Mark 8 v 34-36, “And when he had called the people [unto him] with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Every person that has ever lived is faced with this age old question that our dear Lord asks in the passage found in the gospel of Mark. The Lord, when tempted of the devil, clearly left an impeccable example for us to follow in terms of where our lifelong priorities should lie. You may all recall in the account documented in Matthew 4 v 8-10, “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” The devil showed Jesus Christ, in a moment as Luke would describe it, all the Kingdoms of the world in their glory and attempted to seduce the Lord into worshipping him in return for them. Now let us put everything into perspective and see how impossible it would have been for the Lord to even have an inkling of desire to even begin considering the idea of ever worshipping Satan. Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh that means He is God. Satan is a fallen angel i.e. a creation of God that became perverse due to pride. Psalm 24 v 1, “The earth [is] the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” So we have a fallen creature of God attempting to seduce his Creator into worshipping him in return for things that belong to the Creator himself. Consider the absurdity of such a scenario. The Lord could have rolled on the ground in laughter holding the devil in derision for such a feeble attempt at deceiving him yet Jesus Christ humbled himself and left us a most precious example to follow “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” First, the Lord resisted the devil by telling him to depart from His presence: "Get thee hence, Satan." Then He informed him of His motivation for refusing to succumb to his temptations: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Is this not the pattern we need to follow each time we are tempted, not only by the devil but by our own lust, by resisting those temptations through practicing the word of God? Yet that is not the thrust of my nugget.
My nugget’s purpose is to make us realize the futility of chasing worldly success at the expense of our eternal salvation. The whole world is in a hustle to achieve, succeed and prosper. We are all in a hurry to get rich, famous, honour, glory and power yet all that is a waste of our time if for eternity we weep and gnash our teeth in the deepest darkest parts of the Lake of fire. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” That question stood 2,000 years ago and still stands today. Think of all the things you want to achieve in life and compare them to the value of receiving the gift of salvation. Which would you rather have? The Lord was offered the world yet He chose to worship God because He considered obedience to His Father more important than earthly glory. Should we not carry the same attitude? Why should you be more concerned about being a leader in an organization at the expense of being reconciled to God? Why should you chase after wealth at the expense of being reconciled to God? Why should social status and acceptance be of more concern to you than the eternal future of your soul? Why should the world’s fleeting pleasures captivate your soul more than the gospel of Jesus Christ? Of what benefit is there to you if you become rich, successful, live in a big house, have at your disposal all the social pleasures, have fame and are glorified of men yet when you die and pass from time into eternity your soul is lost and lives in eternal torment within the pits of hell? What is the use of all these worldly things if after you have had them you have nothing but a reprobate soul that is forever confined to the torments of hell? Do we ever think of these questions? Are we ever concerned about the eternal future of our souls? We are in a hurry to make sure we are clothed, fed, sheltered, educated and have means of producing wealth yet are we ever in a hurry to ensure our eternal welfare is taken care of?
Is it not right to say that the most important thing in life is to deal with the eternal future of your soul? Is it not better to be that successful person in life who has already received the gift of salvation? Does it not make sense for you to repent of your sins and be reconciled to God then become a successful person? Of course in the real world things do not work in that order but the point I am trying to make is that the success you will spend your life on earth trying to achieve for the 70+ years you will be on earth for is less than nothing in comparison to eternity in hell. That is why Jesus asks “For what shall it profit a man…?” Where is the benefit? What have you gained if you are worth $100 billion yet in eternity you are condemned to hell? Where is the profit? What’s the point? Do you not see the futility of chasing worldly Kingdoms at the expense of obeying the voice of God? We are enemies of God through our rebellion to Him. In His mercy the Father sent His only begotten Son to take upon Himself the due punishment for our disobedience. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ by first acknowledging and confessing our sin and sinfulness, repent from it, ask for forgiveness and surrender our lives to the Lord by trusting in His substitutionary death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead on the third day. Only then are we reconciled to God and the eternal future of our souls becomes secure in Christ. Yet in life we find ourselves more afraid of being materially poor than being spiritually poor. We are more concerned about being rich in material possessions than being rich in faith. We would rather live in big houses than have the Holy Spirit live in our hearts. We would rather live in harmony with the world at the expense of being at peace with God. We do not want to lack food for our bodies yet our souls are in dire need of the bread of life that is the Word of God. We clothe ourselves with the finest clothes yet we constantly defile the temple of the Holy Spirit by habitual sinful acts. Last but not least we would rather the whole world loved us and glorified us instead of living lives that glorify God. What have we done? We have sought to gain the whole world and have lost our souls.
