Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 9

Ye can do nothing

In order to understand the book of Hebrews… one of the most important things to first understand is how to divide flesh from spirit. How to divide FLESHLY good works from SPIRITUAL good works.

True good works are SPIRITUAL good works.

True good works CANNOT BE DONE in the flesh, or BY the flesh.

John 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

You can’t start adding words in, in order to try to understand Jesus.

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”

“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin”

Do you do meet those requirements 100% of the time? Don’t try to add words in!

You need to take Jesus’s words, and you need to believe them IN BINARY, as written.

And in order to do that… You need to divide flesh from Spirit.

Jesus said, “without me ye can do nothing”. Really think about that… How can that be true?

How exactly is it that a Christian can do SOMETHING… but an unbeliever can do NOTHING?

How exactly is it that a Christian can bring forth MUCH fruit… but an unbeliever can produce NOTHING? NO FRUIT AT ALL!

How exactly is it that a Christian can do good things… but an unbeliever can do NOTHING? He CANNOT do a single good thing.

But… I know unsaved people that do good works. Don’t you?

I know unbelievers, and I have SEEN them do good works. Haven’t you?

I know they can do good works.

So how could Jesus say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???

If Jesus was talking about doing good works in this world… then Jesus was wrong! Jesus was mistaken!

Maybe, Jesus was lying! Maybe, the Bible just isn’t perfect. Maybe it just isn’t God’s perfect word.

Jesus said: John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

Look, there are only 2 options… Either Jesus was NOT talking about the things that people THINK He was talking about, or Jesus was WRONG!

Now of course… Jesus was NOT wrong. Thus, my point is… Jesus was NOT TALKING about doing fleshly good works in THIS WORLD.

If Jesus had been talking about the doing of good works in this world… then He could not have TRUTHFULLY said, “without me ye can do nothing.”

Because… an unbeliever, he can read the Bible, he can go to church, he can give to the poor, he can clothe the naked, he can defend the fatherless…

And what about all the people that lived BEFORE Jesus came to Earth? They could do good works!

An OT saint could read the Bible, he could go to the temple, he could give to the poor, he could clothe the naked, he could defend the fatherless…

Unbelievers are CAPABLE… CAPABLE… of doing every good fleshly work that believers can do.

James 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

If you love your neighbor, “ye do well”. That is a good work!

Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping the poor and maimed.

Providing shelter. Condemning the guilty. Justifying the innocent.

Unsaved people do all those things all the time!

It sure SEEMS like they CAN DO SOMETHING. But Jesus said…

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

I’m sorry Jesus, but, if the “things” in question, are good works in this world… then, you’re just wrong!

But I don’t believe Jesus was wrong? Do You???

So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???

You say, “well, what Jesus was saying, was that if you’re really saved, you WILL do good works, and if you’re not saved, you WON’T.”

But that isn’t what Jesus SAID. He didn’t say “without me, you WON’T do anything.” He didn’t say “without me, you WILL do nothing.” He said:

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

This isn’t about what they ultimately DO… it is about what they are CAPABLE of doing.

And… an unsaved person… CAN do good works in this world.

An unsaved person CAN give to the poor.

But if Jesus wasn’t lying when He said, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”, then you have to believe that an unsaved person CANNOT do a good thing, but a Christian CAN do a good thing.

You have to believe that when an unsaved person does a good work, he does NOTHING, but when a Christian does a good work he does SOMETHING.

John 15:5  … He that abideth in me… the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Now… if you apply this to men in the flesh… then my question is…

How it is, that when YOU give to the poor, it is (a valuable) SOMETHING to Jesus, but when an unbeliever does the same exact thing, it is (a worthless) NOTHING to Jesus?!?

You did the exact same thing… you were CAPABLE of the exact same work.

So why is your work a good work, but theirs is NOT a good work??

If you think Jesus was talking about fleshly good works in John 15:5, then my question is… Why would it be a GOOD THING when you do it, but when an unbeliever does it, it is NOTHING? When you do the EXACT SAME good work… Why is your work something, but theirs is NOTHING?

You think, “Well, what Jesus was saying was that we Christians REALLY TRY to do good works now, but unsaved people don’t REALLY TRY to.”

But that isn’t what Jesus said. He didn’t say “without me, you WON’T TRY to do anything.” He said:

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

It isn’t about what you do, or what you TRY TO DO. It is about what you CAN DO!

So many people believe this doctrine of “works are proof of salvation”.

And maybe at first, Jesus saying “without me, ye can do nothing”, seems to fit that doctrine.

“Yeah, if you have Jesus you’ll have a life of good works, but if you aren’t really saved, you just won’t be able to live a life full of good works. You might do good for a while, but if you aren’t really saved, you’ll eventually turn away back to your sins. That’s why Jesus says “without me ye can do nothing”, because without Jesus helping you, you just won’t be able to keep living a good Christian life, full of good works.”

It seems to make sense at first… Until you really take it word for word,

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

and you really think about that phrase… “ye CAN do nothing”… and you ask yourself… “wait… the Jews under the law COULD love their neighbors. Atheists today CAN love their neighbors. Maybe they don’t all the time, but I see that they CAN do it. If without Jesus, men CAN do nothing… then neither an OT Jew, nor an unsaved person today, should be ABLE to do ANYTHING! So how are UNBELIEVERS ABLE to do the same good works that I can?”

That is what you need to ask yourself… How exactly is it, that a believer CAN do good things… but an unbeliever CANNOT do a single good thing?!? If Jesus was talking about good works in this world… the statement is preposterous!

So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???

Maybe you say, “it’s their motivation”… “See, when they do it, they do it for themselves, and when I do it, its for the Lord.” “When they do it, they do it selfishly, but when I do it, its because I really love other people.” “It’s their motivation”, you say.

But the passage doesn’t say that either.

Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can’t do things with the right motivation.”

Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can do things, but ye can only do things selfishly.”

No… Jesus said:

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

He said that unbelievers, CAN’T DO ANYTHING AT ALL.

They can’t DO a good work. They can’t produce a good thing, AT ALL.

Their motivation is not even a factor. Their ABILITY is the only factor.

So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???

People think, “Good works are the proof of our salvation”.

Wait… really think about that… why is a good work proof of YOUR salvation, but it is not proof of EVERYONE’s salvation?

If good works are proof of salvation, then everyone who does them… MUST be saved.

Because, if they weren’t saved, they wouldn’t be ABLE to do them.

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

If Jesus is to be believed, then an unbeliever CANNOT DO a good thing. He is INCAPABLE of it.

Now, what they really think is “Well, ONE good work is not proof of salvation, but LOTS of good works are!”

Well… Jesus disagrees! According to Jesus, a single TRUE good work is ABSOLUTE UNDENIABLE PROOF of salvation, because ONLY a believer CAN DO a true good thing. An unbeliever CANNOT DO it.

Jesus said: John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

How can good works be PROOF of truly believing in Jesus, if an Atheist, an unbeliever, CAN DO a good work?

If an unbeliever CAN do a thing, then that thing… it cannot be PROOF of belief!

It cannot be PROOF of belief, if an unbeliever, IS CAPABLE of doing it.

Its black and white. There is no grey area. Jesus drew a line that is IMPOSSIBLE to cross when He said:

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

Jesus taught that believers are CAPABLE of things that unbelievers are INCAPABLE of.

Whatever these true good things are… those who are in Christ, are capable of them… and those who are NOT in Christ, are INCAPABLE of them.

Really think about that… and then tell me… What are those things?

Do you really think they are good works in THIS world?

Unsaved people do good works. I see them do them all the time. I KNOW they are CAPABLE of them.

So how could Jesus truthfully say, “without me ye CAN do NOTHING”???

Maybe you say, “well, the difference is really that they don’t do them REGULARLY. They don’t make a HABIT of doing good. They habitually sin. But ME… I habitually do good.”

But, the passage doesn’t say that either!

Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can’t do good things HABITUALLY”.

Jesus didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works, but ye can’t make of HABIT of it”.

Jesus said:

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

Its not about whether they DO or DON’T do good works… its not about whether they TRY to do good works… its not about whether they WANT to do good works… it’s not about whether they CHOOSE to do good works… its not even about how OFTEN they do good works…

It is about whether or not they CAN DO good works!!!

Whether they DO them is not the question… The question is whether they CAN DO them.

CAN they do good, or CAN they NOT do good? Are they CAPABLE of doing a single good thing, or are they INCAPABLE of doing a single good thing? THAT is the difference between the saved and the lost.

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

If it were about fleshly good works, then how could Jesus truthfully say this?

But maybe you insist… maybe you say… “the difference is that a Christian will be able to CONSISTENTLY do good works over the course of his whole life, but an unbeliever, he might do them sometimes, but he can’t do them CONSISTENTLY.”

Again… that is simply NOT what Jesus SAID!

He didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works sometimes, but ye can’t do them all the time”.

He didn’t say, “without me you can do things for a while, but you can’t do anything long-term”

He didn’t say, “without me ye can do good works every once in a while, but with my help ye can do them much more often.”

No… He said:

John 15:5  … without me ye can do nothing.

Jesus said that unsaved people CAN DO NOTHING!

The truth is that unbelievers and Christians alike, in the FLESH, CANNOT do true good works.

John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.

That is what Jesus says that unbelievers do… they do “NOTHING”. That is what He thinks of their works… their works are NOTHING to Jesus.

Whatever an unbeliever CAN DO… is ABLE to do… it is “NOTHING” to God!

We know unbelievers are ABLE to do fleshly good works. Thus, fleshly good works must be: NOTHING!

Fleshly good works are NOT true good works. They are nothing!

Isaiah 41:29  Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

Isaiah 41:24  Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

Psalms 14:2-3  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.  3  They are [not WERE – ARE] all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

The Lord looked down from heaven, on the earth, to see if any did good… and he found that no man ON THE EARTH “doeth good”.

There is no man under heaven that does true good, in the eyes of God.

Why? Because men’s flesh cannot do true good works.

Not even “seeking God” in the flesh, does God consider a true good work. There were people that loved God and sought the Lord, on the Earth. Yet NOT ONE of them does God count to “do good”; true good. Because you cannot seek God, you cannot truly serve God, in the FLESH.

Romans 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

To God… not a single person on the Earth, under heaven, truly does good.

And in case you think, “well that was the Old Testament. But today, in the New Testament, when we get saved, Jesus comes in and helps us do good and keep the law”.

Romans 3:12  … there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

No person alive on this planet today is CAPABLE of doing good. No flesh CAN do a true good work.

NOTHING you can do with your flesh is a true good work. Nothing. Not even reading the Bible, or preaching to others!

If it was, then every person who ever preached would be saved, in Christ, and would be 100% sure of eternal life and eternal reward for their preaching. That would mean that to get eternal life, all anyone would have to do to get eternal life is go out street-preaching or door-knocking one time. Then they’d have assured eternal life! Because Jesus said…

John 5:29  … they that have done good, [shall come forth] unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

You just have to have “done good” ONE TIME! One TRUE good work, is absolute PROOF of salvation and is an absolute GUARANTEE of eternal life.

So if the work of preaching is a TRUE good work, then all those that have ever preached, even just ONCE, shall have eternal life.

When we go out soul-winning, we encounter other preachers sometimes. They might be Jehovah’s witnesses. Mormons. Pentecostals. Seventh Day Adventists. Wesleyans. Calvinists. Baptists. Non-denominationalists.

Now, they don’t agree with our gospel… they haven’t repented of works… but they are doing the same thing we are doing, in the flesh.  They are unbelievers! Yet, they are “doing good” in the flesh. So are they all saved?

Well, if reading the Bible is a true good work, if praying is a true good work, if preaching is a true good work… then all those people MUST BE saved, just like true believers are.

If fleshly good works are TRUE good works, then everyone who has ever “done good” in this world is going to heaven. No matter what they believe.

That is how black and white the Scripture is. That is how BINARY it is.

John 15:5 … without me ye can do nothing.

The only way to understand this, the only way to reconcile all the Scriptures… is to understand that NOTHING we can do in our flesh is a true good work.

If flesh can do it, then it isn’t a true good work.

If an unbeliever can do it, then it isn’t a true good work.

An unbeliever “can do NOTHING”.

In the flesh, an unbeliever can do EVERYTHING that a Christian can do. But not IN THE SPIRIT!

In the Spirit, a Christian CAN DO good things. But an unbeliever CAN DO nothing.

The difference between me and a false Christian is not the fleshly WORKS that we DO. Because we do the same things! We both want to do right. We both try to not sin. But we both DO sin! Our fleshly works are no different. The difference is not in the works that we DO in the flesh.

It is not even the WORKS that we CAN DO in the flesh. We both CAN read, and CAN pray, and CAN preach on the streetcorner. We CAN do the same fleshly works. There is NO DIFFERENCE in our flesh.

The difference between me and a false Christian is not the WORKS that we DO in the flesh. In the flesh, we very clearly do the same things. But Jesus said that I can do something, while they “CAN DO NOTHING”.

So… what gives?!? What is the real difference?

The ONLY difference between me and a false Christian is the WORDS that we believe and preach.

It is not THAT a person is preaching, it is WHAT a person is preaching.

It is not the WORK of preaching, it is the WORDS that are being preached.

WORDS are the true proof of salvation.

That is how you know the difference between brethren and false brethren. Believers and unbelievers.

We don’t know false Christians by their works. Not even zealous works for the Lord like giving, and reading, and praying, and preaching!

We know them by their WORDS – by their FRUIT! FRUIT is the proof of salvation. Not fleshly works!

Works produce fruit.

Fleshly good works produce fleshly fruit.

But spiritual good works produce SPIRITUAL good things.

John 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Jesus is not saying that unsaved people cannot do fleshly good works. Of course they can!

Jesus is saying that unsaved people cannot produce SPIRITUAL good fruit.

He is saying that unsaved people CANNOT PRODUCE true good WORDS.

Men in the flesh can do… NO THING.

To do a good thing, to truly DO A THING, is to produce good fruit.

Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 8

The false brethren in Acts 15 they weren’t necessarily teaching that you can LOSE your salvation. They were teaching that WORKS ARE REQUIRED AFTER salvation. They were teaching if you really ARE saved, you WILL work good works. They were teaching essentially the same thing that the false brethren of today teach: “works are the proof of salvation”!

That doctrine causes men to stumble and fall!

That doctrine turns the gospel of Jesus Christ into a stumblingstone!

Romans 9:32  Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

The reason people stumble at this stumblingstone, is because… THEY… DON’T… SEE IT!!!

Why? Because, it isn’t OBVIOUS. It is SUBTLE!

But “works are proof of salvation”, “works are the RESULT of salvation”, “works are the EVIDENCE of salvation”, “works are the fruit or the byproduct of salvation”, is a stumblingstone to the unsaved. They can’t see it. They don’t understand it. So when they WANT to get saved, they can’t get saved. They TRY to get saved, but instead they STUMBLE and FALL AWAY from grace.

