Results 181 - 190 of 190
|
||||||
Results from: Notes Author: zach† Ordered by Verse |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
181 | Fallen 'Partakers of the Holy Spirit?' | Heb 6:6 | zach† | 34928 | ||
Part 3 "But if a child of God could fall away, and grace could cease in a man's heart—now comes the third question—Paul says, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO BE RENEWED. What did the Apostle mean? One eminent commentator says, he meant that it would be very hard. It would be very hard, indeed, for a man who fell away, to be saved. But we reply, "My dear friend, it does not say anything about its being very hard; it says it is impossible, and we say that it would be utterly impossible, if such a case as is supposed were to happen; " (Spurgeon) In the above statement from Spurgeon he mentions that such cases of falling away as "supposed cases" and not actual. To that I disagree, believing their are actual cases. (zach) "God has cast them away; after he has failed in saving them by these, what else can deliver them? " (Spurgeon) God isn't the one who casts people away. People cast God away (zach) "And if already the Holy Spirit hath failed," (Spurgeon) The Holy Spirit doesn't fail. It is man that fails. (zach) "do we read that Christ will ever die for those who crucify him twice? But the Apostle tells us that if believers do fall away, they will "crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." (Spurgeon) Scripture doesn't actually say exactly what Mr.Spurgeon says it says in the above quote. What it actually says is: "and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify TO THEMSELVES the Son of God, and put Him to open shame (NASB) I prefer the NASB for this verse because I see no justification in the Greek for the word "if" which is found in the KJV (Check it out for yourselves) It is to themselves, not others that they make the crucifixion void, and if they turn their backs on Christ and His offering of Himself then no other sacrifice can be offered, because the one time offering of the body of Christ is sufficient, and is a continual offering for both initial and final salvation for those endure unto the end. Perseverance involves endurance. Mt 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. --- and other like verses (zach) "What next? There must be a second incarnation, a second Calvary, a second Holy Ghost, a second regeneration, a second justification, although the first was finished and complete—in fact, I know not what. It would necessitate the upsetting of the whole kingdom of nature and grace, and it would, indeed, be a world turned upside down, if after the gracious Saviour failed, he were to attempt the work again." (Spurgeon) In the above quote Spurgeon talks as if a person falls away then the "Saviour failed" If a person fails that doesn't mean the Savior failed, the failure again rests on man not Christ Jesus. (zach) "So, my hearer, could it be possible that grace could work in thee, and then not affect thy salvation—that the influence of Divine grace could come down, like rain from heaven, and yet return unto God void, there could not be any hope for thee, for thou wouldst be "nigh unto cursing," and thine end would be "to be burned." (Spurgeon) No M. Spurgeon God's word WILL NOT return void. The offer will be extended to others. When the Jews rejected the Lord, God then turned his attention to the Gentiles. God's word will accomplish what it was sent to accomplish. The fullness of the Gentiles will come in and then God will again return His attention to the Israel (zach) "There is one idea which has occurred to us. It has struck us as a singular thing, that our friends should hold that men can be converted, made into new creatures, then fall away and be converted again. I am an old creature by nature; God creates me into a new thing, he makes me a new creature. I cannot go back into an old creature, for I cannot be uncreated. But yet, supposing that new creatureship of mine is not good enough to carry me to heaven. What is to come after that? Must there be something above a new creature—a new creature." (Spurgeon) I have listened many times to an explanation of eternal security based upon the analogy of sonship. "My child is born into my family and he will always be my child. He cannot be unborn. Whether obedient or disobedient, he will always be my child." This reasoning avoids the central issue. The question is not whether a child can be "unborn" but whether it can sicken and die. Doctors do not admonish parents about the dangers of their child being "unborn" but rather about proper care of the child to keep it from dying. In fact if the baby is not fed it will soon die. In the same way, Jesus said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." John 6:53 (zach) |
||||||
182 | Fallen 'Partakers of the Holy Spirit?' | Heb 6:6 | zach† | 34929 | ||
