God's Warning To Us

God's Warning To Us

Let me post the verse we’re looking at one more time so we can read it yet again to keep it fresh in our minds:

Hebrews 12:14-17 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

In the very next sentence he tells us to see to it that no one is sexually immoral. Again not something you’ll hear much about in our churches today. Half the couples sitting in the congregation are probably living together instead of married yet nothing is ever said. They aren’t warned that they are bringing God’s chastisement down on themselves and by not warning them, it brings God’s displeasure down on the church itself. By not warning them and by not warning the congregation, the pastor gives the impression that it’s not important, that it’s even “normal” and the disease spreads, just as we spoke about yesterday. As that happens, instead of becoming holy, the church becomes more like the world. Paul even goes so far as to tell us:

1 Corinthians 5:1-6 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

This doesn’t mean that if someone commits one of these sins that they are to be immediately thrown out of the church. It means they are to be taken aside and warned that what they are doing is wrong and asked to repent. Then if they do not repent they are to be set out of the church. Those who are saved are not to even have them over for supper! However, the church today is strangely quiet about this and allows all sorts or evil in their congregation, even though God’s Word quite clearly tells them not to. Yet this isn’t just the fault of the pastors today. We are all at fault. This applies to every single one of us. If we are sinning, then we need to repent! If we are in fellowship with someone who professes to be saved and yet is living in sin, then we need to stop immediately, repent and confess that sin. Certainly we can talk to to those people and tell the the Truth, share the real Gospel with them, but if they will not hear it, then we are to shake the dust off our feet and sadly leave them in Satan’s hands. No, this doesn’t make for a popular sermon topic today at all I’m afraid. I’m sure it probably wasn’t all that popular back in Paul’s time either.

Hebrews 12:16-17 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

Finally we are warned to watch for those who are godless like Esau. I’m sure you all remember the story of Esau and how he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. The NIV translates the word “godless” but it is probably better understood as “profane” as the KJV translates it.

pro•faned; pro•fan•ing
1 : to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt : desecrate
2 : to debase by a wrong, unworthy, or vulgar use — pro•fan•er
1 : not concerned with religion or religious purposes : secular
2 : not holy because unconsecrated, impure, or defiled : unsanctified
3 a : serving to debase or defile what is holy : irreverent

Esau was profane because of his intention, not just the act itself. He intentionally determined that having that food was more important and having priority over what God considered sacred—his inheritance. Are you beginning to see the picture that he is drawing for us here? In this picture the author is showing us that one group is throwing away the opportunity of salvation for the pleasures of the flesh (sexual immorality) and other is throwing it away for the pleasures of the world, that of food. They are perhaps putting off salvation so that they can have the temporary pleasure of their sins, thinking that they can be saved later. By doing that, just like Esau, they are being profane by considering the salvation of their souls as something “common” rather then as something “sacred.” They do not consider God’s offer of salvation as anything special or extraordinary—rather it simply another option to them that they may or may not someday consider.

Hebrews 12:17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

Therefore the Lord says that there is no possible salvation available to them later. Their hearts have now been hardened beyond the point of them ever being able to be saved. This is why this author and elsewhere in God’s Word, they encourage us to respond immediately to the Gospel:

Hebrews 3:7-8 So, as the Holy Spirit says:“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,

Hebrews 3:12-19 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said:“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of

Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

For the unsaved person, their hearts become hardened to the Gospel every time they hear it and do not act on it. For us, we become hardened to the effects of sin each time we sin and do not repent and confess it. We become hardened to it when we see others living in unrepentant sin and say nothing to them if the Lord has placed us in a position to do so.

The longer someone walks with Christ, the softer their heart is and the more they will view things like He does. I see this in my own life just as I’m sure you do in yours. For example, I watched many programs on TV before I was saved that now simply turn my stomach. First after I got saved, I began to simply feel “uncomfortable” about those programs. Then I began to recognize the sins represented in the programs and was embarrassed by them; and could no longer watch them. Occasionally I would see a commercial about one and by then my feeling had changed from embarrassment to a great sadness and finally from a great sadness to the sadness mixed with disgust and righteous anger. Another thing I noticed too was that as I grew, I began to realize more things were sinful then just the “obvious” sins shown. So while initially I may have stopped watching the program due to the promiscuity, or foul language or both, later I realized they were promoting many other ungodly behaviors in a more subtle way.

The point being that one of two things is going to happen to us. We are either going to become more like Christ every day as He softens our hearts, or we’re going to become more like the world every day as we allow the world to harden our hearts toward sin.

Considering that, it makes me very afraid for all the people in this world because often even in our churches, God’s ways have been profaned. They are no longer taught much less enforced and are treated pretty much as though they are irrelevant today. Sin is ignored and often God is treated like the great Genie who is only there to grant your wishes and keep you out of Hell. Perhaps some might even go so far as to say that it doesn’t matter anymore because we are no longer under the old covenant but under the new….somehow I think that sounds exactly like the type of thing the author was telling us to watch out for.

