Inheriting the Promises (Heb 6)
Introduction
Reasons for the difficulty of this passage: misinterpretation and misapplication.
Exposition
The nature of the 'unforgivable sin':
'It is a rejecting, opposing, and blaspheming, of Christ and the way of salvation through him, after a man hath been clearly convinced of the truth, and tasted the goodness thereof, by the inward operation of the Holy Ghost, and that deliberately, and willfully, and avowedly, out of malice and despite against Christ and his Holy Spirit' (Thomas Boston, Works 11.535).
It is the sin of those in the wilderness who saw his miracles and knew the truth, but preferred Egypt (Heb 3), the sin of Judas, the sin of the demons (who know truth, but hate God), the sin of the Pharisees who saw Christ's miracles and knew the truth, but hated and killed him.
Objection: Is God therefore unmerciful?
Illustration: The unfruitful field, compare Matt 12:31-35.
Application: Be like Abraham, who through faith and patience inherited the promises (Gen 22)