in our Bible to Hebrews chapter two or Hebrews chapter six for Hebrews chapter six and verse one therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptism and of many washings, and of laying on of hands, and on the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, let God permit, 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 crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put them to an open shame, For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh off the barn, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, the sheath a blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto Percy, whose end is to be burned. So we'll read, last week we were speaking on repentance. And I started two weeks ago, I thought I'd just have one message on repentance, but this is the third, and likely we'll have another one next Lord's Day. We were speaking last week about the horrible nature of apostasy, which is brought before us in this passage. There are other cases of repentance too late, besides the one we have here. We think of Esau in the Old Testament, the son of Isaac, the brother of Jacob. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of potter. He just had a desire, a lust for potter. And so Jacob, of course, the conniver that he was, urged on by his mother, he told his birthright. And, of course, for Esau, later on, when he sobered up, he realized what he had done. He had lost the birthright. And when he began to think of the price he had paid, he tried to repent. He went to his father, Isaac, and he begged his father to reverse the blessing and give it to him. Isaac could not. He had already given it to Jacob. Esau was bitter. And it says over in Hebrews or James that he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with fear. He tried his best to get Isaac's father to repent. And you can picture that young man pleading with his father. Father, please reverse the blessing. I'm the oldest. But the eldest shall third the youngest. And here is Esau. He cannot get his father to change his mind. Thus Esau goes down at a character who sold his birthright for a simple mess of pot. His repentance was too late. He crossed the line. There was no hope. Then you have another case, and that is of Judas. Judas Iscariot. When you start to think of Judas, he must have been a very shrewd man. He had the bag. And he was with the other eleven. And no one suspicioned Judas of any wrong. And that's an amazing thing. For Christ, about two years before the betrayal, said, Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you, half a devil? We read nothing about any suspicion on the part of others. He was such a true character. He had a front seat to look and study and hear the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, he got found out. He was found out. And it was at the communion table when he was found out. Christ says, whosoever dipped his finger in the dipped in cup, that same as he. And Judas got up and went up. They are poor Judas. He went out and committed suicide. repentance truly. No possible way to reverse that. And so if another case for a person who repented truly. And there are others also, you think of the case of Capernaum and also these other cities, Bethesda. Christ went into those cities and he walked your streets, he preached the word, he performed miracles. And the time came when, as we have over in Matthew chapter eleven, he poured out his condemnation on these things. Why, he said, if Sodom and Gomorrah, if Tyre and Sidon had only seen what you have seen, they would have repented long ago and sacked off the nation. But it will be more tolerable. It will be easier in the judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah, those wicked and godly nations. It will be easier for them in the judgment than for you, you inhabitants of Curaean and Capernaum. What did he mean? And they're coming to the judgment, their loss, which tells you that. They were guilty of crime. There's no question about it. They witnessed the Lord Jesus in performance of miracles. They heard him preach. But they did not accept it. And the door for them was shut. And you have other cases of repentance too late. You have the case of the nation of Israel. And how Christ wept over that city. He says, now you've made your decision. Your house is left unto you empty. You knew not the time of your visitation. The door shut. I wouldn't say it. You would not. And so here's a nation, and they too crossed the line. Repentance too late. And we come to the one we have before us this morning. This sad case of these Hebrews. They had seen a lot. They had heard a lot. And when you start to think of the Hebrews, there's no charge of moral delinquency in connection with them. They were religious men, extremely religious. You couldn't point at them and say they were engaged in anything immoral. They were straight up and down. They were guilty of something more than murder or lying or stealing. They were guilty infinitely more seriously rejecting Jesus Christ. That was their sin. Spiritual rebellion, spiritual rebellion. You know, when you stop to think about these men, Do they are not in the same category as their fathers who had been given the law under Leviticus order and system? No. Not they. They went try to go according to the law and carry out all the ordinances. Their sin, their crime, was they rejected the Son of God, the Creator, upholder, sustainer, of all things, the Judge of all, and the eternal Son of the Living God. They rejected it. That crime was worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, far worse than the ones I've mentioned. And remember, Christianity today, the question is not so much the sin question as the son question. What are you doing with God's son? That's the whole matter. Only the five points we took up last week about these men. We didn't get to the next one. And that's one I want to speak on this morning. That is the powers of the world to come. We didn't get into that. What are you talking about, the powers or the A's to come? And you'll find in your Bible, if you want to turn to Acts chapter two, you'll find out what I'm talking about. He says, But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Acts two and sixteen. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last days, I want you to under my Lord, two words. The last days, said God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh under my mat. