AND let me add btw that if these 2 lone verses were loss of salvation then they would totally contrdict the totallity of scripture to the contrary. No….. these are only the Judizers who “TASTED” of he good things of the Gospel BUT they did NOT “SHALLOW IT”. In other words they “rejected CHRIST” and returned to “Judaism” and the “LAW”.
Again read the ENTIRE book of HEBREWS and you will not find a MORE comforting book as far as the believer’s assurance of salvation from God, “IN CHRIST”.

Trust our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST…and NOT the worriers, fear mongers and hypocrites. Numbers 23:19

See Also Romans 4:5-8 & 2 Cor. 5:19 about future sins and the “BELIEVER”.

TRUST JESUS, not the fearful and the Hypocrites. 2 Timothy 1:7

I especially LOVE your thoughts on the importance of Christian community and Bible study (both in church and on this blog.) So true! I NEED YOU GUYS, too. “He also made such a good point about how much we need community because every day we are bombarded with thoughts that slip in and say that this or that is better than Bible, better than church, why don’t you just forget about that stuff and do this…we need to encourage each other daily. This tells me that I NEED YOU GUYS! Being on this blog helps keep me close to Him. Just this summer, someone close to me said, “Why don’t you take a break from Bible study?” And I said to them, “Would you like me to say to you that I’m going to take a break from you and not talk to you say, for a couple of months?”
But this is what we’re hit with every day – “take a break from God…you don’t really need to talk to Him every day, do you? Isn’t there something better you could be doing with your time?”

8. What is your take-away and why?

My take-away is to “take-away”….all of this. It’s not a wrapped-up, finished thing for this week. As we continue on in Hebrews, this will be a repeated theme. There are assurances, there are warnings. As Piper pointed out, this book is addressed to “Brethren -brothers and sisters”. There are both in their midst. I don’t think you can pull out any particular passages and say, this is about eternal security. I’d like to remember to put myself in the original hearers position as it was read to them. This letter speaks assurance and warning, it speaks about self-examination. But, as we’ve learned, there is a Hero in this book, Jesus.

This is really hard, I think I’d really pray for a lot of wisdom and discernment first. The last thing I want to do is plant seeds of doubt in someone who really is saved, but perhaps going through a desert time, or is a baby Christian. I’ve had periods, especially as a new Christian, where I just didn’t really know everything I was “supposed” to be doing. So you become a Christian, but you need to be discipled and mentored to learn how to live the Christian life. I never was discipled – that’s part of the problem of being in a large 2000+ member church – the pastors don’t know everyone personally, and if you walk out the door and never come back, no one even misses you! On top of that, when your family wonders if you’ve “gone off the deep end”, and you get no encouragement at home, it’s really tough. I lived there for a lot of years. In my new church, I am just starting to experience “community”, being known personally, and it’s taken a year for that.

Now if this person was continually living in open sin, yet told me that he was saved because of a prayer, etc…., I would probably take him to 1 John, and say let’s look at some Scripture about sin…not that we don’t still sin, but if it’s a continual, habitual pattern and it doesn’t even bother you, you feel no conviction about it…
I’d ask a lot of questions and try to be a really good listener.

Just got back to town. I’ve spent several hours on the road yesterday and today and downloaded some stuff to listen to before I left. A couple hours included speaking and Q & A by Keller. The recordings were not at all what I expected (based on the title), but they were excellent. Interestingly, in the middle of the Q & A at the U of Chicago, someone asked him if he thought a person could lose his/her salvation. He very briefly (about 1 sentence) shared what he believed, said he was a Presbyterian minister, and that if he talked to someone “one-to-one,” they would understand what he believed. But he also said that he was there to talk about Christianity, not Presbyterianism. I am curious how he would explain the passages in Hebrews; the audience/setting was unique; I’m hoping I can find somewhere he addresses the passages.

In the Q & A, he also discussed responding to passages in Scripture that seemed to contradict each other or appeared to be in error (and had at least one good example). I didn’t realize that C.S. Lewis believed that the Bible includes errors. I disagree with that, but there is a lot I don’t understand.