It's that time of year again!
December 15, 2008
November 24, 2008
Confession
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" -I John 1:9
Herein lies one of the verses in the Bible that deals with our greatest need as sinners...forgiveness! So how does confession relate to forgiveness?
We read about King David in II Samuel in the sad story where he forceably took Uriah's wife, had sex with her, probably against her will, got her pregnant, and then arranged to have her husband "accidentally" killed. David probably suffered from the same poisonous symptom of unbelief that we do...covering up our sin. Maybe David told himself "maybe I didn't really commit adultery with Bathsheba, I'm the King and have rights to everythin, right? After all I am a good kind, so why shouldn't I have this one thing I want. And I didn't actually kill Uriah with my hands, he just died in the heat of battle". That's the same thing we do sometimes. We tell ourselves lies to cover up our sin or make it not look so bad. This started in the garden with Satans "did God really say?", and it still invades our spiritual lives today. But like David, when we tell ourselves these lies and try to keep our sins hidden, God denies our soul true rest.
He states in Psalms 32, "When I kept silent, my bones grew old. Through my groaning all the day long."
So how does the Bible define confession of our sin? The Greek is homologeo and it simply means "to agree or acknowledge". Instead of believing the lies we tell ourselves God simply wants us to agree with Him that it is sin against him. It took Nathan confronting David with the truth and telling him he had hated God's commandments and had coveted, committed adultery, and murder.
Then David confessed, "I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,' And You forgave
the iniquity of my sin." -Psalms 32:5 A wonderful thing happened to David, the Gospel. He confessed and he was forgiven!
The stories we tell ourselves to cover up our sin only do one thing, separate us from a God who is ready and willing to forgive us of all our unrighteousness!
Herein lies one of the verses in the Bible that deals with our greatest need as sinners...forgiveness! So how does confession relate to forgiveness?
We read about King David in II Samuel in the sad story where he forceably took Uriah's wife, had sex with her, probably against her will, got her pregnant, and then arranged to have her husband "accidentally" killed. David probably suffered from the same poisonous symptom of unbelief that we do...covering up our sin. Maybe David told himself "maybe I didn't really commit adultery with Bathsheba, I'm the King and have rights to everythin, right? After all I am a good kind, so why shouldn't I have this one thing I want. And I didn't actually kill Uriah with my hands, he just died in the heat of battle". That's the same thing we do sometimes. We tell ourselves lies to cover up our sin or make it not look so bad. This started in the garden with Satans "did God really say?", and it still invades our spiritual lives today. But like David, when we tell ourselves these lies and try to keep our sins hidden, God denies our soul true rest.
He states in Psalms 32, "When I kept silent, my bones grew old. Through my groaning all the day long."
So how does the Bible define confession of our sin? The Greek is homologeo and it simply means "to agree or acknowledge". Instead of believing the lies we tell ourselves God simply wants us to agree with Him that it is sin against him. It took Nathan confronting David with the truth and telling him he had hated God's commandments and had coveted, committed adultery, and murder.
Then David confessed, "I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,' And You forgave
the iniquity of my sin." -Psalms 32:5 A wonderful thing happened to David, the Gospel. He confessed and he was forgiven!
The stories we tell ourselves to cover up our sin only do one thing, separate us from a God who is ready and willing to forgive us of all our unrighteousness!
October 6, 2008
A Jewish perspective on Hebrews Warning Passages
The points listed below come from a website that is a ministry that shares the Gospel with Jewish people. I found this commentary interesting because it looks at the Hebrews 10:26 passage through covenant lenses and pulls the focus away from the individualistic interpretations that make their way into a lot of commentaries now days. Notice the focus on the Covenant Community. Hope you find it helpful:
Key Point 1: The sins in view here involves deliberately rejecting the New Covenant and calling the shed blood of Jesus “unholy”, that is to say, the death of Jesus is simply a “common” death with no value for forgiveness of sin. Notice it also involves “insulting the Spirit of grace”, a similar idea to the unpardonable sin spoken of in the Gospels. If one goes back to the Temple sacrifices after having been enlightened as to the truth of the greater and final sacrifice of Jesus, those sacrifices can no longer atone for sin.
Key Point 2: Notice the verb tense in 10:26. It says: “deliberately keep on sinning.” Henry Alford says, “Notice the present, not the aorist participle. ‘If we be found wilfully sinning’, not ‘if we have wilfully sinned,’ at that Day.” (Alford’s Greek Testament, Vol. IV, p. 199). This is not talking about a sin committed some time in the past, rather, it is talking about entering into a continuing state of rejection of the grace of God offered through the Messiah’s sacrifice as found in the New Covenant. It involves departure from the New Covenant community, giving up “meeting together.”
Key Point 3: Notice that the phrase “there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (Hebrews 10:18) is echoed in the phrase “no sacrifice for sins is left” (Hebrews 10:26). The point is that if the final sacrifice for sin found in the New Covenant Atonement of Jesus us rejected, there is no other to be found.
Key Point 4: The clause in Hebrews 1:26, “If we deliberately keep on sinning,” is explained by verses 28 and 29, (as well as the other passages). It does not refer to one particular act of sin, but rather continuance in a state of rejecting the Covenant, having contempt for the Messiah and his atoning blood, and insulting the Spirit of Grace. It is a form of the one unpardonable sin, since all other sins can be forgiven.
Key Point 1: The sins in view here involves deliberately rejecting the New Covenant and calling the shed blood of Jesus “unholy”, that is to say, the death of Jesus is simply a “common” death with no value for forgiveness of sin. Notice it also involves “insulting the Spirit of grace”, a similar idea to the unpardonable sin spoken of in the Gospels. If one goes back to the Temple sacrifices after having been enlightened as to the truth of the greater and final sacrifice of Jesus, those sacrifices can no longer atone for sin.
Key Point 2: Notice the verb tense in 10:26. It says: “deliberately keep on sinning.” Henry Alford says, “Notice the present, not the aorist participle. ‘If we be found wilfully sinning’, not ‘if we have wilfully sinned,’ at that Day.” (Alford’s Greek Testament, Vol. IV, p. 199). This is not talking about a sin committed some time in the past, rather, it is talking about entering into a continuing state of rejection of the grace of God offered through the Messiah’s sacrifice as found in the New Covenant. It involves departure from the New Covenant community, giving up “meeting together.”
Key Point 3: Notice that the phrase “there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” (Hebrews 10:18) is echoed in the phrase “no sacrifice for sins is left” (Hebrews 10:26). The point is that if the final sacrifice for sin found in the New Covenant Atonement of Jesus us rejected, there is no other to be found.
Key Point 4: The clause in Hebrews 1:26, “If we deliberately keep on sinning,” is explained by verses 28 and 29, (as well as the other passages). It does not refer to one particular act of sin, but rather continuance in a state of rejecting the Covenant, having contempt for the Messiah and his atoning blood, and insulting the Spirit of Grace. It is a form of the one unpardonable sin, since all other sins can be forgiven.