Isaiah 8:14-15  And he [Jesus] shall be for a sanctuary [to the saved]; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  15  And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

The reason they stumble, is because they don’t THINK they are seeking righteousness by the works of the law. “That’s not me! I’m only saved by faith… but you can’t just live however you want.”

The reason they stumble and fall, is because they can’t SEE the snare.

They can’t SEE how they are doing the same thing that Israel was doing.

No one falls into a trap if they SEE IT laid there.

John 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

No one trips and falls on a stone, whose location and shape they clearly see and understand.

They stumble and fall, because they DON’T see it. A snare works, because it is SUBTLE and NOT OBVIOUS.

It is not obviously “by the works of the law”, but effectively, they are indeed seeking righteousness, “by the works of the law”. Because it says…

Romans 9:32  … as it were by the works of the law.

The phrase “as it were” implies a bit of unclearness, an ambiguity.

Revelation 8:10 … there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, …

Revelation 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, … and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

Numbers 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

Revelation 21:21 … and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

“As it were” can mean “like”, or “as”, or “about”, “comparable to” or “similar to”.

His face may not be the sun, but that sure is what it looked like.

The strength of Israel as a nation may not be exactly the same as the strength of a unicorn, but that is a worthy description of it.

It may not EXACTLY be a lamp, or the sun, or the strength a unicorn, or transparent glass… but that is absolutely, an appropriate way to describe it.

“As it were” can also imply, not an EXACT accounting, but an appropriate APPROXIMATION:

John 21:8 …for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits…

1 Samuel 14:14 … within as it were an half acre of land, …

So you say, “Romans 9:32 isn’t me, I’m not seeking righteousness by the works of the law”.

Well… neither were the Jews… not exactly anyways. Not obviously anyways. They were seeking righteousness…

Romans 9:32  … as it were by the works of the law.

So, “by the works of the law” is the best way to describe how they seek to establish their righteousness.

To an unbiased, independent judge… to a reasonable evaluator, who can see clearly… that IS, effectively, what they were doing.

The Jews were NOT clearly and obviously seeking righteousness by the works of the law, but they may as well have been.

Likewise the false brethren of today are not OBVIOUSLY doing the works of the law to obtain salvation… but effectively, they are.

Its just LIKE they are trying to be saved by the works of the law.

Its “as it were” (equivalent to) trying to be saved by the works of the law.

You may not be trying to establish your own righteousness by doing the works of the law, EXACTLY AS Moses described them… but you may as well be.

Because that is the effect of “works are proof of salvation”, “works are the result of salvation”.

It isn’t OBVIOUSLY doing the works of the law for salvation… it is DECEITFULLY doing the works of the law for salvation.

“If you’re living in sin and you’re not living for the Lord, you can’t really be saved!”

“If you don’t try to love others, and do good things in your life, you aren’t really saved!”

“If you haven’t really changed your life, if you aren’t TRYING to get better every day, you can’t claim to truly be saved!”

That is seeking salvation AS IT WERE (equivalent to) by the works of the law.

The reason you don’t see it that obviously, is because the gospel of grace, and the binary nature of righteousness, is a SNARE to those that don’t understand it.

The snare is effective, but the snare is not obvious. AS, IT, WERE. …

–

The false brethren in Acts 15 taught the same lie that snares so many of the false brethren today.

They don’t SEE how they are REQUIRING the works of the law to BE saved; to BE righteous.

They believe, “salvation is by faith, but its EVIDENCE is obedience to the law”.

They will say, “the gospel doesn’t REQUIRE obedience, but it PRODUCES obedience”.

This is NOT OBVIOUSLY salvation by works. But effectively, this IS salvation by works. It is equivalent!

Acts 15:24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

That is SCATHING rebuke! What these false brethren were teaching, SUBVERTS SOULS. It prevents people from getting saved.

Notice this: The Apostles said, “to whom we gave no such commandment”.

This isn’t just about what requirements the Jewish Apostles were putting on the Gentiles. This is about what THEY taught THEIR OWN people. The Jewish Apostles did not teach their own people (the Jewish believers) that they had to keep the law to BE saved. They didn’t teach works to the Gentiles, and they didn’t teach works in their own church in Jerusalem either!

They didn’t teach a different gospel than the one that we Gentiles have today!

Now let’s talk about this phrase:

Acts 15:24 … certain which went out from us …

Here is what happened here…

Obviously from Acts 15, we understand that SOME OF THE PEOPLE that were under the Apostles, in the church in Jerusalem, DID believe in works. But the Apostles didn’t know it!

And because those persons believed works were still required to BE saved – either that works were required to get saved, or just that works were “proof of salvation” – when those persons WENT OUT from the church in Jerusalem, when they WENT OUT FROM UNDER the authority of the Apostles, and started teaching what they really believed… that is when it was manifested, that is when THEY were manifested… that they were NOT REALLY SAVED.

How do I know that? How do I KNOW…

1 – That what they were teaching wasn’t just a misunderstanding, or an error, from unstable baby Christians, but that these men were not saved (not Real Christians).

2 – That they were manifested to be unsaved (false brethren) ONLY WHEN they went out from under the Apostles authority?

I know this, because here is the only other instance of “went out from us” in the entire Bible.

1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

Those are the only two instances of “went out from us”. 1 John 2:19 is a direct link to Acts 15:24, doctrinally. John may even be talking about the exact same event, accounted in Acts!

You probably know how 1 John 2:19 is typically used, right?

It’s used to say that if someone leaves church, and doesn’t go back, then they were never really saved.

They take this, and teach that you can stay in church and serve God for your whole life… and after 80 years of good Christian service… if you then leave church and never go back before your death, then that whole time… for 80 years… you were NEVER REALLY saved.

“If you don’t stay in church with us… if you don’t continue trying to live a good Christian life… if you don’t at least keep repenting and coming back after your backslidings… then “ye cannot BE saved”.”

That is how they teach it today. But that is a complete and utter LIE!

That IS NOT what 1 John says,… and that isn’t what happened in Acts either.

Acts 15:1  And certain men… [vs24 – “certain which WENT OUT FROM US”] … taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

Notice: These men didn’t leave Christianity. They didn’t leave church and never go back. They didn’t turn back to their sins. They didn’t go back to a worldly lifestyle. They didn’t stop believing in heaven and hell. They didn’t stop believing in salvation, or in the resurrection, or in God. They never stopped “believing” what they believed.

They actually just… WENT OUT… from one church to another church!

Going “out from us” was not a sin. It doesn’t mean they stopped serving God, or stopped going to church, or stopped believing in Jesus, or turned back to living in sin.

You can stay in church your whole life, and it doesn’t mean you are saved.

Likewise, you can leave church and never go back, and it doesn’t mean you are lost.

Whether you stay in the company of Christians, or you go out from their presence, is not an indication of whether you yourself are a Christian.

The act of going “out from us” was not the problem in Acts 15.

Their problem… was what they preached, WHEN they went out from the Apostles.

Going “out from us” doesn’t mean they left Christianity. It simply means they went out of the church in Jerusalem. They went out. So what? No big deal.

Except that… AFTER they “went out”, then they started teaching on their own.

A person can go out from the church and keep preaching what that church preaches.

But that’s not what these men in Acts 15 did. When they went out, they preached a different gospel. Why? Because that is what they truly believed. And once they went out, it was manifested that they did not believe the Apostles doctrine.

—

1 John 2:19 … they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

“Went out” simply means they went out from under the apostolic authority and teaching, and started teaching on their own. And that is when it was POSSIBLE for them to be MANIFEST, that they were not true believers.

If they were true Christians they would have continued teaching the same things that the Apostles taught; the same things that the true brethren believed.

But when THEY went out, it was manifest that they believed something different.

1 John 2:19 … if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us:

You’ll say “see, if you are really saved, you will stay in church”.

Understand… that doesn’t necessarily mean that true Christians will stay in the local church.

You don’t have to be a member of a church, you don’t have to attend a church, to “continue with” Christians.

Galatians 2:9  And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

The apostles went separate ways, but they remained in fellowship because their doctrine was the same!

“went out from us” and being “manifest that they were not all of us” is not about leaving church, or changing your lifestyle at all. Its about the gospel that you preach. If you preach a different gospel… then you do not continue with, and fellowship with, Real Christians.

They didn’t “go out” BECAUSE they were unsaved, as if it was an evitability that no false Christian is able to stay in a church pew. That is not what it says. It says they “went out, THAT THEY MIGHT BE MADE MANIFEST” that they were not true believers.

1 John 2:19 … they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

The truth is that you don’t know whether or not someone is a Real Christian by whether or not they sit still in a church pew and say “Amen” at the preaching.

Even if they sit there every Sunday their whole life. It means NOTHING.

Whether they go faithfully their whole life, or they never go to church ONCE… it means NOTHING.

You cannot know whether people are Real Christians by what they DO in their flesh.

You know them by their WORDS. You know them by what they TEACH. You know them by what they BELIEVE!

That is when a false brother is manifest… WHEN HE STARTS SPEAKING!!! You see…

Proverbs 17:28  Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

When those men sat there quietly under the Apostles, the Apostles assumed that they were believers. They counted them wise. Why wouldn’t they? These guys are coming, they’re listening, they’re fellowshipping, they are “Amen-ing”. They aren’t saying, “This is all bullcrap”. They aren’t opposing us like, “Hey Peter, Hey James, you guys are teaching people wrong!”

No… They were keeping their mouths shut! So the Apostles ASSUMED that those men believed what was being preached to them.

But when they went out and they OPENED THEIR MOUTHS… THEN it was manifested, that they believed a DIFFERENT GOSPEL. A perverted gospel.

When they started SPEAKING, then it was manifested, that they had never repented of dead WORKS!

Proverbs 15:2  The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

That is how you know false brethren. That is how they are made manifest..

Jesus said…

Matthew 12:33 … for the tree is known by his fruit.

The wise King Solomon said…

Ecclesiastes 5:3  … a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.

When he barely says anything, you don’t know that a fool is a fool.

But when he talks… when his words begin to flow out… that is when you know what he really is.

Proverbs 14:7 Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.

This is how you identify fools. This is how we know false brethren… by their words… by what they speak out of their lips. We know them, by their DOCTRINE. BY THEIR LEAVEEEENNNNN!

Galatians 5:9 A little leaven [a little works doctrine] leaveneth the whole lump.

It doesn’t have to be A LOT, to be effective. It just has to be a little.  Just a subtle amount of works, not an obvious amount of works.  Just a subtle way to establish your righteousness by the works of the law. Not an OBVIOUS means of establishing righteousness by the works of the law. But just “as it were” by the works of the law.

It just takes a little leaven… if you add one work, you add them all.

Just requiring a man to be circumcised… is adding ALL the works of the law, as leaven, into salvation doctrine.

Even just requiring a man to JUST LOVE his neighbor AFTER he believes on Jesus… is adding ALL the works of the law, as leaven, into the gospel of grace.

The person that does this is called a “deceitful worker”; he is UNSAVED.

2 Corinthians 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

They are not Christians. They are not resters in Christ. They are WORKERS. It just isn’t obvious.

Because they are hiding their works, deceitfully.

The doctrine of “saved by grace but works are the result, or proof, of salvation” is teaching you to keep the works of the law. Not obviously, but effectively.

Saying we must do good works after we get saved, is equivalent to (as it were) salvation by the works of the law.

—

If you think you have to do ANY of those works, even just 2, then you MUST do ALL of them.

Galatians 5:3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

If you add one work of the law, one fleshly work: then you’ve added THE WHOLE LAW!

JUST ONE WORK.. it could be circumcision, it could be “keep the sabbath”, it could be “get baptized in water”, it could just be “love thy neighbor as thyself”.

All those are works of the law. Those works ARE the law.

Those are, as it were (equivalent to) the works of the law.

And if you’ve added one, you’ve added them all.

Just add one.. it doesn’t matter which one.

If you are trying to keep even ONE law of Moses, even ONE moral law like “love”, then you are a debtor to do ALL of the law of Moses.

Romans 2:14-15  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:  15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another😉

If you are judging others by fleshly works… if you maintain that people who do this, this, and this, are not really saved, but you and others like you, ARE really saved, because you do this, this, and this… then you are a law unto yourself (not a new law – the same old law – of the same old works).

It doesn’t matter if you reject the 400+ Old Testament laws of Moses as inapplicable. If you maintain that just one fleshly good work is required, then you, having not the law, are a law unto yourself.

You “do by nature the things contained in the law”. You do the SAME WORKS. Love God, love others. You do fleshly good works.

No matter how much you say you don’t believe that you are saved BY works of the law… if you put even just this one moral law on men, then that is what you use to judge others… the law… “accusing or else excusing one another”.

Even without the law of Moses, you still judge by the same works contained in the law.

If you are putting ANY carnal commandments onto men to be saved… If you put ANY carnal law on mankind, even just keeping it very general, and very high-level, and so seemingly innocent like: “if you really ARE saved, you are GOING TO love God and love your neighbor”… if that is what you believe a man must do to truly BE saved… if you believe a man that walks away from God and lives the rest of his life demonstrating NO LOVE for God and NO LOVE for other people… if your belief is that that man is not really saved…  then you have judged that man as in bondage, under the law.

And if that is how you judged others, then that is how you will be judged.

Matthew 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: …

Luke 19:22  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. …

If you judge others in your heart, as saved or lost based on THEIR works… then you’d better be PERFECT; as perfect as Jesus! Because God is going to judge you by the whole law. You are a debtor to do the WHOLE LAW.

Why?  Because you judged others AS IT WERE by the works of the law; by the same works contained in the law, so you’re going to be judged the same way.

You judged by the law, now you shall be “judged by the law”.

And because you, and the people you have judged as unsaved sinners, do the same things, you will get the same judgment that you judged them worthy of: condemnation.

Romans 2:1  Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

I know you won’t admit condemnation… but Acts 15 absolutely condemns those that believe fleshly works matter; those that judge others by fleshly works.

You can claim that you don’t teach that we have to keep the law of Moses, but if you require Christians to love their neighbors, or to do ANY fleshly good works, then you, having not the law (of Moses), ARE A LAW unto yourself. You’ve judged others by the law, even if you don’t know you did.

Whether you knew it or not, the effect of your judgment was that you put the whole law on another man. So now, the whole law is all on you. You better keep the law perfectly. Otherwise, you will be condemned in the judgment. Condemned by your own mouth.

If you believe fleshly works matter… then you believe the same thing that the Acts 15 false brethren believed: “unless ye… keep the law [love – do good works]… ye cannot BE saved.” “If you don’t do good WORKS, then ARE NOT really saved.”

If you add just one work of the law, even just as a result of salvation… just one work… one fleshly work… just one requirement to do anything, or to “love” anyone in the flesh, then you have added the WHOLE LAW. Thus…

Galatians 5:2 … Christ shall profit you nothing.

You are:

Galatians 5:3 …a debtor to do the whole law.

Galatians 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you … ye are fallen from grace.

You get no Christ. You get no Salvation, You get NO GRACE.

