Hebrews 6

Go do a couple things real quick and I'll be right back, all right?

His love and forever for he is good, he is above all things his love endures forever for the life that's been reborn his love and do it forever sing praise, sing praise sing praise sing praise, yeah forever God is faithful forever God is forever God is with us forever forever forever to the Lord for he is good give thanks to the Lord for he is good sing praise be rain see forever you are faithful forever you are strong forever you are with us forever, forever home you are saints and angels they bow before your throne and all the elders cause their crowns before the lamb of God and say, you are worthy of it all, you are worthy of it all.

From you are all things and to you are all things, you deserve the glory.

All those saints and angel they found before your throne and all the elders they're crowned before the lamb of God and you are worthy of it all Jesus. You are worthy of it all.

From you are all faith, and to you are all things, you deserve the glory you all the glory is your you are worthy of it all, you are worthy of it all.

From you are all faith. Enter. You are all faith, you deserve the glory. Close all the glory.

And night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day and night, night and day and night, night and day and night, night and day. You are worthy of it all the way. You are worthy of it all.

From you are, you are faith, you deserve glory, you can have all the glory, you are worthy of it all.

You are worthy of it all.

What? From you are a faith, and to you are a faith. Yes, from you are, you are, you are, you deserve the glory, Jesus. All the glory.

Up to the hill of Calvary, my savior went courageously and there he bled and died for me. Hallelujah for the cross. And on that day the world was changed. A final perfect lamb was slain. Let earth and heaven now proclaim.

Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah for the war he fought, love has won, death has lost. Hallelujah for the souls he bought. Hallelujah for the cross.

What could I have done? Could never save my debt too great for deeds to pay but God, my savior, made a way. Hallelujah for the cross. A slave to sin, my life was bound but all my chains fell to the ground when Jesus blood came flowing down. Hallelujah for the cross.

Hallelujah for the war he fought, love has won, death has lost. Hallelujah for the souls he bought. Hallelujah. We are the cross.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

And when I breathe my final breath, I'll have no need to fear that rest, this hope, will guide me into death.

Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah for the cross.

Father, we thank you for this day that you have given us for your blessings and your goodness. And, Lord, we praise you today for the cross upon which your love was shed and shown for us and our sins were atoned. And we thank you, Father, for your word that you have given us to reveal our need. Lord, I ask as we go to this time right now, that you will open our hearts and our spirits, particularly as we deal with a very difficult passage of your word today. Father, I pray that you'll open our hearts to hear from you and to be receptive.

And, Father, I pray that you'll hide us from the distractions of the world around us as we come now to hear from you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

All right, good evening, everyone. Today, as we come into our service, we're actually going to take a break from the book of John this week, and we're going to do a special service that is intended to correct a teaching I have made several times. For those of you who know. Actually, everyone knows, I take very serious my duty to teach the word of God and to know that what I am teaching is correct and sound biblically biblical theology. And anytime through careful study, I come to a position where I realize I have taught something incorrectly.

I try and make a habit of correcting that in church, publicly. So with that said, I want to read Hebrews chapter six, verses four through six, and then we'll dive into it. So, Hebrews six, four through six, it says, for it is impossible to renew, to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God's good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because to their own harm, they are recrucifying the son of God and holding him up to contempt. This is agreed upon by almost every scholar in biblical theology to be the single most difficult passage of scripture in the New Testament.

It's difficult BeCAUSe its sayings are hard and its interpretation is not immediately.

Oh, last week on Tuesday, I met with a good friend of mine in southern Utah, and we had a conversation, and him and I differ. I believe in eternal security and he does not. He believes that you can lose your salvation and he referenced Hebrews six, four through six, to cite his position. And I found myself in an uncomfortable position to adequately defend my view.

And so, through careful study of Hebrews six four through six, there are things I've learned. About two and a half years ago, I did a sermon series. About half of the people here tonight were here when I did this series. It was through the book of hebrews. And I entitled the series Jesus is better.

We even made t shirts at the time, Jesus is better. So I want to give some background on the book of HebrewS and identify why this author is writing to these jewish believers. These are Jewish converts who had converted from Judaism into Christianity. They were following Christ. They had professed him, they had abandoned their useless works and ceremonies, and through hardship and PerSeCuTIoN and troubles, they have begun to decide amongst themselVes.