James 4 v 4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” The question still stands. What is the point of gaining the whole world only to find yourself an enemy of God? The wrath of God is kindled against you and is ready to devour you at any moment your foot should slip and you enter into eternity. For in due time your foot shall slide and you will find yourself standing before the Judgement seat of Christ to give an account of yourself. Who shall defend you in God’s courtroom when Jesus Christ, the one who could have handled your appeal, says to you, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” In that moment you will realize the futility of chasing worldly pleasures and treasures. You will begin to understand that the day of salvation is past and that the time of judgement is come. All those things in life you chased after become but an abomination to you as you realize their little value to you. You plead, you beg to no avail and as you realize that with God’s case there is no appeal, you do only what your unregenerate soul knows what to do. You blaspheme the name of God and the enemy of God that you truly are is revealed and your condemnation is deserved. Brothers and sisters, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Is it not the glory of God that the most important possession than a man should have is free i.e. the gift of salvation. Yet the attainment of worldly glory comes at a price i.e. the loss of our souls. Before the Lord asked His question, He clearly stated that we had to:
Deny ourselves
Take up our cross (daily in Luke 9 v 23)
Follow Him
To deny ourselves is a call to repentance. There is no such thing as conversion without conviction and regeneration of the soul without repentance and for you to be able to deny yourself, you need to be convicted of your sin and repent. True repentance is given by God through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. We cannot even work it ourselves and true repentance is characterized by a turning away from the former things and, holding on to the new. To deny ourselves means we acknowledge our sinfulness and abstain from it through the power of the Holy Spirit which begins with conviction leading to repentance.
To take up our cross covers two things. The first is to believe in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Note I said "the finished work." What that means is we should understand that by grace are we saved through faith; and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. What the Lord did on the cross is sufficient for our salvation today and there is nothing that needs to be added to it. The second is that we need to understand that the Lord died on that cross and as explained in Romans 6 v 6, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him,] that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Therefore we need to die daily to our sinful nature in order to serve Christ. We need to daily maintain that repentant heart understanding that though we have been justified freely by His grace we still need to put to death the fruitless deeds of sin by taking up our cross daily. The cross also represents the commitment God had to providing us with salvation. Despite its scorn He bore it for us and likewise despite the persecution and opposition we face from the world we should remain faithful by standing firm in the faith. That is what it means to take up our cross. To take up our cross is a call to surrender. There is no salvation without surrender.
John 10 v 27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” To follow Jesus is to live life in obedience to His word. It is impossible to follow God without obeying Him otherwise who are you following? To follow Christ is a call to holiness. Roman 8 v 14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” The Spirit of God leads and you follow. He guides and you follow. He instructs and you follow. Many people call Jesus Lord but do not obey Him, then how is He Lord if you do not obey? It only follows that if you have been convicted of sin, you repent and put to death the deeds of your sinful nature by the Holy Spirit, the only natural thing left for you to do is obey the Lord but half the time we have trouble obeying. We give God lip service instead of worship. Our lips say yes but our deeds say no. Our minds agree with Him but our hearts are in disagreement with Him. We want God to forgive us yet we are not prepared to repent. We want Him to grant us the gift of salvation yet we are not prepared to surrender. We want Him to be Lord of our lives yet we are not prepared to follow. We hang onto to the world for the love of it and yet claim to be friends with God. Who are we fooling? Certainly not God, therefore of what use is it if we still live like the world does for the sake of our personal sinful desires at the expense of our souls? Where is the benefit, where is the profit?
Mark 1 v 15, “…repent ye, and believe the gospel.” God bless you.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Eternal Salvation
Hebrews 5 v 9, “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”
Many of us have been faced with doubts as to our salvation. We have wondered, “What if I lose my salvation? What will I do?” To be quite frank, many of us have lived in dread of losing our salvation. But can a true believer of the gospel lose their gift of salvation? Is it possible that once God has written your name in the Book of Life He will at some point command His angels to erase it after changing His mind as concerning your status before Him? Now some of you reading this may be saying to yourselves, “This is ludicrous. Does he not know that once you are saved that’s it, you remain saved forever?” To you it may be straight forward, but try and discuss this issue with your friends at church. Speak to anyone on this subject, and you will be shocked at how many Christians actually believe it is possible to lose your salvation. You may be one of them reading this message right now probably about to give your reasons why you think it is possible to lose your salvation. However, let us dig into the Word of God and see if it so otherwise, if not, change your mind and believe the truth.
