Expert: Thurman C. Petty, Jr. - 12/9/2011

Question
Good evening,

Hope all is well. My name is Dan. I wanted to first thank you for your helpful article.

Initially, I joined a baptist church, and believed to accept Jesus in 7th grade and was baptized. For a couple years I was really involved. But then I fell away. I prayed at times and felt I could live in a Worldly fashion, money, lust, etc, and ask for forgiveness and be safe. I grew in anger and hostility to religion. I really fell away and turned and said things I now regret.

I am now 29. Recently, all of a sudden I have had this burning and overwhelming desire to read the Bible and search for meaning.  I have become hardened over time, and I do struggle with temptations and wrongful thoughts. But now the Gospel is hitting me and I know I have erred. I think I even said I wanted nothing to do with religion.

I am deeply troubled however by Hebrews 6 4-6 and 2 Peter 2:20-22, Hebrews 10:26. Is it not possible for someone to return to repentance after having denied God earlier? Can a person who goes through the motions, then goes his own way, come to repentance? Or have I crossed a point of no return, that is impossible as these verses seem to indicate by saying fall away. Or is falling away a consistent state that can be broken? 1 Timothy 1:13 is troubling as well. What if one willfully sins after having knowledge? I am really struggling with these sorts of chapters dealing with apostasy. I just feel like i am lost. Please help!

Thank you.

Answer
Dear Dan,
First, let me apologize for waiting so long to get back to you. Forgive me ... Thank you.
As I understand what you’ve written, you, early in life, backslid from your initial joy in Jesus. You struggle with temptations and “wrongful thoughts.” You’ve felt the Holy Spirit [my words] drawing you back. But now you’ve stumbled onto some texts that seem to say that you’ve gone too far, and there’s no way back. In other words, you haven’t a chance.
Let me print the texts here. Then let’s talk about them and see if they give us some clues about where you are, and what you can do to be saved.
Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
Heb 6:5  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
Heb 6:6  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.
The question at issue is the possibility of restoring people who have had a deep Christian experience but have fallen away. Can they be restored to Christian fellowship and again receive forgiveness from Jesus, and know His merciful love? This passage has been the source of great perplexity and discouragement to many. It seems to teach that those who fall away from the faith are irrevocably lost.

The crux of the matter lies in the identification of the condition that Paul means when he uses the term “fall away.” Does he mean that a person merely stops going to church? Or perhaps it’s someone who rebels against the teachings of the church, or against some of the leaders of the church. No, Paul explains himself more specifically in Heb 10:26:

Heb 10:26: For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

So, in Heb 6:4-6, as in 10:26, Paul is describing a person who has deliberately chosen to leave Christ and His church. It’s not a matter of a person wanting to repent and finding repentance impossible. But, to the contrary, it is that of a man with no desire to return to the experience from which he has fallen away.

Jesus is a Shepherd who doesn’t like to take “no” for an answer. One of His many gifts is patience, and He can wait for a long time before the person makes it very clear that the answer is “NO!”

Anywhere during that time, if there’s the smallest chance that the individual will repent, Jesus places within him an unutterable desire to come “Home,” just like you experienced when you wanted to read the Bible. Then you ran into these texts, and you’re concerned whether or not they describe you. You think that perhaps you’ve committed the unpardonable sin from which there is no return.

But in Hebrews, 6:4-6 and 10:26, there is no question of any accidentally drifting away from the church. Here we have someone who, knowing better, deliberately disobeys. Choosing to disregard every ounce of truth, he casts himself on the side of the enemy. And even here, it’s not a matter of God shutting the gate and saying: “You can’t come in here.” It’s more a matter that he no longer has any desire to go in, and, in fact, turns his back and walks away.

Now. What about you, Dan. Do you find a desire in your heart to repent and come back to Jesus? If you have any desire at all, then that’s evidence that none of these texts are talking about you. If you want to come to Jesus, then don’t tarry: get up and run toward Him, and He’ll give you all the strength you need to run the distance. And He’ll be waiting for you with open arms.

The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24) describes precisely the situation in which you find yourself. Dan, from what you’ve said, I see you as the prodigal, desiring—almost tasting the food of Home—wanting the arms of Jesus. And I see Jesus waiting, watching for you to return home. He’s prepared, like a runner at the starting line, ready to come running your way when you decide to come Home.

Dan, come Home to Jesus!

With Christian love,

Thurman C. Petty, Jr.
pettypress@gmail.com
web address: PettyPress.com

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