PART #0011 of “WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD”
“PERSUADED” Is Such A Wonderful Biblical Word That Is So Uplifting, Encouraging, Hope Reviving and Incentive Filled.
To be “persuaded” speaks of an assured confidence and trust that goes even beyond believing.
It is something that is beyond measure.
And to best understand what it is to be persuaded, is to see what the apostle Paul writes by Inspiration and revelation from the Ascended LORD.
Talking about the incomprehensible Love of God in [Romans 8:38-39], here is how this great apostle puts it.
“For I am ‘persuaded’, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come…..”
“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
“Being persuaded” is something that only the Holy Spirit can embed or instill in our hearts.
We cannot get this from man.
Though we attempt to describe “being persuaded”, we do not even scratch the surface.
For to be persuaded by God, the way as Paul was, goes far beyond both human comprehension and description.
Abraham was “fully persuaded” Scripture declares in [Romans 4:21].
Every believer should strive to come to that place of ‘being persuaded’ as Abraham and the Apostle Paul was.
And when we do, we will in this life, truly be in total synchronization with The Holy Spirit Of God.
Now that is a goal really worth setting.
The Blessed Assurance
Picking up from where we left off in the last in the last [Crumb 0088], we saw that wonderful blessed assurance of our salvation.
The moment we truly believe in Paul’s Gospel of Grace, God irrevocably sets in place some wonderful things for us.
God instantly delivers us “from the power of darkness and translates us into the kingdom of his dear Son” [Colossians 1:13]
We are ‘baptized’ by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ [1 Corinthians 12:13].
God then seals us with His Holy Spirit Who permanently takes up residence in us, all the way up to eternity [Ephesians 1:13-14].
We now belong to Him…… lock, stock and barrel.
John Stott, a wonderful contemporary English Bible Scholar and theologian of recent years, put it across so beautifully.
“God now owns you three times over. HE owns you by creation, HE owns you by redemption and HE owns you by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit”.
How wonderful!
And that is exactly where a believer is.
SO NO, you will ‘NEVER’ lose your salvation, which is a “one time event”.
It is “impossible” for you to commit either ‘apsotasia’, ‘parapipto’ or ‘mahal’.
It is “impossible” for you to “scornfully turn your back” on Jesus Christ and His “finished works” on the cross.
“REST ASSURED IN THIS TRUTH”.
Responsible For Our Own Lives
As believers we are all called to be responsible for our own lives.
There is no sword of “The Law” hanging over our heads. And there is no one chasing us that we need to hide or even mask up.
We can be who we are and not pretend to be something else or somebody else.
The demands of the “thou shall” and “thou shall not” has been taken away by the cross, for we have been “delivered from the Law” [Romans 7:6].
The cross of Christ has purchased our liberty for all eternity.
And Paul the apostle admonishes us accordingly in [Galatians 5:1].
“STAND FAST therefore” he says, “in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage”.
In other words, “now don’t get all religious”.
Religion is bondage. “Stay free”.
However, Paul does exhort us in [Galatians 5:13], that since we have been called into this liberty, not to misuse it.
Use it instead to “serve one another in love”.
And it is this instruction, if followed, that will actually “fulfill the Law”, as the apostle wonderfully lays it out in [Romans 13:8-10].
We Can Fall
Even as believers, we can and will fall in some way or the other from time to time.
But we never need to stay fallen, for the Grace of God is available to get up, get back and keep going, “without condemnation” [Romans 8:1].
Always remember that we do have an “Advocate”, Jesus Christ, in heaven [1 John 2:1].
Also know that there are wonderful rewards in heaven, which we need to work for, they are not free.
Heaven is free, for it is a gift, but the rewards are not.
But they really are worth working for and Scripture really does give that wonderful incentive.
God’s Salvation is not just a fire escape from His Judgment.
For God is offering us far more than salvation that our imagination can meet.
To get a more comprehensive understanding on the “rewards factor” do check out [CRUMB 0027].
And now here is what the apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us concerning the mind of God towards us.
“But beloved”, he begins in [Hebrews 6:9-10], and whenever Paul uses the word ‘beloved” he is always addressing the believer.
“We are (what’s the word?) PERSUADED better things of you and things that accompany (what?) SALVATION”.
“For God is not unrighteous to forget (what?) your work and labour of love…..”
That is speaking of our rewards in Heaven.
We think you get the picture, so we’ll leave it here!
Qualifying The ‘Yes’
Now we’ll look to qualify the ‘yes’ that yes, it is possible that one can turn their back on Christ Jesus by willful rejection.
When one rejects Christ, what they are really doing is rejecting His message.
And His message is “Paul’s Gospel of Grace”.
Nothing more and nothing less!
That “Jesus Christ, died for our sins, was buried and rose the third day according to the Scriptures” [1 Corinthians 15:1-4].
Having heard the message of salvation, they ‘have’ been enlightened.
And there is not a soul that can claim they have not.
For Scripture is crystal clear in [Titus 2:11] as far as this is concerned.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath (past tense – already has) appeared to (not just some men, but) ‘ALL’ men”.
Speaking of Jesus Christ, Scripture clearly declares in [John 1:9] that HE, “was the true Light which lighteth up ‘EVERY MAN’ that cometh into the world”.