Some of them already left and amongst themselves decided or began to decide that they were going to turn back to the ways of Judaism. They were going to go bAck. And so our author of the Book of Hebrews began writing to this group of people to encourage them to hold stEadfast, to encourage them to remain and hold on until the end, and to not turn back to their useless works. Throughout the Book of Hebrews, our author will refer to various events throughout biblical history, jewish history, some of which we'll look at today in his encouragement to the Jews. And as we look at the purpose of the jewish book as a whole, or this letter to the Jews as a whole, we need to remember that as we do our theology, there is a tendency amongst pastors, myself included, we have our theology, our positions that we stand firm in, and we read a passage of scripture and interpret it into the scripture.

When proper theology is to read the scripture, interpret it in its own context, and then form your theology off of the scriptures, not interpret scriptures off of your theology. And I have fallen for that trap. So, two and a half years ago when I taught this, that there are four positions, standard interpretations of Hebrews six, four through six. I'm going to give them to you in the order that I am going to address them today. We will look at all four positions today, and then we will look at the wider context of this passage, and we'll conclude with what it actually means.

So the very first view that we're going to cover today is that of a hypothetical situation. This view says that this passage is hypothetical to describe what would be possible, if it were possible to lose your salvation. You can never gain it back. And it's a hypothetical to serve as a one. And the second of the four mainstream interpretations is that this literally refers to a loss of salvation.

The third interpret interpretation is that this refers to non believers who were never actually saved. And the fourth and final is a loss of reward or effectualness for the kingdom of God.

We can divide all of these into two categories, those who believe you can lose your salvation and those who believe you cannot. But we also must seek to determine if this very difficult passage we have before us even talks about salvation to begin with. So with that said, let's go through the first three, and some of them will be merged. Let's go through the first three. Then we're going to review the passage in its entirety, and then we're going to talk about the final.

All right, so the first one is a hypothetical situation. The proponents of this view do not believe that you can lose your salvation. And to explain away this seemingly impossible passage averse, they claim that it is hypothetical. They claim it's no more a warning sign than a sign on a bridge cautioning you to not jump.

But we have two problems at this hypothetical situation. The very first problem is that in which it turns God into a liar. To use a hypothetical in a scenario in which it is impossible to play out for God to do that in an attempt to scare you into obedience would turn God into a liar. It would destroy the very foundation upon which God has built his word, and that is truth, that he is the never ending almighty God who is righteous and holy. So we cannot build a scenario, a hypothetical scenario, that would be impossible to come to pass.

But the second issue we have with this view is that of its actual effectiveness. If you have a kid and you threaten that kid, if you don't do your chores and your homework and get good grades, I'm going to take your phone and video games for a week. But all you ever do is make the threat and never take the phone or video games or whatever away from that kid. Your threat loses its effectiveness, and it loses it because that child knows well it doesn't matter what type of grades I get or whether or not I do my chores. This punishment will not come, and so it's ineffective to make a threat.

And the same is true with believers, with God, to his children. If God makes a threat while at the same time informing us, don't worry about this threat, it's hypothetical, it can never happen. You don't have to worry about it. Then the warning in its entirety loses its effectiveness. It loses its ability to stir up in us a fear, a fear response that causes obedience.

So the hypothetical situation, interpretation here cannot stand on its own merits. So now we must turn our attention. If it can't be hypothetical, we must turn our attention to whether or not it refers to a loss of salvation.

As we do that, we have to ask a question. How do we interpret scripture? The only appropriate way to interpret scripture is with other scripture. We cannot interpret it with our own thoughts and opinions or with our own theologies or beliefs, but we must interpret it in the wider context of the Bible as a whole. The thing I love about the word of God is that it has never contradicted itself.

God, he's not double minded. He does not say one thing to one prophet or apostle and another to another. But he is consistent. And because he is consistent, when we have passages that contradict, we must acknowledge that the contradiction is in our interpretation and not in the text. So as we examine whether or not this passage here refers to a loss of salvation, I've got two questions.

The first question for those who are of this view, this is typically your armenianist. They believe that you're on a roller coaster ride, that you can get saved and climb to the top and lose your salvation and dive back down and then come back up and back down. But if we are to stay true to the meaning and interpretation, there is no roller coaster ride because it says it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened. Meaning in the loss of salvation view, if you get saved and go up to the top of the hill and lose your salvation and dive down, it would be impossible to return. But my second question is, what do we do with the wider context of the Bible as a whole?

