068. Some years ago I was converted and led a happy Christian life for some time. Then I fel...
Some years ago I was converted and led a happy Christian life for some time. Then I fell into sin. Now I am in despair, for I think that my case is the one described in Hebrews 6:4-6, and that it is impossible to renew me again to repentance. Is there any hope for me?
Yes, there is every hope for you if you will come to Jesus. He says in John 6:37 : “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” He does not say: “Him that was never converted and that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” He says: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” It is evident you have a desire to come. It is plain as day in God’s Word that God desires you to come (Revelation 22:17). Therefore, just come, and you have Jesus’ own word for it that He will receive you!
Hebrews 6:4-6 does not describe your case at all. See how it reads:
“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.” The difficulty with the one here described is that it is impossible to renew him again unto repentance, and that is the reason why he cannot be saved. But your very letter shows that you desire to repent. The words in Hebrews 6:4-6 were written to Jewish Christians suffering persecution who were in consequent danger of apostatizing and renouncing Christ and going back to Judaism, and the Holy Spirit warns them that if they do, after all the light they have had, there will be no longer hope for them because it will be impossible to renew them again unto repentance. Further down in the chapter the writer says that he does not expect any of them to do what is here described (v. 9). The warning itself would help to keep them from doing it.
Hebrews 6:4-6 therefore does not describe merely a backslider. It describes an apostate, one who not merely falls into sin but who after having l)een enlightened and having tasted the heavenly gift and having been made an actual partaker of the Holy Ghost falls away, that is, apostatizes. The Greek word translated “fall away” in this passage is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to describe one who has apostatized from God and gone astray after idols. (See Ezekiel 14:13; Ezekiel 15:8.) That a mere backslider may come back to God is abundantly proven from many Scriptures. (See Jeremiah 3:12-14; Hosea 14:1-4.) Peter himself, after having started to follow Christ, sinned most grievously, denying his Lord with oaths and curses, but his Lord received him back and gave him a greater fullness of blessing than he had ever known before. Any one who has the desire to repent of sin and return to the Lord Jesus may know clearly from that fact that he is not the person described in Hebrews 6:4-6. I have met many people who were in hopeless despair because they thought their case was here described, but after being shown the truth of the Lord Jesus’ willingness to receive them if they would come back to Him they have come back, and are now happy and useful Christians.