Q3. Restoration from Apostasy

[Paula Price]

Apostasy is the turning away from and the denying of faith.  In this case it is not believing in Jesus Christ and that he is risen from the dead.  In order to receive eternal life, one must believe in Jesus and that he is the son of the living God. In order to get to God you must go through the Son, for he is the intercessor for our sins.  John 3:16 -17 - " for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have every lasting life.. for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved."  It is impossible to restore someone who does not believe.  God can not lie. Just like the children of Israel who turn their backs on God and did not believe and continued to walk in sin, they were condemned to perish in the wilderness and did not see the promised land. Jesus said " if you reject me before men, I will reject you before my father"  .We are the good seed planted in the garden with the weed. As long as we are in the world we will be among the weed, the bad seed. but as long as we continue in faith and doing the will of God and growing and producing and baring good fruit, God will separate the weed and burn it at the harvest.  That is his promise.

 

[Paula Price]

When we exercise faith and patience in our daily walk,  we mature in the word.  We will need to use the whole armor of God to face the challenges of this world and to stand firm in our belief and conviction in what we believe.  In order to obtain the promise for which Christ died, we will need God's mercy and grace to cover us. That is the gift, mercy and grace for if it wasn't for that, we would not be able to make it on our own.  Man is weak.  God knows our every weakness and give us his mercy and grace to help us not to be lost from him. His word is the path we must follow.  We are to be obedient to his word and do his will and he will reward us for doing that.  We have his assurance, through Jesus Christ.  It is not because  we are so good but because of God's grace that has helped us to endure. Everything we do and everything we are belongs to God. We were created to please him.  Abraham and Job are perfect examples of faith and patience.  They waited on God, no matter how long it took.  They walked in his word and did what they needed to do to receive the promises of God. Sure they must have doubted sometimes and became impatient, but they never gave up their faith, they never acted on their doubt and repented when necessary to keep in favor with God. God' grace and mercy helps us to be strong in times of trouble so that we can with stand the darts of the enemy, sin. Exercising the fruits of the spirit will help us to be faithful and patient.  When we concentrate on doing these, maybe the wait won't be so long!! Gives us something to do to take our mind off our troubles! 

[Godswriter]

Q3. (Hebrews 6:4-6) What is apostasy? Why is it impossible from a practical standpoint to restore apostates to Christian faith and practice? What point was Jesus making in his Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)? What is Jesus' point of the Parable of the Tares or Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30)?
 

Apostasy is the actual falling away of those who have been given the chance to believe in Jesus Christ and choose to deny Him instead. I believe it is because they never truly believed in Christ in the first place to begin with. For they never made a true profession of faith so they never truly chose to accept the Lord as their Savior and Lord. His point is that for each soil type is a different type of heart condition spiritually speaking. The first one would be a calloused aka hardened heart. For this heart; the party in question is someone who is completely unable to hear the word since it is hidden from them. The stony heart is representative of the casual heart. A person who has explosive growth but doesn't deep roots in Christ so when the troubles and trials comes they go back to their old ways. The thorny heart represents a crowded heart. It has 4 different kinds of weeds or troubles of this world which are the deceitfulness of riches, the care of this world, **** of other things and pleasures of this life. The enemy is not internal but external. The hearts of the third set of the hearers are divided. Their hearts are crowded. The good ground represents the converted heart- the person who hears the Word, allows the truth to sink in, and is genuinely saved. Just as there are three levels of not believing the Word of God, there are also three levels of productivity in the hearts of those who believe. Some produce fruit 100fold, some produce it 60 fold, some produce it 30 fold. None produce it zero fold. With the wheat and tares parables He is telling us that there will be a time that all of us both believers and unbelievers will be separated from each other.

[Jesus Follower]

On 4/14/2007 at 5:41 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q3. (Hebrews 6:4-6) What is apostasy? Why is it impossible from a practical standpoint to restore apostates to Christian faith and practice? What point was Jesus making in his Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)? What is Jesus' point of the Parable of the Tares or Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30)?

To renounce one's faith. "Deconstruct" your faith.

They by definition don't have saving faith in Christ.

People can look like they have saving faith from the outside, but if their faith doesn't endure testing, it is not saving faith.

Only God knows the heart and who is truly saved.

[royk]

What is apostasy? Is it impossible  to restore apostates to Christian faith and practice? What point was Jesus making in his Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)? What is Jesus' point of the Parable of the Tares or Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30)?

 Some were never really Christians, the wiles of the world appealed to them, and their true colors came about. This includes not believing in a hell and eternal damnation. We can continue to pray, patiently and be expectant that they will return to Christ. We're unable to know the truth deep in their hearts. It is hard enough in 2022 to attempt to evangelize the average person in your path. But God is able to make all grace abound in them and us.

[Dove81]

Q3. (Hebrews 6:4-6) What is apostasy?

Apostasy is the abandonment of or rejection of Christ.

Why is it impossible from a practical standpoint to restore apostates to Christian faith and practice?
Since they have rejected Christ and his written word it is impossible for them to be restored. In their rejection of God they have been turned over to a reprobate mindset- Romans 1:28.

 

What point was Jesus making in his Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)?
That many will hear the word of God and or experence his goodness. Some will witness yet they didn’t realize what they witness or heard so it will mean nothing to them. Some will hear or witness and understand but will walk away anf forget what they just experienced. The other will take what they heard or experienced and remember it all but then allow life to get in the way of what they just learned and end up loosing that knowledge. The last person heard and witnessed and fully understood and retained it all. It penetrated deep within them and they continued to seek and study more of what they heard and witnessed. Which caused them to grow deeper in their understanding of God’s word.

 

What is Jesus' point of the Parable of the Tares or Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30)?

Jesus’ point was that amongst the saved there are also tares or unbelievers. When he comes back for his people the tares will be gathered up and burned and the saved will reside in heaven with him.