Transcript

Well, let’s jump back to Hebrews chapter 6 and pick up where we left off. This will actually be part 3 of the series of messages I’m entitling “The Pretenders” from Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through 6. If you’ve been here you know what we’re doing. If you’re new with us tonight, we are studying through the book of Hebrews and we come to this most challenging section of scripture. Spurgeon said that this was like one of those places in Europe, particularly Belgium, where it seemed like every war of all the ages seemed to have had battles fought in Belgium. Just about all of Europe has had wars fought over it or every parcel of land has had battles in it. But it seemed that through the centuries and over the ages they just kept being fought over the countryside called Belgium.

Well, he said that’s what this text is like. The Armenians line up and say, “See there, you can lose your salvation. You can be lost after you’re saved.” And then the more Calvinists line up and say, “No, you can’t lose your salvation. Those that are born of God and saved by God are kept by God eternally.” And so the battle rages. So what’s gonna be the solution? Well, I’m preaching it right here. We’re gonna solve the whole thing. No, I, I just must tell you that this text has stretched me and humbled me and, uh, taught me a whole, whole lot. And I’m gonna share with you things tonight I don’t think I’ve ever even thought about, much less preached to anyone. But then again I haven’t preached through the book of Hebrews and been forced to prayerfully study and meditate on a text like this challenging text before us. But actually, I want to say this again. And I hope it’s not my simplicity and my shallowness. But the more I study this to me the more clear it became. It was just, just clear. It was just obvious to me what he was saying. And maybe I’ll study it again and see difficulties I didn’t see. But I’m convinced he’s referring to non-believers who in every way were exposed to God’s truth, were touched by God’s truth, were ministered to by the Holy Spirit. As the great theologians before us would say they were under the general influence and call of God but they hardened their neck. They resisted these things, though they’ve tasted them, though they could appreciate the wonders and the glories and the goodness and the beauties of Christ, His suffering, His death, uh, the greatness of all of it. But yet they never savingly in faith partook of it.

So let’s look at it, continuing tonight. Hebrews chapter 6 beginning in verse 4. We’ll read through verse 6. He says, “For 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, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”
Now we’re focusing tonight on the last phrase of verse 4, “those who have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,” then again you’ve got to add the phrase of verse 6, “and then have fallen away.” We’ve already looked at those who have been enlightened, beginning of verse 4. Then you connect to verse 6, “and then fallen away.” And then we looked last session, actually, uh, two sections on this, “and have tasted the heavenly gift,” then verse 6, “and then fallen away.” Now he comes to a different phrase, “and made partakers of the Holy Spirit,” and connected to verse 6, “and then fallen away.” What does this mean? I am convinced he’s talking here about those who have experienced the work of the Spirit but not the regenerating power of the Spirit.

There are those, matter of fact, I am convinced there are millions who to some degree have experienced the work of the Spirit in their lives, through their lives, but have not experienced the regenerating, the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. That is the new birth, conversion. Now we’re even going to see that it’s highly probable that a person can even minister with gifts of the Spirit, even supernatural gifts, yet they themselves have never received the sanctifying, saving work of the Spirit in and through their lives. I told you I was gonna share with you some things I haven’t even thought about before I studied this text.

All right. Look at it if you will, how he words it there. He uses a word that we translate over into our English, partakers. They have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit. Uh, metochos is the Greek word for partakers. Metochos. That’s the way you would transliterate it into English letters. And that word metochos means to be an associate or to be a partner. Now here’s some other ways that it’s used in the New Testament. For example in Luke chapter 5 verse 7, the fellow fishermen, fishermen in one boat and fishermen in the other boat are referred to as their partners in the other boat. They signal to their other partners. That’s the same Greek word here that’s translated partaker. It means an association. You are associated with certain people.

All right. In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 9, we have this same Greek word again where he talked about our Lord being in the company of angels. He’s not an angel. Angels are not the Lord. But they’re in association together. They fellowship together, if you will. They’re in the same heavenly domain together. In Ephesians chapter 5 verse 7 he talks about how we should not be partakers with sinners. WE should not, uh, associate in the activities that willful, unsaved sinners would participate in or conduct themselves in. So here we see clearly that this is talking about not someone who’s possessed or the possession of the Holy Spirit and not someone who has possessed the Spirit, but someone who has just been associated with the working of the Holy Spirit. For example, the Holy Spirit is not the associate or just the companion of believers. The Holy Spirit possesses believers and believers possess Him. It’s a very different thing than just being an associate or a companion. So here it is one who just shares or participates in something or with someone. It certainly can’t mean that we all have a share of the person of the Holy Spirit because you can’t split Him up.

