The
Unrepentant Reprobate
by
Doktor Riktor Von Zhades
4
For it is impossible that they which were once lightened, and have
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the holy
Ghost, 5 And have tasted of the good word of God, and of the powers
of the world to come, 6 If they fall away, should be renewed again
by repentance: seeing they crucify again to themselves the Son of
God, and make a mock of him.
GNV
Translation - Ed. 1599
4
For when people have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift,
become sharers in the Ruach HaKodesh, 5 and tasted the goodness of
God’s Word and the powers of the ‘olam haba — 6 and then have
fallen away — it is impossible to renew them so that they turn from
their sin, as long as for themselves they keep executing the Son of
God on the stake all over again and keep holding him up to public
contempt.
CJB
Translation - Current Online Translation
4.
Except they cannot rest on baptism for one time and receive the gift
from heaven and receive the Holy Spirit, 5. And taste the
Manifestation of grace from Allaha and the power of eternity* to
come, 6. And then again commit sin, so as they may be renewed in
grace from the beginning, and again crucify the Son of Allaha from
the beginning and reenter the covenant.
Aramaic
Translation - Vic Alexander - Current Online Translation
Brethren:
Allow
this editor to preface the sermon by stating the following:
If
the wages of sin (Passion) be death eternal, then conversely the
blessings of righteousness (Patience) be life eternal. Keep this in
mind as we read today’s sermon
Last
week we spoke upon the blessings of Patience, and the curse of
Passion, (the two boys from Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress) and how the
latter would lead towards becoming so hardened against the word of
God. Such is the man that we will see below, known as the “man in
the iron cage” who tasted the fruits of blessings of God, but
sought to seek out the lusts of the carnal flesh even more so, and
thereby rejected that word in the end.
Herein
below read the dialogue from Bunyan’s book
“So
he took him by the hand again, and led him into a very dark room,
where there sat a man in an iron cage. Now the man, to look on,
seemed very sad; he sat with his eyes looking down to the ground, his
hands folded together, and he sighed as if he would break his heart.
Then said Christian, What means this? At which the Interpreter bid
him talk with the man
Then said Christian to the man, What art thou? The man answered, I am what I was not once.
Then said Christian to the man, What art thou? The man answered, I am what I was not once.
CHRISTIAN:
What
wast thou once?
THE
MAN: The man said, I was once a fair and flourishing professor,
(Read Luke 8:13), both in mine own eyes, and also in the eyes of
others: I once was, as I thought, fair for the celestial city, and
had then even joy at the thoughts that I should get thither.
CHRISTIAN:
Well,
but what art thou now?
THE
MAN:
I
am now a man of despair, and am shut up in it, as in this iron cage.
I cannot get
out;
Oh now I cannot!
CHRISTIAN:
But how camest thou into this condition?
THE
MAN: I left off to watch and be sober: I laid the reins upon the
neck of my lusts; I sinned
against
the light of the word, and the goodness of God; I have grieved the
Spirit, and he is gone; I
tempted
the devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and he
has left me: I have
so
hardened my heart, that I cannot repent.
Then
said Christian to the Interpreter, But is there no hope for such a
man as this? Ask him,
said
the Interpreter.
CHRISTIAN:
Then said Christian, Is there no hope, but you must be kept in the
iron cage of
despair?
THE
MAN: No, none at all.
CHRISTIAN:
Why, the Son of the Blessed is very pitiful.
THE
MAN: I have crucified him to myself afresh, (Read Hebrews 6:6); I
have despised his person, (Read Luke 19:14); I have despised his
righteousness; I have counted his blood an unholy thing; I have done
despite to the spirit of grace, (Read Hebrews 10:29): therefore I
have shut myself out of all the promises and there now remains to me
nothing but threatenings, dreadful threatenings, faithful
threatenings of certain judgment and fiery indignation, which shall
devour me as an adversary.
CHRISTIAN:
For what did you bring yourself into this condition?
THE
MAN: For the lusts, pleasures, and profits of this world; in the
enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight: but now
every one of those things also bite me, and gnaw me
like
a burning worm.
CHRISTIAN:
But canst thou not now repent and turn?
THE
MAN: God hath denied me repentance. His word gives me no
encouragement to believe; yea, himself hath shut me up in this
iron cage: nor can all the men in the world let me out.
Oh eternity! eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I
must meet with in eternity?
INTERPRETER:
Then said the Interpreter to Christian, Let this man’s misery be
remembered
by
thee, and be an everlasting caution to thee”
My
friends, do you not see how that lusts of the flesh can lead to
destruction? Above dialogue with the man in the cage indicates how,
when we receive the good news of the Gospel of Christ that is to say
the Gospel of Grace and Redemption and then, like the one whose word
is choked out by thorns or fallen upon stoney ground (Read Mark
4:16-19), as such fall away, and return to the desires of the flesh,
and the carnal wisdom that is put forth by man?
Friends
I beseech you, turn from that path, and continue onward upon the
straight and narrow road. Turn neither left, nor right, (Read
Deuteronomy 28:14; Joshua 1:7; Proverbs 4:26-27;Hebrews 12:12-13).
Keep your eyes and heart secured and focused on the goal, that being
the entering of the Kingdom of Heaven. Seek not the riches of this
temporal plain, but seek you first the kingdom of Heaven (Read
Matthew 6:33)
Also recall from last week, how we read about Esau and the prodigal son. Yet there was a subtle difference; the former, upon losing the blessings of his father, Issac, lamented and cried out how it was unfair, but could no longer repent, for it was too late as he openly renounced his need for inheritance, in fact it hardened his heart even more so as it brought forth hatred of his brother Jacob within it. The latter, the prodigal son, was able to see the error of his ways, and sought to repent with his father, even going so far as to renounce his kinship with him and become an ordinary servant.
Also recall from last week, how we read about Esau and the prodigal son. Yet there was a subtle difference; the former, upon losing the blessings of his father, Issac, lamented and cried out how it was unfair, but could no longer repent, for it was too late as he openly renounced his need for inheritance, in fact it hardened his heart even more so as it brought forth hatred of his brother Jacob within it. The latter, the prodigal son, was able to see the error of his ways, and sought to repent with his father, even going so far as to renounce his kinship with him and become an ordinary servant.
*
Literal translation of the word “eternity”; the universe - Source
Vic Alexander
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