[posted Aug/2k]
This heart-felt question came in:
Peace and Grace to You.
I have been for a long while terrified
by a few difficult-to-understand verses in the Bible concerning Salvation:
Hebrews 10:26, Hebrews 6:4-6, and 2Peter 2:20-22. Here is why I am terrified of
these verses:
Although I have been baptized as an infant by my Church and received communion,
I fell away during my teenage years into fornication, lasciviousness, a
multitude of WILFUL SINS and general rebellion against God, ignoring Him and
His commands- And I did so knowingly-I KNEW THAT WHAT I WAS DOING WAS WRONG,
CONTRARY TO MY CHRISTIAN UPBRINGING- BUT EITHER DIDN'T CARE OR TRIED TO JUSTIFY
WHAT I WAS DOING. I fell to the point where I was thinking that all these sins
and pleasures could replace God- and I began not to care or consider God's
existence. It was not until my late teens and early 20's that I really began to
examine my life and return to God. I
now attend church regularly and, in fact, by His Grace, I have been ordained a
deacon by my Church. I am happy that
God has called me back and that I have a personal prayerful relationship with
him and am sorry for my past.
But Even now, however, I am still struggling with some sins of the heart and sinful desires and
sometimes my mind indulges in them
Willfully, yet every time I fall in such a way I repent and ask God to perfect
me and my love for Him.
Now, In light of Hebrews 10:26- and
Hebrews 6:4-6, and also 2Peter 2:20-22 does there still remain for someone like
me "a sacrifice for sins?"
Or have I "SINNED WILLFULLY" beyond
return- My experience with God now tells
me that this is not the case-, yet these verses still terrify me and sometimes
sting me with some doubt. I know I am
not to despair, but can you shed some light on what these verses mean. And I am afraid to sin, sometimes I still do
sin, even willfully at times of
pressure or great temptation.
...............................................................................................................
I replied...
hello...
thanks for visiting the Tank and for your God-honoring question...
here is the SHORT answer:
2. The struggle (and occasional 'loss') you experience in your personal life is
a part of the Christian experience...Paul describes the inability of the
Christian to "do what we really DESIRE to do for God" in Gal 5.17 (For
the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what
is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that
you do not do what you want.) [Notice the last part of the verse--that's what
you experience like all believers]
3. Paul actually goes so far as saying that it is not the 'real Paul' that does
these things--it is indwelling sin-habits that stop him for being 100%
consistent with his inner self--Romans 7.13ff:
18 "I know that nothing good
lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it
out. 19 For what I do is not the good I
want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do -- this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it
is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
4. and, practically speaking, those that are overcome by sin, NEVER EVER ask
the questions you are, nor agonize over obedience! that is one of the surest
signs of a life from God--the heartfelt desire to improve and to please God and
even the agony over failure (Romans 7 again!)...
5. also, most of the other passages (than Hebrews) refers to false teachers,
who engage in much more public sin--without even twinges of conscience (1 Tim
4.2; Eph 4.19) and are very, very deliberate in their public attempts to
distort truth (Eph 4.14)--again, not like you...
and always, always, always--there is that fountain filled with blood...
from your letter, your experience sounds like most of us, and your heart seems
to be a living witness to you of the reality of His daily forgiveness and
acceptance of you...you don't fit any of the 'profiles' of those folks in the verses you mention (but
rather fit those of all Christians--even
apostles!--mentioned in Rom 7 and Gal 5)...
hope this helps,
in His love,
glenn
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