well, in our day for that matter, you can have someone read to you. You can go on your computer and you can open your Bible and your computer will read the scripture to you. You can do what we did in the Sunday school hour this morning. There's all kinds, all kinds of faithful preachers and ministers teaching God's word online then that you can listen to, you see. And so we need to take care to utilize those resources. A basic one, of course, is remember the Lord's Day to keep it holy. And increasingly, we see in our day and age that people then are not doing that. The path that the apostate treads upon leads to an ultimate falling away because he regards Christ with contempt and disregard. You know, initially people can make, they hear the gospel, they make a profession of faith in Christ, but after years go by, If such a person is still in what we might say spiritual diapers, spiritual infancy, that person is in a very dangerous position. And Hebrews is telling us, don't be one of those people. Do not be one of those people. In practical terms, what does it look like to not be on the road to apostasy? To faithfully follow Christ? Well, feeding daily on Christ by carefully and prayerfully reading and hearing his word. Praying at all times. that the Lord would grant us a greater love for him, a greater understanding of him, that he would show me my sin and that I might repent of it and fashion me further into the image of Christ, and regularly remembering. the Lord's day to gather together with his people. These were the things that the people that the apostle is writing to here in Hebrews, they were neglecting them and we know that they were neglecting them because he specifically admonishes them and encourages them in regard to those kinds of things. Let's look at the third characteristic of these apostates in verse four. It is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and then here it is, and have shared in the Holy Spirit. In a way, that's kind of a summary because all of these operations, all of these privileges that the apostates have received that are mentioned in verse four, are operations of the Holy Spirit on and in those people. They've shared in the Holy Spirit. This is why, and we begin to see now at this point, why it is so dangerous to quickly pronounce and assure someone that they are most certainly in Christ because they've evidenced certain positive reactions to the gospel. Even someone that looks really zealous, all right, boy, Christ has died for me, yes, I believe, I'll run forward to the altar and make this profession of faith, and then off they go. But the apostle here would warn us, now, be careful. That could well be just a start. What we need to do is encourage that person to press on, press on. Don't just say, there, you're saved. Your sins are forgiven. Take your ease, eat and drink. Everything's fine, right? So the apostle here is telling us that many people This is important now. Many people receive real operations of the Holy Spirit within them, all of which fall short of salvation. Hearing the gospel is good. Hearing the gospel and being excited about the goodness of Christ is a good thing. Understanding the glory of Christ and the grace of Christ is a very excellent gift of grace, but As good old John Bunyan of Pilgrim's Progress would tell you, he would tell you, you know, there was a time in my life when I experienced all of those things. So much so that I reformed my life. I used to have the filthiest mouth in town. And I reformed my life so much that people around town were saying, look at Bunyan. Look at him. And he'll come back and tell you, if you read his biography, The Chief of Sinners, right? He will tell you, but I was not born again. And eventually, the pig returned to the pig pen, you see. By God's grace, ultimately, he was born again. But he would tell you. It's an amazing thing how far someone can be brought and how close they can come, and yet still. not be born again. So it is dangerous to encourage carelessness in a person who is all excited about hearing the gospel, you see. So the apostle here is telling us that a person can actually have shared in the Holy Spirit and yet not be regenerate, ultimately fall away and end in hell. So what is it to have a share in something? You see, Owen says to share in the Holy Spirit is to have a share in the gifts that he distributes. It is to have a share in the benefits of his operation. So for instance, a negative example is Acts chapter 8 where was it Peter that told Simon the magician, you have no portion in these things. These apostates that Paul is talking, or Hebrews is talking about here, is talking about they had a share in the Holy Spirit. They actually, in other words, a person can even evidence the gifts of the Spirit, certain gifts of the Spirit in their life and still not be born again. Here's Owen again. We may observe that the Holy Spirit is present with many people who are made partakers of him in his spiritual gifts, but who are never made partakers of him in salvation, in his saving graces. Check it out, Matthew 7. On that day, Christ says, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works? Have you ever tried to figure that out? How in the world See, there's no doubt, there's no lying, they're even telling him, we prophesied in your name. We cast out demons. And apparently they did. And did many mighty works in your name. And what does Christ say? I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. And so there it is, you see. A person, to just read it again here for Owen's words, that the Holy Spirit is present with many people who are made partakers of Him and His spiritual gifts, who are never made partakers of Him and His saving graces because they grow dull, neglectful, and despising even of the blood of Christ and these great privileges that have been shown to them. There are many, many people in churches and various ministries performed in the name of Christ who are nothing more than what the Puritans called the almost Christian. the almost Christian. We need to, one, first of all, be sure that we aren't that kind of a person, and if we are, to repent and call on the Lord to show us mercy and save us. But also we need to know, secondly, we need to know about this so that we're wise, so that we're careful. You see, this whole thing, this whole business that Hebrews is talking about here gives us additional clarity in regard to John's warning to us, right? Test the spirits to see if they be of God. Many, many antichrists have gone out. Test the spirit. Be careful because somebody can even be doing some kind of a miracle by the spirit. and yet not be born of God. And there's many people like this around today. They are in churches, they are in various Christian supposedly ministries, but they are just the almost Christian. Almost Christian is what? Well, as described here in Hebrews 6. been enlightened by the Spirit, tasted of the Spirit, even partaken of the gifts of the Spirit, but it's still nothing more than a counterfeit, a mimic. They can do, think about this, 1 Corinthians 13. Think that this one always just blows me away. The almost Christian. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, And almost Christian can speak in the tongues of men and of angels. The angelic language might be an exaggeration. But you see, the Corinthians, of course, were making this big deal out of the gift of tongues, right? And so Paul is saying, you know what? Even if you guys, even if somebody can speak in tongues, in the tongues of every language in the world and even of angels, right? But have not love, I'm a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have all prophetic powers, see this, the almost Christian can even have all prophetic, make prophets, prophetic powers, understand all mysteries and all knowledge. talk to you about any aspect of doctrine there might be. And if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. There it is. All of those things are not in and of themselves necessarily assurance that that person really is a believer. And we can't mention that without adding this. Isn't it interesting that the really, how do you test the spirits? And how do you know, how do you see through? Is someone a genuine Christian then or not? Well, repeatedly, the New Testament answers that question for us. We examine their fruit. And what fruit specifically are we looking for? We would tend to say, well, it must be some mighty, powerful miracle performing, or it must be to be able to preach a sermon with a silver tongue and just and seemingly glorify Christ and all of these kinds of things, but what does the Bible say? What is the test? It's love. It's love. John 13, 30, by this all men will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another. If I have not love, I gain nothing. And if we want to examine ourselves to see If we're in the faith, if we really belong to Christ, there's the place to begin. Do I love God and do I love the brethren? Now, you know, don't misunderstand. We know that. You know, liberal, unbelieving, counterfeit churches. They're all love, love, love, love, love, love this, love that. We're all about love. Slap it on the signs and whatever. But that, of course, is a counterfeit because if you get right down to it, The characteristic is they hate Christ. And they hate the gospel. You don't have to talk to them very long about the Bible. And they hate God's word. They don't love the brethren. They don't love Christ. But nevertheless, here's the test. And this is why the New Testament will say things to us, just as a reminder then. Be kind to one another. Be kind to one another. People can have this huge amount of knowledge about doctrine of Bible doctrine and Bible doctrine is essential. It is important to know the truth. But in the end, if we're born again, and we know Christ, then he by his spirit has taught us to love to love one another. A lady commented on our blog this last week, and she said, you know, I'm a Christian, I know that I'm in Christ, I know that I'm saved, and I persevere following Christ, but it is discouraging to me, she said, How many mean people, how many mean Christians there are in the churches, you see. Now if a person is characterized by being mean, right, revilers, what the Bible would call that, they're not saved. And if that's what characterizes them, then they're not, then they are not born again. Am I kind? Then are we kind to one another? So take care. A person can be an almost Christian and do all kinds of things. They can found a Bible college. They can be an expert in theology. They can preach to thousands of people each week and write all kinds of books and be in demand at the biggest Christian conferences and pray the most divine sounding prayers. and never be born again at all. And we need to be wise in another nuance of this business of apostasy. You know, when we think of a person that's apostate, and we think of this falling away from Christ, I mean, they profess Christ, now they fall away, then we, generally we speak of, and often that is the case of, well, they had claimed to be a Christian, but now they're an atheist. and they are an enemy of the gospel and they speak nothing but against it and so forth. But I would suggest for your consideration that the apostate can continue in the church, can continue for purely self-glorifying reasons to play the role. And this is where, you know, The devil is deceptive. You say, well, I know that. No, you don't know that. And I don't know that. Not really. That's because we get duped. The devil is incredibly deceptive. Why not leave the apostate preacher in the pulpit? And you say, well, why would he continue to preach something that he's denied? Well, there's all kinds of reasons that are all wicked and selfish. For self-glorifying reasons, they continue then to play the role. And so they keep up the disguise, but have never been born again at all. So be wise. Be careful. Examine yourself to see that you're in the faith. Where can you pick up the pace to follow Christ? In case you hadn't noticed, this world is a mess. I mean, it is going down The path. There are wars and rumors of wars. And it's getting worse and worse and worse and more evil. And all of us go through the week, every day. I'm sure you're like me, you wake up in the morning with Ukraine on your mind, right? And those people that are being killed, little kids that wicked, you know, and pray that God will take out Putin and evil people, tyrants like, just take them out. God has his purposes in all of this, and he is in control. When we're told in Revelation 6, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, right? God sends them out, led by the preaching of the gospel, the white horse. One of the horses is what? It was given, the rider is given authority to take peace from the earth. And then there's famine and death and so on. And what is all of this? Well, in part, it's God's judgment upon a wicked world for rejecting Christ. It's also him in his mercy giving the world a wake-up call. This surely ought to be a wake-up call at this point for everyone, not just the people in Ukraine, you see. And it's a wake-up call about the danger of loving this present world. Why would we love this And it's so filled then with evil and wickedness and to drive us then to pray, Christ, please come, please come and come and come soon, you see. Well, he is coming. This might be the last Sunday that we meet together here. Maybe by next Sunday, we'll all be there because Christ has come. or maybe I'll be there and you'll be here, or vice versa, right? I mean, today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. Be sure of this, one of these days is going to be our last day in this world, whether it's because Christ comes for us or he calls us out of this life. There is no time to be careless in following Christ. and to cling to this world. I'll end with these great challenging words here from Horatius Bonnard that I read earlier. This is the beginning of a poem that he wrote, Our One Life. "'Tis not for man to trifle. Life is brief, and sin is here. Our age is but the falling of a leaf, a dropping tear. We have no time to sport away the hours. All must be earnest in a world like ours. Not many lives, but only one have we. One, only one. How sacred should that one life ever be, that narrow span. Wisdom from Horatius Bonar, who He's been there for a long time. Sometime we will meet him. This is, how did he put it? My favorite line in that is, we have no time to sport away the hours as if we were going to live and party on forever, you see. Father, we thank you for the encouragement of your word, for the sober warnings of your word, We pray that in any area of our lives where we have been sporting the time away and being careless and neglectful and following you, that you'd show us those areas and that we might repent of them and turn around and more zealously follow you. Father, we pray that not a single person here would ever be characterized as just being an almost Christian. And if anybody is, that you might show them mercy and bring them to saving faith and repentance in Christ. And we pray this all in Christ's name, amen.