Part 4 "And one thought more. There is nothing in Scripture which teaches us that there is any salvation, save the one salvation of Jesus Christ—nothing that tells us of any other power, super-excellent and surpassing the power of the Holy Spirit. These things have already been tried on the man, and yet, according to the supposition, they have failed, for he has fallen away......: that if grace be ineffectual, if grace does not keep a man, then there is nothing left but that he must be damned. " (Spurgeon) If we fall from the faith, it doesn't reflect negatively upon God's faithfulness, but rather on our unfaithfulness (zach) "If Christians can fall away, and cease to be Christians, they cannot be renewed again to repentance. "But," says one, "You say they cannot fall away." What is the use of putting this "if" in, like a bugbear to frighten children, or like a ghost that can have no existence? My learned friend, "Who art thou that repliest against God?" If God has put it in, he has put it in for wise reasons and for excellent purposes. Let me show you why. First, O Christian, it is put in to keep thee from falling away. God preserves his children from falling away; but he keeps them by the use of means; and one of these is, the terrors of the law, showing them what would happen if they were to fall away. There is a deep precipice: what is the best way to keep any one from going down there? Why, to tell him that if he did he would inevitably be dashed to pieces. ." It leads the believer to greater dependence on God, to a holy fear and caution, because he knows that if he were to fall away he could not be renewed, and he stands far away from that great gulf, because he know that if he were to fall into it there would be no salvation for him. " (Spurgeon) There is no conditional participle present in the Greek text to support any claims that the word "if" in Heb. 6:6 was in the original text. The writer in Hebrews simply says to us …. kai parapesontas – "and they have fallen away" (second aorist active participle). The Greek conjunction "kai" usually means "and" has an adversative force here, meaning and yet. The writer is saying "they had all these blessings and yet in spite of all this, they have still fallen away" (A.T. Robertson) The NEB translates the phrase, "and after all this" There is nothing in either the language or the context to indicate that the instances of apostasy cited in Heb. 6:4-6 are only hypothetical. Those who hold to the unconditional eternal security position take this text to say that "this is not a warning of apostasy, but rather a warning against imagining that apostasy is possible." Their reasoning comes from Paul's statement "But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you." They fail to reckon with the transition from the third person (those, they, and them) in verses 4-6 to the second person (you) in verse 9. The writer is persuaded of better things for "you" not "them" (from zach) If I thought as the Arminian thinks, that I might fall away, and then return again, I should pretty often fall away, for sinful flesh and blood would think it very nice to fall away, and be a sinner, and go and see the play at the theatre, or get drunk, and then come back to the Church, and be received again as a dear brother who had fallen away for a little while. (Spurgeon) Well I don't know in full what an Arminian thinks, I can only say that I personally don't think the way Spurgeon describes above. If you fall away, thats it in my understanding of Scripture, you trampled underfoot Christ and His grace and no other present, or future offer will ever be made available to such who fall away (zach) Take care, then Christian, for this is a caution. (Spurgeon) I too believe it's a caution and much more. It is also a strong warning, and an actual possibility, not a hypothetical situation as some believe (zach) |
||||||
183 | Fallen 'Partakers of the Holy Spirit?' | Heb 6:6 | zach† | 34930 | ||
Part 5 "Thank thy Lord, then, that he keeps thee." (Spurgeon) Why does Jude 21 warn us to "keep yourselves in the love of God" if the possibility of separation from God's love is impossible? (zach) "thou art being drawn to heaven by a single rope; if that hand which holds thee let thee go, if that rope which grasps thee do but break, thou art dashed on the rocks of damnation. Then, if that be the case, his hand must be severed from his body before my name can be taken from him; and if it be engraven on his heart, his heart must be rent out before they can rend my name out." (Spurgeon) Hold on, then, and trust believer! thou hast "an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth within the veil." The winds are bellowing, the tempests howling; should the cable slip, or thine anchor break, thou art lost. See those rocks, on which myriads are driving, and thou art wrecked there if grace leave thee; see those depths, in which the skeletons of sailors sleep, and thou art there, if that anchor fail thee. It would be impossible to moor thee again, if once that anchor broke; for other anchor there is none, other salvation there can be none, and if that one fail thee, it is impossible that thou ever shouldst be saved. Therefore thank God that thou hast an anchor that cannot fail, " (Spurgeon) After