Nice to be back after many years. I was back after nineteen nineteen though, back here nineteen thirty, in thirty-five, thirty-six, and also in nineteen forty-nine. I want you to turn with me, please, to the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter five. We'll begin with verse eleven. If the Lord helps, I would like to continue with you and consider the whole of this portion, which is somewhat of a diversion, somewhat of a parenthesis, coming in between verse ten of chapter five and the first verse of chapter seven. We're all accustomed to detours when we drive through the country. Well, this is the longest detour that you have in the epistle. There are several of them. The first is in chapter two, verses one to four, and then a fairly long one in chapter three, verse six to chapter four, verse thirteen. And then this one from verse eleven of chapter five, to the end of chapter six. He mentions Melchizedek in chapter five, verse ten, called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. But before he goes on to speak of Melchizedek, he has a great many other things to say by way of this diversion, this parenthesis. And he comes back to talk about Melchizedek in chapter seven verse one. And the whole of chapter seven he's taken up with the discussion and teaching relative to the Melchizedek priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now in order to get the background of what we have got here or something similar to it, keep your finger there and turn to the epistle to the Galatians for a moment. The Epistle to the Galatians chapter four. Verse one, now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. Even so we, that is, referring specially to the Jews, to Israelites, when we were children, were under bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father. Therefore thou art no more a servant but a son, and is a son than an heir of God through Christ. Verse eight, how be it then when ye knew not God, He did service unto them which by nature are no gods, or are a no-god, as Deuteronomy puts it. But now, after which He have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn He again to the weak and beggarly elements where unto His desire not again to be in bondage, for these were not Jews, these were Gentiles. And they were not becoming again, coming again into that bondage, but they were putting themselves for the first time, having been delivered from idolatry, which he speaks of in verse eight. You did service to them who are no gods. But now you've been brought to a knowledge of God. and now you are going to put yourself again into bondage unto the weak and beggarly elements you observe days and months and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Now look at Hebrews chapter five. This portion that we are set out to consider. I find it easy to divide it, easy to consider it if we divide it into seven sections. Verses eleven and twelve, they bring before us a very sharp rebuke, of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, hard to be explained, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as of need of milk and not of strong wheat. Now it's because of those last words that I've read with you that portion in Galatians chapter four, because of the similarity between the spiritual condition of the Galatian Christians and the spiritual condition of the people referred to in these verses. The people referred to in the epistle to the Galatians had been Gentiles. They had been delivered from slavery to idolatry, but now they were putting themselves under the bondage of legalism, observing days and months and years. They were putting themselves back into the spiritual condition that the Jews were under when they were under the law, into that spiritual condition of immaturity, of childhood. The heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant even though he be Lord of all. Now he says here, rebuking the people to whom he is addressing the latter, and we want to be clear of our pronouns in our study of this section, we'll not be able to get at the meaning of this difficult portion unless we are careful to distinguish between those that are referred to in the various pronouns. I'm sorry if that sounds as if we're having a little grammar lesson, but after all, We have to remember even such things as grammar sometimes in the reading of the Word of God. You know it, the Apostle says, of whom we have many things to say and to use. Now there clearly the we refers to those who are associated in the writing of the letter. We have very things to say. It's the editorial we, if you like. Now when you come into the us of verse six, chapter one, or chapter six, verse one, let us go on to perfection. There he links with himself those who are addressed as the you of verse eleven. The writers and the recipients of the letter are both included in that. We'll find them together again in verse eighteen. of chapter six. Look at chapter six and verse eighteen. That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have pled for refuge till they hold upon the hope set before. Now the we there is definitely qualified and explained by the words we who have pled for refuge. It's not we, the writer, but we who have fled for refuge. That includes the readers and includes the writers. And they are the ones that are specially drawn, referred to