Security of Salvation part 2

 Last time we began to discuss the controversial Hebrews 6 passage. A widely misunderstood and mysterious section of scripture that is difficult even for the scholars.

We made it through the first few verses last time but this week we really get to the nuts and bolts of the scripture as we ask the question, "once someone has come to faith in Jesus, can he/she lose or turn from that faith and lose salvation?" Of course one concern is the genuineness of ones profession and the authenticity of being truly "born again" in Christ.

Let's look at the text before breaking it down.

Heb 6:4  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,
Heb 6:5  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
Heb 6:6  and then 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. 

(NASB)

When we look at the text there are a few words that will need to be defined.

First we see the word enlightened. This does not pose any real confusion to our question, as it is simply the revelation of Jesus Christ. Once anyone has heard the gospel or been told of the grace of God they no longer walk in darkness regarding Jesus' sacrifice and the way of salvation. In fact if you simply look at the disciples, Judas Iscariot was enlightened, acted as if one of the followers but in reality had rejected the Light.

The second word that needs explained is "tasted". Some of the people addressed in this letter to the Hebrews had tasted the heavenly gift. The heavenly gift here is the Lord Jesus, his words, grace, miracles, etc. There is no mention of repentance and eating and drinking, only tasting. I would guess this concept is pretty straight forward as we see a similar idea in 1st Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.  (NASB) The teaching here is not that the unbeliever is saved because of someone else's faith, but they are receiving the blessings of the other persons faith. When God blesses the righteous those around them will be able to taste of those blessings, maybe even look like it is because of them. In Matthew chapter 27 Jesus was offered wine mixed with gall. A drink to help with the pain that had a bitter taste. Jesus tasted it but would not drink it. John 6:53 tells us tasting is not enough, Joh 6:53  So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. Joh 6:54  "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Clearly the people who have been informed and experienced Jesus have all but accepted Him. So what about the last part of verse 4 where it appears they are genuine because they have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit? Well hang on because this goes deep. The Spirit of God reveals the truth of God to the unregenerate, which is all of us at some point before coming to Christ. One author calls it the preconversion ministry of the Holy Spirit. In other words we in our own flesh are unable to discern spiritual matters and so the Spirit of God opens our eyes to Spiritual truth. In reality it would be impossible for us to choose Christ without the revelation or enlightenment, through whatever source, and the Holy Spirits revelation to us of these spiritual truths. The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost....you and me. According to John 16:8 He convicts unbelievers of sin, of righteousness and of judgment so a person can partake in these benefits without being indwelled by Him. Let me remind the readers that it would be foolish to believe every person in church on any given Sunday is truly regenerated. They are partakers in service and events, maybe even try to teach and direct, but God knows their hearts. They receive the glory they long for by being in and among the blessed believers and take the glory from God as if it is theirs. Every church has these people!

Verse 6 therefore is referring to those who appear by all indications to belong to the body of Christ but resemble Judas more than Jesus. When I was serving in missions I went through a tough phase when it finally occurred to me that if I share the gospel and someone rejects it that they are without excuse, they have been informed, invited and warned. Of course, how naive to believe anyone has a valid excuse, but I think you see my point. Those who hear and taste and reject the truth..ie Jesus, will be allowed to have their choice. God will not force them to come to Him. So the concept of verse 6 is once a person has come to this point of experiential faith and never personalized it, never repented, never trusted in Jesus and walked away, they will be turned over to their consequences. I have had two men in my life share the gospel and although I didn't respond until a third man shared with me, I never became hostile or flat out rejected Christ, I just didn't gravitate toward him at that time. I became increasingly curious, felt the hand of God leading me toward Him and eventually accepted His gift of salvation, through faith in Christ. I shudder to think it could have gone the other way, my attitude in those days very well could have rejected the truth and according to verse 6, once my decision has been made I am clearly disregarding God, betraying His invitation, spurning Christ, and joining the forces that oppose Him. This could be almost instantaneous or it could be years in the making. Billy Graham had a mentor who got him involved in ministry by the name of Charles Templeton. Charles was charismatic and a great speaker, enthusiastic and seemed to be on fire for Christ. Until one day he revealed he had been living a lie and was done with the charade. Billy and others were shocked and devastated, but Charles went on sadly to reject the Lord. Even Lee Stroble tried to reach him but it was unclear if he was able to complete Lees book before his death. 

In case you were unfamiliar with what an apostate is, it is someone who hears the gospel, makes a profession of being a Christian, becomes identified with a christian church, then abandons their profession of faith, decisively repudiate Christ, desert the christian fellowship, and take their place among the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. By default if your not with Christ, your against Christ, this isn't the NFL where you can pick your team. One more thing, the apostate can only be a non-Christian. Not to be confused with the average person who hears the gospel and does nothing about it.

For those apostates it is impossible for them to be renewed again because they were never renewed to begin with. This would be suggesting a second crucifixion of Christ which would suggest the first one wasn't enough or appropriate. 

This is a condensed exhortation of these verses and certainly many other aspects and considerations could be followed up for even more clarity. But if you are like me and this text has caused you to question your security in Christ, let me remind you...Joh 10:26  "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. Joh 10:27  "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
Joh 10:28  and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. Joh 10:29  "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. Joh 10:30  "I and the Father are one."

Maybe in my next blog I will try to answer the question that is closely related to today's topic, "is there such a thing as a carnal Christian and if so are they truly saved?"

Till next time.

P.M.