I will list the some of the chief reasons that have been brought up to support the notion that it is possible to lose your salvation and place them under the light of God’s word to see if they will be able to stand. The first has to do with “free will”. Many people say that God has given man “free will” and therefore man is free to choose whatsoever he wishes to do. Since man has “free will”, he is free to believe the gospel and thus is saved and later on in life, they say, he is still free to change his mind and so loses his salvation because he no longer believes the gospel. Such an explanation comes out of people misunderstanding what the plan of salvation actually is. Look closely at the explanation. At first glance it appears reasonable but when you dig deep, it begins to fall apart. The “free will” of man has to do with man’s ability to make choices out of his nature as man. Man has a sinful nature and therefore will always be contrary to God’s nature. Given that, it is only right to say that with his “free will”, man can only make sinful choices, cannot make a choice to follow God and only until the gospel is preached and faith is given by the preaching of the word, can man make a choice to repent and believe. John 6 v 44 says, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” and John 6 v 65, “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” So in light of these two verses, when does your “free will” allow you to choose to come to Jesus? Hebrews 12 v 2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith” and Romans 10 v 17 says, “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” Faith cannot be generated in the “free will” of man. Man with his “free will” still needs God to give him faith to believe the gospel as those two verses have shown, so then clearly even with his “free will” man does not have the ability to believe the gospel. Man has the “free will” to reject the gospel because he has a sinful nature as has been clearly seen throughout the ages but, man’s “free will” does not have the ability to allow him to desire to seek God let alone even believe the gospel as Romans 3 v 11 says, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” In light of that, how is it possible for man’s “free will” to even give him the ability to believe the gospel? Faith is a gift of God. Remember, before you receive the gift of salvation you need to repent and believe the gospel and that not of yourselves because the Holy Spirit has to convict you and cause you to believe. Ephesians 2 v 8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God” This verse clearly shows you that nothing that originated in you had a part in bringing you salvation but that everything from the grace to the faith originated with God. The biggest misconception people have with salvation is that many think a man is saved because he has chosen to be saved. It is not so. A man is saved because God has chosen to save him. You are saved by God being willing to save you not by you deciding to get saved. Your desire to get saved did not originate with you but with God. So you can see that your “free will” is under God’s control from the day you are saved thus granting you the ability to believe. So at which point with your “free will” are you ever going to decide you do not believe anymore? Philippians 2 v 13 says, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.”
John 15 v 16 says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain…” That verse shows that Jesus chose you and ordained you to bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. Does that not speak of the faithfulness of God in keeping you saved when He says “And [that] your fruit should remain”? Does not Jude 1 v 24 say, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” John 10 v 27 -28 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.” Jesus is giving us assurance that He never loses any of His sheep. Once He has saved you, He keeps you forever saved because it was His desire to save you in the first place and not yours. Remember you were not even seeking after Him in the first place. So bear in mind that for you to lose your salvation, God has to change His mind about saving you which He doesn’t do because we know that Numbers 23 v 19 says, “God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it?] or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” I know some of you may be questioning the part of this verse that says neither the son of man, that he should repent, that has nothing to do with repenting from sin because God cannot sin but it means He does not change His mind and go back on His word.
Another argument that is brought forward to support the notion that it is possible to lose your salvation is based on Hebrews 6 v 4-6 which says, “For [it is] impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [him] to an open shame.” The general explanation hangs on the interpretation that the people spoken of in these verses are saved. Phrases like once enlightened, have tasted of the heavenly gift, were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have tasted the good word of God and the powers to come are taken to mean these people are saved. If you read the verses in context you will begin to see that they do not speak of saved people but rather unsaved people. One thing we need to understand about the book of Hebrews is that it was written, as the name suggests, to Jews that had become professing Christians. The whole book seems to act as a warning to professing Christians, who were Jews in this case, from fully disbelieving the Gospel. What you will need to understand is that Jews that turned to the faith were persecuted and some because their faith was not genuine began to fall back into their old Jewish practices in order to avoid being persecuted. Examples of such warnings are Hebrews 2 v 3, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him;]”, Hebrews 4 v 1, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”, Hebrews 6 v 4-6 as quoted above and Hebrews 10 v 26-27, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” The question we need to ask is why Paul has taken pains to issue these warnings. He does this because Jews believed in the first covenant which dealt with the law so he is warning them not to fall back into those practices after having been shown that Jesus is the true Messiah and that the law was a shadow of the real salvation that was to come; the true salvation that is in Jesus Christ. In chapter 1 he tells them how in the past God spoke to the fathers by the prophets but now speaks to us by His Son and in that chapter he clearly shows how the Son was God chosen and that He is higher than the angels making Him God. In chapter 2, he talks about how the Son obediently came in the flesh to bring about deliverance from sin and death. In chapter 3 and 4 he reminds them of how their forefathers displeased God in the wilderness after they had been delivered from Egypt through disbelief. He warns them in