You have failed of the grace of God. Just like Israel. Simply because you included just ONE fleshly work.

Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 6

James calls it “the royal law”.

James 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

“The royal law”… the most important law in the law… the law on which all other laws hang… is to love others.

James says, if you love your neighbor, “ye do well”. Ye do good works.

The whole law, IS TO DO, fleshly good works. It is a law OF fleshly good works.

So if you are trying to do fleshly good works… then you are trying to do the works of the law.

If you believe Christians must do good works, then you are requiring the works of the law.

You can condemn Israel for falling from grace due to seeking righteousness by the works of the law… but if you say Christians must love God and love their neighbors, then you are seeking righteousness, “by the works of the law”.

If you talk about “good works”, in the flesh, in this world, then you are talking about THE LAW. The OLD law. The same OLD law. “Love your neighbor” is not a new law.

Fleshly good works ARE the law, and the law IS good works in the flesh.

If you believe Christians need to do good works… then you believe they need to do the works of the law.

Matthew 7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

The “golden rule”, right? The highest “moral law”!

THIS IS the law. That is the WHOLE LAW! That is the Old Testament. That is NOT the New Covenant. It is not NEW at all. That is not a “new law” given by Christ! This is the OLD law! The law of FLESHLY commandments.

Refusing to repent of requiring these works of the law, is exactly why Israel was cut off.

So the false brethren today condemn Israel for going after “the works of the law”, while they justify themselves doing the exact same works as Israel was doing: love God and love your neighbor: the works of the law!

Christ didn’t bring these law down from Heaven. It isn’t new!

This law, these works of the law, are the exact works that the Jews had been trying to do for 1500 years before Christ. Yet not one of them was successful. Not one of them ever did a true good work.

Haggai 2:11-14  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; … If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.  14  Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

The Israelites… who received the law, the law of Moses, which can be summed up in just two commandments… they could not do a true good work.  They NEVER did a true good work.

They could love their neighbor. They could love God. But even those works were UNCLEAN.

Every work of their hands was UNCLEAN to God. Every work of their flesh was UNCLEAN. Even the good ones. Even loving your neighbor.

If it comes from sinful flesh, if it touches the flesh, or the fleshly heart, or the fleshly, sinful spirit that is in mankind, it is UNCLEAN.

Every work of their hands is unclean! You say, “well that’s just Israel they were doing evil at the TIME. There were other times, and other generations, that did go good works.”

Jeremiah 32:30  For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.

Mankind has only ever done evil, has only ever provoked the Lord to anger with the works of their hands. Mankind is unclean, and they’ve never done produced even one clean thing.

Job 14:4  Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

If it comes out of men’s flesh, then it is unclean. It can be in the form of good. It can look good to man. But it is not TRUE good. Every work of men’s hands is FILTHY. UNCLEAN!

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

If a good work is not eternal, if it doesn’t last forever, then it is not a true good work.

What work have you ever done, what thing have you ever produced in this world, that will last forever?

If none, then you are unprofitable. If you can’t produce a good thing, that will last forever, then you cannot do true good works.

Romans 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

None… no exceptions. Not Moses. Not David. Not Samuel. Not Daniel. Not Josiah. Not a single Jew who ever tried to love their neighbor as themselves. None of them did good.

Paul says “there IS none that doeth good”. Not, “there WAS none, but now Christians are so thankful that Jesus saved us that now WE do good because we are so appreciative of our salvation.”

You may think you are better than all the OT saints. You may think you succeed where they failed. You may think you are ABLE to do good works, when they weren’t, because your motivation is more sincere.

But that isn’t what Paul said.  He said: there IS NONE that doeth good. Present day believers included!

Christians aren’t any more ABLE to do true good works, than anyone else.

Fleshly good works… “love God, love your neighbor”… they are NOT TRUE good works!

You cannot do TRUE good things with your hands/flesh. And that is what Hebrews teaches us.

Hebrews 10:1  For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

The works of the law… the “moral law”… love God, love your neighbor… are only a shadow of true good things. The law does not allow a man to do TRUE good works.

The law said they could make various sacrifices and washings to be “clean”. But they were not truly clean. Why? Because the works of the law could never make people PERFECT!

Loving your neighbor, in the flesh, does not MAKE you or your neighbor… PERFECT!

Thus, loving your neighbor in the flesh… is ONLY a SHADOW of true good; a figure of true love.

These false brethren think they are following some NEW law of the New Testament, but it’s the same OLD law: the Old Testament law of Moses, which stood only in FLESHLY things, FLESHLY good works.

FLESHLY good works, are not a “new law”, they are the works of the OLD law.

Fleshly good works are only a SHADOW of true good works.

It is impossible for men to do true good works, but the false brethren require SHADOWS of true good works. False brethren REQUIRE the old, vain, shadows of true good works, in the life of every Christian.

“Good works are the fruit of salvation. So if you don’t love God and love your neighbor, you aren’t really saved.”

Those fleshly works ARE the works of the law. So, you’re no different than the false brethren in Acts 15…

Acts 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. … 5 … saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

If I can take the liberty to rearrange the bolded words a bit, these false brethren…“taught the brethren…except ye…keep the law…ye cannot be saved”.

This is what a false prophet, a false Christian does… they put men under the bondage of the works of the law. Under the yoke of FLESHLY good works, which bring forth no eternal profit, thus deserve no eternal reward, because they are only vain SHADOWS of true good things.

Some of the false brethren will outright teach that Jesus didn’t abolish the law; that the whole law still applies. But others will be much more subtle, and teach that… “Jesus took away the ceremonial and sacrificial laws, but the moral laws still apply.” Or, “The Ten Commandments still apply.”

Well let me tell you a little something about the Ten Commandments…. The Ten Commandments… they ARE the OLD covenant.

Exodus 34:28  And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

Deuteronomy 4:13  And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

That covenant… the OLD covenant… the law of carnal COMMANDMENTS… IS the covenant that Christ fulfilled, and abolished, and made OLD, and disannulled.

Hebrews 8:7-13  For if that first covenant [The 10 fleshly commandments – or even just the 2!] had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.  8  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:  …  13  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

So trying to keep the Ten Commandments… trying to just keep the two: love God and love your neighbor… is rejecting the liberty of the New Law, and remaining in the bondage of the Old Law; a FAULTY law. A faulty covenant that decays and waxes OLD, and ultimately DIES… just like the FLESH that it applies to. A faulty covenant, that could never give men eternal life.

The ten commandments were faulty. Even just the two greatest commandments are faulty. They were “holy and just and good”. But yet, faulty. Why?

• Because they were FLESHLY. Thus they were not TRUE good things. They were only a FIGURE of true good works.
• Because they were NOT SPIRITUAL. So they could not make people PERFECT, and they could not give ETERNAL LIFE.

Hebrews 7:16-19  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.  17  For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.  18  For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.  19  For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

The Old Testament was fleshly. Carnal. The works of that law were fleshly. Carnal. Earthly.

The commandments were carnal. They were applicable and fulfillable in the flesh.

But the Old Covenant was faulty. You could keep the whole law, and NOT PROFIT. Not produce even one perfect and eternal thing.

The New Testament is spiritual. It has no fault, and it cannot be broken. There are no sinners in it, there are only PERFECT people in it, and it gives eternal life to all those that are in it.

The New Covenant is NOT made up of (the same old) carnal/fleshly commandments.

The Ten Commandments… the Old Testament… was weak and unprofitable. It did not PROFIT.

Doing the works of the law… doing fleshly good works like “loving your neighbor”… is unprofitable.

Romans 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

It doesn’t matter whether you think you are under the law of Moses, or just under a general “moral law”. All flesh, and every fleshly work, is UNPROFITABLE.

To truly PROFIT is to give (the words of) eternal LIFE.

Fleshly good works produce NO ETERNAL PROFIT. Thus they are vain and worthless to God.

Works are not fruit. Much more then, fleshly good works are DEFINITELY NOT the spiritual good fruit of a saved person.

Luke 6:44  For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

I’ve wondered a number of times, “why did the Lord appear in a BUSH in the Old Testament”?

Bushes, the few times they appear, are not good in the Bible. They are associated with famine and wilderness, with thorns and nettles. See Job 30:6-8, Isa 7:19, and Isa 34:13 as cross-references.

Bushes are not said to have good fruit. They are said to have evil fruit.

So why was the Lord in mount Sinai, in a bush??

I can’t say that I’m 100 sure about this, but what I think is, the reason that He appeared in a bush in mount Sinai, was because the law, the old covenant, was like a bush – it had NO GOOD FRUIT.

That mountain, and that bush on that mountain, was the very start of the giving of the law, by the lawgiver, from mount Sinai. And God associated the law, the Old Testament… which can be summarized as, love thy neighbor, and love God… He associated it with a fruitless, burning BUSH.

I think that that bush was a picture of exactly what we are learning here: that the works of the law, the very best good works of the flesh, do not produce good fruit.

The law produced only death. Paul calls it: “the ministration of death”. All the works of the law could give to people, was death.  It could not give eternal life… it could not make people perfect.

It produced NO PROFIT. Thus Hebrews says it was disannulled. And Paul says it was “done away” and “abolished”.

2 Corinthians 3:7-13  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones [that is not just the ceremonial law… that is the Ten Commandments!!!], was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:  8  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?  9  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.  10  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.  11  For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.  12  Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:  13  And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:

The law… the very ten commandments… are ABOLISHED in Christ.

Jesus didn’t come to abolish all the other laws, but leave men with just the ten commandments.

He abolished them ALL… the ten commandments included.

Jesus didn’t come to abolish all the other laws, but leave men with just two commandments.

He abolished the whole old law… including the two commandments that the whole law hangs on.

Just those two laws… are bondage! The ministration of death. The ministration of condemnation.

They don’t make anyone perfect, or give anyone life. They don’t make anyone righteous. They ONLY condemned men and gave them death. That is all that fleshly good works can produce: death!

So WHY? WHY… would the works of the law, which have been disannulled, abolished and done away, be required to be saved? Or, WHY would one’s doing of works in the flesh, which works are unprofitable, and produce ONLY condemnation and death, why would those DEAD WORKS, be proof of one’s eternal LIFE in the Spirit??? How are dead things, PROOF of LIFE?

Colossians 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

If a Christian is dead, and his life is hidden away in Christ, then why are you expecting the proof of his life, to be present in his DEAD FLESH, visible through his FLESH’s DEAD WORKS?

How is someone’s dead FLESH, proof of their eternal LIFE in Christ? How is dead flesh, working works that produce death, how is that proof of eternal life?

God made the first covenant OLD… and gave men eternal life by a New Covenant.

He did away with the Old, and brought in the New. Why?

You think God did that so that after they were given ETERNAL LIFE in the New Covenant, that men would then go back to the Old, now DEAD Covenant, and be better motivated and better able to do its works? The works of the law? The fleshly works that produce DEATH? And that is how we are supposed to know whether men are alive, in the New Covenant? By whether or not they do the dead works of the OLD Covenant?

WHY? HOW? How can you think that the Old Covenant matters anymore?

These two laws… love God, and love your neighbor… they ARE the law. They are the OLD covenant.

Just trying to keep just those two laws… IS the works of the law.

The works of the law are not true good works BECAUSE they …

Hebrews 10:1  …can never… make the comers thereunto perfect.

The works of the law… are an imperfect shadow of true good works. But now they have been done away. And the new law, is a law that makes people PERFECT, and gives them ENDLESS LIFE.

This is what Hebrews is teaching! That is the gospel that Hebrews teaches. It is not a different gospel!

Hebrews 9:1  Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.

They served the DIVINE… They served God, in the world. They loved God in their fleshly, worldly service.

Their motivation wasn’t the problem. Their ABILITY was the problem. They could not serve in truth, in the Spirit, in Christ. They could only serve in the flesh. And fleshly service is not TRUE service.

Hebrews 9:9-10  Which [the first covenant, the worldly temple, the sacrifices, the law, the works of the law, the loving, divine service of God in the law, the ten commandments, and the two commandments on which all the law hangs… it all…] was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;  10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

The old testament law, the moral law of “love your neighbor”, was only a figure of good things. It was TEMPORARY, and it stood only in carnal works. Worldly, fleshly, service!

The works of the law are not true good works because they can’t make those that do them PERFECT.

If you were able to do one TRUE good thing… one true good work… then you would be PERFECT. You would be just as righteous as Jesus Christ. And you would live forever! You would be DONE, and you would know that you NEVER had to do another good work again.

That is the gospel that Hebrews preaches! The New Covenant which makes men PERFECT.

Hebrews 7:11  If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

Because there was no FLESHLY law that could make men perfect and give them eternal life, Jesus came to do away with the Old Law, and give men a new, SPIRITUAL law.

Hebrews 7:16  Who is made [Jesus is made a Priest], not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

The Old Testament law is a law of CARNAL commandments. Love thy neighbor, feed the hungry, give to the poor. The New Testament law is completely different. It is not carnal. It is ETERNAL.

A true good work, under the New Law, is eternal and endless. The new law, the new covenant gives “an endless life” to those that obey it.

Now if you give to the poor on Earth… they don’t get an endless life, do they? And neither do you!

So if you are doing fleshly good works, then there is absolutely no way that you are doing the works of the New law. You are doing the works of the OLD law.

If you give to a poor man on earth… you both die! But, if you give to the poor, in spirit and in truth, you live forever, and that poor man lives forever too.

The works of the law are carnal commandments. Carnal commandments applicable in fleshly things. They are temporal and temporary. They can be seen. And are not eternal.

Fleshly good works. Fleshly laws. That is what the modern false Christians seek after… And that is what the Moses-following Jews sought after too. That is how they all establish their OWN righteousness; this is how they “prove” that they are righteous, prove that they are saved: by the same carnal works. Love your neighbor, serve the Lord, don’t do this, don’t touch that, don’t eat there, don’t drink that. Keep the sabbath. Stay in church. Turn from your sins. Don’t company with sinners. Keep yourself clean.

Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 5

Words are Fruit

We will just try to hit this quickly… Men are trees. Their mouths are trees, planted in their hearts, and their WORDS, which come out of their hearts, are their fruits.

Here is how Jesus said it:

Matthew 7:18-20  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

This is how we are supposed to judge men and know men: by their FRUITS.

Why did Jesus tell us to judge this way? Because this is how HE is going to judge men, to know whether each man is a tree of life or tree of death.

By whether they have FRUIT.. the FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Judging by fruit is the right way to judge men!

You say “Oh no, God isn’t going to judge men by fruits.” Oh, yes. He absolutely is!

Matthew 3:10  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Matthew 21:19  And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.

When Jesus comes back, when you stand before Him, if you have NO FRUIT, you are going to be “hewn down, and cast into the first”. You MUST have fruit.

And this is why the teachings of “works are fruit” and “works are proof of salvation” are so damnable!

Because good fruit is REQUIRED to be saved on Judgment Day.