stating all that, why if what Mr. Spurgeon just stated is true, is there the need to as he says to: "Hold on, then, and trust " didn't he just say a couple of quotes ago : "Thank thy Lord, then, that he keeps thee." ? (zach) Bill Jones is fishing several miles out in the ocean. His boat capsizes and sinks to the bottom. He is unable to swim to safety. Just then another fishing boat comes along, but it is so heavily loaded that it is impossible to take on another passenger. Because they want to rescue the doomed man, however the crew throws him a rope. "Here take this rope," they say. "We will tow you to shore." As he takes the rope, Bill Jones says, "Thank God, I am saved!" And he is saved, as long as he holds on to the rope. Salvation is his, but he has to play a part in it. If he should at any time release his grasp on the rope and refuse to take it again, he would be lost. So it is with a person who has been rescued from sin. He remains saved as long as he holds on to the hand of Christ. If he should decide to release that hand, he would be lost. Actually one can properly speak of salvation in three tenses - past, present, and future. He can say, "I have been saved" when he takes the rope, "I am being saved" as he is being towed to shore; and "I shall be saved" when he plants his feet firmly on shore. Does the fact that the man must cling to the rope to be saved, mean that we can earn our salvation by our works? Absolutely not. Remember he was being towed by a power other than his own. He was merely co-operating with that power. He was holding onto the rope. He had to do that in order to be pulled to safety. We are still free moral agents. Our will has not been removed merely because we have become Christian's (from zach's files) Spurgeon is attributed as having said; "Calvinism is the gospel and nothing else" A statement like this from anyone clearly reveals to me, that this person has exalted the teachings of a man, above the absolute truth of God's word. I think what this person is saying is: whatever is in the Bible that doesn't fit into Calvinism is to be either thrown out, or re-explained to fit Calvinism. (from zach's files) Spurgeon would have done justice to his message from Hebrews if he would have also explained other verses in Hebrews concerning this topic. Verses such as: Heb. 2:1-3; 3:14; 4:1,6,12,14; 10:23,26-31,38; 12:14-15,25 (zach) |
||||||
184 | Fallen 'Partakers of the Holy Spirit?' | Heb 6:6 | zach† | 34938 | ||
Joe; Sorry for the delay in replying to you. I posted a reply to Hank in 5 Parts which is actually a reply addressed to you also. I didn't send it to both of you because it is in 5 Parts. I hope you will look at all 5 parts. This will give you more of Spurgeons quotes from that message, plus my comments as to why I disagree with him. In Christ zach† |
||||||
185 | why was this epistle written? | 1 John | zach† | 35926 | ||
kirk; Greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ THE PURPOSE of 1 John ... 1. As declared by John throughout his epistle, he wrote it... a. "that your joy may be full" - 1 Jn 1:4 b. "that you may not sin" - 1 Jn 2:1 c. "that you may know that you have eternal life" - 1 Jn 5:13a d. "that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God" - 1 Jn 5:13b and also to combat some false teachings of that time, as already had been mentioned by Jesusman Grace and peace zach† |
||||||
186 | We are to know about al of the Churches | Revelation | zach† | 34365 | ||
Concerning the message to the 7 churches in Asia Minor we repeatedly read: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." That same message is current for all churches in all ages. We need to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches today. God is not silent. So what is the Spirit saying to your church or to you as an individual? Do you have ears to hear? In Christ zach† |
||||||
187 | Rev 3:16 lukewarm | Rev 3:16 | zach† | 34774 | ||
Fountain; hank you for your reply; I am pondering over the interesting statement you sent me in that commentary which stated: "This spirit of indifference is the most tragic thing that can happen to a church." Thank you In Christ zach† |
||||||
188 | Rev 3:16 lukewarm | Rev 3:16 | zach† | 34776 | ||
heisthe; Thank you for your reply; I can't find any fault in your comments In Christ zach† |
||||||
189 | Rev 3:16 lukewarm | Rev 3:16 | zach† | 35064 | ||
serenetime; Thank you for the response Yes that helps very much Just one comment You stated: "It's like the Christian who lives like the world all during the week, and on Sundays goes to Church and portrays him or herself to serving God fully and completely." That definition sounds like a hypocrite (someone pretending to be something their not) In Christ zach† |
||||||
190 | Rev 3:16 lukewarm | Rev 3:16 | zach† | 35065 | ||
Fountain Thank you for your replys The definition described here makes me wonder if "lukewarm" individuals or churches could also be labeled as hypocrites? Thank you In Christ zach† |
||||||
Result pages: << First < Prev [ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ] |