those chapters not to follow suit by disbelieving the gospel. In chapter 5, he sets Jesus Christ as the high priest chosen by God and how through His obedience, God made Him perfect and after being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all that obey Him. In Hebrews 5 v 11-14 Paul says, “Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Paul tells them that there are so many things about Jesus Christ he wants to tell them which will be more difficult for them to understand seeing that they are slow in understanding (dull of hearing). He then says to them that by now they should have been teachers but still needed someone to teach them again the first principles. He said they were like babies that need milk to grow as opposed to adults that need solid food for nourishment. He explains to them that their need to be taught again the first principles shows that they are immature/unskillful in the word of righteousness. When we move onto chapter 6 he says in Hebrews 6 v 1-3, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.” Paul is exhorting them saying they needed to move on from these first principles unto perfection, which is faith in Jesus, because they should not be laying again the foundations of the principles he lists in those verses. The question we ask is why should we move on to perfection? Perfection has to do with salvation because in Hebrews 7 v 19 he says, “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope [did;] by the which we draw nigh unto God.” Here he is saying perfection is not found in the law and in Hebrews 10 v 14, he says “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Here he shows that it Jesus who brings about perfection which is salvation and that perfection is forever. So in Hebrew 6 v 1-3 he is exhorting them to move on from the law to faith in Jesus Christ which brings about true salvation. Why? This leads us to verse 4-6, and in these verses he is warning them that after having been taught the gospel, if they continue in their unbelief it will be impossible to bring them again to repentance. What he means is that if they do not repent and believe the gospel, they cannot be brought to repentance because the gospel is the only message that brings about true repentance. So in short if the gospel is preached to you and you do not produce fruit in keeping with a repentant heart then there is no hope for you as there is no other way by which you can be saved because that will mean God will have to come again in the person of Jesus Christ to die on the cross and that’s not going to happen at all. How do we know Paul means this? Hebrews 6 v 7-8 says, “For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers [is] rejected, and [is] nigh unto cursing; whose end [is] to be burned.” Here we are given an analogy of land and Paul says if land is rained upon and produces herbs as desired by the Farmer, it receives blessing from God but if it produces thorns and briers i.e. plants not as desired by the Farmer, it is rejected, cursed and should be burned. Therefore to paraphrase Hebrews 5 v 12 – Hebrews 6 v 8, Paul is saying, “You should be teachers of the word by now but you still need to be taught the basics of the word of God henceforth move on from these basics onto faith in Jesus Christ through which you will be made perfect instead of having to be taught again the basics of the word because if you remain immature it shows that you are unrepentant and therefore not saved and as a result nothing can be done for you because the gospel is the only way by which you can be saved so if you do not repent and show evidence of repentance you are good for nothing and so God rejects you and condemns you to the everlasting fire.” So we see that those verses are not proof texts that you can lose your salvation.
The last of the other arguments that I want to deal with is based on 2 Peter 2 v 20-21 which says, “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known [it,] to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” Here people say that the people spoken of in these verses are saved and have now lost their salvation by being entangled in sin again. If you read the entire chapter in which these verses are found, you will notice that Peter is speaking about false prophets. Now what are the chances that a false prophet is saved especially if they continually practice their false prophecy as Peter describes in this chapter? False prophets are unsaved so there goes that argument. So what does 2 Peter 2 v 20-21 mean? Let’s take it in its context. 2 Peter 2 v 1 says, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” In this verse Peter identifies the people he speaks of in this chapter and their future destiny. I will not reproduce the entire chapter but you will need to read it for yourself to see what I am about to explain. From verse to verse he describes their actions. In v 3 “make merchandise of you” i.e. they will strip you for all the cash you have, in v 10 “selfwilled”, in v 14 they are adulterers, covetous and deceitful, in v 15 they have forsaken the right way, in v 17 they are wells without water i.e. they do not have the everlasting water of the Spirit in them and in v 19 they are servants of corruption. In v 20 we are told that they had escaped the “pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. That cannot mean they were saved because had they been saved, they would not have been unfruitful as described in the chapter. So it can only mean that the gospel being taught to them was their escape from the pollutions of the world but they did not repent but instead used it for their own selfish gain and now their sinful lifestyles are a witness to their reprobate state because they were entangled again in their sin being worse than they were before. As a result, it was better for them not to have known the gospel because they are more sinful now than they were before and therefore there was more hope for them before than there is now. Once again these verses do not support that a person can lose their salvation.
The Bible teaches that God saves you and keeps you. You cannot undo what God has done. It’s His decision to save you not yours. That is the absolute Sovereignty of God. You were not at anytime consulted as concerning your salvation but you were informed of it through the gospel. If you could not save yourself how are you then able to “unsave” yourself? God is not a liar. He said He will keep you and so He will. Christians who misunderstand this truth are either still grappling with the doctrine of the Sovereign grace of God or are still depending on their own goodness for salvation. To the latter I say examine yourselves for you may still need to repent and believe the gospel. Salvation is eternal it is not given with strings attached. All the conditions that were needed for salvation to be given to man were met by Jesus Christ. You do not need to do anything to be saved let alone to keep yourself saved. Only Christ Jesus can do that. God bless you.