I have three passages I want to look at as we seek to determine whether or not we can lose our salvation. And the first is in John 1028 and 29. Let's turn there now. Okay. So John 1028 and 29 says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. This verse is Christ talking. He is speaking, and he says that he gives his believers, his followers, eternal life. What a promise.

Eternal life. And he says that no one can remove you from his hand. And we know who Jesus is. Who is he? He is God.

He's God in the flesh. God incarnate, the creator of the heavens and the earth. And he says that no one can pluck you out of his hand. But he goes further. If that's not enough security, enough promise, he says, the Father is greater than I am, greater than all, and no one can snatch you out of the Father's hand.

As we examine this verse, this passage here, we have an interpretational issue of whether or not you can lose your salvation. Some people say, well, it's true that no other person can take you out of God's hand, but it doesn't say that you can't take yourself out of God's hand. And to that, in the book of John, the 6th chapter, verses 37 through 40, we read what Jesus says about that. He says, everyone who the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose none of those he has given me, but should raise them up on the last day.

What a great promise. So everyone that the father gives to Jesus will come to him. And he says that everyone who comes to me, he will never cast out. That's a promise. That's a promise made from the very lips of God that whoever comes to him shall never be cast out.

You shall have a home with Jesus for eternity. You shall have eternal life for eternity. And he says that he would lose none of those he has been given, but he will raise them up at the last day. Finally, we have Ephesians four, chapter four, verse 30. The apostle Paul, while encouraging the church in Ephesus, he says, do not grieve God's holy spirit.

You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. The scripture talks about the sealing as the assurance of God to us. It's called the assurance of the Holy Ghost. That is the very first thing we are given when we get saved. And when we get saved, and we want to know, is it true?

Am I saved? God sends to us his Holy Spirit as a token, as a assurance of our salvation, as a ceiling that we are his, a guarantee of the end. And as we examine these verses, we now have to ask, is there any way in which we can read into Hebrew six four through six, a possibility of a loss of salvation in light of John ten, John six, ephesians four, and even many other passages, we don't have enough time to go through them all. And if the answer is no, which I believe it's no, then we must examine the third of the four possible interpretations, and that is that this is referring to non believers. I want to read the passage again.

It's verses four through six. It says, it is impossible to renew, to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God's good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. So there's a couple of things we need to look at here. Who does this describe? Does this describe an unbeliever?

I don't believe so. Look at this. Those who are once enlightened. To be enlightened means to have the word of God illuminate into your heart, to hear his word, to respond to it, to receive it. You are filled with the light of Jesus Christ.

And the word once here, it threw me for a loop when I first read this. We read who were once enlightened almost as past tense. So we read that as well. I was enlightened, but now I'm not. Well, that's not what the word means.

The word, it's greek. And the word is hapox. Hapox. It means once and for all, meaning. It's a one time event.

You are enlightened. You were in the dark. You're now in the light. You have the light of God inside of you for eternity.

This does not describe an unbeliever. An unbeliever has never been enlightened. They're still waiting for it. It says, who tasted the heavenly gift. The word tasted does not mean what we think it means.

It doesn't mean you stuck your tongue out and licked the chocolate ice cream or strawberry ice cream and determined whether or not you liked it. But to taste is to fully experience, in this greek word, to fully experience. Those who have fully experienced the heavenly gift are those who are saved. They have salvation. While we have not yet been resurrected, we've not yet seen the glorious face of Jesus Christ.

We have experienced. We have fully tasted the heavenly gift. As we have been reborn. We have been redeemed. We were dead, and we are now alive.

And the spirit of God indwells us. We have tasted of the heavenly gift, and we share in the Holy Spirit. We have received the Holy Spirit. He's in our bodies. This is something that the unbeliever cannot do.

The unbeliever cannot do this. It ends in verse six here with and who have fallen away. So you must be a believer in this context who has been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit, tasted God's good word and the powers and then have fallen away. If this were unbelievers, we would see different terminology, different phrases describing the people that the author is talking about. If this were unbelievers, why would he have not encouraged them to instead be reconciled to Christ?