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. As on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and terrible day of the Lord come. Here we are introduced to the day of the Lord, the coming judgment. You know, the day of the Lord is a serious time. It begins right after the rapture when the church is caught up to heaven. And it goes through that terrible period of the great civilization given us in the book of Revelation. And then it includes also the millennium. You know, this is the Spirit of State. Since the Spirit of God came down on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God is in the world convicted men of sin, of righteousness, of judgment, and of judgment. This is the Spirit's day. You can't be saved without the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin. You can't be saved unless you realize the fact that righteousness is found at God's right hand in the person of his Son. And so this is the spirit today. He's been dealing with men and women, striving with men and women, trying to convict them of their sin, trying to convince them of the need of being saved by trusting the blood of Christ. That's true. But you'll notice here that this passage wasn't all fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. You have a lot of people who talk about this passage, and they talk about happening all at the day of Pentecost, their tongues and all the rest of it. But I want to say this. This passage was not fulfilled at Pentecost. Joel refers to us. But back in those days, there were a lot of miracles performed by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles and the Acts. But what's the beginning of? The last days, that wasn't then, two thousand years nearly have passed. The last days are the days of before us. And he said back then, and I noticed the notice and drew your attention to that, his spirit is going to be poured out upon all things in that coming days. That wasn't true at Pentecost. At Pentecost, the pouring out of the Spirit of God fell on a few, not all. He fell upon the few. But in that coming age, the Spirit of God is going to fall upon all flesh, all flesh. He says, all shall know me from the least to the greatest. And it will be a worldwide pouring out of the Holy Spirit to show you that Pentecost was not fulfilled completely, Joe's prophecy. I'll show you what it says or read it to you. Notice verse nineteen. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and terrible day of the Lord come. Did that happen at Pentecost? Did that happen nineteen hundred years ago? No, it did not. That is still future. It's true that in a measure you have the pouring out of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. That was local, but not complete. That day is still future when there will be miracles the like of which man has not seen. And so when he speaks of the coming judgment, he's speaking of the day of the Lord. soon as the church is taken up. As I say, this is the Spirit's day. The Spirit works and operates from Pentecost until the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. And plenty of indications and signs are that He's coming soon. When the church is complete and the last soul is saved to complete the body of Christ, The church will go, and the Spirit of God, as he now operates, will go to. And then the fearful great tribulation, the seven seals, and the seven trumpets, and the seven vials of the wrath of God. Twenty-one consecutive judgments falling upon this earth, and we're shaping up for it. at the end of the Great Tribulation, then the Lord Jesus will be manifested and he'll come down. And at the Battle of Armageddon he'll dispose of his enemies. And he will judge the nation. And then he will establish his kingdom. And one of the ways you know he's conquering will be by the mighty sweeping activities of the Holy Spirit, when all shall know me, he says, all on earth, he has already rid out of his kingdom all things that are contrary to him, and that then the Spirit of God is going to be poured on me upon all flesh, and all shall know me. The solemn thing is, these Hebrew Christians, they have seen in advance what's going to happen in the future. Yes, they saw the Spirit of God operate. They saw the Spirit of God moving people to speak in tongues. They saw miracles, and they saw demons cast out. One of the great evidences they saw was a remarkable change in human lives. Like the conversion of the Apostle Paul to listen. They saw this, and thus in that sense they are tasting the powers of the world to come. That which they saw little of, it will take place in a day to come. Yes, they had a foretaste of their coming judgment. These men who learned so much, who saw so much in the person of Christ and his disciples, they witnessed plenty. And after that demonstration of the Holy Spirit of God, they still said no to Jesus Christ. They are the apostates. Therefore they fulfill what you've already said, those seven things concerning what Paul brought before them in those words. He says again, for it is impossible for those who are once enlightened and they were enlightened. They knew that Jesus Christ had committed the world. They tasted, they didn't eat of the heavenly gift. They didn't have little taste. Many a time I've been in Holmen and they've had a nice cake or something on the table or a pie. And I said, no, thank you. I'm trying to watch my diet. But just take a taste. I have taken a bite on Malamika, but I didn't. I digest it. I just tasted. These men tasted. of the gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread which came down from heaven. They didn't swallow it. They just tasted it. They had tasted also the good word of God, the wonderful things the gospel presents, and the powers of the world to come. What did they see as an indication of the world to come? They saw the Spirit of God and his activities. the raising of the dead, and demons cast doubt, the tongues, and all this kind of thing, they saw, they tasted a little of the world or the aid that is to come. When the Spirit of God we poured out upon all things, yes, in those days it was a case for something vocal and limited in the days. of the Pentecost, the beginning of the churches, but in the future it will be not only local, it will be universal, and it will be complete. So these people, these Judaizers, they saw all