Hebrews 10:28-29 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing (profaned) the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

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God's Warning To Us

God's Warning To Us

Today I’d like to cover a different part of a passage we’ve already looked at as we didn’t get to look at all it has to say to us. The subtitle for this passage in my bible is: Warning Against Refusing God. Now for the passage itself which I’m sure you’ll recognize right away:

Hebrews 12:14-17 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

We’ve already discussed the very first sentence of this passage and now I’d like to try and cover some of the rest of it (there’s just too much packed into it though to cover it all today) starting with the verse,See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. In the KJV, it is translated,

Hebrews 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Although both are saying the same thing, I think the KJV gives us a better picture of what he’s saying in this case. To put it bluntly he is telling us that we are to keep our eyes open, watching to make sure that no one in our fellowship is just pretending to be saved, because if they are then they have missed the grace of God and will eventually become bitter which could then infect many of us. The author was probably thinking of this passage in the Old Testament when he said this:

Deuteronomy 29:18-21 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.” This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.The Lord will never be willing to forgive him; his wrath and zeal will burn against that man. All the curses written in this book will fall upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.The Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

I’m afraid that what the author is saying to us in these passages is something that today’s church seems to be scared to death to preach because it certainly goes against the worlds teaching of “tolerance”, and “I’m OK, You’re OK”. Why is the author concerned about this enough to tell us to always keep careful watch to make sure there is no one like this in our fellowship? I believe he does so for a couple of reasons.

First, true love always warns the one they love if they are in danger. I realize that again this is counter to the worlds teaching, but it is the truth. When we see a person who is just pretending to be saved and born again, they are still very much in danger of going to hell. They desperately need to be warned and told the Truth so they can really become saved. Unfortunately most of us have been brainwashed by both the world and even our churches to turn our heads the other way, and even to believe that we cannot, or should not “judge” someone that way. If that was true, then why would we be told to watch out for them??? We wouldn’t be of course. We’ve covered the false teaching that we are not to judge in other studies so I’m not going to get sidetracked on that here, regardless of how tempting it is. So the first reason we are to watch out for this is quite simply to hopefully get them really saved so that they won’t die and go to hell. Many people today that have finally come to the realization that they can judge if a person is saved or not, will still do nothing, figuring either that the unsaved person is at least going to church every Sunday so hopefully they’ll come to the truth on their own, or they’ll tell themselves it’s not their job to speak to this person—that the elders or pastor should be the one to do it. When we do that though all we’re really doing is passing the buck, and when it comes to a persons soul being lost for all eternity, that’s a very sad state of affairs. When the Lord points something like that out to us, He doesn’t do it so we can pass the buck, He shows us because He wants us to do something about it. Again though the world and even our churches have taught us all over the years to sit back, relax, do nothing, and let the pastor do it all. That however is not the way the Lord says for us to do things.

The second reason for telling us to watch out for such a person is that when someone is simply pretending to saved, they are not really understanding God’s Word, no matter how many years’s they go to church. Only those who have the Holy Spirit indwelling them can really understand God’s Word. When this happens, it causes some pretty big problems. Those who are saved can rely on the Lord’s strength to get through hard times, but this unsaved person cannot rely on the Lord because they’re not saved. So they are constantly struggling to do it all themselves in order to keep up this charade. That is a huge load for them to carry and sooner or later it will break them, and they will become bitter.

When they become bitter, they then can do a number of different things. They can begin to twist scriptures themselves to make it seem that those who really are saved are wrong and they are right, they could get caught up in another false teachers doctrine and accept that, or they could simply become bitter at God and seek to make others feel the same way. They won’t have much luck with others who are already mature in Christ, but they could injure many baby Christians with their bitterness.

Notice what it says they think in the Old Testament passage: When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.”

The disciples write quite a bit to counter this thinking throughout the New Testament, just as they do to counter it’s opposite which is that those who are saved must follow all the laws and commandments, feasts etc of the old covenant. Interestingly to me, we still have both of these “sects” of false teaching today. There are the legalists, or hebrew roots folks that think you have to practically become a mini Jew to be really saved and please God, and those who think you can do anything at all you want to once you are saved and it won’t matter. Then there are those that are in the kind of in the middle. They have been told they are saved, maybe because they said a “sinners prayer” or perhaps because they were baptized as infants or children, or for any number of reasons. They don’t read their bibles much because they’re really not that interested. They usually lead a fairly worldly life except that they might go to church on Sundays. Then when they hear about the rapture or they begin to think about death, or someone confronts them with these things, they think they are safe; they think they’re going to heaven, but they’re not, because they’re really not saved. All these kinds of people are the ones we’re supposed to watch out for and see to it that they DO hear the true Gospel. Then if they do not repent, they are to be put outside the fellowship so that they don’t infect any others with their false way of living or teaching.

One of the first things that comes to my mind when I read “that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” is this verse

1 Corinthians 5:6 … Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

This is why the Lord is always telling us to separate ourselves from those who are not true believers. Yet we rarely take it to heart. Look at what Paul says about this here:

Ephesians 4:17-19 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

The more we are around “sin” the more we lose our sensitivity to it. The more “normal” it becomes. The more normal it becomes, the more acceptable it becomes. That’s exactly what’s happened in the world today, and it is unfortunately happening just as quickly in the church itself! No wonder the Lord warns us not to associate with those who are living in unrepentant sin! Notice something else Paul says in the very first line: he “insists on it in the Lord”. In other words he is saying this to us with the authority of God behind him! It’s as though God Himself were saying it to us, that’s the kind of importance that phrase holds! How much clearer can he make it before we will listen?

We will look at the rest of this tomorrow.

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God's Warning To Us

God's Warning To Us

Hebrews 12:14-29 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

1 Peter 1:15-16 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

1 Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Since I had to end the last one early let’s pick up from where we left off. We were talking about the fact that we are commanded to be holy. This is yet another way the Lord commands us to be set apart from the unsaved people in this world. I know that we have discussed being set apart for the Lord several times in the past so I won’t go into it in detail here, although if you have questions, I’ll be happy to answer them. Let’s just remember the basics of being set apart before we go further.