So if you think works are fruit, then you believe that every Real Christian MUST have good works! You believe fleshly good works are a required part of salvation. You have defiled grace with FLESH and BLOOD… your own fleshly works!

Jesus is going to judge men BY THEIR FRUITS, which means, He will judge them BY THEIR WORDS. Here is where He explains just that:

Matthew 12:33-37 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.  34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.  36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

God is going to know men BY THIER FRUITS. He is going to judge men, justifying or condemning them, by their FRUITS… by their WORDS!

Luke 6:43-45  For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  44  For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.  45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

What comes out of your heart? Your fruit. How do you bring your fruit out of your heart? Your mouth SPEAKS WORDS. It doesn’t say “his flesh worketh”, it says, “his MOUTH SPEAKETH!

I’m going to show you more, but to me, these two passages prove that your words are your fruits, more clearly than any others.

If you don’t have good FRUIT, not good works, but good FRUIT – you will be cast into the fire.

Matthew 3:8-10  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: [the common interpretation here is what? – a changed life full of good works, right??? A repentant lifestyle!! “We just do good works now BECAUSE we are really saved. If we really believed, then that belief will produce a repentance life, full of good works!” But that isn’t what John was saying good FRUIT was at all. He was not teaching that works are fruit.. but rather that WORDS are fruit]  9  And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.  10  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Your THOUGHTS within your heart, are your fruit. Thinking, “We’re good! We obey. We keep the law.” This is evil fruit. And that is all the proof that Jesus will need to judge mankind. Their thoughts that they think within themselves… are their fruit.

So if your words are your fruit. And your words come out of your mouth, then that makes your mouth, your tongue…

Proverbs 15:4  A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.

And your tree produces your fruit.

Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Proverbs 18:20-21  A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.  21  Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

A man’s fruit are NOT his works. A man’s fruits are his WORDS.

Proverbs 3:13,18  Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. …  18  She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Wisdom… get pure salvation doctrine… is a tree of life. You need to get wisdom, believe it in your heart, and confess it out of your mouth.

You need to SPEAK the words of eternal life, that pure salvation doctrine, in a salvation prayer.

Romans 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

If your words are your fruit, and the words of the gospel are the fruits of a tree of life… then a salvation prayer is a man’s FIRST FRUITS. The first fruits which PROVE to God, spiritually, that he is a good tree.

I hear a lot of people today saying that the sinner’s prayer is not Biblical. Some of them say you have to keep working… but others say we are saved ONLY by believing, and that we don’t have to confess.

But unfortunately, if you believe only… but don’t confess. If you refuse to call upon God… then you will not be saved. You will not have your sins forgiven.

Your sins are not forgiven without FRUIT.

Isaiah 27:9  By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; …

Good fruit is required to obtain salvation. FRUIT is not just a result of salvation. FRUIT is a part of getting saved. You must produce good fruit. You MUST confess the words of eternal life. You MUST call on the Lord for salvation.

WORDS are FRUIT. This is SOOO important to understand. This is how we produce spiritual GOOD FRUIT!

This is how we ABIDE in Christ.

John 15:1-8  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.  2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.  [if you produce good fruit – the words of the gospel – ONE TIME – then you are PURGED CLEAN forever… now ABLE to produce more good fruit] 3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.  4  Abide in me, and I in you. …  7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you [and how is that known? By whether he has produced them as FRUIT], ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

No fruit, no salvation. Fruits are words… so no WORDS, no salvation.

You just have to hear His words… understand them, believe them, and produce them out of your mouth as FRUIT. Believe and confess the gospel one time. And if you do, then He KNOWS you have received them and they dwell in you. Then you are purged clean, and you remain in Him and He remains in you forever. That is the promise of eternal life.

We are saved by FRUIT, we are saved by WORDS.

Acts 11:14  Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

When you receive the gospel from the mouth of a preacher… that is receiving good fruit from a good tree. And when you partake of that fruit, you become a tree of life as well as that preacher is, also capable of producing good fruit, and capable of producing other trees of life with your fruit.

Your fruit, is now other people, other trees of life. Your “peaceable fruit of righteousness”, your words, your wisdom, that PURE salvation doctrine, when sown in other people: produces trees of life. It wins souls!

Proverbs 11:30  The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

If fleshly works were fruit, then every person who did a good work on the earth, and every person who received a good work on the earth, would be a tree of life… they would NEVER DIE. But that isn’t how it works is it? Because fleshly works are NOT true good works, and because works are NOT FRUIT.

This is how we know men… by their FRUITS… By their WORDS. By their wisdom. By their doctrine.

By whether they preach the true gospel, or they preach a perverted gospel, a gospel perverted with works; which cannot give eternal life, because it is not ONLY pure, ONLY spiritual, but it is partial. It is part spiritual, and part FLESHLY. It is part grace, and part works.

Matthew 15:18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

I hear it all the time… “how dare you judge me, you don’t know if I’m saved! You don’t know me, and my heart, and my life.”

Well yeah, I do… I do I know you… I know you by your FRUIT… I know you by your WORDS. That IS how I know what is in your heart.

False gospels… That is what defiles men. That is why they get cut off from grace.

When they receive them, and believe them, and preach them… that is a recipe for getting cut off, with the impossibility of salvation.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone who has believed and preached a gospel of works IS cut off. But if someone is preaching a false gospel and they aren’t cut off yet, they are dangerously close to it! They need to receive chastening and GET AWAY from the accursed thing.

We’ll get into being “cut off” a bit more later.

Fail of grace

So let’s move down within Hebrews 12…

Hebrews 12:15-17  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;  16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.  17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

I believe to “fail” of something means either you don’t have any of it, or it means you have it, but you can’t use it; you possess it in vain, because it does not profit you.

Just a couple verses to demonstrate that:

Isaiah 31:3  Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

Psalms 12:1  Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

Isaiah 15:6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.

So for someone to fail can mean that they perish or they die, as above…

Or, to fail can mean something becomes unprofitable. That it produces no FRUIT! as below…

Job 19:13-14 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.  14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

Someone who fails is unprofitable… they cannot bring forth FRUIT, they can’t produce LIFE.

Job 21:10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

To fail is to not bring forth fruit.

Habakkuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; …

1 Kings 17:14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

If someone fails… they cannot bring forth fruit, life, food, sustenance. They may not be totally dead… but they are EFFECTIVELY dead… they do whatever they do, they have whatever they have, IN VAIN.

If you spiritually FAIL… then you can’t bring forth eternal LIFE!

Now that is the word “fail” in general. But more specifically, to interpret our passage…

Hebrews 12:15-17  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God

“Fail* of” is only in the Bible 4 other times. But this is the only other time that the phrase “fail* of” is used to apply to a SUBSTANCE like grace. This is our most direct cross reference.

Psalms 109:24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

Your body is going to fail of fatness if it does not eat (carnal) food, right?

Likewise, your spirit is going to fail of grace, if it does not eat spiritual food.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”

John 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

If you don’t eat Christ, you have no life in you. If you do not drink Jesus, you have no grace in you.

If you eat no food, you will fail of fatness. Likewise, if you eat no Jesus, you will fail of grace.

If you fail of grace… then you never drank Jesus Christ. Because if you drank Him one time before, you would never fail of spiritual water.

John 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Isaiah 58:11 … and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Living water, once received, does not fail. You cannot fail of grace if you ever once received it.

John 7:38-39  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  39  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: …

The Spirit is living water. So you only have to receive the Spirit one time, because Spirit does not fail. You know what does fail? FLESH fails!

Did you notice that in our most direct cross reference for the phrase “fail* of” In Hebrews 12…

Psalms 109:24 … my flesh faileth of fatness.

If you fail of grace, then you received NO GRACE, because you mixed FLESH into grace. FLESH is what failed. Flesh is the reason that you failed of grace.

If you fail… then you are FLESH. You are not SPIRIT!

Isaiah 31:3  Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

Flesh fails. Spirit, born of the Spirit, does not fail.

If you fail of grace, then you never received grace. You were never a living spirit. You were flesh. You were never born again. You never ate and drank Jesus. You never believed on Him.

You were not saved.

Hebrews does NOT teach a different gospel and it does not teach that Christians can lose their salvation.

If you fail of grace… you could have “received grace IN VAIN”.

2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

How does someone do that?

Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

If you don’t understand it then you can’t believe it. And if you don’t believe it, then it does not PROFIT you. You receive it IN VAIN.

If someone fails of grace… is it because they did not understand and believe grace.

When you take grace, but mix it with fleshly works, you get NO GRACE. You FAIL of grace.

Someone who has failed, has not produced FRUIT.

Habakkuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; …

No FRUIT… no salvation. No fruit… you fail!

Jude 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

Peter talks about the same people…

2 Peter 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

Who are these people that are without fruit and without water? Who are these that have not eaten spiritual food, and have not drunk spiritual drink, and thus they FAIL of spiritual fatness and their spiritual waters FAIL?

2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

They come in privily… they are subtle. Their doctrine is subtle. But they teach heresy. Lies. They teach fleshly works. Fleshly things that DRY UP. Fleshly works that FAIL. FLESH is what fails.

Isaiah 58:11 … and thou shalt be like … a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Jeremiah 15:18 … wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

The only way to know them… is by their waters… by their FRUIT… Their WORDS.

We know false prophets not by their works… but by their doctrine. By their LIES!

They teach… you just have to give your life to Jesus. You have to turn from your sins.

They teach, you’re saved by grace… but you are only really saved if you are getting better, getting transformed, getting sanctified, in the flesh, in this life. You are only really saved if you are TRYING to be better, if you TRY to live cleaner.

This puts men in bondage, and in fear. They have to keep working, in the flesh, or else they aren’t really going to be saved. They have no assurance of salvation, because at any time their flesh could mess it up, or turn away, and they’d find out that they were never REALLY saved.

They teach fleshly works matter. Their salvation depends on FLESH. And flesh FAILS!

Their waters are not assured… their waters CAN FAIL!

If you fail of grace… you are effectively dead. There is nothing else to do, but to cut you off (from eternal life).

Joshua 3:16 That the waters which … came down toward the sea … failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

This is why the message of Hebrews is “BEWARE”!

Hebrews 12:15-17  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God;

If you refuse to rest in grace alone, if you add in fleshly works… you are going to fail of grace. You are going to be cut off, with have the impossibility of salvation!

God sent grace to Israel. As a nation they were given grace.

As individuals, they failed of grace if they refused to receive that grace.

And in short order, the whole nation was counted in unbelief, and cut off from grace. Not as individuals, but as a people.

The works of the law

Why did Israel fail of grace? Paul explains exactly why they were cut off from grace. Because of their WORKS!

Romans 9:31-32  But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.  32  Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

I’ll tell you… I’ve never met a single person that believes in works, that admits any condemnation by these types of passages. They just refuse to believe that this is applicable to them, or condemns them.

“Oh that is just about the law of Moses! That law is obsolete but there is a new law now. We don’t follow those Old laws. There are new commandments now in the New Testament. There are New Testament laws to follow!”

So many today teach this – that the OT law of Moses is no longer applicable, BUT that Jesus gave us a new set of laws in the New Testament. They might even try to call it “the law of Christ” or “the law of righteousness”.

But when you ask them what those new laws are… you find out… that they are teaching the same OLD law! The works of their “new law” are the same works as the works of the old law – Moses’ law!!!

The works of their “new law”, just like the works of the law of Moses, are just FLESHLY good works!

So yes, if you are working to keep a new testament set of laws, then you ARE, just like Israel, seeking righteousness “by the works of the law”… because

fleshly good works ARE the works of the law!

And I really hate this nonsense that Jesus only took away the “sacrificial laws” and “the ceremonial laws”, but not the “moral laws”. Nonsense! Why do I say this is nonsense?

Because the works that they call the works of the New Testament law… those “new commandments” are the SAME WORKS as the works of the Old Testament. They are the SAME THINGS contained in the OT law of Moses! They are carnal laws, which are applicable in carnal things. They are laws that are applicable in the FLESH, through FLESHLY works.

When you ask what these “new laws” in the New Testament are… like, when you get down to, “what do I have to do?”… “what are the works?”… what you get is… “love your neighbor”, “serve the Lord, love God”.

Are you kidding me? That IS the law of Moses. That IS the OLD law!!!

How do they not realize that these works, in the flesh, are (the same thing as) the works of the law?

Jesus explained that right in the very passage that they take these two “new laws” from. I mean… can they not READ it???

Matthew 22:36-40  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  38  This is the first and great commandment.  39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Jesus wasn’t giving anyone a new law here. This wasn’t anything new… this was the same old law of Moses.  Jesus was just summarizing the whole law in these two commandments.

• Love God
• Love your neighbor

You can take the whole law of Moses and summarize it with just these two commandments.

These two commandments did not replace the law. They are IN the law. They always were IN the law. They are not new, or from another place. They are not heavenly laws. Jesus didn’t bring these two laws down from Heaven as a new law. They were already here on Earth, IN the law of Moses. All the law hangs on these two commandments. These two commandments ARE the law.

These two good works… ARE the WORKS of the law. They are IN the law, and all the law is IN THEM.

Galatians 5:14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Loving your neighbor, after the flesh, isn’t a new law at all. It’s the old law.

All the law is fulfilled in one word: LOVE. If you are trying to LOVE your neighbor, you are trying to fulfill the law!

Romans 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

All the law hangs on those two commandments. All of the “moral law” or whatever they want to call it… its all the same two commandments. The OLD law of fleshly commandments.

I AM HERE – 6

James calls it “the royal law”.

James 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 4

To receive chastening, you need to judge RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT.

To repent of works, is to JUDGE righteous, binary judgment. That is receiving chastisement.

1 Corinthians 11:31-32  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

To judge men according to fleshly works is not righteous judgment.

John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

You need to judge yourself, judge mankind, judge the church… NOT looking at the things that are seen (the appearance), but at the things which are NOT SEEN.

To judge spiritually by WORDS, instead of judging by fleshly WORKS, is righteous judgment.

To receive chastisement, you need to understand that salvation has nothing to do with fleshly works, and that works are not required for salvation, or required after salvation as a result of, or evidence of, or proof of salvation. You need to stop yourself, and judging men’s salvation by fleshly works.

You need to change your mind from judging by fleshly works, to judging only by WORDS.

Because that is how we will be judged.

Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

You will be judged by whether or not your words are HIS words. You will be judged by whether you UNDERSTOOD and RECEIVED His words… His gospel. Whether you believed the WORDS, of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You need to change your mind from judging by what can be seen, to judging only by Jesus Christ. Because that is how we will be judged.

Acts 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; …

You are either just as righteous as Jesus Christ, or you are UNRIGHTEOUS. If you are not as perfect as Jesus Christ, if you are not 100% incapable of sin, just like Him, you are not going to be justified.

That is how we need to judge ourselves. That is righteous judgment. That is receiving chastisement.

1 John 5:12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

You either have Jesus Christ, and your works don’t matter, or you do not have Jesus Christ and your works don’t matter. Saved or lost… fleshly works don’t matter!