Now it does mean that these are unbelievers who have been associated with the work of the Spirit and with some of the benefits of the Spirit. In fact, did you know the Holy Spirit works in all unbelievers? Let me say that again. The Holy Spirit of God works in all unbelievers. Not savingly so, but He still works. I, I had in my thinking, not that I had studied it and come to this conclusion, but just I guess almost in my non-thinking but just general conclusion just sort of presumed that if the Spirit’s working, that’s God’s child. But the Bible makes it very, very clear that’s not the case. Spirit of God worked on and in and through many who were not the children of God. And I think this is what that’s talking about. Unbelievers who are associated with and received some of the benefits of the Spirit but were not truly saved.

Uh, let me give you a couple of verses here. Second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7. He says, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” That verse teaches that there’s a lawless rebel spirit, which is manifested in its greatest form in the Antichrist, and that lawless rebel spirit is in the world today. Matter of fact, every lost person has the lawless spirit of the Antichrist living in them. But there is One who restrains that lawless spirit and He’ll continue to restrain it, hold it back until God says, “It’s time for judgment,” and He takes the restraining work of the Holy Spirit out of the way and lets the lawless mystery manifest itself, and it’s not a mystery any longer. And that’s what you have in the book of Revelation, God taking the restraint off and letting us see the utter wickedness of man.

So God is at work in the heart of every being through the power of His Spirit in a restraining work. If not there would be such chaos, such anarchy, such murder and strife and evil in the earth no man could survive. We have what measure of decency and peace and normalcy in the universe or in the world even because God is presently restraining the evil hearts of wicked, depraved human beings. God’s spirit is working in every heart in a restraining work.

Now I believe this is the way He does that. Romans chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. He says, “For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these not having the law are a law to themselves in that they showed the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.” God has ordained that man has the moral code of God in his heart. He may not can articulate it by giving you ten precise commandments like recorded in the book of Exodus. But it’s in the heart of man. And God has a conscience. You might call it the natural conscience. It’s in every man. Now he can sear the conscience and dull that conscience, but it’s there. And the Spirit of God, I’m convinced, works with the law and the conscience in a restraining fashion. And so the Spirit of God works in every man.
Now let’s go to, it’ll be on your screen, Second Peter chapter 1 verse 4. God has ordained that man has the moral code of God in his heart. He may not can articulate it by giving you ten precise commandments like recorded in the book of Exodus. But it’s in the heart of man. And God has a conscience. You might call it the natural conscience. It’s in every man. Now he can sear the conscience and dull that conscience, but it’s there. And the Spirit of God, I’m convinced, works with the law and the conscience in a restraining fashion. And so the Spirit of God works in every man.

Now let’s go to, it’ll be on your screen, Second Peter chapter 1 verse 4, and we have the word, uh, partakers again. Second Peter 1:4, and in that verse the English word partakers is used there but it’s a totally different Greek word. Matter of fact, the Greek word here is koinonos. You’ve heard the word koinonia. Christians sometimes call their fellowships koinonias, and it means in common. We’re one, the same Spirit abides in all of us. We are, uh, interconnected because of the Spirit of God that lives in all of us. So that’s why he used koinonos here to show that this is a different type of intimacy. It’s not an association. It’s actually a partaking of the same nature together. Here’s how he says it in Second Peter 1:4, “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises in order that by them you might become partakers,” not metochos, which is used in Hebrews 6, but koinonos, which means we all have in common the divine nature of God. It’s a very different aspect there.

So when you’re studying the Bible you just can’t take an English word because often different Greek words are translated with the same English word, and you need to know the root or the background that’s behind the original Greek. Now I don’t know it, but I do study a lot of scholars who do. So a totally different word is used here. In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 4, again, these unbelievers are associated with the Holy Spirit, but in Second Peter 1:4, these believers are indwelt by the very divine nature of God, of course in the Person of the Holy Spirit. And these are two very different things.

The, uh, the unbelievers of Hebrews chapter 6 verse 4 who are called partakers have not been born of God, which John 3:6 talks of, which is essential obviously for the new birth. You have to be one who is born of God, born of heaven, born of the powers of heaven. And it’s not those whose bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit as First Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and that you are not your own?”

Now John Brown and Gough, the two Puritan writers who far and away are more thorough and more in depth in their exposition than any modern writer. Uh, Pink holds this same position. So Gough and Brown and Arthur W. Pink, and, and numerous, solid conservative authorities say that this text is actually teaching that these unbelievers were enabled by the Spirit of God to actually manifest powers and gifts of the Spirit but they were not themselves savingly converted. Now does that challenge your thinking a little bit? Now I’m not saying you have to agree with that interpretation or that understanding. But they’re saying, and we’re gonna use some cross references here to give strength to the position that a person can even be, now I believe this would happen only in like the First Century when God was in an unusual way performing signs and wonders and miracles, and perhaps in an unusual move of the Spirit of God, actually an unsaved, lost pretender can have the work of the Spirit even in powers and miracles manifesting through his life. Wow.