Foolishness of the Cross

 Just a few weeks till Easter and undoubtedly the minds of many are turning toward the death burial and resurrection of Jesus.

Over the years countless individuals have studied and made claims that the cross of Jesus just isn't possible. The time line doesn't line up, the gospels seem to have conflicting reports and so they conclude the error lies within the Bible. If something that significant, in other words all of Christianity hinges on the cross, is faulty than the entire Bible must be dismissed as unreliable. This of course brings into question those who are desperate to understand and are confronted with this supposed wisdom, those who are persuaded that the Bible is untrustworthy and renders their faith foolishness.

This concept and attempt to hijack the gospel with self proclaimed wisdom has bothered me more and more in recent years. Many times it is the "creastors" those who only attend church two times a year, who want to educate those who actually come to church regularly, read their Bibles and take a genuine interest all year in the gospel. But this year in God's providence I have been studying through the book of 1st Corinthians for our current series, "Corinthian coach". I say in God's providence, because the first chapter addresses this very current dilemma in the church. By verse 10 the apostle Paul is already rebuking the believers for the factions they have formed. Arguing over which man to follow when the gospel clearly reveals only one man worth following. But by verse 18 Paul has identified two people groups. don't forget this letter is to the church and therefore is assuming that they know the gospel and love God.Of course, they don't have the parable of the tares yet so they don't realize that even the first century church contained weeds mixed throughout the wheat.

The first people group are those who are perishing. These people may look like, act like and sound like the real deal but in their hearts they are playing church. They don't believe the gospel and have their own ideas on what it means to be saved.

The second group are those who are being saved. These folks don't claim to know everything, there are things about the Bible, God, and even the gospel that are confusing and hard to understand but in their hearts they know the word of God is reliable and the lack of understanding is not a reason to void the truth.

But the interesting thing is Paul says the thing that distinguishes them into these two groups is the word of the cross. Or course you and I call it the gospel today but it is the same thing that Paul is referring to. It is found in verse 18 of chapter one. He says the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. In fact what is being emphatically stated between the lines here is without believing the gospel of the cross it is impossible to be saved. These people search for humanly wisdom which is kind of an oxymoron. They might be wise in their own sight but Paul later says the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisest humans claims. In fact the term foolishness here is where we get our word moron from and the word perishing in verse 18 means to destroy. 

on the other hand to those who are being saved it is the power of God. Maybe you have heard someone speak of the power of the gospel. It is the most life changing truth you can possibly hear if you are willing to believe. We as humans seek to understand and that's a good thing, but when it comes to the gospel we have entered into the world of spiritual revelation. Without God's Holy Spirit it would be impossible to understand the gospel. Why? Because it is spiritually discerning and contains great wisdom and insight into our creator. 

So what is the gospel exactly? The gospel contains what most have called the bad news, good news syndrome. The bad news, you are a sinner, you were born that way and your sin offends a holy and righteous God. And by the way you are helpless to remedy the situation. A just judge requires justice and that is God's demand. We were given the 10 commandments, which Jesus summarized into two, love God, and love others. This served as a guide to reveal that not one of us can keep the commandments and therefore even if we think we are good, the standard shows we fall flat. The good news, which is where we get the term gospel, is that God provided payment for our sins, past present and future. He sent His Son Jesus who willingly went to the cross, having never sinned, fulfilling the law and therefore provided the perfect sacrifice for mankind. Having been crucified on a cross, He was killed, buried and rose from the grave 3 days later. His resurrection was the defining moment that defeated death and for those who believe give us the glorious hope of eternity in heaven. 

That being said it does sound pretty sensational and hard to believe, that is why it is called faith. For example you believed the chair you are in would hold you up when you sat down. The faucet had water come out when you turned it on and the computer had power when you plugged it in. All things you probably couldn't explain every detail about,, yet you believe, that is faith.

I will leave it at that and let you wrestle with it for now. your comments and questions are welcomed and my prayer is that all who read this will come to the same conclusion I have.....Jesus is my Lord and savior and I place my faith in Him and abandon my own efforts to be saved. After all it is not foolishness, it is the power of God.

Till next time.

P.M.

Leading for a change!?

So what exactly does it mean to lead for a change? Its one of those double meanings. One side seems somewhat negative and the other side seems to be referring to an end result. Only we can influence what side of the coin comes up. I was once told by a wise guy, not necessarily a wise man if you catch my drift, that when it comes to leadership it means to lead or get out of the way. As a manager for many years that seemed like a good thing to do and seemed to work, the problem was where and how to lead those entrusted into my care. To nurture and help them to discover was not a quality I really excelled at.
When it comes to church there are many different ideas floating around as to what leadership looks like, how it should respond and who exactly is leading? These range from the pastor makes all the decisions and does everything to the pastor should have no say he gets paid to do what we pay him for. I love these discussions as you can see the heart and the self motives in many of these interactions. Scripture fortunately has plenty to say in regards to this subject, and considering God is a God of order, has a clearly laid out plan for leadership. Let me first clarify that when I refer to leadership I am referring to the term most of America would consider pastors, elders, deacons, trustees or whatever you want to call them, but those who have come forward to answer a call to lead in a church setting. This is not to be confused with the many commands that we are all ministers of the gospel and are expected to share our faith and create disciples. We each are responsible to continue our growth and although people help us it ultimately comes down to what are we doing to grow personally.
Join me over the next few weeks as we look at what scripture has to say in regards to the church and its leadership. You will be amazed and challenged, and in many cases confirm what you may have already thought or known. Catch ya soon.
Mark