"Secured by Sovereignty" Part II

Pastor Dan's sermon from 5/27/2007

Scripture Reference: John 6:37-40

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Does Hebrews Scare the Hell Out of You?

Hebrews 6:4-6, "it is impossible...if they fall away to be brought back to repentance..." No matter what theological persuasion you come from this verse presents some great problems...that is, when it is taken out of context.

To be sure, this verse is enough to scare the hell out of the true believer. When I read this verse I automatically begin to wonder what must I do to do the works of God (see John 6)? Is there something more that must be done that I haven't already done? The author of Hebrews did not include this verse to scare us from hell but to draw us unto Christ.

Notice where my concerns lie in the words above. It is all about me. We are barking up the wrong tree if our response to these words immediately falls to the self. Interestingly enough, the entire book of Hebrews is about the priesthood and work of Jesus Christ--it is never about us. I know that this is not a very popular message in a post-modern, emerging, emergent, narcissistic church. Many of our fears concerning security in salvation are a result of our ego. I begin asking, "What must I do in order to know that I am saved?" Is this the response that the author of Hebrews was looking for from the tiny Jewish/Christian house church in the first century?

What usually happens in a discussion on this verse is that party lines are drawn and sides fall away to polar opposites. The Calvinist will argue that these people were never really Christians at all. Once saved always saved. The Armenian will argue that these people were Christians in that the description of enlightenment, tasting etc could not be more clear. Who does the writer have in mind? Simple. The early Jewish-Christians to whom he had sent the letter.

This is a warning to the Hebrews as it is a warning to the church today. The message is simple--continue to persevere and do not fall away from the faith. Make no mistake, it is impossible for a true believer to fall away even though they can fall into sin (John 6, John 10, Philippians 1 etc). But the warning is that there are many in the world who profess faith, yes, even take part in all the benefits of the Christian community, but never actually commit their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This author is talking about those who renounce Jesus and are "crucifying the Son of God all over again".

The warning is for you and me. We can't simply call it a day when we call Jesus Lord. We must believe that he is Lord. If he is truly our Lord we must follow and submit to him as Lord. This is why Paul tells the Philippians to continue to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Likewise, Peter says that we are to make our calling and election sure and that if we do these things, we will persevere!

This passage makes it oh so clear that some "Christians" are tasters, testers and players. They have tasted of the Holy Spirit without drinking. They have experienced the fellowship of believers without actually receiving the benefits of Christ. Their minds have even been enlightened to the truth but their heart has never committed to Christ. It is scary to think that I might be one of these tasters rather than a follower. But I would also suggest that by the very fact that I ask that question and that I continue to repent of and confess my sins and strive after the Lord that I am not a taster but a follower.

Preserved to Persevere

Do you ever struggle with your call to salvation? Do you ever fall into sin and wonder how one who is saved could possibly not lose their greatest gift? Does God ever become so angry with us that he takes back what we thought he irrevocably gave to us? These questions bring the words of Paul to mind when he told the Philippian church to continue to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

Reformed believers are often accused of a false sense of security. Arminians are accused of a man centered religion that involves no security at all. I remember talking with a person that might be considered as an extreme Arminian--a Perfectionist. In a nutshell he believes that the Bible teaches that man can become perfect in this life once recieving Christ. Not only so, but these same Christians must remain perfect until the day that they die or they must become saved all over again.

The Scriptures are clear (as we will dive into this Sunday) that God preserves all of his people. Those that he gives to Jesus will be guarded and preserved until the last day (Phil. 1:6, John 6:44 etc). This is all the work of God. Just as election, redemption and calling are the work of the Triune God so preservation continues to be the work of God in salvation. However, man is called to persevere. We are called to holiness, to faith, to abide in Christ to "fight the good fight" if you will. Perseverance is man's responsibility. In fact I would argue that we should add a 6th point to "Calvinism" called "Preservation" and this point should come before perseverance (for reasons I don't have space to get into right now).

God preserves his people and his people persevere. In other words Faith alone saves us but faith is never alone. By the very fact that God preserves his people secures his people unto salvation. None of them will be lost.

But what about those who profess faith in Christ and absolutely fall away and die in their sin? Simple and sad to be sure...they were never under grace in the first place. Jesus promises his people that not one of them will be lost--not one. If you are truly saved, you can be confident that the promises of God will always be yours.

"Secured by Sovereignty"

Pastor Dan's sermon from 5/20/2007

Scripture Reference: John 6:35-40

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Well, once again, I was unable to wrap up this series on the Reformed Faith. All in the Lord's timing. I am looking forward to this Sunday as we will take an in depth look at the doctrines of Preservation and Perseverance. Two sides of the same coin. For a preview check out my latest posting.