God has a number of reasons for telling us that He wants us to be separate from the unsaved people in the world just as He did for telling the Jew’s that He wanted them to be separate from the rest of the world. One reason is so that we won’t be contaminated by their sins, attitudes and beliefs. Unsaved people have a secular worldview, not a biblical one. For example they may believe in evolution rather then that God created the world. That may not sound like a big deal but if you did a study on the difference and how it affects us, you would be amazed at just how much it does! Regardless of that though, a secular worldview is devoid of absolute Truth. To the world truth is whatever you make it to be.

We know better than that though. We know there really is absolute Truth, and absolute right and wrong. We know there really is such a thing as evil, and Satan and demons. We know that we have a sin nature as does everyone else and we know that we are not worthy of being called by God or being saved by Him. We know too though that He saves us anyway because of His love and grace. For the unbelievers though, they don’t think they are sinful. They don’t understand when we talk about how badly we feel when we sin. At the very best they might think of a sin as a simple “mistake” but it’s certainly no big deal to them. They consider themselves “good” and cannot understand that no matter how “good” they are that compared to the pure goodness and holiness of our God, they would be filthy! The Lord doesn’t want us to be contaminated by these views. He wants us to be separate so that we can learn and apply His Truth and live by it without being contaminated by the world. He knows that when you give Satan an inch, he will take a mile and when we are not separated from the unsaved we are giving Satan that inch.

To be holy then, the Lord tells us we must be separate from the world, separate from the unsaved people of the world. He even tells us that we are to avoid those who have been born again but are not living their faith as well as those who are false teachers. He tells us this for the same reason, He doesn’t want us contaminated by them. He wants us to be like Him.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

More then that, He commands us to be like Him.

Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

It’s easy to see from all of this that the Lord’s warning to us throughout scripture is to fear Him, accept His gift of salvation, set ourselves apart from the rest of the world, walk in faith and be holy as He is. The world walks by sight, but we must walk by faith. The next portion of Hebrews discusses this.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.This is what the ancients were commended for.By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

First the author explains to us what faith is. I’m sure we’re all very familiar with that verse, but let’s look at it closely anyway. Faith is being sure of what we hope for. What exactly is it that we hope for anyway? Do we “hope” for salvation? NO! We are already saved so we don’t need to hope for that. What we hope for, what we are waiting for is the redemption of our bodies; for our salvation to be complete. That will happen at the rapture and that is what the following verses as well as many others explain. We are told then that we are to be certain of what we don’t see. He wants us to be sure of what we hope for, to be sure of the rapture and more then “just the rapture” but to be certain that we understand that when the rapture takes place, we will receive our new bodies (this is sometimes referred to as the redemption of our bodies) and our salvation will be complete. We cannot see these things with out eyes now, so He tells us to be certain of what we can’t see, just as the world erroneously is often certain of what they can see. We are to have faith that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us to save us and give us new bodies free from the stain of sin, to match what He has already given us, our new spirits or natures, which we received the moment we became saved.

Romans 8:23-25 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

1 Thessalonians 5:8-11 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Remember that verse that says that the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit as a deposit to guarantee what is coming? This is what the Holy Spirit is guaranteeing. He is our guarantee that our salvation will be completed by our receiving our new bodies (called the redemption of our bodies) at the rapture.

Ephesians 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Now there is only one way we can have that faith, that we can be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see—the only way is through constant study of His Word and prayer! There are no short cuts. I know you’re probably sick and tired of hearing me say this, but it is probably one of the most important things that the Lord asks of us. If we do not do this, we cannot become mature; we cannot be sure or certain of anything and we cannot please Him. The more I study this, the more convinced I become that the doctrine of the rapture, in particularly the pre-trib rapture is a vital part of the main Gospel message and that understanding it is vital for understanding our salvation and all of God's Word. I am becoming convinced that the rapture doctrine is part of what Paul was speaking of when he said that if anyone taught a different gospel or different Jesus that they were cursed.  Once again I’ve managed to make this much longer then I intended so we’ll have to work on the rest of this tomorrow.

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God's Warning To Us

Another member wrote about yesterdays study:

Notice the scripture doesn't say: ...."no sacrifice for sins is left, but only the judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God."
No, it says "no sacrifice for sins is left, but only the fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God."

Exactly!!! Thank you so very much for pointing that out! That's exactly what I was trying to get across to and totally missed that! Thank you!

it says "no sacrifice for sins is left, but only the fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God."

This is another way that we can tell that the author was speaking hypothetically and that he wasn't saying that we can lose our salvation.

God's Warning To Us

Let's go on today to another sticky warning in Hebrews. This section is titled: Warning Against Refusing God. I'm going to break it into three parts to make it easier to discuss and so you don't have to keep going back and forth to read it again to see what we're talking about.

Hebrews 12:14-29 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

In this first section the author tells us that we are to make an effort to live in peace with everyone and that we are to be "holy". He goes on to say that without holiness we won't be able to be with the Lord. How are we to be "holy"?

Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

1 Peter 1:15-16 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

1 Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

As we can see from the above verses, the only way in which we can be holy is to rely totally on the Lord, recognizing that we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ now that we are saved and that all our words and actions should show the world that we are so clothed. We know that the more we study His Word and the more time we spend in prayer, that the Lord uses this to bring us closer to Him and to make us more and more like Him every day. We cannot become more like Him without also becoming holy as He is holy.

Obviously, being human there will be times when we slip and sin. When that happens though all we need to do is run to Him asking his forgiveness as we repent and we will be cleansed from that sin. This is yet another difference between us and the world. The people of the world couldn't care less if they sin. They don't see sin as something bad, or rather they don't see the things they do as bad or as sin. Deep down they know better but they suppress the Truth by their wickedness. (Romans 1:19)

The warning in this first part is that we are to be holy or we are not going to wind up in heaven.