September 23, 2008
More on Despair (The Christian in Complete Armour, William Gurnall)
"First we must distinguish between a soul's being foiled through his own infirmity, and his enemy’s stability and power over-matching him, and another, who through a false heart doth voluntarily prostrate himself to the lust of Satan; though a general will show little pity to a soldier that should traitorously throw down his arms and run to the enemy, yet if another in fighting receives a wound and be worsted, it will be no dishonor for him to express his pity and love, no, though he should send him out of the field in his own coach, lay him in his own bed and appoint him his own surgeon. God doth not encourage wickedness in a saint, but pities weakness. Even when the saints fall into a sin in its nature presumptuous they do not commit it so presumptuously as others; there is a part true to God in their bosoms, though overvoted."
"Verily, verily I say unto you, ALL sins and blasphemies will be forgiven men..." -Jesus
"Verily, verily I say unto you, ALL sins and blasphemies will be forgiven men..." -Jesus
Despair (from William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour)
"Despair robs God of his infinitude and ascribes it to sin: by it the creature saith his sin is infinite and God is not: too like those unbelieving Israelites Psa cvi 7 ‘They remembered not the multitude of his mercies, but provoked at the sea, even at the red sea; they could not see enough in God to serve their turn at such a strait they saw a multitude of Egyptians to kill, and multitudes of waters to drown them, but could not see multitude enough of mercies to deliver them Thus the despairing soul sees a multitude of great to damn but not an infinitude of mercy in the great God to save him."
August 31, 2008
Anglican Sermon on the Unpardonable Sin
I found a really good sermon on the Unpardonable Sin which seems to be a popular topic right now. It came from an Anglican pastor and it’s really good. He emphasizes the depth and darkness of this sin for those who think it can be accidentally unwittingly committed, but more importantly he emphasizes the riches of God’s grace and mercy over even the worst of sins. Here is an excerpt:
“Whereto then should this aweful warning of our Lord, loving (we must well know) in its very awfulness, tend in us? Not assuredly to make us dread, lest we have committed the unpardonable sin. Such a thought, we may boldly say, bold through the mercy of our God, is but a temptation of Satan. To fear lest we have committed it or have been near committing it, is a proof that we have not yet committed it. We see in the Gospels how they who are the types of it, went on unchecked from one wickedness to another; how the rebukes of the loving Saviour incensed them, His acts of love increased their hatred. There is no pause, no misgiving, no faltering in their sin. Mercy and love harden them the more, as though impenitence had been the very proper fruit of love. When our Lord performs an act of healing, “straightway they take counsel against Him to put Him to death;” they have not the compunctions of a heathen judge; nothing diverts, nothing moves, nothing startles them; they go on, as blind men insensible of any hindrance; the suggestions of Nicodemus, the expostulation of the blind man healed, the witness of their own servants, “never man spake as this man,” the testimony of John, the love of the multitude, the works of the Father, His wisdom, their own shame, all which could arrest their course, is cast aside. How could they be healed, whose disease grew through the very means of its healing, His works of power and His love? We have not sinned away all grace, if we have the grace left to fear. Nor again is the end of this warning to make us fear or think of others. “Judge nothing before the time,” says the Apostle. Who knows whether any now seemingly impenitent, may not yet be touched by the melting grace of God, may not, at the touch, start into life, and, much forgiven, love much, sorrow much, love more than we?
Read the whole thing here.
“Whereto then should this aweful warning of our Lord, loving (we must well know) in its very awfulness, tend in us? Not assuredly to make us dread, lest we have committed the unpardonable sin. Such a thought, we may boldly say, bold through the mercy of our God, is but a temptation of Satan. To fear lest we have committed it or have been near committing it, is a proof that we have not yet committed it. We see in the Gospels how they who are the types of it, went on unchecked from one wickedness to another; how the rebukes of the loving Saviour incensed them, His acts of love increased their hatred. There is no pause, no misgiving, no faltering in their sin. Mercy and love harden them the more, as though impenitence had been the very proper fruit of love. When our Lord performs an act of healing, “straightway they take counsel against Him to put Him to death;” they have not the compunctions of a heathen judge; nothing diverts, nothing moves, nothing startles them; they go on, as blind men insensible of any hindrance; the suggestions of Nicodemus, the expostulation of the blind man healed, the witness of their own servants, “never man spake as this man,” the testimony of John, the love of the multitude, the works of the Father, His wisdom, their own shame, all which could arrest their course, is cast aside. How could they be healed, whose disease grew through the very means of its healing, His works of power and His love? We have not sinned away all grace, if we have the grace left to fear. Nor again is the end of this warning to make us fear or think of others. “Judge nothing before the time,” says the Apostle. Who knows whether any now seemingly impenitent, may not yet be touched by the melting grace of God, may not, at the touch, start into life, and, much forgiven, love much, sorrow much, love more than we?
Read the whole thing here.
July 26, 2008
Habitual Hardness - Hebrews 6:7-8
This is one of the hardest passages in Scripture to interpret and it has caused many a conscience to shake in fear they have passed the point of no repentance, i.e. John Bunyan (read Grace Abounding). One thing I noticed recently while reading through this chapter was the verse that followed this very serious warning to Christians (that’s who the book was written to, right?). Verse 7-8 state “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.” The idea here I think is not one of someone who committed a very bad sin that may be unforgivable, or even one of someone who slipped into a temporary season of sinning (even on purpose!). Notice that the author points out that the people that he is talking about received the rain “often” most likely over a period of time. But even after all the rain and cultivating and care by the sower, the ground still yields nothing but thorns and thistles, and is worthless.
The rain here signifies the blessings received from hearing and being taught the gospel: “…have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come.” Instead of softening the ground (the heart of the hearers) the rain and seed were met with hard ground and thorns. This should point us back to Jesus’ parable of the soils where the seed that fell amongst the thorns was choked out by the cares of this world and fell away from their belief in the good news, which is exactly what the author of Hebrews is talking about here.
We should take much care when we sit under the gospel to receive it with meekness and thankfulness so that the ground of our hearts would be softened with the exhortations and warnings of Scripture.
The rain here signifies the blessings received from hearing and being taught the gospel: “…have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come.” Instead of softening the ground (the heart of the hearers) the rain and seed were met with hard ground and thorns. This should point us back to Jesus’ parable of the soils where the seed that fell amongst the thorns was choked out by the cares of this world and fell away from their belief in the good news, which is exactly what the author of Hebrews is talking about here.
We should take much care when we sit under the gospel to receive it with meekness and thankfulness so that the ground of our hearts would be softened with the exhortations and warnings of Scripture.
Staying put...
Recently I decided to move this blog over to Wordpress because it looked like it offered a lot more as far as extras. But so far I haven't had the success I was hoping for. So until I get going good I will keep posting to this site. Thanks for your patience. God bless.
Tommy Huskey
Tommy Huskey
March 23, 2008
Helpless In the Storm
A couple of days ago it came a really bad storm in our city. It was lightning and thundering and the wind was blowing really hard. We have been teaching our 20 month old son to say “back!” to things that were bothering him, such as the dog or the waves in the swimming pool. Well, when the storm really got going he looked out the window and put up his hand, and with the most serious look on his face he said “Back thunder! Back!” Much to his dissappointment the storm mocked him and continued to scare him while daddy held him in his arms.