Let me give you some examples. Number one, Ahithophel. Ahithophel in the Old Testament was the trusted special counselor to both King David and his son, Absalom. And here’s what, uh, Second Samuel 16:23 says about Ahithophel. It says, “And the advice of Ahithophel which he gave in those days was as if one inquired of the Word of God so as all the advice of Ahithophel regarded by both David and Absalom.” Now Ahithophel was not a saved man. He gave no evidence of really knowing God. But it seems to teach here that he was enabled by God to give special wisdom and counsel working through him in the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Number two, Saul. Saul’s unique ability to govern, now, there could be some debate about Saul’s conversion. I’m landing on the unconverted side. An Old Testament professor told me that if you get to heaven one day and you see Saul, don’t say, “Fancy meeting you here.” But by his life, there’s every reason to believe Saul was a flesh man. Walked in the flesh. Matter of fact, that’s the picture. David is the spiritual man. Saul’s the flesh man. All right, notice what the Bible says about Saul, though. First Samuel 10:9: Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, speaking of Saul, God changed his heart. God is working in the Person of the Spirit changing the heart of Saul. And all those signs came about on that day. The book of Proverbs speaks of God moving the king’s heart like rivers of water. The power of God working in the heart through the Person of the Holy Spirit and that heart being a lost, unconverted man’s heart.

Also, First Samuel chapter 11 verse 6: Then the Spirit of God came, uh, upon Saul mightily when he heard these words and he became very angry. There’s a mighty move of the Spirit in this unconverted man’s heart.

Well, also the miracle workers in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 7 verses 22 and 23. Here our Lord is speaking to these workers of miracles, and notice what He says here. He said, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? And in Your name cast out demons? And in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Their very lifestyle was evidence they were not God’s children but they performed miracles in the name of God. Now you might surmise that that was a demonic work. It could’ve very well been. But notice the Lord didn’t say, “You didn’t do miracles in My power.” He did not say, “You didn’t cast out demons in My power.” He just said, “You did it, but you’re not Mine.” Evidence, probability, Spirit of God was working, but not savingly in these people’s lives.
I tell you what comes to my mind. Turn on your television and turn on so-called Christian television and watch the signs and the wonders and the miracle workers. And there’s a power there sometimes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that charlatan knows God. You got to be discerning and biblical and look beyond outward stuff to know if the real work of regeneration and the new birth has happened in their heart.

Another illustration would be the Jews who rejoiced in Christ at the first anyway, they rejoiced in Christ in John chapter 5 verse 35. In John 5:35, the Bible says, “He was the lamp that was burning and was shining, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in His light.” That working, the Holy Spirit of God that actually brought many Jews to rejoice in Christ but they fell short of savingly trusting in Him. Work of the Spirit, but not a saving work in their hearts.
And I think another good example, and those Jews was an example of that general call of God that goes out that can be resisted and you can harden your neck to it and harden your heart to that general call and resist the work of the Spirit. And then Herod in Mark chapter 6 verse 20, “For Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe, and when he heard him he was very perplexed, but he used to enjoy listening to him.” I’m convinced today in the congregation of every true Bible preacher there are unbelievers whom the Spirit of God is working their heart and they’re interested, and they’re concerned, and they’re drawn, and they see some good in it, and they come back, but they’re not saved. A work of the Spirit, but not a saving work of the Spirit in the heart.

I believe that’s why, we looked at in the earlier message, I’ll not turn there again, but, uh, John, uh, chapter 13 verse, or I think it’s chapter 3 verse 15, “Do not harden, today if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart. Today if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart.” And then in chapter 4 verse 7, “If you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart because there’s a work of the Holy Spirit that you can harden your heart against and sin away your day of grace.

Well, I believe that’s an exposition of what that phrase “partakers of the Holy Spirit” means. They experienced some of the works, some of the benefits, even some of the blessings of the Spirit of God in their very lives, but were not savingly converted, did not become true children of God.

Now let me give you some CPA’s on this. The first conclusion for practical application, we’re, we’re focusing on the word partakers. They were partakers, metochos, and that means an associate. They were associated with the work of the Spirit. And, and, the first thing I want to say to the CPA’s is that this work was a restraining work, not a regenerating work. Now I’ve pointed that out, but I want to liber, elaborate on that just a little bit.