Again the first thing most people think is that this means salvation isn't free after all, but they're wrong. It is free. What God's Word is saying here and in other places is that when someone is saved, there will be a definite change in them. They really will be a new person. Those verses that say that we become a new creation when we are born again are not just nice poetry! They're the Truth! Those who have been truly saved, begin to change immediately because they have been given a new spirit. Some change tremendously and instantly, others change a lot a first and then the change becomes slower yet steady, for others if not most, the change is small yet noticeable and continues on steadily as they grow.

So although there are many different degrees, all of them have one thing in common. They do not look exactly like the world. They love the Lord and at least to some degree attempt to please Him and would never purposely go out and do something to shame Him.

The author here is attempting to spur us on to be more holy.

We are here on this earth for a purpose and we shouldn't be wasting the opportunities we have here. Unfortunately many of us seem to be like the kids in school who slept through all their classes and then wondered why they flunked out of that grade. Let's break that first part of the verse up the way we used to do in school and then take another look at it.

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Make every effort to live in peace with all men

Make every effort to be holy;

without holiness no one will see the Lord.

So you see here, he is telling us that we should be making every effort to be holy every day of our lives. This life here is a golden opportunity for us and much that we do here cannot be done once we die and get to heaven. We will not have another chance to grow to maturity and earn those rewards He has for us.

Reading that almost sounds like what I'm after is the reward, but that's not at all true. What I am after is pleasing my Lord. I know from His Word that He wants me to make every effort to be holy right now. He doesn't want me to wait till I die. I really want to hear Him say, "well done my good and faithful servant" because then I'll know I made Him happy. Yes, I want the rewards too, the crowns and all because I cannot wait to lay them at His feet! Just like every child wants to please their earthly parents, I want to please my Heavenly Father, my Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I want to make them proud of me. There is only one way I can do that--by spending as much time as I possibly can in prayer and in His Word. That is the only way we can grow and become more like Him.

I'm afraid (lucky for you lol) that I allowed myself to get distracted as I had to answer another bible question, so i don't have time to do any more on this today. We'll have to pick it up tomorrow from where we left off here.

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God's Warning To Us

God's Warning To Us


Yesterday we discussed how the Lord has certain expectations of us once we are saved and how He has left warnings for us in His Word that we are not to be lazy or apathetic but are instead to always seek to know Him better, to be closer to Him and to know His Word and His Will. Hebrews to me is one of the harder books to understand because we so often misinterpret it out of fear. We are so afraid that we might lose our salvation that we often think that's what this book in particular is saying. We know at least to a degree how sinful and even lazy we are, so we often think that because of this the Lord must be saying we will lose our salvation. Thankfully though, that's not the case. When studying His Word we must remember that the Bible never contradicts itself and that it will always interpret itself. We therefore don't need to interpret it, we simply need to keep praying for understanding and keep studying His Word while He shows us what He is saying in it. So today, we're going to look at another warning we are given in Hebrews and see what it is saying to us.


Hebrews 10:26-38 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.”


The first thing I want to draw your attention to is the very first two words in this passage. Those word are, "if we". Now, keeping in mind that the word "if" means that this is a hypothetical situation being discussed and the word "we" means that the author is including himself in what he is saying, go back and read through the passage one more time.


The author is warning them that IF someone who is saved should willfully and knowingly insult the Holy Spirit and reject Christ, literally despise Him and consciously and willfully prevent the Holy Spirit from working in them after they have been saved, then that person would be counted an enemy of God and be under His judgment. The important word in this is the word "If". The author is not saying this has happened, or that it ever will. He is simply saying what would happen "if it did happen". A truly saved person would never reject the Lord or the Holy Spirit. That's why we feel badly when we sin. We know from God's Word that we cannot lose our salvation, so why is the author bringing up this hypothetical situation when he must know that he would be scaring some people out of their wits? The answer to that question is given at the beginning of this letter and all through it, he is trying to warn us to "pay attention" to get up off our behinds and start doing the things that the Lord has called us to do, instead of just sitting on our hands. He tells us over and over again in this letter that if we are not actively growing in Christ, then we are drifting away. He doesn't want us to continue to drift away and possibly lose even what we have already attained. (not our salvation-our rewards). This is the beginning of the passage we started with yesterday where he tells us why he is saying these things:


Hebrews 2:1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

Then, toward the end of the passage we're looking at today he says:

Hebrews 10:35-36 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.


In fact, just before he goes into the passage we're looking at today, he says:

Hebrews 10:22-25 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.


Are you seeing the theme here yet? He is trying to prod us ever onward toward maturity in Christ. He is also letting us know in no uncertain terms that if we are disobedient there will be repercussions. Again, we will not lose our salvation, he was talking about apostasy in order to put the fear of God in us. Being a mother I often think of things in terms of how I raised my children. To me this is similar to when I would tell them that if they ever did such and such that I would "beat them within an inch of their lives"! They knew very well that I never had and never would "beat" them at all, much less within an inch of their lives. They understood that when I said that, I was stressing just how very wrong something was and that they had better never even consider doing it. This is what the author is saying in the first part of our passage today. He is also trying to get them to understand that they will be disciplined however when they are disobedient. He says that the Lord will judge His people. The words in our Bibles are not "suggestions", nor is the bible a "self help" book. God's Word contains His commands to us about how we are to live once we have been saved. There are consequences when we don't obey, and that is really what the author was trying to get across, hoping that by letting them know about the consequences, it would spur them on to obedience. This is also discussed by Peter:



1 Peter 4:17-19 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

From all of this we can see that the author is doing his best to let us know that if we do not obey the Lord there will be consequences. He even says that our knowledge of God after being saved should cause us to be more aware of God's judgment of us and not less. I am not talking about God's "final" judgment, but instead I'm talking about His discipline. Too often people think that because they are saved, nothing "bad" can happen to them and that is an outright lie. God has and will judge/discipline us for our disobedience and we will reap the consequences of His judgment/discipline in our lives.