To think that they matter is wrong judgment! To think that they matter is to have NOT received chastisement, and to not have received Jesus Christ.

Now I believe that just like Hebrews provides the chastening of Israel, that they might hear and repent, and believe, and get saved, Romans 11 shows that that same opportunity to hear and repent, and that same chastening… is now sent to the Gentiles.

Romans 11:11  I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

And so these warnings, these chastisements, now have come on the Gentiles.

God is now speaking to the Gentiles “as unto sons”, for as long as they, as a people, receive chastisement. As long as they believe… as long as they continue to ACCESS Christ, ACCESS grace, BY FAITH!

Romans 11:20-22  … because of unbelief they were broken off … take heed lest he also spare not thee.  … otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

God refused Israel and gave the chastisement and the opportunity to become sons of God in truth, by faith, to the Gentiles.  Now spiritually, the Gentiles are now offered the same spiritual chastisement.

But, you might think that all this presents a problem… Why? Because He says…

Hebrews 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

If God chastens all those that He loves, and if preaching and rebuke via the gospel is chastening, and God is preaching the gospel to unsaved people today, through the Bible and through the Church, does this mean that God actively loves the Gentiles? Does it mean He loves the whole world? Does it mean He loves lost people? The answer is NO!

Here is what you need to understand: The Lord chastens all that He loves. But the Lord does not ONLY chasten His sons, and the Lord does not only chasten those that He loves. Just because God chastens someone, it does not mean that they are loved or that they are a son. That is the negative (the reverse) of what it says.

You’ll never find a place in Bible that says God loveS unsaved people.

And Hebrews 12:6 is not proof for that lie either. It says… “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth”

It does NOT say “whom the Lord chasteneth he loveth”.

It does NOT say that He loves every person that He chastens. It ONLY says that the Lord chastens every person that He loves.

It does not say that every person that he scourgeth, he receiveth as a son. It ONLY says those that he receiveth, he scourgeth.

Hebrews 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

It says that if you HAVE no chastisement, then you are a bastard and NOT a son.

But it does not say that if God chastises you, that you ARE a son. You can’t ASSUME the negative!

It says that EVERY SON receives chastisement. It says that if you RECEIVE/ENDURE chastisement that God counts you as a son. That God loves you.

You’re not son just because God chastens you… but you are a son if you RECEIVE it.

Proverbs 3:12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth …

Revelation 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Just like Hebrews 12:6, these do not say God loves everyone that He chastises.

It only says God chastises everyone that He loves.

You can’t assume the negative of that statement. You can’t assume that God loves all the Hebrews or all the Gentiles. They have to RECEIVE the chastening. They have to REPENT at the chastening!

The Bible does not say that God ONLY ever chastises His sons. See, God chastens people He hates too!

Psalms 94:10  He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?

Who are “the heathen”? Appears 148 times. They are the Gentiles, the nations… and also the heathen are simply called “the wicked”.

Psalms 9:5  Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

Psalms 59:5  Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.

And the heathen, the wicked, God does NOT love. He hates them.

Psalms 11:5  The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

–

A man in his unsaved state, especially a Gentile, a heathen, is not loved. He is hated.

But even in his unsaved heathen state, he is preached to, and he is chastened with words, so that he might believe and be saved, and BECOME loved of God.

Galatians 1:16  To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; …

The Bible does not say that God loves the heathen. But it does say he chastises them, and preaches to them, so that they might get saved. And those that repent, He adopts them, and loves them, and deals with them as with sons. We can become His sons, through faith.

Galatians 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

In our unsaved state, as hated heathen, He chastises us and justifies us, and makes us to be His sons, through faith.

The Lord chastens, not ONLY his sons, but lost people too – He chastens them, to try to get them to hear and get saved.

Job 33:14  For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. … 18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.  19  He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:  …  22  Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.  23  If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:  24  Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. … 29  Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,  30  To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.

God OFTENTIMES chastens lost people to try to get them to hear and get saved. He sends them a messenger to preach to them GRACE. He speaks to them, once, maybe twice. But if they refuse, they are left alone. They are not loved simply because they WERE chastened once or twice in the past.

But Israel is different than the Gentiles. Israel’s default state was to be loved of God.

Hosea 9:10-16  I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: …  15  All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.  16  Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.

Israel was chastened because they WERE loved. They deserved chastening, because it was theirs by birth. The Gentiles are now chastened out of mercy, because of Israel’s rebellion.

This is the uniqueness of the children of God, after the flesh. This is the uniqueness of the bastard.

He was given chastisement out of necessity. He was spoken to AS a son, he was chastened AS a son, but he rebelled. And so he is loved no more, he gets no more chastisement, he is dealt with as a bastard… he is cut off. He is hated.

God LOVED Israel, past tense, when He chose them, and gave them the covenants to inherit.

But when they reject it, and won’t receive it, they are loved NO MORE. They are cursed.

So not everyone who has been chastised is loved. But everyone who is loved is chastened.

The Gentiles have been graffed into the New Covenant, so there is SOME application of their situation and their spiritual things to the Gentiles. But you need to be careful, to not apply everything that you find in the book of Hebrews, to the Gentiles. It doesn’t all apply.

The Gentiles have now been given the same chastisement, the same treatment, the same opportunity to repent and be adopted… to become true SPIRITUAL sons of God.

Galatians 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

God can chastise unsaved people. It doesn’t mean He loves them, or that they ARE saved… at least not yet. They have to RECEIVE, ENDURE, that chastisement to become sons, to be received as sons, and to be dealt with as sons.

Hebrews 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Israel, as the son of God by a bondmaid, was given chastisement as a son. But because Israel rejected that chastisement… Israel’s was cut off, and their chastisement was taken away from them. They are now being treated as bastards, and not as sons.

You have to receive the adoption of sons. Then God will love you, and deal with you as with a son.

Truthfully, only those that get saved ARE LOVED of God.

Romans 9:24-26  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?  25  As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.  26  And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

Who are the children of God, who are the actively, presently, beloved? Not the Jews. Not the Gentiles.

Those that are called and come out “OF the Jews” and out “of the Gentiles”. Those are his people.

God does not actively love all Jews or all Gentiles. He loves His children. He loves those that get saved.

Romans 11:28  As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

Hebrews 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

It doesn’t say “if God ever chastened you, even once, then you are a son”. Lost people have been chastened. It doesn’t make them sons.

It also doesn’t say, “if God never chastened you, ever, even once, ONLY THEN are ye bastards”. You can have been chastened in the past, and yet be a bastard today.

It says “if ye BE without chastisement”. If ye BE. Not if ye WERE. If you actively, currently, ARE… WITHOUT chastisement. If you don’t have it today. If you never received it. If it was taken away from you, because you would not receive it. If you are WITHOUT it… outside of it… then, you are a bastard, and not a son.

This chastisement was given to Israel. As a nation. As a people.

The very book of Hebrews was a chastening. Likely their last chance.

And when they refused it, God took it away… and chastisement, and repentance, was granted to the Gentiles.

Acts 28:28  Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

Acts 11:18  When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

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Hebrews 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

That is written to Jews. They were spoken to AS unto children, they were chastened AS children.

But the individuals, have to REPENT, in order to be adopted. To truly be children, and truly be loved of God.

Those that refuse it, they are not counted as sons, but as bastards. They are not beloved.

In Revelation chapters 2 & 3, Jesus is speaking to churches. Not to individuals, but to people groups. He is rebuking, chastening the churches because of the false doctrines and spiritual wickedness that they were allowing into them. And He says…

Revelation 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

This was written to a church. Not to the Church. Not only to saved people. And not only to lost people.

But to a local church, in which there were some saved people and some lost people.

This church had a candlestick. It was a candlestick. This church as a people was graffed into Christ. BUT… not everyone who was in that church was in Christ. There were false teachers and false doctrine in that church, for which they were being chastened… from which they were being warned to repent… as a church… as a people. And if they refused.. what would happen to them?

Revelation 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

If they did not repent… if they would not remove the false doctrines from them, and/or remove themselves from the false doctrine, then their candlestick would be removed.

What does that mean? Well the candlestick was a church.

Revelation 1:20  … the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

And those churches were at the feet of Jesus… Jesus was in the midst of them.

Revelation 1:12-13  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;  13  And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

They were surrounding Him, near Him. I think we could say graffed into Him, abiding in Him.

These are NOT individuals, they are churches. They are groups of people. God either continues to love them and chastise them, because they believe, or He casts them away as rejected and cursed for their unbelief.

If a church which was formerly preaching the true gospel of grace (that is, a church that had a lit candle.. it had light – it had the gospel) is infiltrated by false prophets and that church begins to believe and preach false gospels… and if when they are rebuked, chastened, with words, being told to repent… as in Hebrews, and as in Revelation 2 and 3… if they refuse, then Jesus will remove them away from their place. He will cut off that church, that group of people, in unbelief so that they have no more access to Jesus Christ.

And that is what happened to all of those 7 churches in Revelation. Those churches are not there anymore. There are no Bible believing, gospel preaching churches there, in what is now all Muslim cities.

Those candlesticks have been removed. Cut off from their place.

That is what He did to those seven churches, and that is what He did to Israel.

Romans 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

The Jews didn’t ALL not believe. A small remnant did believe. Nevertheless, they were all, as a people group, counted in unbelief, and cut off in unbelief. Because enough of them refused the chastisement of God. They refused to repent at His words, at His rebuke.

And maybe, it was only one person. One false prophet. One person who defiled many others… who they refused to put out, in order to save the church.

This is how God deals with GROUPS OF PEOPLE. He rebukes them, He chastises them with words… and if they, as a group, won’t hear, and separate themselves from the iniquity, then He cuts off ALL the people.

Joshua 22:20  Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.

What is “the accursed thing” in the New Testament? It is false gospels and false teachers!

Galatians 1:6-8  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:  7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.  8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Unless the people removed that accursed thing (that false gospel) from among them, or they all removed themselves from those that were accused, they were ALL going to be cut off.

Numbers 16:22-24  And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?  23  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  24  Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

He chastises all the people, and commands them to GET AWAY from the accursed.

In the OT it was, separate yourselves from the uncleanness of man or you will be cut off and die physically.

In the NT is it, separate yourself from unbelievers, from false teachers, or you will be cut off and die spiritually.

2 Corinthians 6:14,17  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?  15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?  16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,  18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

You have to get away from the unclean thing… from unbelievers… from false doctrine.

If you have unbelievers in your church.. put them out! If you have people who believe and teach false gospels in your church… put them out!

If you are in a church with UNBELEIVERS… Get out! If your church is not WHOLLY preaching the true gospel… get out, and get away! That church is either cut off… it is going to be cut off soon.

You need to get away, and separate yourself from those that preach false gospels, so that you and your children, are not cut off when God cuts THEM off.

You need to COME OUT from those that preach fleshly things; fleshly good works. Unclean things.

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How do you separate yourself SPIRITUALLY, and not touch the “unclean thing” spiritually?

You repent of FLESH, of fleshly works, of your own righteousness.

Isaiah 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

You have to receive this chastisement… you have to repent of works… in order to get saved, and not be cut off with unbelievers.

To be clear, I am not saying that a saved person can get cut off and lose their salvation.

They may be cut off in some way that their understanding is taken away and now, in this life they are unable to find truth and understand it. But even if that can happen, it is only in the flesh. Their spirit is abiding in Christ. It has peace with God. There is no condemnation to it. They have already received chastisement spiritually, and produced good fruit. Their spirits cannot be cut off from the Spirit.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Ultimately, we receive chastisement by receiving Jesus. Receiving every part of chastisement (the spiritual rebuke and any and all the spiritual and fleshly punishment) is all accomplished the moment that we get saved.

Jesus told Thomas, “behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side:”

Paul talked about “the marks of the Lord Jesus”.

The chastisement of our peace is in HIS body. We need to go into Christ. To go into rest, into grace, by faith.

When we receive Jesus, we receive chastisement.

When we get saved, we receive the chastisement which was upon Christ, and we obtain peace with God.

We don’t have to get chastened in the flesh to become sons of God. Physical punishment does not make anyone a child of God. Only DYING and being BORN again makes one a child of God.

Our chastisement was on Him. We just need to receive it, in Him.

When we go into Him, and access Him by faith… into Christ, into rest, into grace, then our chastisement is complete… our peace with God is set.

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:  2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Once we have gone into grace, we have PEACE with God. Our chastisement is over. We don’t have to receive it again and again continually to remain a Christian.

Fleshly things are not eternal. They don’t last. So they must be done DAILY.

But spiritual things last forever. So they only need to be done ONCE.

Hebrews 10:10-12  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  11  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:  12  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Hebrews 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Carnal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins had to be done DAILY.

But a spiritual sacrifice only needs to be done ONCE.

You have to eat worldly food and drink worldly water over and over. DAILY. If you don’t you’ll die.

But you don’t have to eat spiritual food DAILY. You just have to eat Jesus ONCE.

You don’t have to drink spiritual water DAILY. You just need to drink the gospel ONCE.

You don’t need to bring forth spiritual fruit DAILY. You just have to bring it forth ONCE.

You can, and you should do it daily! But you don’t have to! You just have to do it ONCE. And it lasts forever!

You need to repent unto salvation. But you don’t need to repent daily… you only need to repent ONCE.

You need to die with Christ. And be born again in Heaven. But only ONCE.

You don’t need to die daily. You can. You SHOULD. Paul said that he did. But you only HAVE TO die ONCE.

True spiritual things are eternal. They don’t need to be done MORE THAN ONCE!

The same is true of chastisement.

We MUST receive chastening… but only ONCE. We don’t have to continually receive more and more chastisement throughout our lives. We just have to receive it once.

Fleshly chastisement needs to be given over and over. If you don’t, your son will NOT OBEY.

But spiritual chastisement only needs to be received ONCE. If God does it once, and a son receives it once, they never NEED it again. They will never disobey. They “cannot sin”!

Christians have already received chastening, one time, in Christ, and are now at peace with God. No more chastisement is required.

Hebrews isn’t preaching fleshly works and fleshly chastisement. It is teaching SPIRITUAL things. It is teaching our gospel! The gospel of grace.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Hebrews 12:11 is the only other verse in the Bible with chast* and peac*.

Hebrews 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

This direct link proves that the passage in Hebrews 12 about receiving chastisement, is NOT about God trying to get people to obey the law, or trying to get them to live a cleaner life and sin less. Not at all!

It is about receiving salvation. Repenting of works and receiving Jesus. This is how we receive the CHASTENING that yields PEACE!

Hebrews… is not preaching another gospel. It is preaching our gospel!

If you have repented of works, believed on Jesus, and confessed the gospel of Christ unto salvation, then you have received chastening, and produced “the peaceable fruit of righteousness”.

Receiving this rebuke, this chastisement in Hebrews, yields the peaceable FRUIT of righteousness!

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What is “the peaceable fruit of righteousness”?