those things, they tasted of the world to come. You know, it's awful when you think, of these men. When these Jews saw the miracles, the tongue, the healing, they were witnessing some of the coming power, the Lord Jesus, going to display and manifest at the beginning of His reign, the beginning of the millennium. And that's why they were so hardened, because they had seen so much. Their eyes had been open wide that they saw these supernatural things happen. And still they said no to Jesus Christ. The writer of the Hebrews, he skips the church age. He doesn't bring in the church age. And these Hebrews did no anything about the church age. And so he sweeps on to the end. You have described in these verses four to six the privilege of Christianity, and not one of these things that I've mentioned speaks of the new birth or justification or atonement or regeneration. Suppose you read this passage and notice those verses about it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance. Could you read it this way? Suppose you read it like this. It is impossible for those who have eternal life, who have been born again, who have been justified to renew them again unto repentance. It doesn't make sense. So it must apply not to the Christian. It is applied to those apostate. It's impossible to renew them again unto repentance. seeing they do what? They crucify to themselves the Son of God, oppressed and put them to an open shape. And what happened to those men? Not one of them did this experience speak of the soul. It was an outward display of things that they saw. We all speak of those privileges. that these Hebrew men had in those days, as they saw Christianity erupting, they saw it spreading, they witnessed its power, and after all that, they shook their heads, no Christ. They wouldn't accept Jesus Christ. Theirs was the worst sin of law. That's apostasy. No person can commit a more severe sin before Almighty God than to become an apostate. This was not a case of falling into sin as solemn as that is, such as swearing or maybe stealing or telling a lie. It's a sad thing if Christians do that. But this is far more serious than that. It's rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as the son of the living God. It was not moral sin these men were guilty of. It wasn't even a doctrinal sin. Their sin was turning against, refusing to accept the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was their sin. When they had been convinced that he did fulfill the scripture, that the prophets were telling this is your Messiah, and he gave every evidence of being the Messiah. He fulfilled the Old Testament types. But yet they said no. You know, God accepted David's repentance for adultery and murder. David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and he committed murder in having to go and have Uriah put at the front of the battle, and he was killed. When the prophet brought that home to David, David says, I've sinned, and immediately the prophet said, God has taken away thy sin. God's not belittling sin. But here is David, the king, the sweet son of Israel, and he's guilty of adultery, guilty of murder. God accepted his repentance. I have another case, I don't know whether you read it or not, but we mentioned it relative to Nineveh, a big, large, wicked city, guilty of almost all kinds of sin. Under the preaching of Jonah, the whole city repented. From the king to beast, covered in sackcloth. When they humbled themselves and repented, God responded to that repentance by saving them. Another character came to my mind this week, and that is Manasseh. Read about him over in Second Chronicles, thirty-three. Manasseh began to reign when he was twelve, but he reigned fifty-five years. He came from a godly fold, home to Hezekiah, a godly king, the father of Manasseh. But when Manasseh took the throne, he made Jerusalem flow with blood. His sword was constantly red with the blood of men and women and children. He was a brute. Not only so, this man dealt in familiar spirits a thing that God hated. He had idols everywhere. He even put idols in the temple and in the courtyard, idolatry of the worst kind. What happened to him? This man humbled himself. and God saved him. Can you imagine that? Here is God. And I'll read it to you. Over in the second chronicles thirty-three, twelve. And when he was afflicted, that is, Manasseh, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before God, the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him, and God was entreated of them, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem, under his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord, he was God. He was stricken. He was humble. He was repentant. And God accepted his repentance and he blessed them. But these men were talking about had no repentance. Their crime was far worse than adultery and murder relative to David. Their crime was worse than delving into spiritism, idolatry, shedding innocent blood. Their crime was far, far worse. They had rejected the Son of God. Oh, Manasseh, he didn't know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ. But these men knew all about the Lord Jesus Christ. God had mercy on Manasseh. He didn't know the light that these men knew, did. These men saw the Lord Jesus. They heard peace under them. They saw the Linnikins. Their eyes were wide open. Their knowledge has expanded to embrace this wonderful man. But they said no. And that's it. They were lost. It says if they shall fall away, it is impossible to renew them again onto repentance. And these men, they fall away. Stop to think of that word, having, falling away. It's in the past tense and in the Greek parapontos. That's what it means, falling away. They fell away from light. They fell away from knowledge. They fell away from all that they had seen and witnessed in the person of Christ. And they sealed their doom. They became... postates it seems possible to renew them again unto repentance a total rejection of the Son of God for they persecute or for they crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shade with all their light they said let's make another step they'll have another crucifixion yes we'll go through that procedure when they crucify Jesus Christ, really crucified by him too. You mean you'd do that after all the light you've received? A man you couldn't convince of sin? A man that went about doing good, healing