Right after he warns them this way, he reminds them of their recent past and how they have given up much already for the Lord's sake. After reminding them of how and why they had endured what they had already, he encourages them by saying:


Hebrews 10:35-36 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.


He wants them to remember that they are storing up treasure in heaven with every single thing that they go through. He wants us to know that too; remember, God's Word was written for you and me just as much as it was written for those who were actually alive in those days. We are storing up treasure in heaven with every trial we go through, with every sacrifice we make.


Hebrews 10:37-39 For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

Notice that in the closing statements He calls us His righteous ones. If you look back at the passage from 1 Peter, it too talks about the righteous. Do you recall what we studied yesterday about the righteous?


Hebrews 5:13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

He told us that the teaching about righteousness is something that only comes to those who are becoming mature in Christ. It is not known to those who have been lazy and are still baby Christians and either don't have even the fundamentals down or are still learning them. So here again is a subtle rebuke that they need to be studying God's word harder, and living by faith not by sight. Living by faith is so crucial to our walk that this is repeated several times:

Romans 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Galatians 3:11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight.


Our Lord wants us to come to know Him intimately. He wants us to increase our faith so that we can walk confidently and securely in that faith throughout our lives here until He comes for us. The only way we can do that is by staying in His Word daily. Not just "reading it" as though it was some kind of obligation or duty to get through as quickly as possible. Not by trying to determine just how little we can get away with reading each day and still be obedient; but rather by constantly being in prayer as we read, asking for understanding and wisdom and discernment. We need to look at our Bibles as letters to us from our God who loves us so dearly He died for us, and who took the time to make sure ALL that we would ever need to know would be available for us in His Word. So let us read our bibles daily, carefully, reflecting on what we read and studying His Word, so that we can become mature in Christ and learn the teaching about righteousness that is from faith.
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God's Warning To Us

God's Warning To Us

Hebrews 2:1-3 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

The world "therefore" in the above passage shows that this warning to pay more careful attention to what we've heard, comes because of what had been speaking about just prior to this. Let's take a quick look at what was being discussed in chapter 1 then:

Hebrews 1:1-4 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

As you can plainly see from these first four verses, chapter one is about Jesus and just how powerful He is and how superior to anyone and anything He is. Now we know that the author is telling the Hebrews that because Jesus is so powerful, because He is God, we had better pay attention to what He says and what He asks of us. He then says that if we don't pay careful attention that we may very well drift away.

Who exactly is being spoken to here? Is he talking to others who are mature in Christ, or to baby Christians or someone in between, or perhaps those who aren't saved? To find the answer to that we have to look ahead a bit further:

Hebrews 5:11-6:3 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.

From these passages we can see that he is speaking to people who are born again and apparently have been saved for quite some time. In fact, they've been saved for so long, he says they should already be teachers themselves!

How many times have you read those passages and assumed that they were being spoken to someone other then yourself? I know that for a very long time I did. I for sure was not a teacher and had no desire to be one! I just wanted to learn for myself. Besides, Paul said that teaching was a gift, and I knew I certainly didn't have that gift! Yet here, (and in many other places as well) it is quite obvious that he is speaking to a general audience of believers; the same audience you might find in any church today. In other words, he is speaking to me, and to you, and to every single person who has been saved who is not yet mature in Christ!

Furthermore, he is not happy with those of us who have been saved awhile and still are not mature in Christ; in fact, he is basically saying that they are being lazy and immature!

He even tells us what is considered to be the basics of our faith which would be the things that even a baby Christian should know. He says going beyond those things, is when you begin to push onward toward maturity in Christ. Let me share the part of the passage again that shows just what the basics are:

Hebrews 6:1-2 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

So these are the things that everyone should know quite well:
1. the elementary teachings of Christ; or the basic principals of Christianity, which would include the fact that He is God, he came to earth and lived among us and died for our sins and rose again, and that He is coming back. It would include knowing that we are saved by faith in Christ alone and not by works.
2. repentance from acts that lead to death, or repentance of sin and for this particular audience especially it would include repentance of thinking that following the legalistic rules of Judaism would get them into heaven;
3. faith in God; again stressing that we are saved by faith and not by works
4. instruction about baptism,

the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment, which yet again is stressing that we are saved by faith and not by works.

So all these various areas are considered the basics. What is beyond those is where the author wants us to go. He actually says:

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

This then is what he wanted to teach them yet couldn't because they were still all muddled up in their understanding of the basics. This then is the reason for his warning to them. Here they were, born again and yet not bearing fruit! He was angry and upset that they could be so lazy when Jesus had given His life for them! In fact, the second passage I posted, is part of his third warning to them! All in all he gave them 5 warnings in this letter. I should say he gave "us" 5 warnings in this letter. To get us back on track however, let me re-post the original warning we were speaking of:

Hebrews 2:1-3 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

Basically what is being said to us here is that if God exacted punishment for violations of His law in the first covenant, then he will also exact punishment for violations in his new covenant. Now that's certainly NOT something we hear preached about in most churches today!

Yet this is exactly what we are being told we need most to learn and he calls it a:

"teaching about righteousness" in Heb 5:13. Is he talking about us going to hell? No, absolutely not! We can know that because throughout this letter, he is constantly saying "we" and not "you". Since we know for sure that he was saved, we can then safely assume that he is speaking to other believers that are really saved. In the above passages we can see that he is pretty vague about what the penalties will be, but we are told more about this in other places.