Many of us have been faced with doubts as to our salvation. We have wondered, “What if I lose my salvation? What will I do?” To be quite frank, many of us have lived in dread of losing our salvation. But can a true believer of the gospel lose their gift of salvation? Is it possible that once God has written your name in the Book of Life He will at some point command His angels to erase it after changing His mind as concerning your status before Him? Now some of you reading this may be saying to yourselves, “This is ludicrous. Does he not know that once you are saved that’s it, you remain saved forever?” To you it may be straight forward, but try and discuss this issue with your friends at church. Speak to anyone on this subject, and you will be shocked at how many Christians actually believe it is possible to lose your salvation. You may be one of them reading this message right now probably about to give your reasons why you think it is possible to lose your salvation. However, let us dig into the Word of God and see if it so otherwise, if not, change your mind and believe the truth.
I will list the some of the chief reasons that have been brought up to support the notion that it is possible to lose your salvation and place them under the light of God’s word to see if they will be able to stand. The first has to do with “free will”. Many people say that God has given man “free will” and therefore man is free to choose whatsoever he wishes to do. Since man has “free will”, he is free to believe the gospel and thus is saved and later on in life, they say, he is still free to change his mind and so loses his salvation because he no longer believes the gospel. Such an explanation comes out of people misunderstanding what the plan of salvation actually is. Look closely at the explanation. At first glance it appears reasonable but when you dig deep, it begins to fall apart. The “free will” of man has to do with man’s ability to make choices out of his nature as man. Man has a sinful nature and therefore will always be contrary to God’s nature. Given that, it is only right to say that with his “free will”, man can only make sinful choices, cannot make a choice to follow God and only until the gospel is preached and faith is given by the preaching of the word, can man make a choice to repent and believe. John 6 v 44 says, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” and John 6 v 65, “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” So in light of these two verses, when does your “free will” allow you to choose to come to Jesus? Hebrews 12 v 2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith” and Romans 10 v 17 says, “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” Faith cannot be generated in the “free will” of man. Man with his “free will” still needs God to give him faith to believe the gospel as those two verses have shown, so then clearly even with his “free will” man does not have the ability to believe the gospel. Man has the “free will” to reject the gospel because he has a sinful nature as has been clearly seen throughout the ages but, man’s “free will” does not have the ability to allow him to desire to seek God let alone even believe the gospel as Romans 3 v 11 says, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” In light of that, how is it possible for man’s “free will” to even give him the ability to believe the gospel? Faith is a gift of God. Remember, before you receive the gift of salvation you need to repent and believe the gospel and that not of yourselves because the Holy Spirit has to convict you and cause you to believe. Ephesians 2 v 8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God” This verse clearly shows you that nothing that originated in you had a part in bringing you salvation but that everything from the grace to the faith originated with God. The biggest misconception people have with salvation is that many think a man is saved because he has chosen to be saved. It is not so. A man is saved because God has chosen to save him. You are saved by God being willing to save you not by you deciding to get saved. Your desire to get saved did not originate with you but with God. So you can see that your “free will” is under God’s control from the day you are saved thus granting you the ability to believe. So at which point with your “free will” are you ever going to decide you do not believe anymore? Philippians 2 v 13 says, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.”
John 15 v 16 says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain…” That verse shows that Jesus chose you and ordained you to bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. Does that not speak of the faithfulness of God in keeping you saved when He says “And [that] your fruit should remain”? Does not Jude 1 v 24 say, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” John 10 v 27 -28 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.” Jesus is giving us assurance that He never loses any of His sheep. Once He has saved you, He keeps you forever saved because it was His desire to save you in the first place and not yours. Remember you were not even seeking after Him in the first place. So bear in mind that for you to lose your salvation, God has to change His mind about saving you which He doesn’t do because we know that Numbers 23 v 19 says, “God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it?] or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” I know some of you may be questioning the part of this verse that says neither the son of man, that he should repent, that has nothing to do with repenting from sin because God cannot sin but it means He does not change His mind and go back on His word.