Well, here is the only instance of “peace” and “fruit of righteousness” in the same verse in the whole Bible, and it is the only other instance of “fruit of righteousness” in the NT:

James 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

The fruit of righteousness makes peace. Makes peace between God and men.

What is this peaceable fruit of righteousness? Well if you are familiar with James 3, you can probably guess.

James 3:10-18 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.  11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?  12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.  …  14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.  15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.  16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.  17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.  18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Your fruit is what comes out of your mouth… your fruits are your WORDS!

The fruit of righteousness is pure salvation doctrine. It is righteous judgment. Perfect and binary. No partiality! It is heavenly WISDOM that gives eternal life to those that receive it.

To preach the gospel out of your mouth, is to SOW the peaceable fruit of righteousness, whereby we MAKE PEACE, between God and men.

The fruit of righteousness is NOT man’s earthly good works. It is not earthly love. It is not the joy and peace and longsuffering of MANKIND on Earth. It is heavenly doctrine, spiritual wisdom, the WORDS of eternal life.

A man’s fruit is not His WORKS. Nor is it his attitudes, or his feelings, or emotions, or desires.

A man’s fruit is his wisdom: his counsels, his doctrine, his beliefs, his WORDS in his heart.

Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 3

Jesus came “in the likeness of sinful flesh”. He had flesh. But he was not born after the flesh. He was not “of the flesh”. He was not fleshly and earthy. He was not natural. He was spiritual.

1 Corinthians 15:44-50  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.  46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.  47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.  48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.  49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.  50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Salvation is not in your flesh. The New Covenant is not in your flesh.

If you are saved, you are not earthy, you are heavenly. You are not flesh: you are spirit.

Jesus said, that which is born of the Spirit, IS spirit.

Well your flesh isn’t spirit. So your FLESH isn’t saved. Not at all. No matter how you transform it… it is fleshly, it is earthy. Made of earth… made of dust.

The part of a Christian that is saved is not made of flesh. It is his SPIRIT that is saved. A saved man IS spirit. I believe he has a “spiritual body”. Not on Earth, but up in heaven, in Christ. A perfect body which does not die and fall on corruption. It is incorruptible. And it does NOT SIN at all! So it CANNOT be cut off. There IS NO “unpardonable sin” for a saved person. Because a saved person, spiritually, CANNOT sin.

But there IS an unpardonable sin, for which one is cut off FROM the New Covenant, which IS possible to sin, if one is NOT yet IN the New Covenant. If one is not yet saved, not yet born again as a SPIRIT, in heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Salvation does not apply to your flesh. If it did, you would not be fleshly/earthy. You would not have flesh that gets hurt, and gets sick and dies. You would not sin.

You would not be “getting better”. You would be perfect.

You would be a new SPIRITUAL creature.

This New Covenant is completely different than the Old. The New is spiritual, the Old was NATURAL. The new things are not the same old earthly things (but now we are better at them).

But there are parallels, because the Old is a SHADOW of the New. So we can learn a lot about the New from the patterns and figures of the Old.

If you did WORK on the sabbath, you were CUT OFF (Exo 31:14) from the Old Testament.

If you refuse to rest, but continue to WORK, you are cut off from the New Testament.

There were many sins worthy of death in the flesh in the Old Testament: the natural fleshly covenant.

But there is only one reason for getting cut off from the New Testament: the spiritual, eternal, heavenly covenant.

There is only one reason that men are cut off from becoming new creatures, in the New Covenant.

There is only one sin worthy of assured eternal, spiritual death in the New Testament:  That is, the spiritual sin of rejecting and/or corrupting the gospel of grace. Refusing to rest, but continuing to WORK.

We are not cut off from New Testament salvation for the same fleshly sins that the Israelites were cut off for under the Old Testament.

But people today CAN be cut off from the spiritual New Covenant, after a pattern of how they were cut off from the fleshly Old Covenant.

And we see that right here in our problem text:

Hebrews 10:28-29 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:  29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

There is a parallel, but the New Covenant is much greater. And getting cut off from the New Covenant is much worse.

To reject the Old Covenant of the law of Moses (by unbelief) was to get one cut off, in the flesh.

Today, to reject the New Covenant of the grace of Jesus Christ (by unbelief), gets one cut off, SPIRITUALLY. Not reserved unto the first death, but reserve unto the second death… the death of your soul and spirit.

This was primarily about Israel, nationally. Israel being cut off as a nation. But it has application to the individual. Individuals today can get cut off from the New Covenant. How? By despising and rejecting that New Covenant. Not already saved people, but unsaved people can get cut off… cut off from GETTING saved. Cut off from going into, and taking part of, that New Covenant.

Under the law of Moses, those that did things worthy of being cut off – they were supposed to be put to death. And if the judges of Israel did not put them to death, then God’s wrath would build up and He would cut off both the evil doers AND many others too.

Leviticus 20:1-6 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.  3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.  4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:  5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.  6 And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

Why? Why is it so important for God to cut people off?

Because if God does not cut off those that defile His holy things, and His holy people, then all those that defile themselves, will defile OTHERS. Others will learn to do what they do, and believe what they believe. It allows in an accursed thing!

Joshua 7:10-12  And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?  11  Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.  12  Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

One man sinned, and the whole people were counted accursed. This is why God CUTS OFF the branches that don’t DRINK of the VINE: the hearers that don’t believe, but REJECT the word, and “give their seed unto Molech”; unto Satan. Otherwise… they cause others to be cursed and cut off as well.

“One sinner destroyeth much good.” God can’t let sinners into His body. So they can be graffed in, as all Gentiles were, but if they refuse to be made new creatures, they have to be cut off as sinners.

Those things were written, and those things happened unto them.. for our learning. But in learning these things, we need to not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. The spiritual things.

This New Covenant, this spiritual commandment, which gives eternal life by the gospel of grace, it was first sent to the nation of Israel.

Acts 13:26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.

Acts 3:25  Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.  26  Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

The New covenant preached in Hebrews… it is the same covenant that we partake of today.

It is the same gospel… it was just sent to the Jews first!

And when that gospel was first preached to the Jews.. it came along with a warning! Paul said this… to Jews, in a Jewish synagogue:

Acts 13:38-41 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:  39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.  40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;  41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

Paul preached it that way, and Peter preached it the same way!

Acts 3:22-23  For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.  23  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

And when Israel rejected it, it was instead sent to the Gentiles.

Acts 13:45-46  But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.  46  Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

This is what you are dealing with in Hebrews. The Hebrews were being introduced to the true spiritual things, the heavenly things of the New Covenant, after having only ever known the carnal things, the fleshly things of the Old Covenant.

The Jews are being warned, as it was prophesied by Moses, that if they turn away from this new doctrine of Jesus Christ, away from the gospel of grace through faith, if they reject it… that they will be CUT OFF, with no hope of salvation. But… it is the SAME GOSPEL! Peter preached it. Paul preached it. All the apostles preached it. It’s the same gospel! The Jews simply got it first. They did not get a different gospel. They got the same one that we have today. But it was sent to them first! This is the gospel that you will find in Hebrews.

This book is called Hebrews, and it was written to the Jews.

I don’t know for sure WHEN it was written, or WHO wrote it. Nobody does.

But I know one thing: it was written to Jews, to Hebrews, that they might receive Christ by faith, and it was written, not only as instruction, but as a WARNING to not reject grace, and thus be CUT OFF… like they inevitably were.

That is what these difficult passage are about. Unbelievers being cut off. Not about Christians losing salvation. Not about working for salvation.

They are about the impossibility of being saved. The impossibility of salvation.

Hebrews 6:4-6 … it is impossible … to renew them again unto repentance…

Hebrews 10:26 … there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, …

If someone, an individual, or some group of people, gets cut off for refusing the gospel of grace, afterward… it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to get saved.

The Gospel of Hebrews: The Same Gospel

In order to understand these passages in Chapters 6 & 10, I actually think it is best to start near the end of the book of Hebrews, in chapter 12.

There is a very important picture that Hebrews 12 paints, that helps us understand Israel’s situation and opportunity as described in the book of Hebrews. And as we work our way to that, along the way, you will see that Hebrews is not preaching a different gospel. It is teaching the same gospel that we preach. The gospel of GRACE!

Hebrews 12:5-6  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:  6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

In the book of Hebrews, God is giving something to Israel, something that is theirs by inheritance. Something that is not easy to receive, but if they do receive it, they profit from the Father… they get saved. They get BORN OF GOD!

What is He giving them? He is giving them CHASTISEMENT, “as unto children”.

Chastening

Remember: Hebrews is written to the nation of Israel. Not to individuals. There is some application, but you can’t take everything in it and apply it to individuals.

It is the same gospel, it is the same New Covenant… But it was written to Israel. You cannot take everything in it, especially the fleshly things, and apply them to the Gentiles. Because the Gentiles are never called sons of God. But… Israel after the flesh, is called a son of God.

Exodus 4:22  And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

So God often has treated Israel LIKE a son, by chastening him.

Yet still, Israel after the flesh is not a TRUE son of God… he is not a son by promise, but a son only by the flesh.

Romans 9:7-8  Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.  8  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

There are two types of a son of God. Israel is the first type. The natural, fleshly type.

Galatians 4:22-30  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.  23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. … 28  Now we, brethren, [Christians – saved people] as Isaac was, are the children of promise.  29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.  30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

Abraham had two sons. Ishmael and Isaac. Likewise God had two sons… Adam and Christ. Israel after the flesh… and Israel after the Spirit – the Church. Israel after the flesh is not a true son of God. But Christians are the true sons of God.

Israel after the flesh, to whom the book of Hebrews was written, is the older, fleshly son.

1 Corinthians 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Israel is not a son after the Spirit, by promise, but only by the flesh… thus… I believe, Israel is essentially a bastard.

God tried to treat Israel as a son, but they have never truly received chastisement and obeyed the voice of God. Never in the Old Testament were they obedient or pleasing to God. They never received chastisement. Thus they were CAST OUT with the bondwoman.

Before anyone gets any ideas and thinks I’m wrong to say Israel never obeyed God…

Jeremiah 32:30  For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.

Romans 10:21  But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

So while God attempts to deal with Israel as a son, by chastening him… Israel has always refused to receive chastisement.

So… God created His own Son… His own race of sons, who do, who have, obeyed. Who have received chastisement.

While Israel (after the flesh) is cast out, being treated as a bastard.

But God gave Israel a chance… God first chastised them, as sons.

And Israel first, was told to “endure chastening”, in order to become TRUE SONS of God.

Hebrews 12:7-11  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all [all sons] are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?  10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

God chastens… but if you will not endure it, you are not a son. But if you receive it, endure it, you profit. You partake of his holiness. You get eternal life.

But this chastisement in Hebrews is not physical punishment. It is not fleshly… it is not so that you will try harder to putting away your sins and obey more often… This chastisement is not fleshly, but spiritual.

We had fathers of our flesh that chastened us after the flesh. But this chastening is Hebrews is different. It is from the Father of spirits!

If God is going to be the Father of someone’s SPIRIT, that person needs to receive spiritual chastisement. This spiritual chastisement that is in Hebrews, and which Hebrews IS, was given to Israel FIRST.

Israel (not the Gentiles) is being spoken to, AS UNTO children, to try to get them to receive chastening.

Hebrews 12:5-6  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

They, ISRAEL, are not full, true children of God, but because they are FLESHLY children of God… and because salvation was first sent to Israel, God speaks to them “as unto children”, for them to receive chastening, which all sons must receive, so they can BECOME the true SPIRITUAL children of God.

Whatever chastening God gives to the Gentiles, it was first sent to, and rejected by, the Jews.

Now, what is this chastening?

I believe spiritual chastening is preaching. The chastisement is in the WORDS being spoken. The words being preached. The very words of the book of Hebrews itself.

The Lord, the Father of spirits, chastens and rebukes His children with His words.

Hebrews 12:5  … My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

That is actually a direct quote of this OT passage:

Proverbs 3:11  My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

Spiritually, His correction is given by rebukes. By words.

Correction is given to sons by a ROD.

Proverbs 22:15  Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

And just like the fathers of our flesh chasten with a carnal rod, those spiritual chastisements are given with a spiritual ROD.

The spiritual rod of correction… is in the mouth of the Lord: it gives correction by REBUKES.

Isaiah 11:4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Proverbs 14:3  In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.

Proverbs 13:24  He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

A rod is to be used for chastening (not a belt, or a hand, or a “time-out”)… and God’s rod is His mouth.

The chastisement of Israel being discussed in Hebrews 12 is by WORDS. Not by physical beatings… but spiritual beatings, with a spiritual rod. Words, rebukes, given by the MOUTH of a preacher.

Hebrews 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

How does one scourge spiritually? How does the Father of spirits “scourge” His sons? With words!

Job 5:21  Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

God uses His mouth as a rod and a scourge to chasten.

2 Samuel 7:14  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

Physically, chastisement is given by physical “stripes”.

Spiritually, chastisement is given by spiritual stripes… that is, by WORDS: by REPROOF.

Proverbs 17:10  A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

God does not only chasten men with physical chastisement… He can, and He does, sometimes.

But receiving physical chastisement does not make anyone His SPIRITUAL son.

Receiving spiritual chastisement does. And spiritual chastisement is not physical fleshly punishment. It is reproof, rebuke. To receive his stripes, you must receive His reproofs.

God chastises with His mouth. With His WORDS.

I believe the book of Hebrews, the very WORDS of the book, was a chastening of the nation of Israel.

The goal of chastisement is to get the son… to HEAR and obey the VOICE of the Father.

Deuteronomy 21:18  If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: [… then he was stoned]

Remember the theme of Hebrews… Hear the gospel, and BEWARE of getting cut off for unbelief! Don’t rebel against the WORDS of the New Covenant.

That is what Israel after the flesh is. A stubborn and rebellious son. So God chastened them to try to get them to obey His voice. He wrote them their own book: the book of Hebrews, to chastise them.

Proverbs 3:11-13  My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:  12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.  13  Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

The purpose of chastisement is to give wisdom and understanding to man so that man can get SAVED.

Ecclesiastes 7:12  For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.

Fleshly chastisement is helpful. But spiritual chastisement excels it greatly: it gives ETERNAL LIFE.

That is why you need to receive spiritual chastisement. Not to get better in this life… but to get saved in the Spirit!

Chastisement is for the purpose of TEACHING knowledge so that man can get eternal life.

Psalms 94:10-12  He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?  11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.  12  Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

This chastening is the teaching and preaching of the gospel.

The chastisement and teaching of the New Covenant in Hebrews is given so that Israel would REPENT of their works, and rest in Christ. A man must REPENT at the chastening!

The correct response to chastening… is repentance! To repent is to receive chastisement!

Revelation 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

To NOT receive chastisement, that is, to be a bastard and not a son… is to REFUSE TO REPENT at the correction of God.

To rebel against His WORDS, against the reproofs and rebukes of someone preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, is to NOT ENDURE chastisement.