What I'd like to concentrate on for this week is the fact that we HAVE been warned. We have been warned by the Lord to pay attention to His Word and to do what He commands. We have been warned that if we do not do this that there will be consequences and that they won't be pleasant ones. He is telling us here that there is MUCH more to being a Christian then simply being born again and showing up for church on Sunday. He is telling each and every one of us that the Lord requires some things of us.

Does this mean the gift of salvation is not free? Not at all! It IS free! The only way I can think of to explain it is the way I used in another recent study. Suppose I give you a gift of a big box of Lego's. Now the gift is really a gift; you do not have to do anything to get it, nor do you have to pay for it. It's yours and I will never take it back from you. So, you accept the gift, and in this scenario we'll say that the acceptance of the gift is you opening the box of Lego's so you can see them. Now you have a choice.

1. you can sit there and stare at those legos as long as you want to and they are not going to do anything more then lay there. If you get bored looking at them, you can stuff the box in your closet and never open it again if you so choose. Those legos will still always be yours and no one will take them away. Or

2. You can reach inside the box, take some legos out and start building something magnificent with them. If you do that, it will be "work" and there will be parts of that "work" that you will enjoy and parts that may seen boring, and other parts that may seem exciting at times, and even times when it's frustrating because they are not doing what you want. Regardless of that, they will always belong to you and no one will ever take them away.

The people who are being spoken to in this letter are like the person in my first example. They are saved but they have never done anything with it. God wants us to be like the person in my second example. He wants us to bear fruit for Him. That is why we have been saved. The only way we can bear fruit however is if we use our legos!

This has already become longer then I intended so tomorrow we'll look at this some more and also hopefully begin looking at what the Lord would have us do to be the people He called us to be and to avoid the punishment that will surely come if we don't use our legos.

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Do you feel it too?

For the past week or more I have felt a terrible burden to work even harder to show people God's Truth; to warn them of false prophets, teachers, and churches. In a way, it feels similar to my "mother's instincts" toward my own children. I feel this terrible concern that people are being deceived by the millions and because of that will wind up in hell. More and more I see the truth of what Jesus said when He asked if He would even find any faith left when He returns. There are more people out there that think they are saved but aren't then there are true Christians. They are the ones who are either pretending to be Christian or who perhaps actually think they are Christian and serving Him, but they have been deceived. One awful day will soon come when they will have the shock of their lives. Instead of hearing, "Well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord," they will hear, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"

You can see by the very fact that this passage says that they "prophesied in His Name”, that they either really think they are Christians because they have been deceived or they were pretending in order to deceive others. They were never saved, consequently our Lord says, "I never knew you!"

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

My heart breaks for those who are being deceived and I burn with out right rage for those doing the deceiving. Words really cannot describe the emotions I've been feeling and the "push" to do as much as I can to protect as many as I can from these awful people, and to draw away from them the people who can still really be saved, as well as baby Christians who have begun to listen to them instead of to His Word.

I keep asking the Lord what more can I do? How do I reach them? If I started right this second and tried to list every single false teacher and prophet who is currently out in the world trying to prevent others from being really saved, I couldn't complete it even in a few years there are so many, and every day there's more. Besides which, just a list of them wouldn't be enough. People are very stubborn, they want you to prove it to them--rather then doing the work for themselves as they should have done to start with, and that also takes time. So I felt led to do the only other thing that was possible and was also what the disciples did. Yes, they pointed out error and they pointed out false teachers etc., but at the same time they discipled believers so that they too would become mature and that way would be able to discern error for themselves.

As I told the Lord, I'm already doing both of those things to the best of my ability, and yet I still feel this awful burden and like time is running out. I feel as though I'm trying to beat the clock even though I know the clock is going to win.

I want to stand up a scream at people to "Wake up!!!" the way Jesus does in His letter to Sardis. To me this letter shows part of what's going on today. It shows the false teachers, prophets and churches who are teaching a different gospel and cause people to falsely believe that they are saved when they aren't.

It also shows
those of us who are really saved and really walk with Him. I have literally been in tears at times over this past week, wondering what I could do to wake people up to this...the time is so very short!

Revelation 3:2-5 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

When I say the time is short, I realize that our Father could hold off sending Jesus to get us until long after I'm dead and buried if He so chooses, however, I honestly don't think He will wait much longer.

I see people today all wrapped up in their daily lives, getting their kids off to school, getting themselves to work, getting home and getting supper, cleaning the house, getting kids to bed etc; there are doctor appointments, dentists, birthday parties, holidays to celebrate, duties to perform, bills to pay etc., day after day, with little time taken to seek the Lord while He may be found. Even those who are or who profess to be Christians...I don't see them slowing down or hear them speaking of the Lord throughout their daily activities, or seeking His Will when a decision needs to be made the way scripture tells us to.

Deuteronomy 6:7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Instead I see people who are afraid to "rock the boat" so they don't say anything when they see a loved one is living in unrepentant sin; they don't say anything when they see that someone who professes to be a Christian is following after a false teacher or church. What will they say to the Lord when He asks them why they allowed those people to go to hell when they could have told them the Truth? How will they feel when they see those loved ones being sent to Hell on judgment day, all because they didn't want to "rock the boat", they didn't want to speak up and be perceived as a radical Christian, or a "holy roller" or "bible thumper" or "heresy hunter", or any of the other derogatory names that the world has for us who try and do God's Will.

So who are they really showing love for? Not for those loved ones that's for sure, because they may well wind up in hell because they're not told; not for the Lord, because He told us that if we were ashamed of Him, then He would be ashamed of us.