Another argument that is brought forward to support the notion that it is possible to lose your salvation is based on Hebrews 6 v 4-6 which says, “For [it is] impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [him] to an open shame.” The general explanation hangs on the interpretation that the people spoken of in these verses are saved. Phrases like once enlightened, have tasted of the heavenly gift, were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have tasted the good word of God and the powers to come are taken to mean these people are saved. If you read the verses in context you will begin to see that they do not speak of saved people but rather unsaved people. One thing we need to understand about the book of Hebrews is that it was written, as the name suggests, to Jews that had become professing Christians. The whole book seems to act as a warning to professing Christians, who were Jews in this case, from fully disbelieving the Gospel. What you will need to understand is that Jews that turned to the faith were persecuted and some because their faith was not genuine began to fall back into their old Jewish practices in order to avoid being persecuted. Examples of such warnings are Hebrews 2 v 3, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him;]”, Hebrews 4 v 1, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”, Hebrews 6 v 4-6 as quoted above and Hebrews 10 v 26-27, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” The question we need to ask is why Paul has taken pains to issue these warnings. He does this because Jews believed in the first covenant which dealt with the law so he is warning them not to fall back into those practices after having been shown that Jesus is the true Messiah and that the law was a shadow of the real salvation that was to come; the true salvation that is in Jesus Christ. In chapter 1 he tells them how in the past God spoke to the fathers by the prophets but now speaks to us by His Son and in that chapter he clearly shows how the Son was God chosen and that He is higher than the angels making Him God. In chapter 2, he talks about how the Son obediently came in the flesh to bring about deliverance from sin and death. In chapter 3 and 4 he reminds them of how their forefathers displeased God in the wilderness after they had been delivered from Egypt through disbelief. He warns them in those chapters not to follow suit by disbelieving the gospel. In chapter 5, he sets Jesus Christ as the high priest chosen by God and how through His obedience, God made Him perfect and after being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all that obey Him. In Hebrews 5 v 11-14 Paul says, “Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Paul tells them that there are so many things about Jesus Christ he wants to tell them which will be more difficult for them to understand seeing that they are slow in understanding (dull of hearing). He then says to them that by now they should have been teachers but still needed someone to teach them again the first principles. He said they were like babies that need milk to grow as opposed to adults that need solid food for nourishment. He explains to them that their need to be taught again the first principles shows that they are immature/unskillful in the word of righteousness. When we move onto chapter 6 he says in Hebrews 6 v 1-3, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.” Paul is exhorting them saying they needed to move on from these first principles unto perfection, which is faith in Jesus, because they should not be laying again the foundations of the principles he lists in those verses. The question we ask is why should we move on to perfection? Perfection has to do with salvation because in Hebrews 7 v 19 he says, “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope [did;] by the which we draw nigh unto God.” Here he is saying perfection is not found in the law and in Hebrews 10 v 14, he says “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Here he shows that it Jesus who brings about perfection which is salvation and that perfection is forever. So in Hebrew 6 v 1-3 he is exhorting them to move on from the law to faith in Jesus Christ which brings about true salvation. Why? This leads us to verse 4-6, and in these verses he is warning them that after having been taught the gospel, if they continue in their unbelief it will be impossible to bring them again to repentance. What he means is that if they do not repent and believe the gospel, they cannot be brought to repentance because the gospel is the only message that brings about true repentance. So in short if the gospel is preached to you and you do not produce fruit in keeping with a repentant heart then there is no hope for you as there is no other way by which you can be saved because that will mean God will have to come again in the person of Jesus Christ to die on the cross and that’s not going to happen at all. How do we know Paul means this? Hebrews 6 v 7-8 says, “For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers [is] rejected, and [is] nigh unto cursing; whose end [is] to be burned.” Here we are given an analogy of land and Paul says if land is rained upon and produces herbs as desired by the Farmer, it receives blessing from God but if it produces thorns and briers i.e. plants not as desired by the Farmer, it is rejected, cursed and should be burned. Therefore to paraphrase Hebrews 5 v 12 – Hebrews 6 v 8, Paul is saying, “You should be teachers of the word by now but you still need to be taught the basics of the word of God henceforth move on from these basics onto faith in Jesus Christ through which you will be made perfect instead of having to be taught again the basics of the word because if you remain immature it shows that you are unrepentant and therefore not saved and as a result nothing can be done for you because the gospel is the only way by which you can be saved so if you do not repent and show evidence of repentance you are good for nothing and so God rejects you and condemns you to the everlasting fire.” So we see that those verses are not proof texts that you can lose your salvation.
The last of the other arguments that I want to deal with is based on 2 Peter 2 v 20-21 which says, “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known [it,] to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.” Here people say that the people spoken of in these verses are saved and have now lost their salvation by being entangled in sin again. If you read the entire chapter in which these verses are found, you will notice that Peter is speaking about false prophets. Now what are the chances that a false prophet is saved especially if they continually practice their false prophecy as Peter describes in this chapter? False prophets are unsaved so there goes that argument. So what does 2 Peter 2 v 20-21 mean? Let’s take it in its context. 2 Peter 2 v 1 says, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” In this verse Peter identifies the people he speaks of in this chapter and their future destiny. I will not reproduce the entire chapter but you will need to read it for yourself to see what I am about to explain. From verse to verse he describes their actions. In v 3 “make merchandise of you” i.e. they will strip you for all the cash you have, in v 10 “selfwilled”, in v 14 they are adulterers, covetous and deceitful, in v 15 they have forsaken the right way, in v 17 they are wells without water i.e. they do not have the everlasting water of the Spirit in them and in v 19 they are servants of corruption. In v 20 we are told that they had escaped the “pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. That cannot mean they were saved because had they been saved, they would not have been unfruitful as described in the chapter. So it can only mean that the gospel being taught to them was their escape from the pollutions of the world but they did not repent but instead used it for their own selfish gain and now their sinful lifestyles are a witness to their reprobate state because they were entangled again in their sin being worse than they were before. As a result, it was better for them not to have known the gospel because they are more sinful now than they were before and therefore there was more hope for them before than there is now. Once again these verses do not support that a person can lose their salvation.