And if you don’t endure chastisement, if you don’t REPENT, and get saved… then God is deal with you, not as with a son, but as with a bastard. How? He is going to take it chastisement away from you, so you cannot learn, cannot understand, and in so doing, take away your ABILITY to get saved. He will CUT YOU OFF!

Hebrews 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

When we REPENT of dead works and have faith toward God (Hebrews 6:1), we receive chastisement, as sons, and thus He deals with us as with sons. We truthfully become SONS of God, by faith.

Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 2

The Theme of Hebrews: Don’t Get Cut Off for Unbelief

What Hebrews is teaching is the same gospel that we preach. It is the gospel of grace through faith. It is not a gospel of works. It is not a gospel of “saved by grace, BUT works are the result of salvation”.

It is our gospel. Paul’s gospel. The same gospel!

However, the thing that must be understood about Hebrews is…

It is written to Jews: to Hebrews: to the NATION of Israel… AS A NATION!

It is not written to individuals. It is written to… A PEOPLE: A NATION!

Now, there is application to the individual, but it is not written primarily to individuals. The aim is national. It is towards (directed AT) Israel as a people, as a nation.

And the theme of Hebrews is this: receive the grace of Jesus Christ by faith, and BEWARE of what will happen if you do not believe and rest in the gospel of grace!

Hebrews teaches that the old law is no longer to be followed. It is disannulled! There is a new law, and there is a new High Priest. And now you need to do one thing, one time, to get saved. You need to repent of works, and believe on Jesus Christ. You need to approach to Him one time, through faith, to receive the promise of eternal life.

But… beware of unbelief! If you (Israel as a nation) reject Christ, like your fathers rejected Moses, you will be CUT OFF.

If I had to give the theme of Hebrews in three words, it would be: BEWARE OF UNBELIEF!

And that theme is strong! You’re already familiar with our problem passages:

Hebrews 6:4-6  For it is impossible …  6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;

Hebrews 10:26-29  For if we sin wilfully … there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,  27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.  28  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:  29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God…

But there is more. This theme is throughout the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 2:1-3  Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.  2  For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;  3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Hebrews 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

Hebrews 4:1 Let us thereforefear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

Hebrews 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

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;

Heb 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

These warnings were given to the nation of Israel. Not that they should diligently keep the law. Not that they should live righteously and love their neighbors. Not that they should be careful not to turn back to their sins. But that they… as a nation… should NOT DISBELIEVE in the gospel of grace! Don’t turn away from the voice of God, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ!

These fearful warnings were given to the nation of Israel, because that is who the gospel was sent to FIRST. These fearful statements are throughout the book of Hebrews. Not just in chapters 6 &10. So if we want to understand our problem texts, we need to understand the context of these warnings, and thus the theme of the whole book.

This theme in Hebrews of these stern and fearful warnings being given to the Jews as a nation, as a people, is paralleled in the warnings given to the Gentiles as a people, in Romans 11.

Because I see such a strong parallel, I believe Romans 11 can help open up Hebrews. So I want to spend some time there to help us understand the position and the aim of Hebrews.

Romans 11 is also teaching our gospel, but it is directed at a PEOPLE, not primarily at individuals.

Romans 11:5-6  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant [of Israel – there is still a small remnant of saved people of Israel] according to the election of grace.  6  And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

We teach that faith and works are NOT opposed. It is GRACE and works which are opposed. You can’t mix grace and works.

You have to have works (spiritual works) with your faith to obtain salvation. You have to move with your faith to obtain grace. But once you get grace, there can be “no more work” required.

If you still have to work, if you believe that works are the result of salvation and you believe that Christians must work, or WILL work, then grace is no more grace, and you get NO GRACE.

And it is this doctrine of grace without works, that Israel as a nation rejected, AFTER the book of Hebrews was written. And thus, as Hebrews warned them would happen, Israel was CUT OFF!

Romans 11:7-8  What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded  8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

The position and the aim of both Hebrews and Romans 11 is NATIONAL!

Romans 11 is warning the Gentiles against being cut off for unbelief, just like Hebrews was warning the nation of Israel against being cut off for unbelief. And because Israel did not heed that warning, they (other than a small remnant) were cut off.

A person who is cut off, is blinded, and unable to understand the gospel, thus unable to get saved. That is what we are talking about: the impossibility of salvation.

Romans 11:13  For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

Paul may be talking ABOUT Israel in Romans 9 through 11, but he is not writing TO Israel. He is speaking TO us Gentiles. It is our gospel. It is our doctrine. It is not written TO someone else, and it is definitely not preaching a different gospel.

And in Romans 11, you can see how the nation of Israel is talked ABOUT vs how the Gentiles are talked about as a PEOPLE; not as individuals! Paul is speaking to the Gentiles and giving them warnings in Romans 11, as a PEOPLE, very similar to how the writer of Hebrews was giving warnings to the nation of Israel, collectively, as a PEOPLE. Listen to how Paul talks about Israel and about the Gentiles.

Romans 11:15-17  For if the casting away of them [Israel] be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them [Israel] be, but life from the dead?  16  For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root [Jesus Christ] be holy, so are the branches [Israel].  17  And if some of the branches [Israel] be broken off, and thou [not “ye” which might possibly be a description of individuals – but “thou” – the Gentiles as a whole, as a nation, as if they are collectively, one singular person], being a wild olive tree [a single tree, a single entity, with many branches], wert graffed in among them [Israel], and with them [with Israel] partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

Romans 11 shows that that same gospel that Israel rejected, is the same gospel that is now sent to the Gentiles: the gospel of grace WITHOUT WORKS. It’s the same gospel. It’s the same covenant. God didn’t send a different gospel to the Gentiles… it’s the same one. It was just sent to Israel FIRST.

And because Israel, as a whole, rejected the gospel of grace, they were broken off, CUT OFF, and it was then granted to the Gentiles to be graffed in, that is, to be ABLE to partake of the New Covenant.

But… only as long as the Gentiles partake of the New Covenant by faith; by believing in the gospel of grace… without works.

If the Gentiles (as a people) don’t believe, if they “fall away” by unbelief, like Israel, then they will get the same judgment that Israel got: cut off with the impossibility of salvation.

So Paul gives the Gentiles stern warnings in Romans 11, the exact same type of warnings, as we see given to the nation of Israel in Hebrews.

Romans 11:20-25  Well; because of unbelief they [Israel as a nation, except for a very small remnant] were broken off, and thou [the Gentiles as a people] standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:  [Hebrews 4:1 – Let us therefore fear] 21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed [Hebrews 3:12 – Take heed] lest he also spare not thee.  22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell [Hebrews 4:11  – lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief], severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou [The Gentiles as a whole] also shalt be cut off.  23  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. …  25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Because of unbelief in the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, Israel as a nation has been blinded, has fallen, has been severed, broken off, cut off, and cast away!

The only reason we (the Gentiles by nature) have the gospel available to us, is because the gospel was first sent to Israel and they, as a nation, rejected it.

So God counted all Israel to be in unbelief, blinded them, and sent the gospel to the Gentiles.

Romans 11:32  For God hath concluded them all [as a nation] in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Israel fell away from the New Covenant, fell away from grace. They were cut off in unbelief.

Because of Israel’s fall, which was warned against in the book of Hebrews, the Gentiles as a whole are now grafted into the tree of Israel, the tree of Christ, to take PART of the New Covenant BY FAITH.

But just like the Jews got a warning against unbelief, Paul now says, to the Gentiles as a whole… take heed, fear, lest thou also be cut off in UNBELIEF!

You see, the gospel is the same. The gospel of grace that we are saved by today… is the same one that was first sent to Israel.

In Paul’s writings and in Hebrews and in all the Jewish epistles. New testament salvation is by the same gospel. And being cut off from that salvation that is offered, is not due to one’s fleshly evil works, but only for one’s REFUSAL to BELIEVE that gospel. Only because men refuse to REPENT of their works and REST in Christ. And that IS what Hebrews teaches!

The theme of Hebrews is a warning to the nation of Israel to believe the gospel, and not get cut off for unbelief, just like their fathers were cut off for unbelief, in the wilderness.

That whole generation that came out of Egypt (minus a very small remnant) was cut off and died in the wilderness! Likewise today, those that God brings near to hear, and receive salvation under the New Covenant, if they refuse it, they get cut off and die! Why??? For UNBELIEF!

That is key to understanding these difficult passages in Hebrews: They are about either BELIEVING the gospel when it is sent to you, or GETTING CUT OFF for unbelief.

In the OT, the Jews under the law were CUT OFF from their people for various reasons:

If you did not receive circumcision, you were CUT OFF (Gen 17:14).

During the passover if you ate LEAVENED bread, you were CUT OFF (Exo 12:19).

If you did WORK on the sabbath, you were CUT OFF (Exo 31:14).

If you ate of the sacrifices, the holy things, while you were unclean, you were CUT OFF (Lev 7:20-21,22:3).

If you ate blood, you were CUT OFF (Lev 7:27).

If you offered a sacrifice in the wrong place, you were CUT OFF (Lev 17:8-9).

If you committed incest, adultery, or bestiality, you were CUT OFF (Lev 18).

If you ate of the sacrifices outside of the acceptable time, you were CUT OFF (Lev 19:8)

If you went after familiar spirits, or wizards, you were CUT OFF (Lev 20:7)

If you didn’t eat the passover when you were able to, you were CUT OFF (Num 9:13).

If you touched a dead body and did not purify yourself, you were CUT OFF (Num 19:13,20).

And ultimately, and primarily, if you refused to obey the law, but despised the word of the Lord, you were CUT OFF (Num 19:20).

What does it mean to be “cut off”? Primarily, it means to die – to be killed.

Zechariah 13:8  And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

Jeremiah 49:26  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.

To be cut off is to be killed, to die. So these things were all worthy of death in the OLD testament. The man that did them was no longer allowed to be among the people and no longer able to come before the presence of the Lord.

Leviticus 22:3  Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD.

If that person did not repent, BEFORE he was cut off, there was no hope of forgiveness, no hope of salvation.

Now understand, you can’t just take those things out of the Old Testament, and apply them to the New.

Under the Old Covenant, they could get cut off  for sinning in their flesh.

But no one gets cut off from the New Covenant for sinning in their flesh.

However, the Bible says these things (the OT stories, and the law, and the prophets) are written, and they happened, as EXAMPLES to learn from.

1 Corinthians 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

I believe you could study each one of those things for which men got cut off from Israel in the Old Testament, and map it to a spiritual wickedness for which men get cut off from Christ in the New Testament.

And if you did it right, you’d find that each one maps to the same spiritual sin: the sin of unbelief.

The sin of rejecting and/or defiling the gospel of grace with flesh and blood; with man’s fleshly works. With our UNCLEANNESS upon us.

Leviticus 22:3  Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD.

Going to the Lord for salvation, with uncleanness still upon you… with your FLESH, with your fleshly works still included… approaching to the Lord to be saved by a false gospel of works salvation…

That is the sin worthy of getting cut off from grace, cut off from the New Covenant!

You can’t just take the OT things and apply them to our flesh today. But you can use those things to learn how the New Covenant applies to men SPIRITUALLY today.

2 Timothy 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Romans 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

The things in the OT are written for instruction in RIGHTEOUSNESS. They are written and preserved for our learning of SPIRITUAL truths.

2 Corinthians 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen [carnal things under the Old Covenant] are temporal; but the things which are not seen [spiritual things under the Old Covenant] are eternal.

You can learn from the things that are seen, because they are a shadow of the true. But the truth is in the things which are NOT SEEN.

Galatians 4:22-24 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.  23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.  24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

Those thing happened as an allegory (but they actually happened!)… for our understanding.

You can learn about the two covenants, and the differences between them by the things that happened in the OT.

The first covenant was carnal. It was fleshly, and stood only in fleshly, carnal, commandments and ordinances. It applies to those that are born after the flesh. It applies to FLESH.

Galatians 4:28-29  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.  29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

The second (the new) covenant is spiritual. They that are of it are not born after the flesh. They are not flesh at all.

The New Covenant does not apply to FLESH. It does not stand in FLESHLY things, it is not obtained or performed by fleshly works. It does not PROFIT the flesh AT ALL. And likewise, the reasons that one would get cut off from the New Covenant, are not fleshly.

No fleshly sin is worthy of being cut off from the Spirit.

Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 1

Introduction

I want to take some time and explain the problem texts in Hebrews 6 and 10.

I’m calling this “The Impossibility of Salvation”, because that is what I believe these passages are about.

The letter of Hebrews was written to the nation of Israel. Not just to a small group of believers, but to the whole nation. Hebrews is preaching the same gospel that we preach today. It is the gospel of grace. It is not a different gospel. It is not a different way to be saved. It does not teach you can lose your salvation.

And the admonitions, the warnings, the fearful statements that we find in Hebrews, are that if they reject salvation by the grace of Jesus Christ, if they don’t believe the gospel, and get saved BY grace, without works, then they will get cut off and cast away, and it will be impossible for them to get saved. They will receive The Impossibility of Salvation. And that is exactly what happened to Israel, because that is exactly what they did!

Now, that is the answer to the passages. That is Hebrews in a nutshell.

If you want to turn this video off now, be my guest. I won’t make you stick around for hours and hours just to hear what I believe. That is what I believe. That is the true interpretation of Hebrews.

But saying that is one thing… proving it Scripturally, that is another!

So if you stick around, I’m not only going to explain what I mean, but prove it scripturally, by unlocking the book of Hebrews, and proving that it is NOT teaching a works-based gospel. And it is not applicable ONLY for Jews, nor is it inapplicable for Gentiles today, in the age of grace.

I believe this study is going to strengthen your faith and understanding of the gospel. It has mine!

Hebrews is church-age doctrine. But I recognize, because of the very blunt, and very terrible warnings given to the nation of Israel, in a Jewish-themed book, someone can easily look at Hebrews 6 and 10, and simply NOT have any answer for these difficult passages. Which of course, whenever that happens, makes Christians vulnerable to believing lies… satanic false doctrine.

James 2 is almost undoubtedly the most difficult problem text for Bible believing Christians to deal with. And when I say that, I mean Real Christians, who have believed that they are saved by grace alone WITHOUT their own fleshly works.

We have videos on James 2 – explaining exactly how, “faith without works is dead”. We believe it is. Faith without works IS dead.

But faith and grace are different things. We are not saved by faith without works. We are saved by grace without works.

And secondly, the works are spiritual. Believe and Confess. Those are the works that put someone IN GRACE.

And once IN GRACE, a person’s salvation is set. Done. Finished. They are done working. They are at rest.

You have to look at James 2 spiritually to understand it.

If you look at it carnally, if you think its really about justification by fleshly works… you will get into serious trouble and you will add works into the gospel of grace.

Now, in order to avoid getting into that serious trouble, one of the main things Christians have done is “divided it”. They say, “oh well, that is written to the Jews by a Jewish Apostle and so it isn’t applicable to Christians today.”

Well, we wholeheartedly disagree.