My mind immediately went to the disciples as they were in the boat in Mark chapter 4. I bet they felt helpless, just like my son. But that’s not the end of the story. There was one on the boat who the storm really obeyed. Jesus. Even the blinding flashes of lightning, the loud claps of thunder, and the roaring white caps were as nothing when the Lord of Creation uttered his command to be still! Thanks be unto God that he is our Saviour when the storms rage in our lives…even though we may feel sometimes like my little 20 month old son.
“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”” -Mark 4:37-41
My mind immediately went to the disciples as they were in the boat in Mark chapter 4. I bet they felt helpless, just like my son. But that’s not the end of the story. There was one on the boat who the storm really obeyed. Jesus. Even the blinding flashes of lightning, the loud claps of thunder, and the roaring white caps were as nothing when the Lord of Creation uttered his command to be still! Thanks be unto God that he is our Saviour when the storms rage in our lives…even though we may feel sometimes like my little 20 month old son.
“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”” -Mark 4:37-41
March 10, 2008
He Stood With Them
...And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them." -John 18:5
John in his gospel has a strong theme running through his book, and it's a scary one. It's a theme of those who close their eyes to who Jesus is and step off into a dark hole. There are the Jews who see his miracles and hear his claims, and then crucify an innocent man as a blasphemer. There are the Pharisees who knew the OT Scriptures and saw them fulfilled before their eyes to the most minuscule detail of every prophesy, and carried out a plot to kill the Son of God.
John in his gospel has a strong theme running through his book, and it's a scary one. It's a theme of those who close their eyes to who Jesus is and step off into a dark hole. There are the Jews who see his miracles and hear his claims, and then crucify an innocent man as a blasphemer. There are the Pharisees who knew the OT Scriptures and saw them fulfilled before their eyes to the most minuscule detail of every prophesy, and carried out a plot to kill the Son of God.
Worst of all, there's Judas, who walked with Jesus and heard his heart piercing teachings on the dangers of loving money more than Him. Judas also saw him have compassion on the worst of sinners. Somewhere in the middle of all that Judas' heart became love-proof, warning-proof, and repentance-proof. He had a hard heart of unbelief. If there was any doubt to Judas whether what he was doing was spiritual suicide or not it should have all cleared up for him when Jesus said, "...woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born." If Judas ever doubted that Jesus was talking about him when he kept talking about the one who would betray him, Jesus confronted him here so as to leave no doubt.
When Judas left Jesus it was for the final time. John says, "...(Judas) then went out immediately. And it was night." Judas closed his eyes in hardened unbelief to Jesus' appeal of warning, and it wasn't just dark outside, but it was forever dark in Judas' soul. One interesting thing is that Jesus let him go. Sometimes we look at this and say "Why didn't Jesus run after him, doesn't he care?!" We have to trust that only God knows when it's time to turn an unrepentant sinner over to their sin. Sadly the next time we see Judas, John says that he stood with the Pharisees. This wasn't just a description of the proximity of Judas to the crowd. The Pharisees wanted Jesus dead and out of the way. So there they stood...with the treacherous Judas standing with them. This wasn't a momentary lapse for Judas and this wasn't something he fell into. This is something he thought out and deliberately stepped into. He sided with the murderers of Jesus...for a hand full of change.
March 4, 2008
John Owen on Sin in Believers and Unbelievers
“Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known
lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." -Romans 7:7
That which in the entrance he calls “sin” indefinitely, in the close he particularly terms “lust,” as being the hidden, secret cause of all sin, and which, once discovered, swallows up the thoughts of all other sins, it being altogether in vain to deal with them, or to set a man’s self in opposition to them, whilst this sinful womb of them is alive and prevalent. This is that which we call original sin, as to that part of it which consists in the universal alienation of our hearts from God, and unconquerable, habitual, natural inclination of them to every thing that is evil; for this sin works in us “all manner of concupiscence,” Romans 7:8. This, I say, is the womb, cause, and principle of sin, both in believers and unbelievers, the root on which the bitter fruit of it doth grow, wherever it is. No man ever sins but it is from his own lust. And in this there is an agreement between the sins of believers and others, they are all from the same fountain." -Owen
lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." -Romans 7:7
That which in the entrance he calls “sin” indefinitely, in the close he particularly terms “lust,” as being the hidden, secret cause of all sin, and which, once discovered, swallows up the thoughts of all other sins, it being altogether in vain to deal with them, or to set a man’s self in opposition to them, whilst this sinful womb of them is alive and prevalent. This is that which we call original sin, as to that part of it which consists in the universal alienation of our hearts from God, and unconquerable, habitual, natural inclination of them to every thing that is evil; for this sin works in us “all manner of concupiscence,” Romans 7:8. This, I say, is the womb, cause, and principle of sin, both in believers and unbelievers, the root on which the bitter fruit of it doth grow, wherever it is. No man ever sins but it is from his own lust. And in this there is an agreement between the sins of believers and others, they are all from the same fountain." -Owen
February 27, 2008
More from Spurgeon...
Here is another great post from Spurgeon at the Reformation 21 blog. This one concerns the subject of the unpardonable sin. Spurgeon is great at magnifying God's grace and minimizing man's fallen reasoning.
February 26, 2008
Anatomy of Apostasy – Not Seeking the Lord
“They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness” -Jeremiah 2:6
One of the first sins we see God charge his people with is that they are guilty of not seeking him. The charge here is two sided. On one side they had forgotten all that God had done for them, especially concerning his redeeming them from slavery in Egypt and providing for them for forty years. Calvin says this, “We now then understand what the Prophet means by saying, they did not ask: for God here sharply reproves the stupidity of the Jews, — that they did not consider that they were under perpetual obligations to him for his great kindness in delivering them in a manner so wonderful from the land of Egypt. By saying that they did not say, Where is Jehovah, he intimates that he was present with them and nigh them, but that they were blind, and that hence they were without an excuse for their ignorance, as he was not to be sought as one at a distance, or by means tedious and difficult...they did not choose to make any effort, or to apply their minds to seek or to inquire after God."
The second side is not that they are ignorant of what God thinks about what they are doing, but that they do know and are willfully not seeking him. Calvin again states, “…so that they could not have sinned except willfully, even by extinguishing, through their own malignity, the light presented to them, which shone before their eyes.” One of the things that sometimes fails to shock us is not necessarily the sins Israel fell into, but what they fell from. Again, Calvin says in his commentary, “But the first thing to be observed is, that the Jews were inexcusable, who had not considered that their fathers had been wonderfully and in an unusual manner preserved by God’s hand for forty years; for they had no bread to eat, nor water to drink. God drew water for them from a rock, and satisfied them with heavenly bread; and their garments did not wear out during the whole time. We then see that all those circumstances enhanced their guilt.” The Jews were blessed more than any nation on the face of the earth and had been the recipient of God’s covenant promises and blessings. However, covenants also contain curse stipulations in them. And knowing the curses that God promised, Israel still plodded forward in their rejection of him.
One can’t help but think when we read the book of Jeremiah that if Israel would have just stopped for a minute to seek the Lord things might have been a lot different. But if we read on, we will see that it wasn’t just the little stuff that they weren’t seeking the Lord about, but it was everything. The children of Israel had settled into a state of disobedience and disregard to God’s commands. In fact, they were in such a hard-hearted condition that they were warning proof and they said no thanks to God's gracious offer of forgiveness if they would return. Their condition was bad indeed.
