In our texts, we read what would at first appear to be contradictory scriptures. In Hebrews (which many scholars believe was written by Paul) the writer said that once a person has "fallen away" that is impossible to renew them again to repentance. In Galations, Paul commands that if any man fall, they that are spiritual should restore them. Scripture cannot contradict, because God cannot lie, so let's look at the deeper truths that God wants to teach us. Can a person who falls be restored? We spent lesson 1 discussing scripture after scripture asserting that repentance is possible for a Christian who sins. Remember one such scripture is Proverbs 24:16 which states that the righteous man may fall many times but rises again. If so, then what particular circumstances is the writer of Hebrews discussing when he states that repentance is "impossible?"

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To understand Hebrews 6:4-6, let's first look at the story that accompanies the passage to explain it found in the next few verses:

This scripture is similar in metaphor to the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13) These verses speak of two lands. Each of the lands receives the same sunshine, the same rain, and the same care and "dressing" or cultivation. Each has had the same seed planted into it, yet the process of nature does not work equally well on each ground. After a period of time, one ground has rewarded those who labored with fruit. However, the other ground has not produced fruit, but has produced thorns and briers. This ground was then rejected and the fruit is burned, and is "nigh" or close to cursing.

The symbolism in these verses are to explain to us what happens when the Spirit of God no longer has effect on our lives. If the moving and influence of the Holy Spirit within us changes us like the sunshine and the rain does the freshly planted field, then we will bear fruit and productivity. However if the Spirit of God within us cannot change us, then we are accursed. These scriptures are addressing a situation in a person's life where the Spirit of God within a person has done everything it can to change a person's life, but there has been no change. Therefore the person has caused the Spirit of God in their life to not be able to accomplish the purpose for which He is there.

Think about it: if the Spirit of God in our lives does not have the ability to change us, then what else can be done? Is there any other way to produce the fruit of the Spirit besides the Spirit of God? Is there any greater power that God could give to help us to overcome sin besides coming to live inside of our lives, Himself? What else can God do? What more can He give but Himself? In the last lesson, we addressed that there is no other sacrifice besides the sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross that is able to cover our sins. What sacrifice can top God coming in flesh and giving of Himself? (I John 3:16 I Timothy 3:16) In like manner, what more can God do to keep us from sinning than come live inside of us in Spirit form?

In Isaiah chapter 5, God once again uses a crop analogy to represent His Spirit working among men. This time God likens the humans to a vineyard that is well kept, watered, and stocked. Yet when God expected good fruit, He received "wild grapes." This symbolized that God had sent anointed men of God to Israel to teach them and guide them in His ways. He had even caused His Spirit to inspire men to write down His commandments for Israel to follow. God had used His Spirit to perform great miracles and give Israel great victories over their enemies, and had even come to dwell among them in the temple! Yet Israel had still worshipped idols and sinned against Him, so God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and asked them a question:

We would be wise to ask ourselves this question. What more can God do to His vineyard? Is there something else that God can do to give us victory when He has given us His literal blood and placed His Spirit within our hearts?

Like Israel, God has done so much for the church. We surely could not say that we have not been equipped to live for God when we have His Word so readily available to us. God has not only given us His commandments, but also a church family with which we can fellowship and encourage and exhort one another. He also has provided a ministry to teach us and help us grow spiritually.

We can never say as Israel did, that "there is no hope" (Jeremiah 18:12). God has miraculously purged us of sin, evil lifestyles, corrupt minds, and desecrated pasts, and has given us a desire to come to know Him in such a way that our very lives would show our praise and thankfulness. What more could God do? He has given us the Bible, His Spirit, the Ministry, and the Church! There is plenty of hope for a man to be saved when he can pray, fast, study God's Word, have faith, and live by the grace and mercy of God.

Understanding the explanation and illustration, let's go back to the verse that was being explained.