The Bible teaches that God saves you and keeps you. You cannot undo what God has done. It’s His decision to save you not yours. That is the absolute Sovereignty of God. You were not at anytime consulted as concerning your salvation but you were informed of it through the gospel. If you could not save yourself how are you then able to “unsave” yourself? God is not a liar. He said He will keep you and so He will. Christians who misunderstand this truth are either still grappling with the doctrine of the Sovereign grace of God or are still depending on their own goodness for salvation. To the latter I say examine yourselves for you may still need to repent and believe the gospel. Salvation is eternal it is not given with strings attached. All the conditions that were needed for salvation to be given to man were met by Jesus Christ. You do not need to do anything to be saved let alone to keep yourself saved. Only Christ Jesus can do that. God bless you.
Monday, August 13, 2007
The Unpardonable Sin
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy [against] the [Holy] Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the [world] to come. (Matthew 12:31-32)
If there were any verses I were afraid of reading each time I touched the Bible it were these two verses. I would dread to even look at them. The implications in these verses are eternal and the fact that forgiveness was not available for this sin made me more fearful. The fear was out of misunderstanding what the Lord was saying. Sure enough, if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit they will be no forgiveness for you in this age and the age to come. There is no doubt about that because the Lord said it. But let us study this statement fully and see what the Lord was teaching us.
Every sin and blasphemy against God will be forgiven except blaspheming the Holy Spirit. From this statement we see the Lord attesting to the Deity of the Holy Spirit. You can only blaspheme God. You can’t speak a word against a president, a king or an angel and call that blasphemy. A word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. The Lord is also attesting to His Deity. We know that Deuteronomy 6:4 says: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD” Note the verse does not say there is one God. It says God is one. We know that there is one God according to Isaiah 46:9 but what does it mean that God is one? 1 John 5:7 says, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” We know that the Father is God, the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1) and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God thus He is God. We know these three are distinct persons yet They are one. The Father is all God, Jesus is all God and the Holy Spirit is all God. The Father has a thundering voice (John 12:28-29), Jesus’ voice is like the sound of rushing water (Revelation 1:15) and the Holy Spirit has a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). So we see these are three distinct Persons yet They are One. Now when it comes to the salvation of a soul the Three Persons are involved. Their work is different one from the other yet there is unity in purpose and in this we will see why it is a grievous sin to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
We desperately needed the Father to send the Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). If the Father had not sent the Son, Jesus would not have died on the cross and no blood would have been shed for the forgiveness of sins. This brings me to the next point.
We desperately needed Jesus to die on the cross. And without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22b). Jesus dying on the cross provided the much needed forgiveness for sins. But for one to be forgiven one has to repent. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38) We see the work of sending a Messiah was of the Father and the selfless death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins was the work of the Son.
Now the work of leading a soul to repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit. “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:8&13a). The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin by guiding you into the truth that is Jesus. When the Holy Spirit convicts you, you become sorrowful in a Godly way. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10). We see that the conviction of the Holy Spirit makes you repent and thus you are forgiven and are saved. This is where many are falling by resisting the conviction of the Holy Spirit by hardening their hearts. Stephen when speaking to the Sanhedrin before he got stoned said this: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers [did,] so [do] ye.”(Acts 7:51). What happened to their fathers when they resisted the Holy Spirit? “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)’” (Hebrews 3:7 to 11) Bear in mind that this is the Holy Spirit speaking. They heard His voice but hardened their hearts. That is resistance. It was in a rebellion. This is disobedience. Remember they were grumbling against the Lord in the desert and God was not happy with the grumbling. Read Exodus 17:1 to 7. That grumbling was a word against the Holy Spirit. Remember He is the one relating the story in the verses in Hebrews. These people blasphemed the Holy Spirit and thus none of them entered the Promised Land. The Holy Spirit swore on oath in His anger that none of them will enter His rest and none of them did. To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to disrespect, deride, swear at, curse, mock and profane the Holy Spirit and mean it with all your heart as also it is to resist Him and ignore His conviction with an attitude of rebellion and never have the will to change as He calls you to. The Israelites were being tested in the desert and they decided to do this to Him after all the miracles they had seen. Now for us after hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ some harden their hearts and close their ears and resist the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is grieved with this reaction but does not leave them alone just yet. He continues to chase after them out of His mercy. Remember God wants everyone to be saved (2 Peter 3:9). So He will patiently chase after them. But another part of the Bibles says this: God is love (1 John 4:8) yet another verse says this talking of love: it is not easily provoked (1 Corinthians 13:5). This means God does get angry but not easily, after all He said He is slow to anger (Read Exodus 34:6). It was in His anger the Holy Spirit said, “They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)” (Hebrews 3:10-11). He had concluded that they will not change their ways and thus there was no need to bother anymore because they were never going to show any will to change.