One of the first sins we see God charge his people with is that they are guilty of not seeking him. The charge here is two sided. On one side they had forgotten all that God had done for them, especially concerning his redeeming them from slavery in Egypt and providing for them for forty years. Calvin says this, “We now then understand what the Prophet means by saying, they did not ask: for God here sharply reproves the stupidity of the Jews, — that they did not consider that they were under perpetual obligations to him for his great kindness in delivering them in a manner so wonderful from the land of Egypt. By saying that they did not say, Where is Jehovah, he intimates that he was present with them and nigh them, but that they were blind, and that hence they were without an excuse for their ignorance, as he was not to be sought as one at a distance, or by means tedious and difficult...they did not choose to make any effort, or to apply their minds to seek or to inquire after God."
The second side is not that they are ignorant of what God thinks about what they are doing, but that they do know and are willfully not seeking him. Calvin again states, “…so that they could not have sinned except willfully, even by extinguishing, through their own malignity, the light presented to them, which shone before their eyes.” One of the things that sometimes fails to shock us is not necessarily the sins Israel fell into, but what they fell from. Again, Calvin says in his commentary, “But the first thing to be observed is, that the Jews were inexcusable, who had not considered that their fathers had been wonderfully and in an unusual manner preserved by God’s hand for forty years; for they had no bread to eat, nor water to drink. God drew water for them from a rock, and satisfied them with heavenly bread; and their garments did not wear out during the whole time. We then see that all those circumstances enhanced their guilt.” The Jews were blessed more than any nation on the face of the earth and had been the recipient of God’s covenant promises and blessings. However, covenants also contain curse stipulations in them. And knowing the curses that God promised, Israel still plodded forward in their rejection of him.
One can’t help but think when we read the book of Jeremiah that if Israel would have just stopped for a minute to seek the Lord things might have been a lot different. But if we read on, we will see that it wasn’t just the little stuff that they weren’t seeking the Lord about, but it was everything. The children of Israel had settled into a state of disobedience and disregard to God’s commands. In fact, they were in such a hard-hearted condition that they were warning proof and they said no thanks to God's gracious offer of forgiveness if they would return. Their condition was bad indeed.
Spurgeon on Unbelief
Here is a great post over at Pyromaniacs of a short discourse of Spurgeon's view of the sin of unbelief and the many forms it takes.
February 25, 2008
Witherington on Hebrews 6
Ben Witherington has an excellent post here on his very informative blog on the subject of the Hebrews 6 passage. It is very detailed so grab a cup of coffee...
Paper on Apostasy/Sin Against HS
I ran across this great paper on the internet that deals with the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in its RH context. It has some great stuff in it to go with the thought process I'm trying to follow right now. It's kind of long, but worth the read.
p.s. If you are reading this blog, I apologize for the scatterdness of the posts lately. My job is requiring a lot of hours right now, so thanks for your patience. God Bless.
p.s. If you are reading this blog, I apologize for the scatterdness of the posts lately. My job is requiring a lot of hours right now, so thanks for your patience. God Bless.
February 20, 2008
Anatomy of Apostasy - Definition of Sin
One of the things that stand out from reading the book of Jeremiah is how he addresses their sin. Surprisingly he doesn’t address sin in the same particularly narrow way most of us have been brought up to view it. He deals with the roots of sin whereas we get stuck on the fruit a lot of the time. For example, Jeremiah rebukes Israel for not seeking God (Jer. 2:6), for finding satisfaction in things other than Him (2:13), for not fearing Him (2:19), for being blinded by their lusts and not calling sin what it is, sin (2:22), for having unrestrained lust (2:24), for not being ashamed of their sins (2:26), for not learning from God’s chastisement (2:30;5:3), and for refusing to repent (5:3). These things all add up to Israel finally falling away from God (apostatizing) and being taken captive for their rejection of God.
What I would like to do over the next few weeks is look at a few of these “roots” in more detail and show some other examples in Scripture that illustrate the principle that Scripture is trying getting across to us. The other thing I would like to do is to show how we should avoid letting these things creep into our walk of faith so that we will not end up like Israel did at the end of Jeremiah. But most of all I want to glorify God’s great patience and longsuffering toward His covenant people because of His faithfulness to the covenant of promise.
What I would like to do over the next few weeks is look at a few of these “roots” in more detail and show some other examples in Scripture that illustrate the principle that Scripture is trying getting across to us. The other thing I would like to do is to show how we should avoid letting these things creep into our walk of faith so that we will not end up like Israel did at the end of Jeremiah. But most of all I want to glorify God’s great patience and longsuffering toward His covenant people because of His faithfulness to the covenant of promise.
February 15, 2008
The Anatomy of Apostasy
"Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." (Jeremiah 3:22)
I have been praying and thinking really hard about doing a series on what apostasy looks like and using the book of Jeremiah as the basis. The series would look at the different things that make up the sin of apostasy, or backsliding as the Old Testament sometimes calls it. Apostasy isn't a one time sin, it isn't a single unforgiveable sin, and it isn't even battling the one of many certain weaknesses we have daily. Apostasy is a condition, a state of heart, that, by the process spelled out in scripture, gets harder and bolder in sin. With all this in mind there are certain aspects of apostasy that show up in Scripture. The book of Jeremiah is especially illustrative of alot of these concepts, which is why I've chosen it as a basis for this series.
Before I move on there is one thing we must point out. Is apostasy forgiveable? The answer is without a doubt a resounding YES! The verse listed above is God's grace reaching out to His people who have slid into this fearful hard hearted state, yet His covenant love and grace still reaches out to His covenant people. Apostasy isn't just a one time act, for Jesus declared all acts of sin forgiveable in his New Testament ministry (except blasphemy of the HS, but that's a subject for another day). Every time we sin against God we are in some small way committing a small act of apostasy in our hearts. Apostasy is nothing more than going backwards in our spiritual journey, whether its a small going back or a big one.
The second reason we know that apostasy is forgiveable is because Jesus died the death of an apostate. Hebrews 13:13 tells us that Jesus suffered and died "outside the gate", which was the death that only those who had flagrantly broken God's covenant suffered. Jesus died the death of a blasphemer, and adulterer, as one who took God's name in vain, as a murderer, and every other sin we can commit. His death was complete, covering sin all the way back to the first great sin in the Garden.
We must have one word of caution though. There is an advanced state of apostasy which we will look at that is very dangerous, even deadly (i.e. Judas & Cain, and warning passages in Hebrews). Examples like these are to make us fear ever getting that far into sin and instead to flee to God's mercy and grace in Christ which He freely gives to all who long for it. This isn't a condition easily reached because of God's abundant mercy, but because it is a very real possibility we will try to look at it through the lenses of Scripture.
I have been praying and thinking really hard about doing a series on what apostasy looks like and using the book of Jeremiah as the basis. The series would look at the different things that make up the sin of apostasy, or backsliding as the Old Testament sometimes calls it. Apostasy isn't a one time sin, it isn't a single unforgiveable sin, and it isn't even battling the one of many certain weaknesses we have daily. Apostasy is a condition, a state of heart, that, by the process spelled out in scripture, gets harder and bolder in sin. With all this in mind there are certain aspects of apostasy that show up in Scripture. The book of Jeremiah is especially illustrative of alot of these concepts, which is why I've chosen it as a basis for this series.
