What if I Turn My Back on God?

What if I Turn My Back on God?

This question evokes emotion which many believers share, “Surely, I can do something so terrible that God will not forgive me.” Because, in our thinking, one sin must certainly be worse than another. But, the cost of atonement (removing the penalty of sin and placing us in a right relationship with God), or salvation, has always been the same, Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.” Regardless of which sin we commit the question is the same, “Is the sacrifice of Christ sufficient?”

                When a person comes to God for salvation they come with sin, they come because of sin, all types of sin. Understand just how wicked men are when we first come to God. We bring every sin imaginable. Romans 3:10-12,23 says, “As it is written: "There is none righteous, no not one; (v.11) there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. (v.12) They are all gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable, there is none that does good, no, not one. (v.23)….For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God….” When Jesus went to the cross he took all of our sin; the little white lies, the parental disobedience, the murder and the idolatry were all laid upon him. He died as the sin sacrifice for everyone from Adam and Eve to Hitler, to me and to whoever will be the last person born. I Peter 2:24 says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” He bore our sins, all of them.  

God’s plan of salvation never included our efforts. It was all about believing that God could, and in fact did, do everything necessary to save us. God created the plan of salvation and expressed it in a way we could understand in the Law. Jesus completed the plan of salvation by offering Himself as payment for our sin and by making the offering as our High Priest in God’s presence in Heaven on the actual altar of God, once, just one time (Heb. 8-9) never to be repeated. And the Holy Spirit of God sealed the plan by entering the believer; living and dwelling inside each and every child of God as God’s “earnest,” His down payment (Eph. 1:13-14). The indwelling Holy Spirit is the promise that God will indeed come again and gather us together as His own dear children and joint heirs with Christ.

Whenever we ask if there is a sin which will separate us from Christ and cause us to lose our salvation the answer must be “no.” Any other answer would mean that Jesus did not die for all of our sin, or that God missed one. Imagine a timeline from Adam to Jesus. We would all agree Jesus died for those sins (Romans 3:25 “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God…”). But the sins of the future? The sins I asked Jesus to cleanse me from 40 years ago were in my past and he placed them under the blood of the cross. But they were 2000 years in the future for him. Jesus died for future sin; every sin from the cross to the last man who will ever live was included on that one day also.  You cannot surprise God. Every sin you have or will commit was atoned for on Calvary. Our sin was all future to Jesus.

                Can Christians sin? Yes. But the price needed to keep us justified, or in right standing with God has already been made. We were born into God’s family (John 1:12; 3:37; I John 3:1-2; I Peter 1:23) and have already become joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). Our position was purchased for us by the blood of Jesus and the grace of God and is never to be repeated. Either God’s plan worked or it did not.

What would it take for us to lose this position? It took Adam one sin of disobedience to cast all of humanity into hell for all of eternity (Romans 5). So then, what would it take for us to lose salvation? It would take one simple act of disobedience, just like Adam. The Apostle Paul in Hebrews 6:4-6 addresses this very question, allow me to paraphrase, It is impossible, if a person were truly saved (v.4,5), and if they lost that salvation, to ever regain salvation because they would need another sacrifice (v.6).” You see, Paul is saying that if you lost your salvation, for any reason, the only way to regain it would be to re-sacrifice Christ; and God will never allow such a thing. Paul’s statement means that if we could lose salvation no one would ever make it to heaven, because we all sin. This confusion comes from that same human sentiment mentioned in the first sentence. We simply cannot comprehend the magnitude of God’s love and grace.

When we were born again God placed us in a new family. For the child of God, the one who is truly born again, committing sin becomes a family issue. Hebrews 12:5-11 makes it clear that God must “chasten” or discipline every one of His children because God is fully aware that we, as born again believers, will sin. In fact, this passage says that if God does not discipline you for the sin in your life (v.7-8) then you are not one of His children. Christians should be holy, but because we are also still human, we sin. Assuredly, there should be a difference in the way we live (II Cor. 5:17). Peter reminds his readers that holiness really ought to be the norm for born again believers, 1Peter 1:14-16 “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, (v.15) but according to the Holy One who has called you, you also become holy in all conduct, (v.16) because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” However, reading the New Testament epistles one must realize it is replete with instructions to believers, the children of God, on how to stop committing the sins they were committing. We do still battle with sin.