God's Invincible Embrace Wrap Up

This past Sunday I preached part four of a series within a series on the Holy Spirit and His work in salvation. My desire was to finish the series on the Holy Spirit. I was preaching from I Corinthians 2:1-16 and just flat out ran out of time. What I have decided to do is to “complete” the series through a few writings on the last verses of I Corinthians. I will include these writings on my weblog and in the Redemptive Presence newsletter.

We left off in I Corinthians 2:10 as we learned about effectual calling and conversion. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to us the simple truth of the cross. This is what we call “effectual calling” or God’s invincible embrace of grace. Conversion is the result of effectual calling. The Holy Spirit regenerates us, implants new life in us and the soul is made holy. We respond in faith and repentance which are the gifts of God (not by works so that no man should boast!). Paul leaves verse 10 by saying that God has revealed the Truth of salvation to us by his Holy Spirit.

As Paul continue he follows up this revelation of effectual calling by writing a hyperbole. A what? A hyperbole is when a figure of writing or speech where a writer uses one example to amplify his point. In verse 11 Paul says that only a man knows what his true intentions and thoughts are. No one outside of that person can know what his inward thoughts are. We basically take each other’s word on faith. We believe a person because they have asked us to do so. After Paul makes this statement about a person’s thoughts he relates the example to God’s thoughts. In other words, Paul is saying, “If we can’t possibly know what a person is truly thinking, and we are just like that person, how is it possible to imagine that we can know what God is thinking?” To know God’s thoughts is to know the mind of God. Something miraculous has to happen for us to have any knowledge of God’s thoughts.

The only persons who know the thoughts of God are the persons of the Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit know each other intimately. Paul answers his own hyperbolic question. Who can know God’s thoughts? The Holy Spirit! And we have been given the Holy Spirit! Now we can understand what God has freely given us. God has freely given us the Gospel. When I read a passage like this I think about language barriers. There is this one language out there that only young people speak. It is the language of text messaging. It is almost a secret language. Mark my words, the time is coming, if it hasn’t already, when text messaging dictionaries will be required reading for communications majors! When we receive the Holy Spirit, the message of the Scriptures are no longer foolishness to us (much like text messaging is to most parents of teens and tweens). No! The Gospel makes perfect sense because the Holy Spirit has enabled us to embrace grace. He has persuaded us of the truth of the person of Jesus Christ.

Paul makes a further distinction in the following verse when he says that the man without the Spirit “does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God.” Why? Because his mind, heart and soul are totally depraved! He is dead until someone wakes him up. Dead in foolishness. Dead in the pursuit of “happiness”. Dead in the love they have for this world.
The person who is foolish comes up with all kinds of excuses to continue on in foolishness. They believe they can get religion later on in life. They believe they can walk the line between the world and God’s Kingdom. They believe that the message might be a good message for others but not for them. They believe that there is a God but that Jesus is not the only way to God. Why do they believe these things? Why do they continue to live their life this way? Because Jesus is foolish to them! Is he foolish to you?

The message of the Gospel is to drop what we are doing and follow Jesus NOW! The Gospels speak of many who wanted to follow Jesus but were unwilling to drop what they were doing—even good things. Why would we drop what we are doing when it seems to give us so much fulfillment? Jesus promises a life that is hard, traveled down a beaten path, a life of humility and servanthood all for the glory of God. This is foolishness to those who are perishing. So what happens? Those who are perishing reject grace and reject the foolish message of the Cross.

Paul rounds out his passage on the Holy Spirit when he poses another question in verse 16. For who has known the mind of the Lord…? I love how he ends the passage in such a profound answer. “But we have the mind of Christ.” Paul once again answers his own question. He is literally saying, “Who has known the mind of the Lord? We know the mind of the Lord because we have the very mind of Christ who is the Lord.”

This is another great statement of the theology of the person of Christ. Jesus was not just a prophet or great teacher. He is the very God of the universe as the second person of the Trinity. He is fully God and fully man. He bridges the gap between us and God. Because we have been given the Holy Spirit we now have the mind of Jesus Christ. The message makes perfect sense to those who are being saved by the power of God. The Gospel is salvation to all who believe.

In a way, this passage rounds out the work of the Trinity in Salvation. The Father predestines and elects his people, the Son agreed to provide redemption and did so, the Holy Spirit finally applies salvation to God’s people by calling them, regenerating them and applying the merits of Christ to them. What a wonderful message of grace! Notice how it is the work of God all the way through.

However, we’re not done yet. Not only has the Triune God saved us, but we will certainly persevere until the end because of his saving grace. But we will talk about Perseverance of the Saints over the next week or so. Until then continue to keep your eyes fixed on Christ, not on earthly things.

God's Invincible Embrace - IV

Pastor Dan's sermon from 5/13/2007

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 2:1-16

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God's Invincible Embrace - III

Pastor Dan's sermon from 5/6/2007

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 2:1-16

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God's Invincible Embrace - II

Pastor Dan's sermon from 4/29/2007

Scripture Reference: John 10:15-26

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