Now you can say this, every single person in the world has experienced the restraining work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, whether they even know it or not. It’s there. At least until the, the, uh, the One who restrains is removed, and we haven’t come to that day yet. But not everyone has experienced the regenerating or the renewing or the new birth that the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of the true children of God. Now here’s an example of that renewing or that regenerating work. Psalm 51 verse 10, David says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” God, change my heart. God, You’ve got to do it. God, You’ve got to regenerate this old heart. Dr. Law can’t do it. I have to go to Dr. Grace. Remember the other message? And Dr. Grace can perform the surgery and take the old rotten heart out and put the new heart of Jesus in. That’s what grace does for us. That’s the regenerating work.

Titus chapter 3 verse 5 says, “He saved us not on the basis of deeds we have done in righteousness.” You’re not saved based on some work you perform, whether it’s the work of being baptized or the work of taking the, the sacrament or the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper or the work of joining the right church or the work of walking to the front or the work of saying a prayer. It’s not any deed you’ve done in righteousness. Now notice this: “But according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration,” Bible word there. That miracle working of God in the heart and the renewing His brings all in the Person of the Holy Spirit. So these people had the restraining work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, even where perhaps, probably, in that, this particular age, experiencing something of gifts and miracles, even signs and wonders, but were not renewed by the Spirit of God. Brothers and sisters, the next time someone tells you, “This is of God. It’s a miracle,” say, “I don’t know. Could be. May not be.” I’m not gonna say it’s not, but that’s not the only criteria that you look for. I tell you what needs to be sought for more than anything else, a broken and contrite heart, a humility before a Holy God. I so often in those environments where a lot of people are talking about powers and wonders and miracles I see a haughtiness and an arrogance and a pride, not a humility and a brokenness and a contrite spirit.

Number two, the second conclusion for practical application, this work of the Spirit did not change them. It was meant for the good of others. That means God in His sovereign purposes when He works in men’s hearts but they’re not savingly converted He’s doing it not to change them in that incident. He’s doing it because He’s gonna use them in some way to benefit others. In the Old Testament you find over and over and over again God using Assyria, God using Babylon, God using Egypt to be the chastening rod against His people. Now how did He do that? He worked in the heart of the king, and even brought those pagan kings to bring judgment and warfare and captivity to Israel as His means of punishing and judging and disciplining His, His people, the nation of Israel. How did HE do that? He worked on the heart of those kings through His Holy Spirit. It wasn’t a work that changed those kings. It was a work whereby He used them to minister and benefit others because His chastening and corrective hand is a part of His work and blessing to our lives, even to the nation of Israel.

But the true regenerating work of the Holy Spirit changes the whole person themselves. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8: For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. That’s the gift that changes you through grace. First Peter chapter 1 verse 9 speaks of us obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. It changes you, both for time and for eternity. The doctrine that our forefathers, uh, wrote about was called the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. We call it eternal security of the believer or once saved always saved. Perseverance of the saints is a better expression because it doesn’t mean that you’re saved and you got your ticket punched and then you live like everybody else. NO, it means you get saved and God begins a work in you and He’ll perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Like the old song says, you may be prone to wander, Lord I feel it, but God comes wandering after you and draws you back in and draws you back in and corrects and disciplines and encourage and strengthens and holds you up when you think you can’t go any further, but carries you on all the way to glory. I’m telling you, when God saves you and starts a work, He will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. We throw ourselves totally on Him. But now Ahithophel, Saul, and others, they were spiritually gifted for the ministry to bless others, but they themselves were not changed men. I think that is the case with these in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 4 who are called partakers of the Holy Spirit.

Number three, conclusion for practical application number three, the work was temporal whereas the saving work of the Spirit is permanent. This working in the hearts of these pretenders, these hypocrites looked like real conversion for awhile, but it didn’t ultimately last. The work of conversion, though, the true saving work of God in the heart is a permanent and lasting work.

Uh, Romans 11:29 says, “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” When God effectually calls one to salvation it’s not revocable. It cannot be changed. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6: He who begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus. It’s a permanent, lasting work. And if you would, turn over to Matthew chapter 13 right quick. Matthew chapter 13, and we’ll begin in verse 4. Actually, we’ll begin in verse 3. He’s telling this parable of the soils. Now sometimes we call it the parable of the sower, but it’s really not. It’s more about the soils than the sower.

And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, this is verse 3, Matthew chapter 13, “Behold, the sower went out to sow and he sowed some seeds, and they fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.” Now that’s the way some are. You sow the seed of the gospel and it barely touches them and then it’s gone. They’re not affected by it. Verse 5, a second type of person, “Others fell on the rocky places and they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched because they had not root, and they withered away.” The Spirit of God worked in their lives, something happened, they looked different, but it didn’t last very long. The sun scorched it, they’re gone.

