Look what it says in Hebrews chapter 6. It says in verse 4,
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 crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh off upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meat for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.
But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.
But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
So you've got a couple groups being described here in Hebrews chapter 6.
You've got the used guys group. He's talking to the reader, and he's saying to them,
We're persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
Then we've got this other third party. So he uses the second person pronouns when he's talking to the reader.
He's talking to saved people, and he says to the saved people,
You guys aren't in this boat. We're persuaded better things of you.
But these other people over here, okay, what do we know about those people? Let's work backwards, okay?
Let's start in verse 9, and we see the good guys saved, right?
Back up to verse 8, we have this other group, and what characterizes this group?
There are three things that characterize this group according to verse 8.
Number one, they bear thorns and briars.
You know what that is? Bad fruit. Evil fruit. Corrupt fruit.
Number two, they're rejected. And by the way, look up reprobated in a dictionary, guess what it means?
Rejected. Those are synonyms.
And then, the third thing I want you to see is that their end is to be burned.
So it's not really hard to see the contrast between these two different groups.
We've got a group that's the reader that he's writing to, and he's saying,
Hey, we're going to move on from the basics, and you guys are in a better boat.
You're saved.
And then there's this other group that brings forth briars and thorns, and they're rejected by God,
and they are going to hell. They're going to be burned. They're toast.
So these are the couple of groups here that we see.
Now, let's back up, and he says in verse 4,
It's impossible for those who were once enlightened.
These are the thorns and briars, rejected, damned group.
It's impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift,
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.
Now look, whoever this group is, it's impossible to renew them to repentance.
It's not possible. Whoever they are, right?
Can you reach these people? Can you fix these people? Can you straighten these people out?
No, you can't. Whoever they are.
Doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with who I'm saying they are.
Whoever they are, you can't fix these people.
You can't reach these people because it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance.
It's not going to happen, okay?
Now look, these people, I submit to you, are the same group of people that we've been reading about elsewhere
that could not believe. They're reprobate, they're rejected, their eyes are blinded.
And what the Bible is saying here is that these people were once enlightened.
Do you see that in verse 4? It's impossible for those who were once enlightened.
What does it mean to be enlightened?
Well, picture a cartoon character where a little light bulb comes on, like, ding!
It means that they understand. They get it. They think of something, right?
So when the Bible says they were once enlightened, it means that they understood or comprehended something about God.
Right? They were enlightened as to the things of God.
It says that they have tasted of the heavenly gift. Notice, it does not say that they received the heavenly gift.
You know, imagine if I were at Costco surfing through the samples
and going from table to table at Costco and I'm grabbing this toothpick and I'm grabbing that toothpick
and I'm tasting of those things, but here's the thing. That doesn't mean that I am going to buy that product.
It doesn't mean that I have chosen that product. It doesn't mean that I have embraced that product
because you know what I could do? I could taste it and spit it out and say,
I don't like this. I'm not going to buy it. I'm never going to buy it.
I'm not going to offer it to me for free. I'm never going to eat it again because I don't like it.
So you can see how tasting something is not the same as receiving something.
See, a lot of people will take this and say, well, they tasted the heavenly gift and they'll say,
see, they're saved. Hold on a second. That's not the same as receiving.
You know what the Bible says about Jesus when he was on the cross? I was just reading it this afternoon.
Jesus hanging on the cross and you know what? They give him on a sponge vinegar to drink
and when he had tasted it, he would not drink thereof.
So here's Jesus tasting something and not drinking it.
So you could taste of the heavenly gift without taking of the cup of salvation
and actually drinking the water of life freely.
Being enlightened and understanding the gospel is not salvation.
Just understanding something mentally isn't salvation. Tasting something isn't salvation.
You have to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. You have to receive that gift.
You have to pull the trigger and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Call upon the name of the Lord. It's not enough just to understand or to taste.
And it says, made partakers of the Holy Ghost and people would again say, oh, see, they're saved.
No, they're not. Because remember, if we look at verses 8 and 9, there are the people who are saved.
We're persuaded better things of you and the better things accompany salvation
because you guys are saved. You have those better things that accompany salvation.
Whereas these people aren't saved, they are going to be burned.
They bear thorns and briars. They are rejected.
What does it mean to be a partaker of the Holy Ghost?
Well, here's what you have to understand.
The Holy Ghost has a ministry to the entire world, even unsaved people.
That's what the Bible teaches.
When Jesus Christ taught that the Holy Spirit would come and that he would send the Comforter,
well, let's not turn there for the sake of time,
in John chapter 16, he says that he will reprove the world of sin because they believed not on me.
The Holy Spirit actually works in the hearts of unsaved people, even people who never get saved.
The Holy Spirit works in their heart and reproves them of sin and testifies to them.
The Holy Ghost was working on you before you got saved.
And then eventually you got saved.
But you know what, some people, the Holy Ghost works on them, and they taste it and they get it,
and the Holy Ghost is ministering unto them and working on them, but then they reject it.
And they can get to a point where it's too late for them.
So it says, they've tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.
Notice that it says, taste, taste, taste.
How can you say that these people have embraced the Gospel or that they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior?
No, here's what they did. They tasted, they tasted, and then they tasted some more.
Well you know what, if I said to somebody, hey, he tasted, he tasted, he tasted, it's like, okay, did he end up buying it?
You know, and obviously we don't buy salvation, but we receive salvation.
You know, did he end up eating the meal?
You know, I could put a bunch of food in front of a guest and they can taste and taste and taste,
and they might just push the plate away and say, you know what, I'm going to go to Burger King.
So the Bible here is talking about someone who cannot be renewed to repentance.
You cannot reach them, you cannot fix them.
Now some people have tried to, the reason I'm emphasizing so much that this isn't saved people
is because some people have tried to twist this passage and say, oh, this teaches you can lose your salvation.
Who's ever had someone try to use this passage to say you could lose your salvation?
Well here's what's so dope about that.
All these people who believe that, they all think that you could lose it and then get it back.
All of them.
But yet this passage says that whoever these people are, they can never be restored.