The writer of Hebrews is speaking of a place that a person can reach where the Spirit that God gave them no longer has an influence in their life. If this ever happens, the writer states that the person can no longer be renewed unto repentance. In other words, if everything that God has done for that person does not work, what else will?

It is important to understand that this scripture is discussing a person who is Spirit filled. At the end of Hebrews chapter 5 and the first few verses of chapter 6, the writer is discussing how that Christians must get beyond understanding only the basics. In Hebrews 6:1-3 the writer lists what the "basics" are:

The basic doctrines of Christ are as follows: repentance and turning in direction from sinful lifestyles, faith in God, doctrine of baptisms meaning be baptized in water and baptized with the Spirit, laying on of hands which means the understanding and submission to God-given authority, resurrection of the dead which means answers to what happens to people when they die, and eternal judgment which refers to end time events especially the future of mankind. These are the basics that must be understood if a Christian is to have grown past being a "babe in Christ" (Hebrews 5:11-14). With verse 4, the writer begins to delve in the "deeper" things of God. So the people who the writer is addressing had been taught thoroughly on the basic subjects of Christianity which included the baptism of the Spirit.

The other point that we must notice, is that the writer cannot be talking about just a Spirit filled believer momentarily yielding to temptation. A just man can fall but rise many times (Proverbs 24:16). Paul told the church in Galatia that a sign of their spirituality was if they restored a fallen brother. Therefore when a Spirit-filled believer has sinned, there must be an opportunity to get it right with God. In our text, however, we have a person who has "fallen away." There has to be a difference between a person who has fallen and is able to renew their experience, and a person who has "fallen away" and has fallen away from their experience.

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There is another Old Testament scripture that sheds even more light on this subject of people that had permanently fallen away from God.

This scripture uses a different analogy to teach the same concept as the two lands. Here everything that could be done to purify the silver had been done. The ore had been placed in the melting pot and the fire was so hot that it even burned the bellows which are the blowers to keep the fire hot. Yet with everything done just right, the impurities would not separate from the silver. Despite everything that God had done to try to separate the children of Israel from their sins, nothing worked. They still chose to live in sin and live corrupt lives. As the Psalmist said in Psalms 55:19, "God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God."

What more could God do? Nothing, so He cast them away as reprobate silver. If the fire from God could not affect them then there was nothing else that would change them. This is why the Holy Spirit is so many times referred to as "fire" (Luke 3:16 Acts 2:3 Hebrews 12:29). If the fire of the Holy Ghost living inside a person has no ability to separate the person from the sins of the world, what else can God do? It has lost it's influence. If the influence of the Holy Spirit is ever totally lost then there is no other way for God to move in that person's life.

That is why the Holy Spirit is so convicting when a Spirit-filled person sins. Jesus stated that one of the main reasons for the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to come was to "reprove us of sin" (John 16:8-9). When Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, the 3,000 asked "what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). They were convicted by the Spirit of God and the anointed Word of God. That is why we must be thankful when God convicts us of something through His Word, that shows us that we are still sensitive to the Spirit of God which lives inside of us! That is why when we live in sin after receiving the Holy Spirit we feel so wretched and no longer feel the joy that we once felt: the Holy Spirit is fulfilling it's purpose in our lives! When we no longer feel bad for doing wrong, then we are in danger of reaching a place where the Spirit has lost it's ability to bring about change in our lives.

Paul told Timothy that the Spirit spoke that a sign of the latter days would be people " "having their conscience seared with a hot iron." In other words, the Spirit of God would no longer be able to convict them to change, therefore they would "depart from the faith." Paul also wrote the church in Ephesus about some Gentiles being "past feeling" (Ephesians 4:17-19). It is a dangerous to live in such a state as to ignore the dealing of the Spirit of God in our lives because it leads to a place where we can "have our conscience seared," and reach a place "past feeling," and a place of no return "having fallen away."