Before I move on there is one thing we must point out. Is apostasy forgiveable? The answer is without a doubt a resounding YES! The verse listed above is God's grace reaching out to His people who have slid into this fearful hard hearted state, yet His covenant love and grace still reaches out to His covenant people. Apostasy isn't just a one time act, for Jesus declared all acts of sin forgiveable in his New Testament ministry (except blasphemy of the HS, but that's a subject for another day). Every time we sin against God we are in some small way committing a small act of apostasy in our hearts. Apostasy is nothing more than going backwards in our spiritual journey, whether its a small going back or a big one.
The second reason we know that apostasy is forgiveable is because Jesus died the death of an apostate. Hebrews 13:13 tells us that Jesus suffered and died "outside the gate", which was the death that only those who had flagrantly broken God's covenant suffered. Jesus died the death of a blasphemer, and adulterer, as one who took God's name in vain, as a murderer, and every other sin we can commit. His death was complete, covering sin all the way back to the first great sin in the Garden.
We must have one word of caution though. There is an advanced state of apostasy which we will look at that is very dangerous, even deadly (i.e. Judas & Cain, and warning passages in Hebrews). Examples like these are to make us fear ever getting that far into sin and instead to flee to God's mercy and grace in Christ which He freely gives to all who long for it. This isn't a condition easily reached because of God's abundant mercy, but because it is a very real possibility we will try to look at it through the lenses of Scripture.
February 3, 2008
Happy Birthday Landon!
Our son, Landon just turned three. To us that is a big gift from God. Landon was born at 23 weeks, which is only about 5-1/2 months into the pregnancy. He only weighed 1 lb and 7 oz and we were not given much hope that he would come home, or have any sort of a normal life. To God's credit he did come home and he has has done far greater than the doctors ever would have dreamed. Because his lungs are still a little behind he is on oxygen and he has had to have a few surgeries from complications from being born so early, but God has told an amazing story both to us and to all the doctors who have scratched their heads in unbelief at the the miracles God has and is performing through Landon. We take every day, sometimes every minute with Landon as a gift, and take lots of pictures! God is without a doubt the author of life, and we know its because Christ died on the Cross to purchase both ours and Landon's life from the power of sin and death. To God be the glory!
The Blessing of Sight
This is a post from one of my favorite blogs that is no longer on the web. It is a post that deals with the subject of how God sometimes opens our eyes to the awefulness of our sins when we are shutting them on purpose. But it is also about God's rich mercy that is there to comfort and forgive us when we repent.
The Blessing of Sight
You’ve just truly seen yourself for the first time and now you’re scared. For years you have lived in the bubble of your own religious pretense, presumption and play acting, but now the mask has been taken from you and you tremble at what you’ve been shown.
For there lying conspicuously in front of you, what you had ignored so many times before, is a passage of God’s truth that now turns your heart to melted wax. Like a melted, snuffed candle you feel as if the life and flame has gone out from within you and now you think yourself as a grotesque blob of useless smoldering wax. What once was brushed aside by a mental wave of the hand, now has you terrified. You are desperate, anxious and near total despair. Perhaps it was the infamous Hebrews 6:4-6 or Hebrews 10:26-28 that struck your pride down. Maybe an Old Testament passage kindled your guilt and gave you glimmers of how past sins that had gone unnoticed and untended for so many years. It doesn't matter. Now you've been brought low. Now you realize your own sin, and you feel the weight of the deep offenses you’ve piled upon yourself and before the Lord.
Regardless of which dagger of the Living God’s truth struck and pierced your heart, you still think: "What need is there for me to stand before God to face his judgment? His wrath is already on me. His angry eyes are fixed on my unrepentant, bold, unabashed sin."
But even in his anger there is hope, much hope. In fact, for quite possibly the very first time in your life, there is true hope for you. Or is it that you have forgotten what the Word of God says? Have you not remembered that the God of All Creation is a God is One that brings forth the greatest good from the greatest sorrow for all who call upon him? Remember the story of Esther and how near the Jews were to annihilation at the hands of wicked Haman? Remember how the Israelites were pinned between the sea and a charging, well-armed Egyptian army? Remember the more than 185,000 Assyrians that were at Jerusalem’s gates? What about Jonah defying God, yet having a great work performed through his preaching after he was spared? What about the utterly depraved Ninevehites who heard Jonah’s preaching and repented? How about a murderous Paul being turned from his madness - when he didn’t even ask for it?
Now maybe you think: “That’s all well and good for a child of God, but I no longer think that God will accept me. I am as Esau. I am as Judas, once he saw his sin. I am like the Israelite put out of the camp or to be stoned to death for his offense and blasphemy. I don’t believe that I can repent and I don't believe that God will allow me to repent.”
Ah, but you see the truth. You see that to continue unrepentant is to sign your own spiritual death warrant. You see that your offenses before God is the thing to be sorrowful over. You now understand that you’ve offended God and that you continue to offend God. The question is not whether you see your guilt as a legitimate problem, the question now is what you are going to do about it?
Will you go the way of Judas, take matters into your own hands, and kill yourself in unbelief? Will go back to sinning, resolved to your presumed 'fate', and continue to live unrepentant like Cain and Esau? Or will your sorrow and guilt drive you to seek to Christ and trust in his promises for salvation. Remember Jesus said that those who seek find. Those who ask, receive. Those who knock are let in the door. So do these things and plead for God’s mercy, ask for repentance from him, and if you can’t find it in your heart now, pray for it and expect to find his grace.
Sight is a rare gift. To see God’s truth is a great blessing that far too often is not cherished and is taken for granted. To have sight of the truth is to have a measure of God's grace in your heart.
And the Spirit of God will work a heart to fear its separation from the truth in order to bring it back to conformity to God’s will. He will use the sight of your sin to turn you from your ways.
To that end, do not look upon anxiety or fear as a great curse, but as a blessing that God has not given up on you. He is prompting you to return to him to find the grace and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ and to show you that the melted wax of your heart does not mean that the light of Christ’s love has extinguished. It just means that he is preparing the ground for your return and for your receipt of his love and truth.
"If we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself" - 2 Timothy 2:13
(Some may recognize this post as it was linked to a lot, but I am leaving the author's name out because I can't contact him to see if it's ok to put on here.)
The Blessing of Sight
You’ve just truly seen yourself for the first time and now you’re scared. For years you have lived in the bubble of your own religious pretense, presumption and play acting, but now the mask has been taken from you and you tremble at what you’ve been shown.
For there lying conspicuously in front of you, what you had ignored so many times before, is a passage of God’s truth that now turns your heart to melted wax. Like a melted, snuffed candle you feel as if the life and flame has gone out from within you and now you think yourself as a grotesque blob of useless smoldering wax. What once was brushed aside by a mental wave of the hand, now has you terrified. You are desperate, anxious and near total despair. Perhaps it was the infamous Hebrews 6:4-6 or Hebrews 10:26-28 that struck your pride down. Maybe an Old Testament passage kindled your guilt and gave you glimmers of how past sins that had gone unnoticed and untended for so many years. It doesn't matter. Now you've been brought low. Now you realize your own sin, and you feel the weight of the deep offenses you’ve piled upon yourself and before the Lord.