This, beloved, is the unpardonable sin. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot repent and believe the gospel. When we resist Him long enough and show that we will never desire to change, that power to repent will no longer be available and thus we will not be able to repent to receive the gift of salvation. Because we will not have received the gift of salvation while we are still on earth, there will be no forgiveness for us in this age and in the age to come they will be no forgiveness because we would have died without having received the gift of salvation. This is what the Lord meant when He said “…it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the [world] to come.” SO TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS. PLEASE I EXHORT YOU. GOD BLESS YOU.
If there were any verses I were afraid of reading each time I touched the Bible it were these two verses. I would dread to even look at them. The implications in these verses are eternal and the fact that forgiveness was not available for this sin made me more fearful. The fear was out of misunderstanding what the Lord was saying. Sure enough, if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit they will be no forgiveness for you in this age and the age to come. There is no doubt about that because the Lord said it. But let us study this statement fully and see what the Lord was teaching us.
Every sin and blasphemy against God will be forgiven except blaspheming the Holy Spirit. From this statement we see the Lord attesting to the Deity of the Holy Spirit. You can only blaspheme God. You can’t speak a word against a president, a king or an angel and call that blasphemy. A word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. The Lord is also attesting to His Deity. We know that Deuteronomy 6:4 says: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD” Note the verse does not say there is one God. It says God is one. We know that there is one God according to Isaiah 46:9 but what does it mean that God is one? 1 John 5:7 says, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” We know that the Father is God, the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1) and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God thus He is God. We know these three are distinct persons yet They are one. The Father is all God, Jesus is all God and the Holy Spirit is all God. The Father has a thundering voice (John 12:28-29), Jesus’ voice is like the sound of rushing water (Revelation 1:15) and the Holy Spirit has a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). So we see these are three distinct Persons yet They are One. Now when it comes to the salvation of a soul the Three Persons are involved. Their work is different one from the other yet there is unity in purpose and in this we will see why it is a grievous sin to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
We desperately needed the Father to send the Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). If the Father had not sent the Son, Jesus would not have died on the cross and no blood would have been shed for the forgiveness of sins. This brings me to the next point.
We desperately needed Jesus to die on the cross. And without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22b). Jesus dying on the cross provided the much needed forgiveness for sins. But for one to be forgiven one has to repent. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38) We see the work of sending a Messiah was of the Father and the selfless death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins was the work of the Son.
Now the work of leading a soul to repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit. “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:8&13a). The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin by guiding you into the truth that is Jesus. When the Holy Spirit convicts you, you become sorrowful in a Godly way. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10). We see that the conviction of the Holy Spirit makes you repent and thus you are forgiven and are saved. This is where many are falling by resisting the conviction of the Holy Spirit by hardening their hearts. Stephen when speaking to the Sanhedrin before he got stoned said this: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers [did,] so [do] ye.”(Acts 7:51). What happened to their fathers when they resisted the Holy Spirit? “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)’” (Hebrews 3:7 to 11) Bear in mind that this is the Holy Spirit speaking. They heard His voice but hardened their hearts. That is resistance. It was in a rebellion. This is disobedience. Remember they were grumbling against the Lord in the desert and God was not happy with the grumbling. Read Exodus 17:1 to 7. That grumbling was a word against the Holy Spirit. Remember He is the one relating the story in the verses in Hebrews. These people blasphemed the Holy Spirit and thus none of them entered the Promised Land. The Holy Spirit swore on oath in His anger that none of them will enter His rest and none of them did. To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to disrespect, deride, swear at, curse, mock and profane the Holy Spirit and mean it with all your heart as also it is to resist Him and ignore His conviction with an attitude of rebellion and never have the will to change as He calls you to. The Israelites were being tested in the desert and they decided to do this to Him after all the miracles they had seen. Now for us after hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ some harden their hearts and close their ears and resist the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is grieved with this reaction but does not leave them alone just yet. He continues to chase after them out of His mercy. Remember God wants everyone to be saved (2 Peter 3:9). So He will patiently chase after them. But another part of the Bibles says this: God is love (1 John 4:8) yet another verse says this talking of love: it is not easily provoked (1 Corinthians 13:5). This means God does get angry but not easily, after all He said He is slow to anger (Read Exodus 34:6). It was in His anger the Holy Spirit said, “They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)” (Hebrews 3:10-11). He had concluded that they will not change their ways and thus there was no need to bother anymore because they were never going to show any will to change.
This, beloved, is the unpardonable sin. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot repent and believe the gospel. When we resist Him long enough and show that we will never desire to change, that power to repent will no longer be available and thus we will not be able to repent to receive the gift of salvation. Because we will not have received the gift of salvation while we are still on earth, there will be no forgiveness for us in this age and in the age to come they will be no forgiveness because we would have died without having received the gift of salvation. This is what the Lord meant when He said “…it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the [world] to come.” SO TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS. PLEASE I EXHORT YOU. GOD BLESS YOU.
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