Further, if this were unbelievers, an unbeliever has never repented. So if they have never yet repented and received Jesus Christ, how is it impossible to bring them back to repentance? That actually goes against everything that the word of God teaches us about who our God is. But those who are in favor of this view, they use scriptures such as Hebrews 312 through 14. If we look at Hebrews 312 through 14, the author actually refers to some people who might be unbelievers.

It says the following. It says, watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God, but encourage each other daily while it's still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception. The author here is encouraging them to be steadfast. To be steadfast. We are told that those who are christians, those who are saved, are those who persevere until the end.

And the author is encouraging these christians in this passage to persevere, to remain steadfast until the end. Jesus tells us the same thing. Matthew 24, verse 13. This is in the all of it discourse. Here's what Jesus says.

He says, the one who endures to the end will be saved, the one who endures to the end. What is the strongest testament of our salvation is that we endure to the end.

And the favorite passage here, to defend the position that these are unbelievers is one John. 219.

John writes, he says, they went out from us, but they did not belong to us, for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belonged to us. The idea that John gives is there are those who for a time will profess Jesus Christ. They will claim to believe they will be in church, they'll be doing things with you. But then they leave.

And he says, they left because they were never truly one of us.

So we must be clear. The Bible certainly envisions people who claim to be believers but are not. It certainly accepts that possibility. But can we apply it to a passage such as Hebrew six four through six that so clearly describes the gifts, the experiences of a believer, of God? And I think not.

I think the only way we can do that is, if we project our theology into the interpretation rather than interpret the passage into its wider context. So with that said, I would like to read the wider context of this passage and break it down. It begins in chapter five, verse eleven. The author says, we have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain since you have become too lazy to understand.

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation. Again, you need milk, not solid food. Now, everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil. Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

And we will do this if God permits. For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God's good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because to their own harm they are recrucifying the son of God and holding him up in contempt. For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on and that produces vegetation useful to those from whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed and at the end will be burned.

Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case, we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. We're going to stop there, and I want to begin breaking down what's happening in verse eleven. In Hebrews, chapter five, the author says, we have a great deal to say about this, and he's referring to the rest of the teachings in chapter five. For those of you who don't know, I would actually encourage everyone to go read it. But chapter five discusses that Christ is a high priest, and he's our high priest forever.

And he is the high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

It talks about the fact that he was perfected, that he is the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

That is what the author is talking about when he says, we have a great deal to say about this. We have things to teach you, to instruct you about, to enlighten you with. But we have a hard time teaching you, he says, because you have become too lazy to understand. This is the idea of people who I've even talked about in our churches in years past who they come to church and they open up their bible, but they go home and they close it and they do not open it again until next Sunday. They put no effort into understanding the word of God or knowing what it says for themselves, and they've become lazy about it, and they have an inability to understand deeper things.

The author instructs us, he says, by now you should be teachers. These people should be teaching the word of God. They should be able to go out and share with other people, but they're unable to because they need someone to teach the basic principles of God's revelation. They cannot get past the basics. They're unable to comprehend anything greater than that.

And it's not that they can't, but they're not willing. This word you have become lazy indicates not a lack of mental capacity or ability, but rather a conscious choice to not move forward.

He instructs them that they need milk. They're babies. They're babies. When we have babies, we feed them first milk, and then as they grow and mature, we move them to soft solids, mashed solids, and then we increasingly give them more and more that they could eat and that they could handle until they are eating meat. And he tells them, by now, you should be adults, but you are still but babies and inexperienced with the message about righteousness.

Although this author boldly rebukes the christians he's writing to, he encourages them. Here in verse one of chapter six, he says, so let's move on. Let's get past this and press toward maturity. Let's grow up.

Look at the very first thing when he says, let's grow up. He says, let's leave behind a foundation of repentance from dead works. Notice it does not say repentance from sin, but repentance from dead works. The reason why this is a critical observation is when we have repented of our sin, we are forgiven once and for all. We are forgiven of everything that we have done.

But that does not mean that we don't have works pertaining unto life and works pertaining unto death. Any work that does not build up the kingdom of God is a work that is dead. It will not survive into the eternities. This is a critical observation for the interpretation. Instead he says, let's move on.

And then he says this in verse three. We will do this if God permits. Well, why wouldn't God permit us to move on. Isn't it God's will that all of us grow and mature in our christian walk? That all of us become increasingly faithful and knowledgeable and increasingly brighter?