Verse 7: “Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.” This implies that they had some growth for awhile and it looked real, but it didn’t last. Now verse 8: “And others fell on good soil.” From a systematic understanding of scripture, can I tell you what good soil is? It’s the soil that the Spirit of God has regenerated so that it can gladly and profitably receive the seed of the gospel into it. Your natural soul soil cannot do that. But when God changes the heart. What’s the Old Testament verse say? God will take out the heart of stone and He’ll put in a heart of flesh. Flesh doesn’t mean sinful flesh. It means fertile, docile, workable material that the Spirit of God will take root in and bear fruit through.

So in this parable, which I think is a great parallel here, we see that God says, “There are gonna be a lot that the Spirit works on that don’t have lasting fruit.” There’ll be some that are good soil, Spirit of God had their hearts ready and the gospel touched them and bore fruit or rather put out roots and then bore fruit. Some weeks more than others, some weeks better than others, but as a lifetime all the way to glory, there’s a perseverance of their lives, showing that they had the true, regenerating work of the Spirit of God in their lives.

So we see that a person can exhibit, can exhibit some sanctifying gifts of the Spirit, yet not experience the sanctifying work of the Spirit in their own soul. I believe that’s what this verse teaches.

Now, in conclusion, I want you to think about Philippians chapter 2 verse 12. Philippians chapter 2 verse 12, which tells us that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. You ever wonder what that means exactly? Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. First of all, I’d like to say that salvation is worked in us by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God hasn’t worked in you and birthed you into God’s kingdom, you’re not saved. Uh, Philippians 2:13 is a good cross reference. Uh, let me just look at that one right quick. Philippians 2:13 tells us, “For it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” We looked at that in the earlier message. So salvation is worked in you by the Spirit of God, and HE enables you when He works in you through faith to be justified once and for all before God. The work of the Spirit works in the heart, faith is blossomed, and at that moment, justification occurs and you’re justified in God’s sight forever based on the finished, irrevocable meritorious work of Jesus on your behalf when He died on the cross.

But now he says, “Work out your salvation.” It’s been worked in you, now work it out of you. Salvation is to be worked out through the help of this same Spirit, which is sanctification. And he says to work it out with fear and trembling. Here’s what I’m convinced that phrase means. It does not mean a slavish, fearful, lawful kind of fear and trembling. What it means is this: it is that walk of contrition. It is that walk of brokenness and humility whereby in reverential fear you are constantly aware of your human insufficiency and you are conscience of this insufficiency and that it all depends on the power of God. It’s that daily, morning by morning, hour by hour, step by step whereby your heart registers, “Oh, dear God, if Your Spirit don’t, has not regenerated me and if You don’t keep me, and if the cross is not sufficient, I am sunk.” So with a humble, contrition, a fear and trembling, I walk daily casting it all on Jesus, casting it all on Jesus. How many times did you sin today? How many times are you gonna sin tomorrow? Well, how you gonna get into heaven? I sin and in fear and trembling I just say, “Lord, it’s all up to You. I cast all of my hope on the sufficiency of Your death in my place, and if I’m gonna progress in sanctification and be a better Christian tomorrow than I was today, You’re gonna have to do it! I cast myself on You fully aware of my total inadequacy and insufficiency. If You don’t do it through me, I’ll never make it.” Brothers and sisters, whatever else, whatever else we are, we must be humbled before our God. I believe that’s what he means. “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” None of this cocky, proud, “I asked Him to do it,” no, it’s a daily, “Oh, Lord…”

You know, in a sense you pray the sinner’s prayer everyday, all your life. “Lord, save me. I’m a wretch. Lord, I trust You to save me. Lord, I throw myself on You again. Jesus, forgive me. Make me Yours.” When you call on the Lord it isn’t just something you did. It’s something you did and always do until you get to glory. Humble dependency on Him for my justification and for any progress in sanctification. And I want to tell you something. His grace is sufficient to get every single one of His true children all the way home. You gonna make it. We don’t preach a sinning religion, but even when you sin and you blow it and you fail and you’re ashamed, God uses that to make you throw yourself on Jesus again. Say, “Lord, it’s not me. It’s all You.” We’re not gonna pull out some card at the pearly gates and say, “I got my card punched. I prayed when I was seven.” What about the seven thousand other times you needed to pray through your life and keep throwing yourself on Him. That’s the evidence of working out your salvation with fear and trembling. And all of God’s people said? Amen. Let’s stand together in prayer tonight…