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Most backsliders have not reached the place of having completely fallen away. At various times of our life, most of us have drifted away from God to some degree. In our text we read the commandment to restore those who have failed and to remember ourselves lest we also be tempted (Galations 6:1). The righteous man may stumble but gets back up again (Proverbs 24:16). All have trouble with besetting weights and sins, but we must learn to "lay aside every weight" (Hebrews 12:1). If a Spirit-filled person feels like that they have drifted from God and are going the wrong direction, then that person needs to return to their first works (Revelation 2:5) and find a place of repentance as we discussed thoroughly in Lesson 1 of this series. When a Spirit-filled believer feels themselves falling, they must rise again by finding a place of repentance at the feet of our High Priest and Sacrifice, Jesus Christ. To avoid listening to the Holy Spirit when we sin is to get in danger of the Holy Spirit losing it's influence in our lives, and then that person is in danger of crossing the line where repentance is not possible, the person having "fallen away." Our text in Hebrews 6:4-6 refers to the state that a person can reach where the Spirit of God has no effect in a person's life, and, if that happens, what more can God do?

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There are basically three scriptural ways for the Spirit to lose it's influence in a person's life. Before considering the possibility of losing the Holy Spirit, we must understand the difference between the ways that the Spirit loses it's power to change a person. Remember that throughout scripture, the Holy Spirit is metaphorically referred to as "fire." All three ways of the Spirit losing it's influence correspond to this analogy of fire.

1. Resisting the Spirit

This is what a person does who has never received the Spirit of God. The term comes from Stephen's sermon to his accusers before his death:

These people had never received the Holy Ghost and they resisted the Spirit's efforts to convict their heart. When a person who has never received the Holy Ghost hears an anointed testimony, sermon, or Bible study, the Spirit of God tries to draw them to a place of repentance and change. When they resist the Spirit of God drawing them, they resist the ability of God to lead them into truth. If a person continues to resist God's Spirit every time it moves upon them, how will they ever get to a place to accept truth and receive the Holy Spirit. Without accepting the leading of the Holy Spirit telling them to repent, a person will not repent.

The men that Stephen was preaching to were so bound in religious tradition that they equated the Holy Ghost experience and speaking in other tongues as works of Satan (Matthew 12:24). When they stated that they believed the Spirit of God working through Jesus was from Satan, Jesus responded by warning them of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. We will study the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost in the next lesson, but for now consider this: if every a person feels the Spirit of God or feel the convicting power of that Spirit drawing them to the truth, and they state that it is the power of Satan, then how can that person be reached? It is not that God does not want to forgive them, but if the message of truth, and the tugging of the Spirit of God cannot bring them to a place of change, then what else can God do? When people state that all manifested signs of the Spirit and speaking in tongues is of the devil, then they are in danger of resisting the Spirit of God to the place of it NEVER being able to change them. To fit the fire analogy, fire cannot consume granite stone, and in the Spirit if people harden their hearts, they are in danger of never being able to yield to the Spirit.

2. Grieving the Spirit

Whereas resisting the Spirit is what a person does who has never received the Holy Spirit, the scripture for Grieving the Holy Spirit was written to the church in Ephesus which had been filled with the Spirit of God.

Grieving the Spirit is another analogy relative to the operation of fire. A fire is "grieved" when it has a lack of fuel. After a fire has been been grieved long enough it will eventually go out. That is, when a fire is not being kept burning by continually being fed consumable material it will die out. This principle is also the same with the fire of the Holy Spirit. If we do not continually allow the Holy Ghost to consume more and more of us, then it will eventually die out. A fire is a natural process that changes something from one substance to another. A person who receives the Holy Ghost and allows God's Spirit to change them to a point, and then refuses to give completely of themselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit, is in the process of grieving the Holy Spirit, and eventually, the fire will go out.

