Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

When Peter and the apostles were jailed for teaching "Jesus", they were given strict orders by the Council to not teach in His name, Peter answered them by saying, "We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29). So must we too as we look to the word of God as the full authority to find the answer to our question just as those of Berea, who studied to see if those things were so (Acts 17:10).

So we begin our search to our question, when one becomes a Christian, "Can we fall away?". There is no doubt that there is a warm cozy feeling to hold onto the thought that once we have accepted the teachings of our Lord and have acted upon it in baptism in that watery grave (Romans 6:1-6 & Colossians 2:12), that we are forever His no matter our future circumstances by the deeds we do. The difficulty with this belief abound as the New Testament scriptures give us continued warnings that we can run into dark waters if we do not hold fast the good word of life. We begin our search with the Hebrew writer who says, "For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it." (Hebrews 2:1). Since faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), we can drift away from it back into the way of the world which we have escaped (Colossians 3:1-10),

1 Timothy 1:18-20 This command I entrust you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with

the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight,

keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in

regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed

over to Satan, So that they will be taught not to blaspheme. To be "shipwrecked", one

must be on the ship before one can wreck his faith as these two men did. Paul warns the

Christians,

Galatians 5:1-4 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm

and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you

receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man

who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have

been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen

from grace.

Some of the Hebrew Christians were teaching that they had to receive circumcision to be acceptable to God, by holding onto the Old Testament teachings which Jesus fulfilled by His nailing to the cross and those that continued to hold to this teaching Paul says that they are then under obligation to keep all of the Old Law and are severed from Christ and are fallen from grace. 

Peter warns us also that we can come to know the truth and yet turn away from it again,  

2 Peter 2:20-22 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the

knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are

overcome, the last state has become worse for them that the first. For it would have been

better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it, to

turn away from the holy commandment handed to them. It has happened to them

according to the true proverb, "A dog returns to its own vomit," and, "A sow, after

washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."

Those folks knew the true knowledge of the Lord, having escaped the defilements of the world, and again to be entangled in them, the last state becomes worse than before having received the knowledge of the word. For someone who has come to know the way of the Lord, it is difficult to once again receive Him as the heart can become a cold hearted orb. The Hebrew writer once again is very direct to how difficult it is,

Hebrews 6:4-6 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted

of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the

good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then to have fallen away, it is

impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the

son of God and put Him to open shame.

So there we have our answer to our question of "Can we fall away?", as we see that we can indeed fall away from the living God by once again being entangled in the ways of the world. Hebrews 10:26 clarifies it being 'impossible' to renew them as those who continue to sin willingly do not have a heart that wants to be renewed and there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins and "tramples underfoot the Son of God" (Hebrews 10:29-30). Remember, "if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?" (1 Peter 4:18).

May we hold fast the word of our Lord to the end and not have our names blotted out of the book but be unstained for life!