Pointing to him for the world to see? That's the will of God. So why does the author add this verse right here? We'll do this if God permits. Well, he explains why he adds it in verse four.

Because it's impossible to renew, to repentance those who were once enlightened.

If we take this passage in its entirety, in its full context, and everything that the author is meaning. The repentance that we are talking about in verse four is the repentance from dead works. In verse one, he is talking about the repentance from laziness, from things that don't pertain unto life. And there reaches a point. There reaches a point in one's life.

Where you become incapable of doing things to the glory of God. You still hold on to your salvation. You are still saved. You are still one of God's children who will be raised up on that last day. But you are incapable of doing anything that's beneficial for the kingdom of God.

It gives an image here in verses seven and eight. It says, the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it. And produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated. Receives a blessing from God. The fields that produce good fruit are blessed.

But then it says, but if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned. What I love about this verse is it does not say this ground is cursed. It never indicates that the ground is cursed. Instead, it says, about to be cursed about. But instead of being cursed, it is burned.

Now, as christians, when we read about being burned, we immediately think the worst case scenario. We think about hell.

But hell is not the only reference in the Bible, especially the New Testament. Referring to burning the refiner's fire is a burning the refiner's fire is what each and every christian will pass through all of us. Where our works will be judged. Right. They won't be judged in regards to salvation.

But they will be judged in regards to whether or not they were. Works pertaining to the kingdom of God. And all dead and worthless works will be burned away. Leaving only behind that which survives the refiner's fire. Well, think about this field.

When you burn a field that produces thorns and thistles, do you destroy the field? No. Instead, you purify it. It's purified. All of the things that are bad in that field.

Are cleansed, it's burned out. And that field is now ready for planting afresh. It's not destroyed.

So as with the other views you've noticed, we've looked at other passage. We looked at passage for non believers. We've looked at passage for eternal security. And I told you that the only way to interpret scripture is with scripture. So if I am now going to teach, if I'm going to believe that this is referring not to salvation at all, but to whether or not you can be effective for the kingdom of God, we have to ask a question.

Can we find biblical examples of the same thing happening? Let's look at one corinthians three. We'll be reading verses three through 16. Paul writes to the church in Corinth. He says each one's work will become obvious for the day, will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire.

The fire will test the quality of each one's work. If anyone's work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

I don't think there's a more clear biblical example of this teaching than one corinthians three, three through 16. It tells us that on that day we will pass through the refiner's fire and our works, good and evil, will be tested. And for any work that survives that fire, that will last into eternity, we will all receive a reward.

But for anyone who goes through, it says if anyone's work is burned up, he will experience loss. He'll lose his rewards. He'll lose all the benefits that will have come with helping to build the kingdom of God, with living a good christian spirit filled life. But he himself shall be saved, it says, even as if only through fire.

Or are there any other biblical examples for those of you who know the prophet Elijah? He was a great prophet. So great that God took him up to heaven in a chariot of fire. He's one of two people recorded to have never died, the other being enoch.

But he lost his ability to do kingdom building work. He lost his ability to be effective for God. If you remember, after he called down fire from heaven among all the prophets of Baal and had them consumed by that fire, he went into a self pity moment.

He turned into a depression funk where he said to God, God, I am the only one left. You have no other followers except for me. And God told him, no, Elijah, but I have saved a remnant of 7000 people and you need to go to them. And Elijah says, I am the only one left. God.

I am the only one left. He lost his ability. He could no longer serve the kingdom of God on this earth. He lost it. He got into a place where it was impossible for him to return.

How about Israel? The entire nation of Israel. Remember, in the wilderness, they wandered for 40 years. Why? Why did they wander for 40 years in the wilderness?

In numbers, chapter 13. We're not going to read numbers, these chapters, because they're too long. So I encourage you to read them on your own chapters. Numbers 13 and 14 in the wilderness. Remember, they sent spies into the land of Canaan to spy it out, to see if it's really a land flowing with milk and honey, to see who the inhabitants are and how hard it will be to fight them.

And when the spies come back, what do they do? They say we were small in their sight. They're like giants and we're like grasshoppers. We cannot go into that land, for surely they will devour us. And God became angry because they refused to trust him.