Regardless of which dagger of the Living God’s truth struck and pierced your heart, you still think: "What need is there for me to stand before God to face his judgment? His wrath is already on me. His angry eyes are fixed on my unrepentant, bold, unabashed sin."
But even in his anger there is hope, much hope. In fact, for quite possibly the very first time in your life, there is true hope for you. Or is it that you have forgotten what the Word of God says? Have you not remembered that the God of All Creation is a God is One that brings forth the greatest good from the greatest sorrow for all who call upon him? Remember the story of Esther and how near the Jews were to annihilation at the hands of wicked Haman? Remember how the Israelites were pinned between the sea and a charging, well-armed Egyptian army? Remember the more than 185,000 Assyrians that were at Jerusalem’s gates? What about Jonah defying God, yet having a great work performed through his preaching after he was spared? What about the utterly depraved Ninevehites who heard Jonah’s preaching and repented? How about a murderous Paul being turned from his madness - when he didn’t even ask for it?
Now maybe you think: “That’s all well and good for a child of God, but I no longer think that God will accept me. I am as Esau. I am as Judas, once he saw his sin. I am like the Israelite put out of the camp or to be stoned to death for his offense and blasphemy. I don’t believe that I can repent and I don't believe that God will allow me to repent.”
Ah, but you see the truth. You see that to continue unrepentant is to sign your own spiritual death warrant. You see that your offenses before God is the thing to be sorrowful over. You now understand that you’ve offended God and that you continue to offend God. The question is not whether you see your guilt as a legitimate problem, the question now is what you are going to do about it?
Will you go the way of Judas, take matters into your own hands, and kill yourself in unbelief? Will go back to sinning, resolved to your presumed 'fate', and continue to live unrepentant like Cain and Esau? Or will your sorrow and guilt drive you to seek to Christ and trust in his promises for salvation. Remember Jesus said that those who seek find. Those who ask, receive. Those who knock are let in the door. So do these things and plead for God’s mercy, ask for repentance from him, and if you can’t find it in your heart now, pray for it and expect to find his grace.
Sight is a rare gift. To see God’s truth is a great blessing that far too often is not cherished and is taken for granted. To have sight of the truth is to have a measure of God's grace in your heart.
And the Spirit of God will work a heart to fear its separation from the truth in order to bring it back to conformity to God’s will. He will use the sight of your sin to turn you from your ways.
To that end, do not look upon anxiety or fear as a great curse, but as a blessing that God has not given up on you. He is prompting you to return to him to find the grace and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ and to show you that the melted wax of your heart does not mean that the light of Christ’s love has extinguished. It just means that he is preparing the ground for your return and for your receipt of his love and truth.
"If we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself" - 2 Timothy 2:13
(Some may recognize this post as it was linked to a lot, but I am leaving the author's name out because I can't contact him to see if it's ok to put on here.)
February 1, 2008
A Failure to Move Forward
"Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity..."(Hebrews 6:1, ESV)
One thing that stands out about this warning passage and others in Hebrews the more I read them are the similarities between what the writer is saying and the experience of Israel in the wilderness at Kadesh-Barnea (see here). The writer here in Hebrews 6 is scolding his congregation for their lack of forward progress in the faith. He then abrubptly stops and gives this solemn warning about the consequences of continuing in this state. If we look back to Numbers 14 we can see that the Israelites suffered from this exact same thing:
"Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron...'Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?' And they said to one another,'Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.'" (Numbers 14:1,3b-4)
God had promised to give them the land in his covenant with Abraham. They had also experienced countless miracles, eschatological wonders, and caring provision from the hand of God which parallels the gifts experienced by the New Covenant believer in Hebrews 6:4-5. In spite of all this they still refused to go forward, thus completely setting aside the covenant promises God had made to them. They not only rejected God, they also rejected his servant Moses and conspired to put him to the open shame of the death of a covenant breaker (parallelling putting Christ to open shame in the New Covenant). When God finally thunders from heaven in judgment on his people in Numbers 14:22-23 he says that it was for thier habitual rebellion, not for any isolated act, which helps us shed light on the statement about "falling away" in Hebrews 6:6. This falling away is not an isolated act of disobedience, or even an ongoing struggle with a certain sin, but a habitual and ongoing condition of a hard heart that despises God and his commandments and covenant promises. In fact it is a heart so hard that there is no shame, and when offered the chance of repentance it is rejected (Numbers 14:9-10). This is a dangerous condition indeed.
What the writer of Hebrews is showing here is the dangerous place that apathy, or refusing to go forward in the faith can result in. Calvin says in his commentaries that apathy can lead to indifference, and indifference to alienation, and alienation if not repented of can lead to this falling away and full rejection of Christ and his teachings in the New Covenant.
In summary, this passage is not for those who struggle with sin, which every single Christian does daily. So who is it for? I'm not sure I know the exact answer to that except to say that it's to those who are deliberately refusing to move forward in the faith for whatever reason.
So what is the author of Hebrews saying to us? "...we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Heb 6:11-12). We move forward with the full assurance of hope in God's promises, especially the promise of the forgiveness of sins!
One thing that stands out about this warning passage and others in Hebrews the more I read them are the similarities between what the writer is saying and the experience of Israel in the wilderness at Kadesh-Barnea (see here). The writer here in Hebrews 6 is scolding his congregation for their lack of forward progress in the faith. He then abrubptly stops and gives this solemn warning about the consequences of continuing in this state. If we look back to Numbers 14 we can see that the Israelites suffered from this exact same thing:
"Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron...'Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?' And they said to one another,'Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.'" (Numbers 14:1,3b-4)
God had promised to give them the land in his covenant with Abraham. They had also experienced countless miracles, eschatological wonders, and caring provision from the hand of God which parallels the gifts experienced by the New Covenant believer in Hebrews 6:4-5. In spite of all this they still refused to go forward, thus completely setting aside the covenant promises God had made to them. They not only rejected God, they also rejected his servant Moses and conspired to put him to the open shame of the death of a covenant breaker (parallelling putting Christ to open shame in the New Covenant). When God finally thunders from heaven in judgment on his people in Numbers 14:22-23 he says that it was for thier habitual rebellion, not for any isolated act, which helps us shed light on the statement about "falling away" in Hebrews 6:6. This falling away is not an isolated act of disobedience, or even an ongoing struggle with a certain sin, but a habitual and ongoing condition of a hard heart that despises God and his commandments and covenant promises. In fact it is a heart so hard that there is no shame, and when offered the chance of repentance it is rejected (Numbers 14:9-10). This is a dangerous condition indeed.
What the writer of Hebrews is showing here is the dangerous place that apathy, or refusing to go forward in the faith can result in. Calvin says in his commentaries that apathy can lead to indifference, and indifference to alienation, and alienation if not repented of can lead to this falling away and full rejection of Christ and his teachings in the New Covenant.
In summary, this passage is not for those who struggle with sin, which every single Christian does daily. So who is it for? I'm not sure I know the exact answer to that except to say that it's to those who are deliberately refusing to move forward in the faith for whatever reason.