in verse one of chapter six, let us go on under perfection. Now verses eleven and twelve then are a very sharp rebuke. Here were people who should have been teachers of the word of God. but instead they were still in the first grade. They were still having to learn their alphabets when they should have been teaching others. Now it's a very sad when Christians make no progress. One of the saddest things that I think experiences I have is after many years away to come back and find Christians who have made very little, if any, progress at all. And in fact, if they've made no progress, they've reprogressed. Life is never static, it never stays the same. It's either, we must either go forward or go back. And there are a large number in the assemblies today who should long ago have been teachers of the Word of God. but they've made no progress. They haven't gone on with the reading and the study of the Scriptures. And the Apostle rebukes those to whom he is writing, and they of course are Christians. Undoubtedly, those referred to in this portion as ye and you and the us, they are Christians. He tells us in verse nine, for instance, of chapter six, we are persuaded better things of you, things that accompany salvation. He's persuaded that the people who are the recipients of the letter are real believers. They are possessed of things which really accompany salvation. Now because I'm drawing attention to these pronouns, I must refer in that connection to the different one in verse four. for it is impossible for those. Now here we have a different group altogether. Here is a company that is very different to the you of verse nine. Very different to the us of verse one. Here is a company that stands apart. They are spoken of as those, not an individual, but a company of people. Let us be clear with regard to that for the moment. But here is the rebuke. The rebuke given to those to whom he specially sends the letter that they have not made progress. And he says, I can't teach you because he said, I'd like to teach you about Melchizedek. You know, it's not so easy to teach about Melchizedek. You know, an afternoon meeting, especially if you've had more than one piece of pie, may not be the best time to speak on a subject like this. People get dull of hearing in more ways than one. They get dull of hearing because it gets a little warm and they begin to agree with everything the preacher says. I don't expect any of you to be doing that this afternoon, but I'm warning you before hand us to the possibility because of the warm weather and maybe the very good dinner the friends provide it. But when people get spiritually dull of hearing, it's very hard to teach the scriptures to them. People come along and say, brother, that's too deep. That's too deep. We want just a simple gospel. Now you hear that very often. And what you've been trying to give is fairly simple. And yet they say, Brother, that's very deep. Very deep. Well, I hope it won't be muddy anyhow. I hope if the water is deep, it will be clear. Because it's easy to mistake a muddy river for being deep when after all it's very shallow. Now, here the Apostle warns them, he said, now he said, I've not been able to teach you about Melchizedek. And I suppose very few of us could be asked a question about Melchizedek today that would be satisfactorily answered. What's the difference between Melchizedek priesthood and the Aaronic priesthood? Very interesting subject, that in itself. But then he comes to verses thirteen and fourteen. Here we have an analogy between nature and grace. For everyone that uses milk, you have become, he says, I didn't read that in verse twelve, you have become such as of need of milk and not of strong meat. Here it's not the child in first grade, still there, but here is somebody who should have grown to maturity and still a babe, still wanting nothing but milk. Well, a normal babe, of course, he thrives on milk. They are the normal babes of Peter, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word. It's lovely to have a young Christian really drinking in the milk of the Word. But in the Corinthian epistle you have got the retarded children. I have not spoken unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. They were not newborn babes, they were retarded children. They won't make any progress there, because of their Corinthian carnality and their sectarian strife. But here are babes, too. You become such as of need of milk. You become that. They're not such a lot of difficulties with their stomachs as it were and their digestive organs that now they're back on a milk diet. Like some people when they get a little old, well, they've got to get a milk diet. can't take anything unless they take some alka-seltsa or something afterwards. Now here is a group there. They've become such as a need of milk. There was a time when they could have taken something else. But they've gone back. They've gone back. They've become babes. Now that's the condition of those in the Galatian epistle. They had been delivered from slavery to idolatry. They'd become Christians. But now they were slipping back into bondage to legality again. They had become, they were putting themselves back under the yoke of bondage to the law again. They were similar to what we have got here. Only these were not Gentile Christians. These were Jewish Christians