all the effects of the devil for God was given? You saw the miracles he did and the miracles his followers did? And you're going to turn your back on that? They did. and it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance. I don't have no hesitation of saying that these Hebrews were apostates of the most deliberate kind. If I had no, if I did have any doubt about them being apostates, not being apostates, I've got the best argument I know in verses seven and eight, and I want you to read it. After going over these things, verse seven, For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth all herbs meat for them by whom it is dressed, receiving blessing from God that's the true believer the rain coming down moistening the earth and they soak it up and they prove their genuine they bring forth proof and it says they receive blessing from God now notice one of the most awesome words, verses in your Bible, eight. But that which there thorns and dryers is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned. Those are three words. Rejected, cursed, burned. I challenge any man to tell me, that that language applies to a child of God. If it does, God contradicts themselves. He's speaking about the Christian who responds favorably to the gospel, brings forth truth to prove the roots of his Christianity. This could only apply to men who have turned their back on the light, crucified the Son of God, trotted on the foot the blood of the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant with which they were sacrificed, and on holy face, and on death's life, unto the Spirit of the grace. How awful. Yes, reject, cursed, burden. This applies to those apostles. Friend, it'll apply to you. You're hearing the Gospel. I think I've been here twenty-eight years. I think to the people that have come here over the years, they've heard us speak to the Gospel as simply as we know how, exalting Jesus Christ. I got a letter this week. I was down in Palm Beach, Florida over the holiday for Christmas. I received that Sunday morning. I got a letter this week quite touching. And the brother said, We were so glad to have you and to receive your Christ-honoring ministry. That's it. Christ-honoring ministry. I tried to prevent Christ, to lift them up for the sinner to accept them. Lift them up that God's people might be fed and become more devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of you heard me say that and preach that for many, many years on yet. You're unsaved. If you were to drop dead now, or Christ were to come, or the Spirit of God ceased driving with you, that would be your portion, rejected, cursed, burned. All your life has brought forth as thorns and briars, signs of the entrance of sin. That would be your eternal punishment. And I want to say this, that eternal punishment will exist as long as God and His saints live. And that's a long, long time. And you will suffer that eternal punishment as long as God and His saints exist. Those of us who are saved by His grace, we shall live. as long as God lives in His grand presence forever and forever. The choice is yours. I can understand a lot of people listening to a lot of preaching. Maybe politics or something like this. They never hear the old-fashioned gospel preached. They may be guilty of many crimes. many sins, but for the person to hear the gospel so many times and hear it preached as clearly, as simply as possible, and then going to eternity without accepting it. What a memory you'll have, memory you'll have throughout the eternal ages, the many opportunities you had, the many chances you missed it. repentance too late so once again as i've said many times if you want to be saved you'll have to accept the lord jesus christ as your own personal savior there's no other way there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved it's not joining this church or any other church is not being baptized that will not save you. Your only hope of going through the pearly gates is to receive wholehearted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal and only and eternal Savior. The choice is yours, a blessing from God in salvation, or the burning of being rejected, cursed and burnt. That's in your Bible. Read it when you go home. Act upon it this morning. If you're not a born-again Christian, the chance, the choice is yours. Will you accept Christ? or will you say no? The lines were drawn very clearly in the Apostle's Day. It was, are you for Christ or against him? That's it. Do you want Christ or those? You say yes or you say no. A long eternity hinders on your response. Yes or no. Yes, I'll have Christ. Or no, I won't. Eternity will answer that question. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend for thy presence. Be asked thy blessing upon... Thy holy word, we thank thee for the preciousness of it. Those of us who have been saved, we know what it is to receive that blessing from God. Because thy holy word entered our hearts and took root, and has been fruit. The power that our main concern is for those who haven't as yet trusted the Savior. In spite of all they've heard, the awful penalty rejected, curse and blood, the everlasting burden where there's weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. These were the words of the Son of God who cannot lie. May someone this morning trust the Savior. And do it today, right now. We ask in his worthy and precious name. Amen. I will sing in closing, three hundred and seventy-six. Out of my bondage, sorrow and light, Jesus I come, Jesus I come. Into thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I come to thee. out of my sickness into thy hell, out of my want and into thy wealth, out of my sin and into thyself, Jesus, I come to thee, just as if you were standing up here this morning, looking at you. Will you come up and say yes, on accept me? So we stand. is always right. Jesus Christ, Jesus, my God, is my God. If I pray, I pray for you, I pray for you, I pray for you. Out of my shameful failure and loss, Jesus I come. Jesus, I come. If you go out of here unsaved, you say, I won't. I won't. Into the glorious gain of thy cross, Jesus, I come to thee. Out of verse sorrows, into thy balm, out of life storm, and into thy calm, out of distress, and to jubilant song, Jesus, I come to thee. Shall we sing the third of the last verse? Will you come to Jesus Christ? Oh, This meeting is all.