The Point of No Return

”Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” –Hebrews 12:15-17

One of the hardest truths of Christianity to grasp is the teaching that there is a point of rejecting the will of God beyond which a man may never find repentance. Sin hardens the heart toward the things of God. When we are young, our hearts are tender, which explains in part why so many believers today came to Christ as children. As people progress through life without responding to God, His voice grows steadily silent to their souls. Eventually, through the deceitfulness of sin, their hearts are seared over and they will never repent.

The illustration of this is Esau, who made two decisions to reject God’s will for his life that he could never take back. Though he wept bitterly over his loss, he alone was to blame for losing his blessing and his birthright. God gives to us every moment of our lives in which to turn to Him in repentance and respond to Him by faith. But each time we say “no” to God, we inch our way closer to the point after which we will never say “yes.”

God’s door is always open and anyone who ever repents of sin and trusts Christ as Savior will be received by the Lord. But beware of the point at which the Spirit of God moves on to other hearts and the soul is so embittered that it will never again respond favorably to the gospel.

This truth is essential for Christians as well as unbelievers. Paul’s greatest fear was that he might preach to others but himself be a “castaway” or be put on the shelf by God. God is loving, gracious, and forgiving, but a vessel which may no longer be used effectively for His glory is cast to the side. We’ve all seen the wasted ruins of a man of God turned aside to immorality and given to indulgence of the flesh. Let us beware, lest the same end should come to us.

Keep your heart tender and soft to the will of God. Remain yielded. Seek His righteousness and holiness, and keep the communication lines open with the Holy Spirit within. Finally, allow repentance to be a daily, even moment-by-moment exercise of the soul before God.