who were putting themselves back under the ceremonialisms of the law. They were dispensational babes, if you like. They were not coming on into the full maturity of the Christian position today. For everyone, he says in verse thirteen, that is, uses milk, is unskillful in the word of righteousness. Now that title, word of righteousness, might well be taken as a title for the epistle to the Romans. An exposition of the word of righteousness. For no Christian who still adheres to a lot of ceremonialisms, she is unskillful in the Gospel. There are many preachers in the country connected with denominations who are still babe spiritually. They don't have the temple. They don't have the Levite priesthood, but they have all the ceremonialisms that goes along with Judaism. And Christianity today, or Christendom, is honeycooned with a Judaized Christianity. A Judaized form of Christianity today has been superimposed upon the people of God. and the message of Hebrews and the message of Galatians is intended to take us away from that which is Judaizing, Judaistic in its character. And that's what I want to urge upon our souls this afternoon. God help me. For it says in verse fourteen, solid meat belongs to those who are of full age, who have attained a majority. who are the sons of Galatians for. Christ has come and redeemed us from the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. This is not merely an experimental reaching and growth into maturity, but here is the position into which God in grace has brought us by the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in verses one to three of chapter six, you've got to a strong exhortation. And the exhortation is very important. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, what are these? Are we exhorted to leave the teaching of Christ as found in the Gospels? Do we have in the epistles something that is in advance of the teaching of the Gospel? Surely that would be very erroneous to suggest that is the teaching here. No, we are never told to advance from the teaching given by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels into something deeper and higher in the epistles. There are things in the epistles which the Lord didn't teach. That's because they were so dull of hearing. He tells us in John sixteen, and the Holy Spirit has revealed them to us, especially in the Pauline epistles regarding the church. but God never tells us to leave the teaching of Christ onto something else. How are we to understand this? There's a verse in chapter eleven which might help us. We are told that Moses esteemed the reproaches of Christ, greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. Now what were the riches of Christ? that Moses esteemed as greater than all the wealth of Egypt. Surely they were not the reproaches of the Christ of the Gospels, could they be? They were not the reproaches of the Christ of history. For he lived two thousand years before Christ came. Moses could never bear the cross and follow the law of Jesus historically. and therefore we understand the term Christ in Hebrews eleven to refer to him as the Messiah of prophecy. Moses esteemed the riches or the reproaches of the Messiah of prophecy who was to come through Israel as far greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt and his throne of power and glory. He saw that fellowship with the people of God despised though they were, meant fellowship with the one who was destined to sway the scepter of universal authority and dominion. It's the Christ of prophecy that we have there, and that's what we have here. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of the Messiah. They're found. Found in the foundations laid in Old Testament Scripture. And this foundation is given to us in verses one and two. Repentance from dead works, faith toward God. You find that in the Old Testament. Paul didn't teach that. Paul taught more than that. He preached repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, which was something the Jew didn't want. This was something, Paul saw something in advance of what we have got here. The Old Testament Abraham turned away from the dead works of idolatry and put his faith in the one and the true and the living God. That's Old Testament conversion. But that's not enough in New Testament day. The Mohammedan was turned away from idolatry and believed in one God. But that's not conversion. The Old Testament days to turn aside from idolatry and put faith in the one and the true God. Well, that was the proselyte when he came and became an Israelite. Along with that we have the doctrine of baptisms, the plural. No reference to water baptism. The word is used, as we shall see presently in chapter nine. the washings, the divers washings in the Old Testament. It's not the washings themselves, but the doctrine connected with these washings, the teaching connected with these ablutions. The priests had to be bathed. The priests had to wash their hands. They had to wash their feet. It's the teaching concerning these that we have here, and the laying on of hands. Now if you read some of the commentaries on this, you will find that they'll put baptisms to be infant sprinkling and the laying out of hands to be confirmation. Ellicott and other commentators will give you that explanation of this. But the word for baptism is different to what we have got here, and this has nothing to do with water baptism. It has to do with ablutions with washings, the washings that pertain to Judaism. They're all found in the Old Testament. The next two, the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. Well, Job, the oldest book of the Old Testament, tells us about the resurrection of the dead. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and I'm waiting for the day when in my flesh I shall see God. David knew about the resurrection of the dead. Eternal judgment is not something that's peculiar to the New Testament. That's taught clearly in the Old Testament. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. But when we come into the New Testament, we've got much more than this foundation. We've got... Not only the resurrection of the dead, we've got the resurrection of the just, and the resurrection of the unjust. We've got the first resurrection, and the resurrection of the rest of the dead. We've got the resurrection unto life, and the resurrection unto damnation. What we've got here is the mere skeleton of Old Testament teaching regarding these things. They are the foundation laid in Old Testament Scripture. We have not only eternal judgment in the New Testament that is amplified in the Great White Throne, the judgment of the nations, the judgment seat of Christ. These are amplified in the New Testament. What we have got here is what we have in verse one, the foundation. The foundation laid in the Old Testament regarding these great matters. Now we have friends in India. and they're coming into this country, you'll find reference to them in the letters of interest of the last month, who maintained that this baptism is not infant baptism, of course, but it's the baptizing of believers. And when believers are baptized, then some two or three brethren should lay hands on them, and kind of an official rite of ceremony, acknowledging now that they are members of the body of Christ. And they try to base it on this. Well, there was a dear Irish brother known to some of us here who used to say, Wonderful things in the Bible I see. Some things put there by you and some by me. Well, this is one of those wonderful things put in there. Because if you put water baptism in there, and you try to put laying on the hands in there, you can get it out. Whatever you put into the bag, you can get out of it, of course. But this is not in the Scripture as it is taught here. Then what's the meaning of this word, therefore let us go on to perfection? Is it an exhortation merely to go on from the first grade to becoming teachers? Is it an exhortation to go on from babyhood to maturity? Is it an exhortation merely to go on from laying the foundation and go on to build the superstructure? Now very often that is all the meaning that is taken out of this word of exhortation. Therefore let us go on. It's not really let us go on, let us be carried on. Let us be born alone. I take it that the One of the illustrations that seems to me to fit into it is like this. In the wilderness is still parked in many places. Wherever the Shekinah glory stopped, there they camped. And they may have stayed there a few days, they may stay there a month, may have stayed in some places longer. But the moment the cloud lifted, they went on. And the trumpet said, let's go on. blew an alarm to go on. Don't stay in this site where the camp has been pitched now for a long time. We think it's one of the best sites we've ever had, and we ought to stay here a little longer. No, no. The cloud has moved and has gone ahead. Now, in the Old Testament days, the cloud was there in connection with Judaism. The cloud was over Jerusalem. The cloud was over the temple. The cloud was over the sacrifices. But now in New Testament days, the cloud has gone on. Not into some reformed character of death, but on into something totally different. And the Spirit of God would tell us, abandon that sight. God has abandoned it. Let us abandon it. Let us get on into true New Testament ground. Let's get on to perfection. Let's turn back, turn on with me please, to chapter seven and verse eleven. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood. In other words, there can be no perfection under the priesthood, under the Levitical or the erotic priesthood. If you're going to find perfection, says the Apostle, you're not going to find it there. Look at chapter eight and verse eight, or verse seven. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should there be no place sought for the second. For finding fault, not with the people, but with the covenant, finding fault, A star he translates it there, I think, finding fault. God says to them, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord when I will make a new covenant. You're not going to get perfection then in the old covenant. You're not going to cling to that old covenant. You're not going to get perfection there. Chapter seven, verse eight, nineteen says, For the Lord made nothing perfect. You can't get perfection under that law. Now in chapter nine, in verse nine, speaking of the tabernacle, we read which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Now he has no perfection in connection with a tabernacle. Chapter nine has to do with a tabernacle. The comparison between the place where our Lord Jesus ministers and where the priests of the old economy ministered. Look at verse one. For verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made. But now verse eleven. But Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and a more perfect tabernacle. Here is another tabernacle, which he says in verse ten was, or verse nine rather, which the tabernacle in the wilderness was of thicker for the time then present. Now turn on to chapter ten, verse one. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, but not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually make to come as they are unto perfect. That's the day of atonement. That's the annual sacrifices. There was no perfection in the annual sacrifices of the day of atonement. Look at verse fourteen, or rather verse ten, verse eleven dollars. And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering, oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. Now here are the daily sacrifices, the burnt offering. and its associated meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. Here are all those sacrifices. And those daily sacrifices, ministered by the same priest day after day, they could never take away sins. Now it's in the light of these that we understand that word in Hebrews chapter six, verse one. Therefore, let us go on. Leaving the principles, the elementary principles of the doctrine of the Messiah and found in the Old Testament, let us be carried on to perfection. In other words, let's get on to that which is true of true Christianity and let's say goodbye to everything of Judaism. Let's get on to where there's a perfect priest. Let's have done with an earthly priesthood, with a special priesthood ordained by men. And let's forsake that and cling entirely and only to the one high priest of the sanctuary that God has provided for his people, the Lord Jesus, the priest after the order of Melchizedek. Not only so, but let's get on away from the old covenant that which the Apostle says, if that had not been faultless, there would have been no second. Away from that second covenant, on into the new covenant with its perfect terms, I will never remember their sins anymore. Let's get on to the perfect tabernacle, the heavenly self, a heavenly worship. and let's apprehend the perfect sacrifice of which he speaks in chapter ten and verse fourteen. For by one offering have he perfected forever them that are sanctified. You see, the apostle in the epistle wants to wean the Christians away from all that was true of Judaism in the past. Not Judaism as it had deteriorated in the days of the Lord. But Judaism, as it was delivered to Moses by God in the early days, that's why the reference is not to the temple, the reference is to the tabernacle, the references to things just as God handed them to Israel in the wilderness itself. He contrasts Christianity with Judaism as it came fresh from God's hand. And here were Christians who were constantly wanting to go back into the ceremonialisms of the law. They didn't want to say goodbye to the priests with his robes, the priests with his priestly ministry. They didn't want to say goodbye to the old covenant with an emphasis upon what they could do. They didn't want to say goodbye to an earthly sanctuary. They didn't want to say goodbye to earthly, to mere animal sacrifices. The Apostle says, let us go on, let us be born along into the perfection there is in the new covenant in Christ, where there is a perfect priest who was instituted a perfect covenant, who ministers today in a perfect tabernacle in heavenly faith, and was offered a perfect sacrifice who has brought in eternal perfection to all who trust him, and he has made us perfect forever in God's presence. This is the perfection to which he urges the Christians to move on to. Abandon the old. Forsake the old. Let go the old. Forget the limited priesthood, and put your affections upon the Melchizedek high priesthood of the Lord. Forget the old covenant. Get on to the new covenant and all its... blessings provided for us in Christ. Forget about earthly sanctuaries. And be found, be satisfied with the fact that we have a priest in heaven. The late Alexander Marshall, who was a very able Gospeler and a constant witness for the Lord, thought one Monday morning when he was traveling in Bangor, Northern Ireland, he would speak to a sister, to a woman. He didn't know what she was at the time, of course. He thought he'd speak to her about her soul. And he said to her, Where did you worship yesterday? She says, Within the Veil. And he said, You got a very sharp rebuke from the sister's answer. He thought he was just going to lead on to a question and discussion with regard to a Christian experience. But he learned that day that here was somebody who learned that the place for worship is within the veil where the High Priest is. That's the place. Now that's what the Apostle teaches us here in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Let us go on, let us be born along into this place where we have perfection in Christ. A perfect High Priest with a perfect covenant, in a perfect place of worship, who has brought about a perfection of standing for the believer in the presence of God. Then he goes on to speak about these group in verses four to six. Here is the terrible penalty. We're not going to take time today to draw attention to these three