Good News of the Epistle to the Hebrews Series Part 2
Gospel Part 11A – Good News of the Epistle to the Hebrews Series
The word of God must be received with faith, hope, and love, or it will not likely benefit the hearers when they lack one of these foundations. Without hope, faith is not strong enough to stand alone, and without love, it cannot accomplish the whole purpose of what God wants us to be. Obedience must be acknowledged by love because it is not powerful without the assistance of love. When we obey to do something against our will, how can we say that we did it with love? Mature believers or not, are directed to the work of Christ; through His redemptive work, we are forgiven and cleansed in preparation for facing God for reconciliation.
Before all the Forgiveness and cleansing from sin, we have to believe, as addressed in John 3:16; justified by faith in Christ and sanctified for the reconciliation to take effect. As Jesus said that he is the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to the Father except through him; Jesus is the way to be justified and sanctified. We are saved by believing that he is the son of God, sent by God to deliver His message, raised by God from the dead. God’s word is accurate, and Jesus is the truth for us not to perish, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 is almost the center tenet of the bible as a whole, and Jesus is the life. Remember, we are dead from sin; through him, we are born again, born from above.
Sanctification and Forgiveness of sins are reserved for those who believe, and the means to obtain it is the “blood of the covenant” (Matthew 26:28). Now that we are justified by faith and sanctified, we are already saved. Does it mean that we are already saved, and once saved, it can no longer be undone? Every Christian, including us, needs to re-examine our position if we are still in the same position after being justified and sanctified with Christ. If we find ourselves falling away, we must call the name of the LORD for the renewal of faith. We must have confidence in God, who is merciful, graceful, and faithful, to give us a chance before we get disconnected. We must repent.
Every human, in general, has tribulations of each own because of the relationship with sinful nature. Humans lost their perfection and are subject to struggle now and then. When hard times resist leaving, it reminds us of the past that helped us overcome the same situation calling the name of the living God and listening to His powerful word. Therefore, we can courageously claim that we are the kingdom that God has given us, the kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Those who became partakers of the holy spirit and fell away can still come to God through repentance. Salvation is a gift, not like a loan that expires. Therefore, though we put ourselves to shame, we can still humbly ask for Forgiveness. Whatever is in our heart, the mouth speaks, and even before we open our mouths, God already knows what we will say because God looks at the heart and not the outside appearance.
Hebrews 6:4-9. Some said that there is no way of return for people that fell away after they became a partaker of the Holy Spirit. If there is disagreement about opinions, a discussion will come next. First, there is nothing impossible for our merciful God not to forgive true repentance. 2nd Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable, and that is a piece of given knowledge, but if there is no blasphemy, there is no sin committed to being forgiven. 3rd, Forgiveness is commanded by God: John says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”— 1 John 1:9. In Luke 17:4, Jesus says “that you should forgive someone seven times in one day.” God said it, and Jesus said it. So Forgiveness is a divine act. In Matthew 6:14-15—”For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (NIV)
To walk away from the faith, to backslide, abandon the race, to abandon Christ, the Forgiveness is between you and God. Repent and return to God with a contrite heart; if we fall away, we renew it through repentance. This is when this passage applies “since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” But the merciful God never fails to give us a chance; for this reason, Hebrews Hebrews 6:9-10 “But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this.’ ‘For God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.”
We should show a great desire to be diligent to the fullness of our hope till the end of our spiritual walk and never to slack or slow-moving but to be in the likeness of those remarkable men and women whose stories stand out to encourage and challenge the faith. They are the so-called faith heroes in Hebrews chapter 11. They are those heroes who inherited the promises through faith and perseverance.
There are people that “were enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.” These are the people who overcome the greatest challenge of their lives, the temptations, deceit, and lies combined. Their endurance is spiritual and natural battles because their awareness and experience with the living God and knowledge of the Son of God make a big difference. These people can also be named in the Hall of Faith of the unknown. When we take part as imitators of what the unknown heroes of faith did, there is a way for repentance and Forgiveness…
God is all in all.