3. Quenching the Spirit

Paul also commanded us not to Quench the Spirit. This is another operation relative to fire. We can quench a fire by putting adverse material upon it. If you pour sand and water on a fire long enough, and enough of it, the fire will go out. In similar fashion if you pour enough worldliness on this experience of the Holy Ghost, it will eventually die out. Paul is saying we must be careful to not put anything in our life that will quench the fire of the Holy Spirit! When a person dumps hatred, lying, lust, fornication, gossip, etc. upon the Holy Ghost fire living within them, they are in the process of quenching the fire, and if not stopped will ultimately put it out!

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Notice that when a person begins to grieve a fire by withholding fuel that the fire does not immediately go out, but will over a period of time. Likewise when a person begins pouring water or sand upon a fire it does not immediately go out, but if continually quenched, will die out. A person can lose the Holy Spirit, but it does not happen the moment that a person sins, but rather happens when a person refuses to do anything about the sin. Remember our analogy of the red heifer sacrifice used in Hebrews 9 and 10 that the person touching the dead body was not cut off the moment that they sinned but when they refused the sacrifice. Many people have taught the moment a Spirit-filled believer sins, the Holy Ghost leaves. This is NOT scripturally accurate! Remember that Jesus stated that one of the most important duties of the Holy Spirit was to "reprove us of sin" (John 16:8-9) reprove means to reprimand and teach through discipline. If the Holy Spirit left a believer the moment that they sinned, He would be deserting the person when they needed Him the most! The strong conviction that the Holy Ghost causes when a Spirit-filled believer sins is proof that He has not left but is doing the duty for which He came: to convict us and help us to live without sinning. Conviction is permission to repent! If a believer refuses to repent and continues in sin, then they are in danger or quenching the Holy Spirit until it does die out in their life, but this does not happen the moment that they sin.

People who teach that a person loses the Holy Spirit leaves a believer the moment that they sin, have coined a "scripture" to match their doctrine. "The Spirit of God will not dwell in an unclean temple," they say. Sounds good, but this saying is NOT in the Bible. In fact there is not one scripture that teaches that the Holy Spirit leaves the moment a person sins. The reason that it is not in the Bible is that this saying is not completely true. God will not initially enter into a heart that has not been cleansed by earnest repentance, but the Scripture is replete with men who have had the Spirit of God work through them while living a sinful lifestyle. For example, the Spirit of God remained upon Saul for some time even after God had rejected him. The false prophet Balaam was used to speak the truth to the king of Moab even though he had a wicked heart. Judas Iscariot as one of the chosen disciples no doubt baptized many people and performed many miracles all while stealing from the treasury. Examples under Grace include the fact that the Holy Spirit remained in Peter even when he had to be rebuked by the Apostle Paul for prejudice. When John Mark abandoned the missionary journey for which he was appointed, the Spirit of God remained with him. It remained with Paul and Barnabas even though they were contentious (which is definitely against Scripture) and had to go separate ways for a time. Paul also had to address a situation in the church of Corinth where an incestuous man was still being used in the Gifts of the Spirit despite his open sin. In fact, part of the problem with this man in I Corinthians 5 appears to be that he justified his sin and believed that he was alright because the Holy Spirit was still able to move through him in certain ways. This is usually the thinking of backsliding people who believe they must be alright because they are still used in the Gifts of the Spirit, can speak in tongues, can give an anointed sermon, or still feel God's presence even with sin in their lives. They need to realize the danger of what they are doing, because while the Spirit of God has left yet, if not listened to and the sin not removed, the person will eventually lose the Holy Spirit. This is why there have been so many mighty preachers do many great things and later it is found out that they were having an affair or stealing during their ministry. They are still being used by God because the Spirit is trying to overcome the quenching and grieving to work in their lives. If they do not stop sinning and find a place of repentance, the Holy Spirit will leave, and will never come back.

The saying "the Holy Spirit will not dwell in an unclean temple" is partially true in that God's Spirit is not going to continue to operate forever in an unclean temple. God is grieved when sin is in the life of the person, and that is why they lose the joy of the Holy Spirit but still can see it trying to operate in their lives. If the person ignores the conviction to repent and turn from the sin, God will leave them never to return.