Mark 8:34-38 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Part of me wants to shake people and yell at them to wake up and smell the coffee and the other part--probably my flesh--wants to throw up my hands in disgust and walk away. Yet I know that the reason there's so much false teaching is because the body of Christ has been infiltrated by a huge number of false teachers who serve as so called "pastors" in our churches, and they don't teach people how to be saved, or what their responsibilities are once they are saved, or disciple them so that they can become mature believers. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that if every single person on this board walked into 2 churches today and announced to the congregation that everyone who is saved has certain responsibilities, that they'd either wind up with everyone thinking they'd lost their minds, or be told to leave! I bet there's very few churches left that teach the whole Truth. Most people seem to think that once you're saved that's the end of it and there's nothing left to do but wait till you die and go to heaven.

Since I was too sick to do anything about what the Lord had laid on my heart so hard this week, I've seen a large number of His children talking about this very same thing. For me that's confirmation that we're all hearing the Lord correctly. Time IS short. We need to work harder and longer to try and save those we can from the clutches of these false teachers and churches, and we need to help our fellow brothers and sisters to grow into maturity so that they too can join the fight and so they can spot the errors for themselves. Soon our Lord will return for us and when He does, I want Him to see that I've done my best to do His Will, as I'm sure everyone else here does as well.

Luke 18:7-8 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

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The Fear Of The Lord

I thought that maybe to get us started further, I'd see what some of my bible dictionaries say about the Fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord the — is in the Old Testament used as a designation of true piety (Prov. 1:7; Job 28:28; Ps. 19:9).

 
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Psalm 19:9-11 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Job 28:28 And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’ ”

It is a fear conjoined with love and hope, and is therefore not a slavish dread, but rather filial reverence. (Comp. Deut. 32:6; Hos. 11:1; Isa. 1:2; 63:16; 64:8.) God is called “the Fear of Isaac” (Gen. 31:42, 53), i.e., the God whom Isaac feared.
A holy fear is enjoined also in the New Testament as a preventive of carelessness in religion, and as an incentive to penitence (Matt.

10:28; 2 Cor. 5:11; 7:1; Phil. 2:12; Eph. 5:21; Heb. 12:28, 29).
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

fear of the Lord, the awe that a person ought to have before God (Prov. 5:7; Eccles. 12:13). As such it can be said to constitute ‘true religion’ (Ps. 34:11). This ‘fear of the Lord’ is represented by the ‘fear and trembling’ with which Paul exhorts the Philippians to work out their salvation (Phil. 2:12). It describes the piety of the growing church in Acts 9:31. However, it may also carry overtones of judgment (2 Cor. 5:11; 1 Pet. 1:17).
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (305). San Francisco: Harper & Row.

I was looking to see if I could find something that would give a good description of it and this is what I found: (I was trying to imagine myself in this scene)

Exodus 19:10-25 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on

Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.” After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.” On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.” Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’ ” The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and told them.

and then this description of the same event and how it relates to us now:

Hebrews 12:18-29 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” But you have come to

Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Here's another short instance that shows the "fear of the Lord" in a person:

Daniel 5:5-6 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.

Now, lest we think that this is only in the Old Testament, lets look at one in the New: (Keep in mind as you read this, that it's being written by and was experienced by John, "the beloved apostle". This is the man who we read would lay with his head on our Savior's chest. He knew the Lord probably better then any other person on the earth and was very familiar with Him.

Revelation 1:12-18 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

I'd say that was a pretty good example of the fear of the Lord wouldn't you? and here's another one from the New Testament:

Matthew 28:1-4 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

Just to give us a bit more to chew on, let me add what a few more things say about this subject:

a. Holy fear
This comes from the believer’s apprehension of the living God. According to Luther, the natural man cannot fear God perfectly; according to Rudolf Otto, he is ‘quite unable even to shudder grauen) or feel horror in the real sense of the word’. Holy fear, on the other hand, is God-given, enabling men to reverence God’s authority, obey his commandments and hate and shun all form of evil (Je. 32:40; cf. Gn. 22:12; Heb. 5:7). It is, moreover, the beginning (or principle) of wisdom (Ps. 111:10); the secret of uprightness (Pr. 8:13); a feature of the people in whom God delights (Ps. 147:11); and the whole duty of man (Ec. 12:13). It is also one of the divine qualifications of the Messiah (Is. 11:2-3).
In the OT, largely because of the law’s legal sanctions, true religion is often regarded as synonymous with the fear of God (cf. Je. 2:19; Ps. 34:11, Moffatt), and even in NT times the term ‘walking in the fear of the Lord’ was used in connection with the early Christians. Gentile adherents of the synagogue were called ‘God-fearers’ (Acts 10:2, etc.; cf. Phil. 2:12).

In the NT generally, however, emphasis is laid on God as loving and forgiving, the One who through Christ gives to men the spirit of sonship (Rom. 8:15), and enables them boldly to face up to life (2 Tim. 1:6-7) and death (Heb. 2:15) without fear. Nevertheless, a reverent fear remains; for the awesomeness of God has not changed, and there is a day of judgment to be met (2 Cor. 5:10f.). Godly fear stimulates the believer to seek holiness (2 Cor. 7:1), and is reflected in his attitude towards his fellow-Christians (Eph. 5:21).

b. Slavish fear
This is strictly a natural consequence of sin (Gn. 3:10; Pr. 28:1), and can come as a punishment (Dt. 28:28). It was felt by Felix when he heard Paul preach (Acts 24:25); it is felt by Christ-rejecters, for whom remains only ‘a fearful expectation of judgment’ (Heb. 10:27, rv, 31; cf. Rev. 21:8). Though not of itself good, this fear is often used by the Holy Spirit for the conversion of men (Acts 16:29ff., etc.).

