Holiest of All by Andrew Murray

Zbc IboUest of au 207
XLV.
THE DANGER OF FALLING AWAY.
VI.— 4. For as touching those who were once enlightened, and tasted of
the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5. And tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,
and then fell away,
6. It is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
7. For the land which hath drunk the rain that cometli oft upon it, and
bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it Is also tilled, receiveth
blessing from God
8. But if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse
whose end is to be burned.
Let us press on to perfection. For as touching- those who
were once enlightened, and fall away, it is impossible to
renew them again. The argument is one of unspeakable
solemnity. It is in the Christian life as with all progress amid
difficulties. In commerce, in study, in war, it is so often said :
there is no safety but in advance. To stand still is to go back.
To cease effort is to lose ground. To slacken the pace, before
the goal is reached, is to lose the race. The only sure mark
of our being true Christians, of our really loving Christ, is the
deep longing and the steady effort to know more of Him.
Tens of thousands have proved that to
be content with beginning
well is but the first step on a backward course, that ends
in losing all. The whole point of the argument from the case
of those who fall away is Let us press on to perfection.