A good example of this process of God trying to convict the sinning Christian through His Spirit is the nation of Israel. Through prophet after prophet God kept warning Israel that if they continued in sin, that He would leave them. Eventually God did leave Israel and did not return to the generation that rejected Him. He will once again return to Israel but not to the generation of individuals from which He departed.

The idea behind the false statement that God's Spirit will not dwell in an unclean temple probably comes from the story of the Philistines capturing the ark of the covenant (which is where God's Spirit dwelt) and placing in the temple of their idol, Dagon (I Samuel 5). The next morning when the Philistines got to the temple to offer sacrifices to their idol, they found him lying face down before the Spirit of Almighty God. Notice that the Spirit of God did not immediately leave the unclean temple, but tried to tear down and place in subjection those things that were sinful and unclean. That is the way God's Spirit works in our life. When we place false gods of sin in our Spirit-filled life, the Holy Spirit does not immediately leave, but immediately tries to show us that we must get the sin out of our life. Of course if we do not repent before God, He will eventually leave.

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There is no scripture that gives a believer hope once the Spirit of God has left. In fact there are many scriptures that teach once a person has lost the Spirit of God, they can never receive it again. Remember that Peter said IF a person is entangled again with the pollutions of the world and OVERCOME, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. The only point worse than never having yielded to God is to have received God's Spirit in our life, and have permanently lost it! It is important for a "backslider" to understand that just because they have chosen to sin again, does not mean that they have "lost the Holy Spirit." It simply means that they are in the process of quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit. If a person can still feel the nudge of the Spirit and His conscience, there is hope for repentance, yet the backsliding person must realize the dangerous line that they are walking and be quick to repent and find a place at the feet of our High Priest and Sacrifice, Jesus Christ and turn from their sin before it is too late.

One other subject that needs to be addressed is the fact that the Holy Spirit is the element which will allow us to meet Jesus Christ in the Rapture of the church. Paul was very clear about this in his letter to the churches in Rome:

The question that could be asked is this: if a person does not immediately lose the Holy Spirit when they sin, then could they still be able to go in the Rapture of the church. This question is easily answered when we realize that if a person is not listening to the Holy Spirit's cry for them to repent of the sin in which they are living, how will they hear the call to meet Jesus in the air? That is another reason why we must not quench the Spirit of God in our lives through living a sinful lifestyle, because doing so will also quench our ability to respond to the last trumpet and meet Jesus in the sky!

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The Bible is complete with scriptures that show the absurdity of a person trying to live in an ungodly manner while still trying to serve God. Here are but a few:

All of these scriptures strengthen the fact that it is DANGEROUS to continue in sin when we have been given dominion over sin (Romans 6). However, none of these scriptures state that the Spirit of God has totally departed a person's life when they are living in sin. God is certainly grieved by it and will not stay there forever, but there is a period of time in which God continues to work in that life to bring about a true repentance. If repentance does not come, then the Spirit of God has no alternative but to leave. If He ever does leave, He will not return.

The answers to our questions are thus, No, a person cannot be born again again. If the process of having the blood of Jesus applied to a person's life and having the Spirit of God living inside them cannot cause a person to live a Godly, repentant lifestyle then what will? What other sacrifice is better or more powerful than the sacrifice of the Cross? What other Spirit is stronger than the Spirit of God Himself? What other book is more powerful than the Word of God? What more can God do to His vineyard?

If you have fallen into sin, then get back up, find a place of repentance and do an about face and begin to live a Godly lifestyle again. You may have fallen, but you do not want to flirt with the possibility of having "fallen away." If you have been filled with the Spirit of God and have chosen to walk away, then perhaps God has placed this series in your life as a last effort to keep you from crossing that line. Do you feel conviction at these words? Then you have permission to repent: find a place of brokenness before Jesus Christ and come back to God. Do not reach a place where the Spirit of God has been grieved until it has no choice but to leave, for then there is no hope.