Hardness of heart will kill you.
Pharaoh died of a hard heart; as did Judas. And never did anyone experience God’s warnings up-close-and-personal as did these two men. But no matter how many times they were warned to their very faces, they would not listen.
The Bible presents them, and many others, as examples of what not to be. But tragically, this does not prevent Christians from following in their footsteps.
Christians are the blessed of all humanity. Theirs is the enlightenment that has brought grace to the essence of their being. Theirs is the experience of the Holy Spirit that has made them holy and fitted them for service. And theirs are the Word of God and the power that draws them heavenward (see Heb.6:4-5).
But what of those who have experienced these Kingdom blessings, but have then thrown them away?
The writer of the Book of Hebrews says concerning the new state of these once faithful Christians: “It is impossible to renew them again to repentance” (Heb.6:6).
Which begs the question: “How do we identify those in this ‘Impossible’ group?” For it really does seem inappropriate to involve ourselves in this level of judgement.
Our writer, however, leaves us in no doubt as to why those who have abandoned Christ and his church will not be back. He says it is impossible “since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame” (Heb.6:6).
The apostle Peter, never one to mince words puts it in language that everyone can understand:
“It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” (2Pet.2:21-22).
John Staiger
0 Comments