Tuesday, 13 September 2011
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Grace and Mercy
There is a very recent post by a Xangan I love as a brother/ sister, (I had thought - erroneously, I now hear, that he is a he and not a she) on the warnings in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. At first, I was going to write in the comments box a very different view of those same verses, but rather than clutter up his/her good post, I decided to write my thoughts here on my own site. I expect he/she will get some comments similar in content to this as well as comments that totally agree with him/her. Just the same, I will probably get some comments that agree with me and some which don't. This subject, while it is extremely important in understanding the nature of God and His expectations/provisions for believers, is also extremely difficult for those of both "understandings"to agree on. I believe, and have always believed from the moment I first came to God in the faith He gave me to obtain salvation, deliverance, and sonship - membership in the Kingdom of God that all of that is and always will be perfect and secure. And every bit of this security is based on the faithfulness of God, who though He is perfect, sovereign, and holy planned even before the foundation (creation) of the whole of the universe to redeem us. That plan was decided upon and agreed upon within the Triune Godhead and included the slaying of the Son of God as the only possible perfect sacrifice which was necessary for a holy God to have any family relationship with sinful man.
We who have trusted Christ as savior have been chosen of the Father and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said all that the Father gives Him shall come to Him and He will in no wise cast them out. The Father, who gave each believer to His Son is greater than all and no one can pluck them out of His hand. There are so many ways that the scriptures (inspired by the same Holy Spirit) assure us that our sins are not forgiven on the basis of our performance. For us to sin afterward is no small thing, yet God does forgive us time and time again. The basis of this continual forgiveness is not our confession or works of penance, but still the same ONE sacrifice on the cross for ALL our sins: past, present, and future. God is not watching us slip away as though horrified that we could not hold on and growing angrier and angrier with each new sin or further backsliding. God has always known the end from the beginning. He saves those He will and condemns others. God is sovereign. He doesn't make mistakes. These verses, if interpreted to mean that we can sin enough that the blood of Christ is no longer sufficient and that we eventually "spend" more grace than He is willing to give, can not be said to be in accord with the principle of grace. We have never been able, nor shall we ever be able to match God's grace and mercy by the depth of our love and obedience. That's the "why" of the cross. We wax and wane - go from hot to cold - yet God remains faithful, He cannot deny His presence of/by the Holy Spirit in us.
The writer of these verses (I personally think it's Paul) differentiates true believers from false ones - those who look like believers, even say that they believe but have never been transformed into true children of God. Those who are born of the Spirit of God are His, and the Lord knows those who are his. (Paul) says in the final verse of that same chapter (10:39): "But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul." He does not say this presumptuously. There is a reality, a difference between the saved and the unsaved, the regenerate and the unregenerate, the child of God and the child of the devil.
These verses were written, not to scare us into doubting our sonship, but to warn those who pretend to believe while trusting in themselves to continue to look like the sheep when in their hearts they've always remained goats that there is no other sacrifice beyond the one they are spurning. Christ died ONCE for the sinner, never again to repeat that sacrifice. It is finished.
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Comments (14)
Whose post are you referring to. Your post is okay all by itself but it is troubling not knowing the content that inspired you to write your post.
@LoBornlytesThoughtPalace@xanga - I guess you're right.
It is JulieMillerFan@xanga who wrote "Judgment comes Pt.3..."
What I was trying to avoid was a "war" scenario. We differ on this subject and I wanted to present the other side. Maybe I should add that info to my post, or maybe folks will pick it up from this comment.
Her post is well done and has more to it than just this subject.
@quest4god - Oh yeah. I am familiar with JulieMillerFan.
It would be my assessment that the reference to those who continue on in sin and then trample the Son of God and regard Him as unclean are doing the same thing as those who "set aside the Law of Moses." That is, they are, or were, believers in name only once-upon-a-time and then "set aside" their faith, that is, they actively rejected it.
To regard Jesus as unclean has only one real possible interpretation: someone who once called Jesus Lord now calls Him false, a false god. That person was apparently not a genuine convert who ever became born again or else the Holy Spirit would have prevented them from calling Jesus unclean (a false god). No one can call Jesus Lord and mean it except by the Spirit, and no one with the Spirit can call Jesus evil and mean it.
@craigwbooth@xanga - Very well said! That's another important point to remember when reading that text. I am with you on that. These were not born-again believers. They were either self-deceived to begin with or motivated by our enemy to infiltrate the ranks of believers. The point is that there is only one way of salvation - through the shed blood of Christ on the cross and His righteousness declared thereby to be ours also through faith.
@LoBornlytesThoughtPalace@xanga - I edited my post to include the possibility that JulieMillerFan is a he, not a she. Karen dropped me a note to that effect, but I haven't verified it yet. If you catch me in a booboo of that sort, feel free to correct me. Thanks.
Long time! Thanks for your ministry here! God bless, ~ Pete
@quest4god - I've known JulieMillerfan for years. And yes, he's a guy.
The problem comes when people don't understand that when Christ died on the cross He definitely redeemed a people for Himself, the elect. That's why Paul writes the golden chain of salvation with such boldness and confidence: foreknown, predestined, called, justified and glorified. Any other understanding of the atonement will raise doubts about perseverance, assurance and the like. As you're aware, you can still be saved and not have that understanding (I was saved for many years without it), but you miss out on a great deal of comfort and assurance as well as a deeper sense of humility and awe that our salvation rests entirely in Christ. Psalm 115:1.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this
That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!
@naphtali_deer@xanga - Your comment is so dynamic! (Maybe a future post ?). There is such power in the gospel! It's no "iffy" thing at all.
As I say, I like the way you put that together. Thank you!!
@quest4god - "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God..."
"who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began"
All the sheep are purchased by the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, but we are called in real time, so to speak.
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
We hear Christ's voice and we follow Him because we are already his sheep.
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."
This is a very important and well- written post. Amen and Amen!
I seem to be constantly trying to get these ideas across to my neighbors, many of whom say they have received the free gift of eternal life but, instead of praising Jesus for the work He is doing in them, spend much time encouraging one another to perform a "higher" standard of holiness in order to please or even to appease God. This is the religion- instead- of- relationship problem which fills my blogs. This is Pharisee-ism. Jesus calls them hypocrites and actors who are playing a role. Peter says judgement begins within the household of God.
Just adding my Amen again on my older, for-all-audiences Xanga site.
@JerusalemHill - Thanks for you comment! It is a very sad thing that people somehow think their "religion" is more impressive than the great and wonderful gift of God. This is why they wish to add to it or even substitute religion for relationship (which they may not even have). Whatever we may say our faith costs us should not even be compared to the suffering of Christ for the sins of the unrighteous (us).