(Article for publication week of 11-12-2008 AD)
“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” (Hebrews 6:4-6). One of the most solemn truths we face in scripture is the truth that there are many who can’t be saved. Now I know that in this age of “easy-believes that sounds very strange to some of you. But please hear me out.
First , it is a solemn truth that the devils can’t be saved. Christ made no atonement for devils. His atonement was for men , not devils. No one can be saved apart from the atoning death of Christ, and since Christ did not die for fallen angels (AKA “devils”), none of the devils can ever be saved. The devil and his angels are doomed to everlasting chains in the Lake of Fire. There is no possibility of repentance and salvation for devils .
Secondly, reprobate men can never be saved. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, “By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death” (III:3). The scriptures plainly teach the awful doctrine of reprobation. For example we read in Romans 9:13, “Jacob have I loved , but Esau have I hated.” Before the foundation of the world, God chose Jacob to be saved and appointed Esau to eternal damnation. Paul goes on in Romans 9 and says in verse 22, “What if God willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” The unsaved are called “vessels of wrath.” They are ordained to destruction. Then we read in Jude 4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The solemn , untwisted, plain truth of this text is that God has ordained some to condemnation. That ought to scare you to death. That solemn truth ought to drive you to your knees before the merciful Lord Jesus Christ Who is able and willing to save the chief of sinners. But sadly, such truths provoke few to fear God nor to tremble before His word. Some of you will probably just try to laugh this truth away and just count me a crank. Some of you will probably say to yourself, “well, if that is true then there is nothing I can do about it anyway.” And so you will use the truth of God to seal your own damnation. But I am giving you the awful truth of God; many cannot be saved because they are reprobate.
Now, no man may know of his election in grace without faith in Christ. So we call on all men to repent and flee to the Saviour of sinners. And no man knows he is reprobate until He has rejected the Saviour of sinners finally. The persons spoken of in our text fall into a class who have willfully and finally rejected Christ. The folks spoken of in Hebrews 6 are people who had made a profession of faith in Christ and were numbered visibly with the saints of God. But then they renounced their profession. They fell away, not from salvation, for it was never theirs, but from a false profession. They proved themselves to be reprobate and ordained of old to condemnation.
Now the Book of Hebrews is a book of warning against those who renounce their profession of faith. It is better to have never professed Christ, than to renounce Him after having professed Him. Sinners are in a great strait! Those who will be saved must profess Christ (Matthew 10:33-34). But to make a false profession is the most frightening of sins (Matthew 7:21). But possibly the most frightening of all is to renounce Christ after you have professed Him. We ought not be so quick to rush into a profession, nor to rush others into profession, seeing such solemn warnings. As always, I urge you on to Christ Who is able to keep you from falling.
First , it is a solemn truth that the devils can’t be saved. Christ made no atonement for devils. His atonement was for men , not devils. No one can be saved apart from the atoning death of Christ, and since Christ did not die for fallen angels (AKA “devils”), none of the devils can ever be saved. The devil and his angels are doomed to everlasting chains in the Lake of Fire. There is no possibility of repentance and salvation for devils .
Secondly, reprobate men can never be saved. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, “By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death” (III:3). The scriptures plainly teach the awful doctrine of reprobation. For example we read in Romans 9:13, “Jacob have I loved , but Esau have I hated.” Before the foundation of the world, God chose Jacob to be saved and appointed Esau to eternal damnation. Paul goes on in Romans 9 and says in verse 22, “What if God willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” The unsaved are called “vessels of wrath.” They are ordained to destruction. Then we read in Jude 4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The solemn , untwisted, plain truth of this text is that God has ordained some to condemnation. That ought to scare you to death. That solemn truth ought to drive you to your knees before the merciful Lord Jesus Christ Who is able and willing to save the chief of sinners. But sadly, such truths provoke few to fear God nor to tremble before His word. Some of you will probably just try to laugh this truth away and just count me a crank. Some of you will probably say to yourself, “well, if that is true then there is nothing I can do about it anyway.” And so you will use the truth of God to seal your own damnation. But I am giving you the awful truth of God; many cannot be saved because they are reprobate.
Now, no man may know of his election in grace without faith in Christ. So we call on all men to repent and flee to the Saviour of sinners. And no man knows he is reprobate until He has rejected the Saviour of sinners finally. The persons spoken of in our text fall into a class who have willfully and finally rejected Christ. The folks spoken of in Hebrews 6 are people who had made a profession of faith in Christ and were numbered visibly with the saints of God. But then they renounced their profession. They fell away, not from salvation, for it was never theirs, but from a false profession. They proved themselves to be reprobate and ordained of old to condemnation.
Now the Book of Hebrews is a book of warning against those who renounce their profession of faith. It is better to have never professed Christ, than to renounce Him after having professed Him. Sinners are in a great strait! Those who will be saved must profess Christ (Matthew 10:33-34). But to make a false profession is the most frightening of sins (Matthew 7:21). But possibly the most frightening of all is to renounce Christ after you have professed Him. We ought not be so quick to rush into a profession, nor to rush others into profession, seeing such solemn warnings. As always, I urge you on to Christ Who is able to keep you from falling.
