Hebrews 3:12-14 “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; (13) but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (14) For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”
So how is it possible that one who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour would ever reach a stage where they are quite willing to reject Him as Lord? In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit teaches us that sin has the effect of hardening the hearts of believers, for in this passage the Holy Spirit is warning believers about the effects of sin, He is not warning unbelievers. And so we see that when a believer’s heart has become sufficiently hardened through sin they will eventually depart from the living God. For whatever reason, not every believer who refuses to repent of their sinful practices is judged by the Lord with physical death. Sadly some are allowed by the Lord to continue on their path of sin and they eventually do commit the sin to death. It may be that these believers do not have other believers exhorting them to continue in their walk with the Lord as mentioned in the above passage of scripture, or it may be that they do not have fellow believers praying for them as John encouraged us to do, and so our Lord is unable to intervene in their lives.
Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
We saw earlier in this section that if we see any brother in the Lord committing the type of sin that is not to death then we should pray for them. That same passage taught us that the reason we pray for them is so that the Lord will forgive them their sin and restore them to righteousness. In other words we are not to condemn them; but rather we are to pray for them. The reason these believers need our prayers is because their hearts have become hardened through sin and they have become blind to the danger of the sinful path they are walking on. And so we see that it is vital for believers to look out for one another because our eternity is at stake. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit teaches us that those of us, who are spiritual, should restore the Christian who is sinning in a spirit of gentleness. Sadly there are too many believers that aren’t spiritual, and instead of praying for the restoration of a sinning brother they prefer to condemn them.
Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, (5) and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, (6) if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit describes the condition of believers who have turned their backs on Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. In other words they have reversed their decision to follow after Christ and have thus fallen away. These believers have allowed their hearts to become hardened through sin and they have become so backslidden that serving Christ no longer interests them. Because they have denied Jesus as their Lord there is no way back for them, because they have committed the sin to death thus incurring spiritual death once again and there is no more recourse for them, because it is impossible to be born-again again. And so the point is crystal clear. Once we have made the eternal decision to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour we must guard that decision by holding the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end of our time here on earth, for those of us who endure to the end will reign with Him, but those of us who choose to deny Him will be denied by Him (2 Timothy 2:12).
Michael E.B. Maher
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