c. Fear of men
This can be expressed as: (i) a reverential awe and regard of men, as of masters and magistrates (1 Pet. 2:18; Rom. 13:7); (ii) a blind dread of them and what they can do (Nu. 14:9; Is. 8:12; Pr. 29:25); and (iii) in a peculiar sense a Christian concern for them lest they be ruined by sin (1 Cor. 2:3; 2 Cor. 11:3; Col. 2:1). This kind of fear, and also the slavish fear mentioned in (b) above, can be cast out by true love to God (1 Jn. 4:18).

d. ‘Fear’ as the object of fear
Fear is used in another sense, as in Gn. 31:42, 53, where God is called the ‘Fear’ of *Isaac—i.e. the God whom Isaac feared and worshipped. Their ‘fear’, the thing that terrifies them, comes upon the wicked (Pr. 1:26-27;

10:24; cf. Is. 66:4). When the Hebrews entered the promised land God sent his fear before them, destroying and scattering the Canaanites, or so impressing them with his fear as to render them spiritless and unable to withstand the invaders (Ex. 23:27-28). Fear in this sense is found also in Jb. 4:6 (cf. 9:34; 13:21): ‘Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?’
Wood, D. R. W. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary (365). InterVarsity Press.

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The Fear Of The Lord Is The Beginning of Wisdom

The Fear Of The Lord Is The Beginning of Wisdom

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Proverbs 2:1-22 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. It will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. For her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

I asked the Lord what He wanted us to study next and after going through a number of different things, I finally came to this subject and it seems to be what He desires for us to look at. I’d like to attempt to do this a little differently though. I’d really like this to be “interactive” if you’re willing to participate, rather then just me writing what I discover in His Word. So at the end of each part of the study, I’d like to take a day to discuss what we have already done as well as what we can or feel that we should be doing in the future to apply what we learn here. I’d also appreciate it if you would each share any insights the Lord has given you about the subject.

Now, let’s look at see what the Bible says about the fear of the Lord. I’ve noticed this term cropping up in a number of the studies we’ve done lately, so it makes sense for us to take a closer look at it. I think the very first thing that comes to mind when we talk about the fear of the Lord is a verse I’m sure we’re all very familiar with, which says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10) and in another which says it is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7)

The word translated, “beginning” is actually Rē’šîṯ and means “the start” as well as the “capstone or essence” of something. To me that says that God is the essence of wisdom and knowledge. We know that those who do not have the Holy Spirit, cannot understand the things of God, (1 Cor 2:10-16) so it must be fruitless to simply seek wisdom without first seeking the One who is the very essence of it.

In Psalm 111:10 it says: “all who follow his precepts have good understanding.” A precept is a command or principal, and this seems to be indicating that the fear of the Lord also causes you to obey and follow His commands and live by His principals.

Then in Proverbs 1:7 it says: “but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” This then also brings discipline into the picture. We’ve seen in our other studies that discipline comes up quite a bit in God’s Word too. In fact, for us who are born again, the Bible says:

2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

The word translated “self-discipline” (or sound mind in the KJV) is actually sōphronismos which means disciplined or self-controlled. It often hits me how God’s ways are so much the opposite of what the world teaches us. This is true even of being disciplined. God tells us throughout His Word how only fools say there is no God and talks about people who have gained what we would consider worldly knowledge, really know nothing at all, even though they think they are vastly more intelligent then we are. Let me include some of those verses for us as well:

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

1 Corinthians 1:19-21 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

1 Corinthians 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

To me that says there is no true knowledge or wisdom to be had apart from that which we can only get from the Lord. This world is really stuck on education and prides itself on how educated the people of the world are. Even churches have leaned toward only accepting pastors that have passed certain of the worlds standards for education, regardless of whether or not the Lord has called someone to preach! Yet the Lord tells us that all true knowledge and wisdom comes only from Him, not from our schools! All true knowledge and wisdom comes only from Him and we can only receive that knowledge and wisdom under certain conditions. The first condition He has given is that we must first “fear Him”. The verse from James and the one from Proverbs 2 tells us what the other condition is: we must seek Him and ask Him for it. I especially like how the passage in proverbs puts it because what it is really describing isn’t how we seek wisdom, but how we need to seek the Lord Himself. Compare what it says with these other verses:

Proverbs 2:3-6 and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Luke 11:9-10 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

For us, during this age of Grace or Church age as it is sometimes called, the first requirement for wisdom is that we be saved. For it is only through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we can understand the things of God. Again though, salvation is just the beginning of the journey. It appears that our wisdom can only grow as much as our fear of the Lord grows. The fear of the Lord only grows as much as we are willing to put into our search of understanding Him. The more we seek Him, the closer we try to be to Him, the more our fear will grow and the more wisdom we will attain.

Very quickly before we end, I’d like to share an example of the “fear of the Lord”, just to make sure we are all on the same page when we’re talking about it:

Genesis 22:12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

I’m sure we’re all very familiar with this story. It’s a really good example of someone who “feared the Lord”, someone who really did put God above everything and everyone else in his life. What an amazing faith Abraham had! It’s my desire to have that kind of faith. It is that kind of faith that brings wisdom. He must have been one amazing man to know and I can’t wait to have a chance to talk to him when we get to heaven!

For the rest of today and tomorrow then, let’s discuss what all this means to us now; how we either have already applied it to our lives, and/or how we can apply it now; as well as any other insights the Lord has given us about this subject—and it’s a big one too! We’ve already mentioned some of the elements we’ve found about the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as being, discipline, seeking Him, being saved, obedience, etc. May the Lord guide us each as we share with each other and learn what He has to teach us!

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