Can you lose your salvation? What is apostasy?

Hebrews 6:4-6

4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

(ESV)

Quick review of last week

What happens to a person in salvation? How does salvation change a person?

1. Union with Christ
2. Regeneration (born again)
3. Justification (declared righteous)
4. Adoption
5. Sealed with Holy Spirit
6. New creation
7. Eternal life
8. Freed from power of sin
9. Sanctification

Apostasy defined

1. apostasy (noun), apostatize (verb), apostate (one who has apostatized)
2. renunciation of profession of faith in Christ
3. turn away from Jesus, fall away, defection
4. calculated repudiation of the all-sufficiency of Jesus (NDBT)
5. Open and final repudiation of one’s allegiance to God in Christ (NDBT)
6. Total renunciation of all the constituent principles and doctrines of Christianity (John Owen)
7. a perverse anti-conversion (opposite of repentance)
   1. John MacArthur quote (Murray, 152)

Examples of apostasy

1. OT
   1. Genesis 3 and Adam’s rebellion – root of apostasy
   2. Nation of Israel
      1. Psalm 106
      2. Hosea 1:2
         1. When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”
2. NT
   1. Acts 20:29-30 (elders)
   2. 1 Timothy 4:1-3 (teachers)
   3. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (the people)
   4. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 (encouragement and warning)
   5. False teachers and false believers
3. Our day?
   1. Josh Harris
      1. pastor, books, Mars Hill podcast

Brief exposition of Hebrews 6:4-6 (5:11-6:12)

1. Enlightened
2. Tasted
   1. the heavenly gift
   2. goodness of the word of God
   3. powers of the age to come
3. Shared in the Holy Spirit

Historical election and eternal election (John Frame)

1. Elect = choose (verb), chosen (noun); election = act of choosing
2. All the eternally elect are historically elect, but not all historically elect are eternally elect (220)
3. OT
   1. Israel and the remnant
      1. God chose the people of Israel to be his people, his nation
   2. King Saul
      1. God chose Saul to be king, but we have no indication that he died as a believer
4. NT
   1. Judas
      1. Chosen by Jesus as one of the twelve
   2. Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Timothy 1:19-20)
   3. Demas (2 Timothy 4:10)
   4. The Church (visible and invisible)
   5. False teachers and false believers
5. Those who are historically elect but not eternally elect are still chosen by God to fulfill his purposes, but they are not ultimately saved.
   1. Matthew 7:21-23
   2. 1 John 2:18-22

Perseverance and assurance – how do I know?

1. It is the believer’s perseverance to the end that validates a claim to Christian faith and authenticates spiritual experiences. (NDBT, 385)
2. Colossians 1:21-23
3. Hebrews 3:14
   1. Primary message of Hebrews?

Conclusion and discussion

1. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility
2. The warnings are real, apostasy is real . . . but were apostates ever truly saved in the first place?
3. Apostasy and backsliding – what’s the difference?