We can’t explain this, because it is beyond human comprehension, so we won’t even try.
But we can tell from these Scriptures that there is a certain measure of this Light that every human being possesses.
And it is ‘sufficient’ to bring them into God’s salvation, if they so choose.
So we accept these Scriptures as ‘inerrant and authoritative’, for so it is, as are the rest of the other Scriptures.
But here is the thing, and there is no getting away from this.
When the day is done, every man “will stand” before HIM, “without excuse” [Romans 1:20].
And the sad commentary is that, the reason those who will not make heaven, will not be because of their sins, but their “unbelief”.
The Horror Of Unbelief
Israel in Kadesh-Barnea is the prime example of abject unbelief, which the Book of Hebrews is constantly going back to.
There they were with the Promised Land out there before them, and all they had to do was just walk in and take over.
And Kadesh-Barnea was the very gateway to the promised land.
God had it all ready and prepared for them.
Israel, made up of three to six million of Jews, would not need to lift a sword, and not even one life would be lost.
But they did not, out of sheer unbelief.
Now here is the amazing thing!
God never said one word to them about their entire ‘golden calf debacle’.
HE did not mention a single sin of theirs throughout all their rebellion in the wilderness.
And these were folks who were “under the Law”, the strict and stringent “Mosaic Law”.
NOT ONE WORD!
God had just ‘one thing’ to say to them and we find it in [Deuteronomy 1:32].
“Yet in ‘THIS THING’ ye did not believe the Lord your God”.
The result? “They shall not enter into my rest” [Hebrews 3:11].
With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, the only believers, the rest of that generation perished in the wilderness over forty years.
This is the “horror of unbelief”, and yes, it does categorically apply to us, even in this Age of Grace.
All Prepared For Us
The finished works of the cross of Jesus Christ has done and prepared everything for us in this Age of Grace.
Our Promised Land, which is an eternity in heaven, is all laid out before us.
We don’t need to do a thing! We don’t need to lift a finger!
The shed Blood of Jesus Christ has paid every sin debt “in full”.
Now all we need is to ‘believe’ this “finished work” of the cross.
And if we are like Israel at Kadesh-Barnea, we don not get to enter.
“Unbelief” is the only ‘wilful sin’ for which there is no remedy, but a fearful judgment.
And this is what [Hebrews 10:26-31] is all about, as the apostle Paul lays it out.
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth ‘NO MORE’ sacrifice for sins”.
What is “the knowledge of the truth”? The Gospel of our Salvation, Paul’s Gospel.
And if we ‘sin wilfully’, by rejecting “the knowledge of the truth”, which is Paul’s Gospel, then the writing ‘will be’ on the wall…..
…….“But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation…..”
For unbelief “despises the Spirit of Grace” [Hebrews 10:29].
And so, Paul’s closing comment on this part of Scripture is, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.
Nothing Worse Than Regret
There is nothing worse than regret, and we all without exception, have tasted and are living with regret in one way or another.
It is factual part of our fallen nature and lives, and those regrets will be with us for the rest of our lives.
They will end only when we die, because our lives on earth are temporal. That will be the end of those regrets.
But what about in eternity?
Let’s see what Scripture in [Hebrews 2:9] tells us.
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”
When Christ Jesus hung and died on the cross, ‘He died our death’, HE tasted our ‘eternal death’.
That is what the Scriptures are saying here, so that we don’t have to taste that horrible eternal death of torment.
Now here is where we want to tell you something.
Do you know what is going to make the eternal doom of the wicked so awful?
It’s not the heat of the flames, which may be symbolic language.
It’s not the unsatisfied appetites.
For they will also be given a body, but not a glorified one like the believer.
But it will be one fit for the lake of fire.
Eternal doom is going to be an eternity of extreme regret like we have never known or will know in this life.
“I didn’t have to be here.
This was all paid for and I rejected it.
To spend an eternity in torment and constant regret.
There was no need to be here, it was all paid for and I walked it underfoot.”
“There is truly nothing worse than regret”.
This is what the world at large is doing today, they are walking it underfoot.
They are rejecting a pardon!
That is what lost mankind is doing when they reject Salvation.
They are rejecting a pardon.
And we know what a pardon is?
A pardon is a decree that sets you right back in that place as if you had never broken the Law in the first place.
It’s completely wiping the slate clean.
And that is what God has done for us.
A Strong Message
So we see that there is a strong message in the Book of Hebrews for us, even though we are living in the Age of Grace.
If you have not yet embraced Paul’s Gospel of Grace, with great urgency we exhort you to do so.
And if you’re still on the fence, we suggest you get off that fence and step into God’s Blood bought Grace.
For the fence that you are sitting on, ‘will collapse’ any day.
“TODAY” says Paul in [Hebrews 3:15], “if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation”.
“As in the provocation”, is referring to the Jews at Kadesh-Barnea, how their unbelief provoked God’s wrath.
The message to the Jews then, is the same message to us today.
Just like the apostle Paul, we also want to say the same words to you as in [Hebrews 6:9].
“We are PERSUADED better things of you and things that accompany SALVATION”.
Click [Here] for the Final Part #012 of “Where Angels Fear To Tread”.