 We must examine ourselves, if sin becomes dominant in our lives, to be sure that we truly are saved and not just religious. The fact that a person is very concerned over the issue of sin is good. It is an indication that God, as a loving father, is bringing it to our attention so that we can correct it and mend our family relationship with Him. When we are sure that we have been saved we never need ask whether we have lost our salvation; we cannot. However, it is wise to ask daily whether our relationship with God is proper or if sin has placed a barrier between us. Unconfessed sin will break our fellowship with God just as disobedience in the home disrupts the family, Hebrews 12:5,6 “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons, ‘My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked by Him; (v.6) for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” This is clearly talking to believers, those already born again. God will discipline His children in order to help them grow and mature. Knowing the blood of His dear son purchased us, we can be assured He will never disown us.

There are many consequences for continued sin in our lives but it can never cause us to lose our salvation (Romans 8:31-39). No sin is big enough to overcome the power of the blood.

Blessed is the Man Who Endures Temptation

Blessed is the Man Who Endures Temptation

1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Here is the connection showing we are still on the same topic James began in verse two. He originally said we were to “count it all joy” when we found ourselves being tested in our faith. In this verse he goes so far as to say that the one who “endureth temptation” is blessed. He is the one who can be counted as truly happy. For most of us today the entrance of trials and afflictions into our lives is the source of frustration and turmoil, agitation of soul and mind; certainly not happiness. The equation of happiness, or being blessed, with that of enduring testings or trials is antithetical to our way of thinking. We equate happiness with having plenty, being in good health, and free of any distress. Well then, how is it that James says the one who is blessed is the one who endures temptations?
Enduring temptation is more than just suffering because of ill fate or being tempted and not surrendering. Everyone will experience some sort of difficulty, sadness, or tragedy in life. But for the Christian the idea of temptation or trial supposes that such situations are there by God’s design to build our faith or they are there as Satan, or even our own nature, seeks to destroy our faith. Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says of the word used in this passage for temptation, “It denotes anything that will try or test the reality of our religion; and it may be applied, therefore, either to afflictions or to direct solicitations to sin.” Somewhere in our lives we must answer the question of the genuine nature of our faith; is our faith in God real? So, when James mentions enduring these testings it is much more than just passively putting up with an inconvenient set of circumstances in our lives. Instead, we are to embrace them as an opportunity to reveal the true nature of that faith. We are to successfully bear up under those trials until they come to completion while holding fast to our profession of faith in Christ; holding to the hand of the Savior and trusting in the provision and sovereignty of God. When we have gone through a difficult time or when we have been tempted by sin and not surrendered we reveal the hand of God in our lives for all the world to see. As a result we are stronger and God is glorified.
It is for this successful completion of trials that James says we will be rewarded. Every believer ever to have been born will be tried. The saved will be judged in some manner by their works. II Corinthians 5:10 reminds us we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and answer for our actions here. And in I Corinthians 3:10-15 we are told that our works will be judged and for those works we will or will not receive rewards. It is likely then that James is making reference to the rewards offered at the judgment seat of Christ when he says, “for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” The crown of life is offered to those having successfully lived a godly life, those who have glorified God by their public testimony of faith in God and reliance upon God in the most difficult times of life.
The happy or blessed man then is happy not only because he has seen the hand of God in his daily trials and understands God’s love and provision for him in this life but he is happy or blessed understanding also that when this life is over and God examines or tries him he will receive the crown of life. The promise of God to those who bear up under the trials of life, trusting in and relying upon the provision and mercy of God, is the reward of a crown of life when they stand before the judgment seat of Christ. No man can say what the crown of life is precisely for none have received it and come back to reveal it to us. However, its mention here as a reward to those who are faithful is clearly meant as an incentive to embrace every difficulty we find as a means of glorifying God with our dependence upon him without grumbling and complaining just as the Apostles did in Acts 16:24-25 "Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." Would they have received the crown of life had the prisoners heard the Apostles griping and complaining, asking why God had let this happen to them? No. Instead the prisoners heard them praying and singing praise to God in the midst of adverse circumstances. James says that it is for this we receive happiness here and a crown of life in glory.