And not just here, but they refused to trust God at the crossing of the Red Sea. They refused to trust God to feed them, refused to trust God to give them water, refused time and time again to trust God constantly. And now they said, we cannot enter the land that God has given us, the land that he has promised to fight for, because they will devour us. They did not believe that God was strong enough to wipe out their enemies. And God became angry with them.

And in his wrath, he swore. He said, I will not bring them into this land, but they will die in the wilderness, and we will bring the next generation in. And then something interesting happened. Moses and Aaron pled for God's forgiveness for the entire nation. They pled with God.

God, please forgive them, for they're your people. They're yours. You redeemed them. You brought them through all of us. Forgive them.

And God said, I have forgiven their sins, but they shall not inherit the land. They had come to a point where it was impossible to renew them. To repentance. It couldn't be done. Even though they were forgiven of their sins, they could not be renewed to repentance.

And repentance to what? In their case, in their case, they could not be renewed from the hardness of their hearts to trust God.

It couldn't happen.

It is doubtless that many of those bodies who dropped in the wilderness entered the kingdom of God. But they never received the reward they had waiting for them here on earth.

As we come to a close tonight as we have examined this passage in depth. Tonight, we've spent an hour on this. As we've examined it in depth, as we've examined other scriptures, it is with full confidence and assurance that I can continue to tell you that your salvation in Jesus Christ is secure. You are in no danger of losing it. But it's also with that same assurance, that same assurance that I say we need to be diligent in our walk with God.

We need to be diligent in our works because we can lose our ability to be effective for the kingdom of God. We can lose our ability to witness to people. We can lose our ability to be active in churches. We can lose our ability to do anything that would glorify God, and we could even lose our reward in heaven. And despite all of that, as the author of this letter says, he says, I am confident in things that pertain to salvation.

Even as the author of Hebrew six had scolded this group of believers, he told them, I am confident in the things that pertain to your salvation.

I do regret to say that last time I taught through this passage that I had interpreted my theology into it versus interpreting it into my theology. If I had looked at it the way it was written by the author, I would have seen this as what it meant rather than getting caught up in the battle between eternal security or not. And so I regret to have made that mistake with this passage. But it is my great privilege to be able to recognize I was wrong and to stand before you all tonight and teach it again and encourage you with God's word, with his warnings as well, and to remind you all, especially those who are listening tonight, to those who might be depressed right now because you think that you have lost your salvation, if you've ever had it, you have never lost it. And to encourage those right now who are feeling lost, who are feeling ashamed, who are feeling depressed or worthless, or like there's no reason to go on, that God will forgive you, that God will save you and redeem you, and he will hold you securely in his hands, to lose none who have come to him, but raise them up on the last day.

And it begins with a willingness to admit that you are a sinner, to believe in your heart that Jesus is the God man, the creator of the heavens and the earth, that he came here, that he lived and died, but resurrected the third day, and to confess him as your God and king, to remove our crowns and bow down to his.

And he says, I will save you. I will redeem you. And if you're ready to do that tonight, if you believe that, let me help you verbalize it to God. In our closing prayer, let's confess to him that we're sinners. That we believe in who he is and that he's our God and king.

Immediately following the closing prayer, we'll partake of the Lord's communion. I encourage anyone who desires to partake of that with us to please stick around until after service as we celebrate his supper and remember his death in that way. Let's pray. Father, I admit that I am a sinner. And, lord, I know that I am deprived.

That there's no good thing in me. That without you I am worthless, totally worthless. And that it's only by your grace and mercy that I have any value or hope at all. And I believe that Jesus Christ is a God man, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who came down here to save me. I believe that he rose again.

That he did give victory over death. And I confess you, Lord Jesus, as my God, my king and savior, today and forever. Father, I am ready to remove my crown. I'm ready to take it off. I'm ready to bow down before you and to have the newness of life that you have desired for me.

Father, we thank you today that your gift to us is secure, that it's sure that we will never lose it. We thank you, Father, for your patience with us and your mercy and your grace. But, Father, I also pray that you will work in each of us to not fall so far to a point that we lose our ability to be effective for you. Lord, let us have a life that glorifies you. Let us be effective for you.

That you will be glorified and that the kingdoms of this world will know who you are. And we love you. And say these things in Jesus name we pray. Amen.