So what is the author of Hebrews saying to us? "...we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Heb 6:11-12). We move forward with the full assurance of hope in God's promises, especially the promise of the forgiveness of sins!
January 29, 2008
Sanctity of Life Sunday – An Abortion Story
Sunday before last was Sanctity of Life Sunday and we had a young woman who works with the Women’s Care Center speak to the congregation. There was no way the congregation could have been prepared for the story she began to tell. She told about a young girl who was a friend of hers who recently had an abortion…her second one.
She began the story with her friend nervously walking into the clinic and sitting down with seven or eight other girls. The price for the “procedure” was $450 and they all had paid and were waiting for their name to be called. The girl mentioned there was some awkward conversation between the women, whose age ranged from 18 to mid-thirties. The nurse came out and asked her to come back to one of the rooms and to change clothes. After the girl changed clothes she sat for a while waiting on the nurse to come in. During these few minutes the girl understandably became very emotional and wondered if she was doing the right thing. When the nurse came in she noticed that the girl was troubled, but she proceeded to ask her the routine questions: “Do you know who the father is?” and “Does he feel the same way about the child?” and so on. The last question was “Are you sure you want to do this?” The young girl spoke through the tears a troubled “no”. So, the nurse directed her to a room where she could take some time to think about it. The girl sat in there for three hours…alone, torn with the decision to keep her baby, or to “have it taken care of”. The most support the nurse would offer was “have you made up your mind yet?” There wasn’t anything like “why don’t you go home and think about it if you need to, there’s no hurry”. After the three emotional hours the young girl decided to go through with the abortion. When she finally went in to see the doctor he looked at her and smiled and said “You’re my favorite patient today”. When the girl asked him why he replied, “Because you’re my last one. I can go home after this.” So the girl went through with the abortion.
As I mentioned earlier, the girl in the story is the friend of a really good Christian lady in our Church who is helping her work through this and trying to lead her to repentance and faith in Christ. Please pray for both of them. Also please pray for the Women’s Care Center in our town that tries to educate women on the alternatives to these horrible procedures by using Ultrasounds and solid Christian counsel. Finally, pray that the hard hearts of the clinics and doctors performing these procedures would be softened by the Holy Spirit and the prayers of people interceding for these helpless victims.
She began the story with her friend nervously walking into the clinic and sitting down with seven or eight other girls. The price for the “procedure” was $450 and they all had paid and were waiting for their name to be called. The girl mentioned there was some awkward conversation between the women, whose age ranged from 18 to mid-thirties. The nurse came out and asked her to come back to one of the rooms and to change clothes. After the girl changed clothes she sat for a while waiting on the nurse to come in. During these few minutes the girl understandably became very emotional and wondered if she was doing the right thing. When the nurse came in she noticed that the girl was troubled, but she proceeded to ask her the routine questions: “Do you know who the father is?” and “Does he feel the same way about the child?” and so on. The last question was “Are you sure you want to do this?” The young girl spoke through the tears a troubled “no”. So, the nurse directed her to a room where she could take some time to think about it. The girl sat in there for three hours…alone, torn with the decision to keep her baby, or to “have it taken care of”. The most support the nurse would offer was “have you made up your mind yet?” There wasn’t anything like “why don’t you go home and think about it if you need to, there’s no hurry”. After the three emotional hours the young girl decided to go through with the abortion. When she finally went in to see the doctor he looked at her and smiled and said “You’re my favorite patient today”. When the girl asked him why he replied, “Because you’re my last one. I can go home after this.” So the girl went through with the abortion.
As I mentioned earlier, the girl in the story is the friend of a really good Christian lady in our Church who is helping her work through this and trying to lead her to repentance and faith in Christ. Please pray for both of them. Also please pray for the Women’s Care Center in our town that tries to educate women on the alternatives to these horrible procedures by using Ultrasounds and solid Christian counsel. Finally, pray that the hard hearts of the clinics and doctors performing these procedures would be softened by the Holy Spirit and the prayers of people interceding for these helpless victims.
January 27, 2008
Brief Hiatus
My family and I have been on a brief hiatus with our son, Landon, the past few days as he has been in the hospital, so I haven't been able to post. Thanks be to God he is back home and doing well. God has been telling an amazing story of his mercy with our son, and some day I hope to put it on here.
I have a lot of posts on the backburner and I will try to get them out this week.
Thanks and God Bless.
I have a lot of posts on the backburner and I will try to get them out this week.
Thanks and God Bless.
January 19, 2008
Hebrews 6, the corporate translation
"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." (Hebrews 6:4-6, ESV)
A lot of the time people will read this verse and wonder "is this me?". Especially those who have been caught up in some certain sin or another. But one thing that has struck me about these verses after reading this is the corporate nature of the language in these verses. If you look you will see words like those and them. If you follow the more Redemptive Historical explanation offered in the paper listed above (or here) its hard not to conclude that at least part of the authors intentions were to address them in a corporate manner. In other words, if we (church/corporate body) fall away from God in the same way that Israel fell away from God, then that we will not be able to be restored again. But this falling away is not just any falling away. In the events at Kadesh-Barnea the Israelites were ready to stone Moses, God's mediator, and expose him to the shame of being cast outside the camp and killed. But here if there is not forward progression, then the author says that the consequences are much worse now that we are in the New Covenant, for it's not Moses now, but Jesus that we will put to an open shame if we fall in this way!
Now the big question is to what extent did they fall away at Kadesh-Barnea? In other words, what did it look like to those looking on? I hope to deal with that in the next post.
Go back and look at the story of Israel in the wilderness and the events leading up to Numbers 14 through the lenses of Hebrews 5 and 6. To me this corporate approach makes more sense than the individualistic interpretations that we've all heard.
A lot of the time people will read this verse and wonder "is this me?". Especially those who have been caught up in some certain sin or another. But one thing that has struck me about these verses after reading this is the corporate nature of the language in these verses. If you look you will see words like those and them. If you follow the more Redemptive Historical explanation offered in the paper listed above (or here) its hard not to conclude that at least part of the authors intentions were to address them in a corporate manner. In other words, if we (church/corporate body) fall away from God in the same way that Israel fell away from God, then that we will not be able to be restored again. But this falling away is not just any falling away. In the events at Kadesh-Barnea the Israelites were ready to stone Moses, God's mediator, and expose him to the shame of being cast outside the camp and killed. But here if there is not forward progression, then the author says that the consequences are much worse now that we are in the New Covenant, for it's not Moses now, but Jesus that we will put to an open shame if we fall in this way!
Now the big question is to what extent did they fall away at Kadesh-Barnea? In other words, what did it look like to those looking on? I hope to deal with that in the next post.
Go back and look at the story of Israel in the wilderness and the events leading up to Numbers 14 through the lenses of Hebrews 5 and 6. To me this corporate approach makes more sense than the individualistic interpretations that we've all heard.
