By: Gen. Jim — 6/24/24
The Spirit spoke to us yesterday and asked, “How determined is your love for Me? Are you loving Me merely because you were taught to love Me, or are you loving Me in words but not deeds? Are you loving Me with your all because you answered My call? Are you determined to love Me even when you are evil spoken of, accused & abused, treated as though you are a traitor because you have abandoned sin? Are you putting Me above every other person, place, or thing in your lives by choosing My way & not your own?”
These questions are very personal. We all need to stop & consider, “Do we actually love & serve Jesus or are we merely religious?” One can become “religious” and still not love/serve Him out of a pure heart. Consider what Jesus spoke to His disciples (up on a mountain): “Blessed are the PURE in heart, for they shall see God.” – Mt. 5:8. Does this mean we will not see God if we do not have a PURE heart? (see also 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Pet. 1:22. These verses use the same Gk. word as found in Mt. 5:8 = katharos, “clean, (lit. or fig.), clear, pure”).
It is obvious that a person (claiming to be “Christian”) can serve the Lord out of an impure heart. Purity of heart is single – mindedness or sincerity, free from mixed motives; it is not synonymous with chastity but includes it (see Ps. 24:4; Heb. 12:14 et al.).
Tell me, what was Jesus’ big beef with the scribes & Pharisees? Was it not their hypocrisy? All one has to do is read Mt. 23 where Jesus uses the words “Woe” (Gk. ouai, meaning “grief” (exclamation of). Check out how many times He uses this word: vss.13,14,15,16,23,25,27, & 29. This is not all. Jesus calls them HYPOCRITES after He uses the word WOE! (vss.13,14,15,23,25,27, & 29.
It should be noted that Jesus did not believe all Pharisees were hypocrites, but most were. In Luke 12:1, Jesus tells the crowd, “Beware of the leaven (pride) of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” (see also Luke 11:52). These men of the cloth were merely “religious,” not “righteous.”
This is the point that the prophetic Word of the LORD was making: (Word cont.) “I want you to ask My (God’s) Spirit to give you even this day, the covering of “Determined Love” so that you can serve Me with all of your heart, all of your strength, and all of your desires.” Pray this prayer!!! If you are guilty of playing “religion” ask the Holy Spirit to BURN THE HELL out of you!!! Get RADICAL! Get REVOLUTIONARY!
The Word of the LORD finished up with, “Do not be a cast away unable to free yourselves from the endless sins & torments of the damned. Be living your lives each day in Determined Love for Me.”
Where have we heard the word “castaway?” 1 Cor. 9:27? Yep! The NKJV et al. use the word “disqualified” rather than “castaway:” “…lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” The KJV uses the word “castaway.” The Greek word for “castaway” is “adokinos,” meaning “unapproved, i.e. rejected, worthless (lit. or morally), reprobate.” The opposite of this is “dokimos,” meaning, “acceptable, approved, tried, (seem) good.”
Apropos:
Here is what we’re looking at: are we disapproved/rejected by God or approved/accepted by Him? The Bible from Genesis to Revelation makes the distinction: right or wrong.
Consider what Hebrews 3:6 & 7-12 say. Note the small word “if,” in vss.6,7,14,15,18 (see my articles on the “if” / “then” clause). I know what I write is opposite of what the “once saved always saved” (OSAS) teachers teach (which is false!).
Note the words “holy brethren” in vs. one. “Holy” in Hebrews 3:1 means the “sanctified” whose sins have been “purged” (or forgiven) as in 1:3 & 2:11 uses the word “sanctified.” Our OSAS folks try to convince us that once a Christian believer, always a CB! Well, this is not true. Hebrews warns against “falling away,” “departing from the faith.” They try to tell us that the ones in question had never been saved, (in ref. to Heb. 6:4-6 et al.) Heb. 3:12 tells us plainly to “Take heed, (holy) brethren, lest there be in any of you an EVIL HEART of unbelief, in DEPARTING from the Living God.”
IF one cannot DEPART from the faith why does the Bible WARN against it? Heb. 3:12 tells us that one (saved person) can have “an evil heart of unbelief,” exact opposite of a “pure heart.”
Heb. 3:12 says, “lest there be in any of you” -see 4:11 where the words, “lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief;” See Heb.10:23 where the words “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;” and Heb.12:15 where the words, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God.” Vs.16 speaks of “any fornicator, or profane person.”
The warning of Heb. 3:12 could either mean a WARNING against a relapse in Judaism or back into the world of sin. Some believe one or the other. I believe one CAN fall back into sin, i.e. become apostate. The WARNING is against an impure heart, backsliding by hardening of the heart, hence, face the decision which will exclude one from eternal salvation as irrevocably as the wilderness generation. Hebrews will recur to the impossibility of a second repentance (once one has fully become reprobate /apostate; see 6:4; 10:26; 12:15-17,25 etc.) I believe one can fall sin & repent but becoming a full-blown apostate/reprobate finalizes things: no return!
Heb. 3:12 is speaking a supreme disaster, a total defeat which may overtake a man or woman. I’ve known a few. One told me on his death bed (few hours before his lifeline was to be unplugged) that he knew he could never get back to God (he in time past became one of our arch enemies that opposed this ministry). He died in the state of denial, defeat, & damnation. His life became a TRAGEDY because he kept hardening his heart.
Heb. 4:11 says “… lest any man fall after the same example (of not entering the (final) rest.” Disobedience will keep us from finishing our course. How many calling themselves “Christian” are in actuality, “Christ-less?” They may be church goers but have not the Spirit of Christ nor eternal salvation. Going back to Heb. 3:6 we find “But Christ as a son over His own house; whose house are we, IF we HOLD FAST the confidence & the rejoicing of the hope FIRM UNTO the END.” What IF we don’t? The company of the faithful make up His house (see 1 Peter 4:17 & 1 Tim. 3:15).
“We are His house IF…” “The condition,” as one theologian has expressed, “has nothing to do with human ordinances in the church, however useful they are in expressing in inner genius of various groups. There is nothing here about apostolic succession, valid sacraments, a well-decorated clergy, purity of doctrine, a socially correct membership, large endowments, imposing buildings, inspiring music, or brilliant preaching. “We are His house IF we hold fast’ the faith…”
If our confidence that is forthright, without compromising or apology, we will finish our course. The Bible NEVER, EVER says the reprobate /apostate /backslider /spineless will inherit the earth (Mt. 5:5). Our HOPE will hold us in time of trouble. We must rejoice in HOPE.
Heb. 3:14 tells us that “We are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the END.” “Holding unto the end” is noted; conditional. We start out believing & end with believing hence, the doctrine of perseverance (see Rom. 5:10; 8:31-39). This “holding” is the warfare/strenuous kind of faith, not the kind we find today: “I’m saved no matter how in the HELL I live!” What keeps us saved is a STRONG DEVOTION, a determined ongoing REVOLUTION. Do you live there?
Volumes could be written on this subject. Every generation needs to be reminded of this: an evil heart of unbelief will keep one OUT of God’s Kingdom. One can start out with Holy Zeal & Holy Fire only to end in warm coals at best. The worse is “cold coals” which testifies to our apostate & reprobate condition. God help us to HOLD FAST to our confession/profession… till the END!