verses. Following them we have in verses seven and eight the illustration. regarding the land and the briars and the thorns, etc. Verses nine to twelve, we have the things that accompany salvation. And then in verses thirteen to the end, we have the strong consolation. Now who are these people here in verses four to six? Are they Christians? Some people say they are. And of course the Arbenian who says that a man can be saved and lost again, he thinks this is a marvelous place. These are scriptures that prove his contention right down to the hill. Here is a man who's tasted all of these things and he has gone away from God and it's impossible to renew him to repentance. He's lost, hopelessly lost. And you people who believe in eternal security, you're all wrong. You're going in the teeth of this very plain scripture. They say that a Christian can be saved, a person can be saved, and he can be lost again. That a Christian can so sin that he can get beyond the possibility of repentance. It would be very sad, wouldn't it? We mustn't water down the word impossible. It's four times used in the epistle to the Hebrews. It is impossible to renew them to repentance. It's impossible, he says in the same chapter, for God to lie. It's impossible to please God without faith. It's impossible for animal sacrifices to remove sin. Here is something that's absolutely impossible. And here is a group of people concerning which God says it's impossible to renew them to repentance. I don't think we can water those words down to mean anything less than just what it says. There are a group of people concerning whom God says it's impossible to renew them to repentance. Now if he's a believer, then we must go against a lot of us is where, for in the New Testament God makes provision whereby a believer can be restored. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If restoration and forgiveness for Christians was an impossibility, then none of us would be here this afternoon. I suppose you're about the oldest Christian here, brother, one who's been on the way longer than any of us. But none of us, I've been preaching now for over forty-five years, and I wouldn't be here today if this referred to true believers. None of us. If any man sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Not only have we clear teaching that a Christian may sin and may be restored, thank God, we have clear evidences of it, illustrations of it in the Word of God. Peter denied his law in a very sad way, in a very sad way. But Peter wept bitterly, and the Lord had a meeting with Peter, and what transpired between them We don't know. God has drawn a veil over that meeting between the Lord and Peter. It's never been recorded. Oh, yes, Peter failed. He failed before Pentecost and he failed after Pentecost. He failed before the world. He failed before the church and he failed before the world and before the Lord. Peter is very fond of that word never. Never. Never is it. When the Lord says He's going to go to the cross, never, never, never is it. He says, You go behind me, Satan. Couldn't get much further than that. You're never going to wash my feet. If I don't wash you, you're going to have no part with me. Or then wash my head too. Though all men forsake thee, never will I. Poor Peter. And the Lord, after resurrection, said Peter, rise till and eat. Never. Never. It's only once that he ever used that word right, and that's in the second epistle. If these things be in you and abound, you shall never fall. You learn to use it the right way in the end. But if restoration was an impossibility, well then Peter never could have been restored. Never. To say nothing of David. The sad record of David. Is restoration possible? Thank God it is. In forty-five years of service for God, one has come into contact with Christians, many who have been far away. and in whose life the years the locusts have eaten many, many, many, many long years. We've seen them restored. Thank God there is restoration for a child of God that gets away. Forgiveness is possible. That's one of the great differences between, incidentally, between the Melchizedek priesthood and the Aaronic priesthood. The Aaronic priesthood made provision for restoration, but the Melchizedek priesthood made provision to keep from falling. Marvelous it was for Aaron and his sons to restore a man when he brought his Tespas offering. But before Abram had the opportunity of falling into the trap laid by the king of Sodom, Melchizedek slips in with bread and wine. and has a talk with him and a fellowship with him. And in the warmth of that fellowship he learns something about God. And then he meets the King of Sodom and he says, I've lifted up my hands into the Lord, the possessor of heaven and earth. I want nothing of your vanities. Marvels to be restored, but far greater to be preserved. Marvellous that God has made provision whereby we must make me restore, but far greater that God has made provision whereby we may be preserved from falling, kept from falling, and presented faultless and faultless before His throne with exceeding joy. No, then, it's impossible to think of this as the experience of one who was a true Christian. and has sinned and can never be restored. There are too many problems facing us if we accept that explanation of this verse. But more of that later than the will of God.