January 16, 2008
Quote from Internet Monk
One of the wonderful things about God's grace is that sometimes he uses our sin somehow to ultimately draw us to Himself. Here is a great quote from Imonk that stresses this point:
"God is not harsh to reject us, but faithful to love us, through these seasons. He often lets our own persistence in sin become the means of working his grace into us. If we have acquired a taste for sin, we may drink it to the dregs and suffer the consequences before we see the superiority of our Savior and the pleasures of obedience. Persistent sin is rarely- thankfully- cured instantly, but over time, and in God’s time. His goal in our lives is not a plant that grows quickly without root, but a tree that bears fruit. There are seasons when trees that will be fruitful look, even to the eyes of the mature, to be dead and hopeless. But this is a God who brings life from the dead."
"God is not harsh to reject us, but faithful to love us, through these seasons. He often lets our own persistence in sin become the means of working his grace into us. If we have acquired a taste for sin, we may drink it to the dregs and suffer the consequences before we see the superiority of our Savior and the pleasures of obedience. Persistent sin is rarely- thankfully- cured instantly, but over time, and in God’s time. His goal in our lives is not a plant that grows quickly without root, but a tree that bears fruit. There are seasons when trees that will be fruitful look, even to the eyes of the mature, to be dead and hopeless. But this is a God who brings life from the dead."
January 14, 2008
More on McKnight's Blog
Ok, I've read a lot more of McKnight's Blog (Jesus Creed) and he has a lot of thought provoking material on there, especially about how he has moved from a Calvinist view of Scripture to, well, something he calls "Post-Calvinism" (read here). This was all thanks to a series of events, the most important being when he was asked to teach through the book of Hebrews at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I think he asks a lot of questions that need to be thought about and discussed. Maybe his post should be called "Calvinism Isn't Enough"! I don't think I agree with everything he's written, but I definitely enjoy reading and working through it.
Great Explanation of warning passages in Heberews
I've found a new blog by Scot Mcknight that I've really been enjoying. He has a really good exegesis of the warning passages in Hebrews. It's broken down into four sections which really helps. They are:
Exhortation
Sin
Believers or Not?
So What?
I'm not sure I agree totally with his "phenominological-true believer" category, and he doesn't subscribe to the Calvinistic view of Hebrews completely, but I appreciate the way he honestly writes about struggling with it. The comments are great, too.
Exhortation
Sin
Believers or Not?
So What?
I'm not sure I agree totally with his "phenominological-true believer" category, and he doesn't subscribe to the Calvinistic view of Hebrews completely, but I appreciate the way he honestly writes about struggling with it. The comments are great, too.
January 12, 2008
Sin comes with guilt
Unfortunately when we sin it often comes with a lot of guilt when we realize how bad we've messed up. This is especially true when there is sexual failure in a Christian's life. Pastor Wilson has a great post here on repentance, forgiveness and how to deal with the guilt in light of Christ's sacrifice.
January 9, 2008
A different look at John 3:16..
This is how my family and I see John 3:16 now that we are Presbyterian!
For God so loved the world (covenant of redemption) that he gave his one and only Son (propitiatory covenant sacrifice), that whoever believes in Him (puts faith in covenant promises) will not perish (suffer covenant curses) but have eternal life (enjoy covenant blessings).
Amen.
For God so loved the world (covenant of redemption) that he gave his one and only Son (propitiatory covenant sacrifice), that whoever believes in Him (puts faith in covenant promises) will not perish (suffer covenant curses) but have eternal life (enjoy covenant blessings).
Amen.
January 8, 2008
January 3, 2008
Redemptive Historical look at Hebrews 6
Some of the passages in Hebrews are very hard to take in if not read in the right context and with the authors intentions and audience in mind. Here is a paper that looks at the warning passage in Hebrews 6:4-6 in its RH context, which is very helpful.
January 2, 2008
Free John Owen Stuff
Here is a link to some free high quality PDF's of some of John Owen's works. Free stuff is always the best!
January 1, 2008
Calvin on voluntary sin vs. sins of ignorance
Here is another quote from Calvin on the subject of voluntary sins vs. sins of ignorance:
“Certain men, somewhat more prudent, when they see the teachings of Novatus refuted by the great clarity of Scripture, do not deem every sin unpardonable, but only voluntary transgression of the law, into which one knowingly and willingly falls. Now those who speak thus allow pardon for no sin, except on that is an error or ignorance. But in the law the Lord commanded one sort of sacrifice to be offered to atone for the voluntary sins of believers (Lev. 6:1ff), another sort to redeem their acts of ignorance (Lev 4). Consequently, what depravity it is not to grant any expiation for voluntary sin. I say that nothing is more apparent than that Christ’s sacrifice is alone sufficient to forgive the voluntary sins of the saints inasmuch as the Lord has attested this by carnal sacrifices as seals.” (Calvin, Institutes).
Novatus was a contemporary of Calvin that taught that if someone sinned one of the "bad sins" voluntarily after being baptized that they had to be excommunicated from the Church and no forgiveness remained for them. If that was the case then there probably weren't a whole lot of people left in his church! As Calvin points out in several places this is a grave error and it does not see sin the way Scripture does, and worse than that it attempts to limit the extent of forgiveness that Christ's sacrifice accomplished. Thankfully Christ's death on the cross makes an allowance for the worst of sins, as long as there is repentance involved (I John 1:9).
Note: If it seems like I'm spending a lot of time and effort on this subject, well its for a couple of reasons. #1, it's the reasons I created this blog, to struggle through some of these verses. #2, it's because I have struggled with these verses. In the past I have struggled with God's forgiveness for certain sins in my own life in light of a lot of these passages. But to my surprise I keep finding one thing...grace! And I hope that's what these blog entries convey to whoever reads them.
(Go here for rest of this series)
“Certain men, somewhat more prudent, when they see the teachings of Novatus refuted by the great clarity of Scripture, do not deem every sin unpardonable, but only voluntary transgression of the law, into which one knowingly and willingly falls. Now those who speak thus allow pardon for no sin, except on that is an error or ignorance. But in the law the Lord commanded one sort of sacrifice to be offered to atone for the voluntary sins of believers (Lev. 6:1ff), another sort to redeem their acts of ignorance (Lev 4). Consequently, what depravity it is not to grant any expiation for voluntary sin. I say that nothing is more apparent than that Christ’s sacrifice is alone sufficient to forgive the voluntary sins of the saints inasmuch as the Lord has attested this by carnal sacrifices as seals.” (Calvin, Institutes).
Novatus was a contemporary of Calvin that taught that if someone sinned one of the "bad sins" voluntarily after being baptized that they had to be excommunicated from the Church and no forgiveness remained for them. If that was the case then there probably weren't a whole lot of people left in his church! As Calvin points out in several places this is a grave error and it does not see sin the way Scripture does, and worse than that it attempts to limit the extent of forgiveness that Christ's sacrifice accomplished. Thankfully Christ's death on the cross makes an allowance for the worst of sins, as long as there is repentance involved (I John 1:9).
Note: If it seems like I'm spending a lot of time and effort on this subject, well its for a couple of reasons. #1, it's the reasons I created this blog, to struggle through some of these verses. #2, it's because I have struggled with these verses. In the past I have struggled with God's forgiveness for certain sins in my own life in light of a lot of these passages. But to my surprise I keep finding one thing...grace! And I hope that's what these blog entries convey to whoever reads them.
(Go here for rest of this series)
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