James, John, Jude, and Peter were Christian Apostles. Their writings are absolutely applicable to Christians today. They teach the same gospel as Paul does, they carry the same doctrine.

All New Testament Epistles apply to us. The book of Hebrews included!

But, we have to study these things, so we can understand HOW these things apply to us.

So here are the main “problem texts” in Hebrews 6 & 10:

Hebrews 6:4-6  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,  5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,  6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Hebrews 10:26-29 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,  27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.  28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:  29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Many people hear these and immediately interpret them to mean that someone who is saved can do something bad, that they can fall away, or sin wilfully, and subsequently lose their salvation. Which is absolutely not true!

So I want to spend some time on these, to explain, not just these two passages, but also, the context around them in the book of Hebrews, so that we can fully understand these passages, and not be afraid of them, or uncertain about whether they cause issues for the doctrine that we teach. I want you to know that an answer exists, and that the answer is not, “the book of Hebrews doesn’t apply to me”, and the answer certainly is not, “you can lose your salvation”. Neither of those is true, and we will prove this.

But let me be clear though, this is not going to be an exhaustive study on the book of Hebrews. I’m sure I’m going to skip things and miss things and I’m not going to explain everything written in the book of Hebrews. But we are going to explain a lot of it, and you will understand the theme of it.

We hear these two passages in Hebrews 6 & 10 used against Christians quite often, mostly from people claiming that they are proof that Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS) is not true, and you can definitely lose your salvation. And… that is for a reason!

I will admit, that a reasonable person, who knows a fair amount about the Bible and Christianity, could very easily, simply read those passages, and come to the conclusion that they are teaching that somebody who was saved, can lose their salvation.

And you know what? They are not completely off base! I get it. I can see why they think that.

Please, don’t get ahead of me… A believer, whether Jew or Gentile…. a Christian, a believer CANNOT lose their salvation.

But these passages are terrifying! And they are very difficult to deal with.

That is why these passages scare so many people – both Christians and false Christians alike.

I once read from Peter Ruckman (whom I know was saved, and who’s thoughts I definitely respected, and I know had a LOT of experience as a Pastor and a Christian educator) that he recommends that young Pastors absolutely do not attempt to teach out of the books of Hebrews and Romans. That they need to build a good, strong foundation before they attempt to teach those books.

And you think, “well okay Hebrews, but why Romans? I mean you got Romans road in there right? That’s some easy salvation doctrine in there!”

Yes, but there are also some very difficult things to understand and explain in Romans, especially starting in chapter 6 through chapter 11. And Romans 11 especially, you will see, has a very strong parallel to the book of Hebrews.

So if you try to dive into Hebrews, and you don’t carefully study those passages, having first a strong foundation in salvation doctrine, you could very easily come to the conclusion that Christians, believers, can lose their salvation. Which again, is absolutely not true, and is NOT the truth of these passages in Hebrews.

But… they are not completely off base, in thinking that those passages say that someone is losing salvation. Why? Because someone here is losing something!

So I want to go through how to understand the truth of these things. Who they apply to, and HOW they apply. I know it has really helped me, to study these things and look at Hebrews this way, and I believe this will help you too.

Next to James 2, Hebrews 6 and 10 are probably the next most difficult passages to explain for Christians who believe in OSAS.

2 Peter 2 and Intro to Our Gospel

Now, we hear 2 Peter sometimes…

2 Peter 2:21-22  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.  22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

We may do a video or some videos about that passage at some point… but honestly, that is a much easier passage to answer than those things that are written in Hebrews. How so?

Just look at the word DOG! I mean, a dog returning to his own vomit, was still a dog the whole time. A cleaned up sow that was washed, returning to the mire, was always a sow. It was never a sheep. It was never a Christian. He was never a believer. This is nobody losing their salvation. This was a lost person the whole time. He was just temporarily cleaned up on the outside.

2 Peter 2 doesn’t mean that if you are a true Christian you won’t turn back to a life of sin. Its not about sin.

If a pig is cleaned up, and starts acting like a sheep, is that proof that it is a sheep? Of course not!

And, if a sheep plays in the mud, does that mean it is really a pig? If a sheep acts like a dog, does that mean it isn’t really a sheep?  Of course not!

“Oh well if you turn back to your sins then you were never really saved”, they say.

Fleshly works have nothing to do with salvation, and they are no indication of salvation. To think that they are, is to judge others by their works. Jesus said…

Matthew 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

So if you judge others as saved or lost by THEIR works, then God will judge you by YOUR works.

And you are a sinner, who cannot stop sinning.

Ecclesiastes 7:20  For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

If you judge others by their works, then you will be judged by YOUR works.

If you believe good works are the result of salvation, or are proof of salvation, and thus that someone who does only evil works, and has no good works, is not really saved, then YOU are not really saved.

That is how you judged others, so that is how you will be judged.

Because the truth is, you do NOT do good works, and you do not SIN NOT. No one does good works and no one does not sin. In God’s eyes, Jesus was the only man who ever did good. And Jesus was the only man that ever sinned not. You do not sin not, and you have never done good.

So how will a righteous judge, judge you, if He judges you the same way you judge the salvation of others?

Psalms 130:3  If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

If God judged you by your works, you will not stand in the judgment.

I’m not going to be judged by my works. Why? Because I don’t judge others by their works. Their works, no matter how good or how evil, don’t mean a thing to me.

I don’t look at anyone and think to know their salvation by what they do, or how they treat other people.

Because if you mark their iniquities, then the Lord will mark yours.

In the judgment, we are not going to be compared to other men. You being better than other men, is not proof of your justification.

In the judgment we are not going to be compared to even ourselves. You being better now, or TRYING harder now, than you were before you believed on Jesus, is not proof of your innocence or salvation.

The truth is, we are all going to be judged by how we compare to Jesus Christ.

Acts 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

God is going to judge mankind in righteousness… BY Jesus Christ. Jesus is the weight, the measure. He is the measure of righteousness. If you are not AS RIGHTEOUS as Jesus Christ, then you are not going to be counted righteous at all. You are going to be condemned.

So unless you are PERFECT… as perfect and righteous, and holy and sinless, as Jesus Christ, you are NOT GOING TO MEASURE UP. You are not going to STAND in the judgment.

1 John 3:3-7  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.  …  6  Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.  7  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

Every man that is saved is a pure and righteous as Jesus Christ.

Every man that does ONE good work, does ONLY good works, never sins, CANNOT sin, and is pure and righteous as Jesus Christ.

This is ONLY true of a Christian’s spirit. But it is NOT AT ALL true of the flesh.

This is what we call Binarism. You are either ALL righteous or all wicked. Not both.

You either sinneth, or you sinneth not. You either do righteousness, or you cannot do righteousness. Not both.

You can’t be righteous, and be a sinner. Its impossible.

If giving to the poor, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, etc. etc., if those are true good works, then why aren’t the people that do them no longer able to sin? Why are they not as righteous as Jesus Christ?

I’ll tell you why… because fleshly good works, works you do with your hands, are NOT true good works, they are NOT true righteousness to God. The world does not “doeth righteousness”. And Christians, in the flesh, do not “doeth righteousness” either. The Bible says they are “free from righteousness”. They CANNOT do it.

If works are proof of salvation, and Jesus is responsible for cleaning up the lives of Christian’s and he is responsible for what they do – because that is what I hear lots of people preach nowadays, “it isn’t me doing the good works and transforming my life, it is Jesus living through me, Jesus is to credit”.

Well the problem with that is, if Jesus is to CREDIT when you do GOOD, then Jesus is to BLAME when you SIN.

Yes. That’s right! Because Paul said:

Galatians 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

Paul is saying if Jesus justifies us, then we are going to be justified; perfect, righteous. But if we are still sinners, then Jesus hasn’t justified us. Otherwise, Jesus is a sinner.

You can’t be justified by Christ AND still be a sinner.

If Jesus’ job is to justify you and give you eternal life, then He has to remove sin from you entirely.

And He does… spiritually. Spiritually a Christian “sinneth not”. But not carnally, not fleshly… not until the resurrection.

We are not justified in the flesh. We are not righteous in the flesh. We are not sanctified in the flesh. We are NO BETTER in the flesh. Because Jesus does not live or work in our flesh. If He does… if you want to give Him credit, then you have to give him the blame: He is a minister of sin.

If you apply Christ to your flesh, and He does not 100% completely remove your ability to sin in the flesh, but you are still a sinner, then Christ is the minister of sin – Christ is the sinner. Is that the case?

Paul says, of course not. God forbid! So we cannot apply Christ to our flesh.

And if Christ is NOT the minister of YOUR SIN, then Christ is not the minister of your good works either. He is not the one responsible for your works.

If Jesus was the one doing the works in you, taking that sow and cleaning it up, then you would only do good ever. He is not going to be found a SINNER, like you are. If Jesus is to credit, then Jesus is to blame.

Do you only ever do good works? Never sin? Of course not! You sin, right?

Well then it isn’t Jesus doing your works. Because…

Deuteronomy 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Jesus does not dwell in your flesh, and He does not work in your flesh. If He did, your flesh would be perfect. It would never sin, and it would never die.

And that is the promise of the gospel: not that God slowly makes you BETTER, yet still leaves you imperfect, but that God instantly MAKES you PERFECT!  I know we haven’t seen much directly from Hebrews yet, but it completely agrees! Hebrews preaches this same gospel, this same promise!

Hebrews 11:39-40  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:  40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Not better. Not slowly, continually, gradually more Christ-like. Perfect!

If Jesus saves you, you are perfect. If he does His work in you, you are perfect. If you receive His promise, then you are PERFECT.

But you are NOT perfect, so you can’t tell me that Jesus is the one doing the good works in you. Jesus is not responsible for what you do in your flesh. He isn’t to blame OR to credit. Jesus is not IN your flesh.

But if that is what you believe, “that Jesus makes Christians better”, then He isn’t in your spirit either. You are not saved, because you haven’t repented, of believing in works.

Jesus does not clean up our flesh. Not until the resurrection.

They say, “Jesus transforms Christians”. The Bible NEVER says that God transforms Christians. It says,

Romans 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…

Now, you SHOULD do that. And you CAN do that. You can get yourself a King James Bible and you can learn what you should do, and how you should live, and how you should treat people, and how you should think, and what you should wear, and what you should and should not celebrate, and how a righteous person SHOULD act.

You can get wisdom and YOU can transform YOURSELF by renewing your mind with the word of God.

You can clean yourself up pretty good. You’ll still be a pig. But you can wash a lot of that mire off of you.

But you know what? That transformation is NOT the mark of a true Christian. Not even a little bit!

You know how I know that? Because a lost person can do the same thing!! False prophets can do that too. And they DO!

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

An unsaved person can be transformed to appear like a saved person. How? By his WORKS. He is a deceitful WORKER. He cleans up his works, and looks outwardly righteous unto men. He does good works. He lives a righteous, pious life. But within, he is still the same thing that he was. He is a dog, a sow, a wolf.

Satan is a seven-headed red dragon, no matter how transforms himself, to APPEAR to you.

If you think WORKS matter: if you think, “Oh well, if you were a real Christian then Jesus would keep transforming you and you wouldn’t turn back to living in sin. At least not for good. You wouldn’t be able to live in sin, because Jesus won’t Christians do that. Jesus would keep transforming you and making you cleaner and better. And if you DID turn back to your sins, and you turned your back on God, and you didn’t care to serve Him anymore, but you became a serial killer or something, then you were never REALLY saved, because every REAL Christian is transformed by Jesus.”

If you think Jesus transforms Christians, then you are judging wrong judgment.

You are WORKING deceitfully, to transform yourself.

You transform yourself in the eyes of men, you APPEAR righteous unto men. But secretly, spiritually, you are still a sinner, still a WORKER, working to be transformed. You haven’t rested, you haven’t stopped working. You’re not a sheep, you’re just a cleaned up dog, a washed up pig.

God doesn’t transform anyone, and transformation in the flesh is not a part, or a result of salvation. God is not responsible for doing ANYTHING in the flesh of a saved person.

Fleshly good works are not required for salvation and they are not a RESULT of salvation. Jesus said, “it is the spirit that quickeneth, the FLESH PROFITETH NOTHING”.

I’m going to heaven when I die, no matter what I ever do, no matter what I ever transform myself, and my life into. Whether into the life of a pious Christian, or even into the life of a serial killer. My fleshly works DO NOT MATTER! Spiritually I am a sheep, even if my flesh barks like a dog, and bites like a dog, and craps like a dog, and sleeps like a dog, and licks up vomit like a dog, and I can probably truthfully say, even IS a dog. My flesh can be a dog, while my spirit is a sheep. It doesn’t matter what my flesh is, or what my flesh does, or how it appears, or how I transform it. If I transform it into a minister of righteousness, great. Hopefully God will let me keep preaching the gospel to others until the day I die. And if I transform it into a dirty rotten, lying, adulterous, child-molesting, devil worshipping, serial killer, WHICH I COULD DO (and still be saved), then I will probably spend my earthly life in prison and have no opportunity to serve the Lord and lay up treasures in heaven.

But EITHER WAY I transform myself in the flesh, my spirit is not a cleaned up pig or a washed up dog. It is a NEW CREATURE!

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The people in 2 Peter 2 were not new creatures, they were dogs.

Revelation 22:14-15  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.  15  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

A dog has never eaten of the tree of life. He has never gone into the city of God. He is WITHOUT, with no access. Just like Adam and Eve. No access to the tree of life.

If you can make a lie, if you can sin, if you are not MADE PERFECT, as perfect as Jesus Christ, then you are not a new creature.

There are more things in 2 Peter 2 that show that Peter preaches the same gospel that we do, and that this dog is a lost person who heard the name of Christ and cleaned himself up on the outside but never actually believed the true gospel.

Of course, this study really isn’t about 2 Peter 2, but if you’ve never heard any of our stuff, if this is the first video that you are ever hearing of our ministry: this is what we believe. GRACE alone. Not FAITH alone. Grace alone… through faith. Through faith AND works. The spiritual works of Believing and Confessing.

But a man has to repent of works. He has to understand that he has to be saved by grace alone, that salvation is by what Jesus did alone, and that once he places his faith in Christ, that he is saved, no matter what he ever does afterwards, no matter how he lives his life, that his works do not matter. He has to understand that once he believes this thing, and calls on the Lord one time asking to be saved, that he is saved.

And when he understands that, and then does that, calling on the Lord for salvation according to this gospel … then He is saved, he is done, sealed, circumcised, born again, IN CHRIST, IN THE SPIRIT. He doesn’t have to do anything else for the rest of his life. It doesn’t matter HOW he lives, or what he DOES. He doesn’t have to be faithful, he doesn’t have to serve, he doesn’t have to even WANT to serve. And he very well may not want to.

From that moment on he is SAVED. Past tense. SAVED.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved😉

Not “being saved”. Not “getting saved”. Not “will be saved”. Are saved. Past tense. SAVED. We are not saved yet, in the flesh, but in the spirit, we are ALREADY SAVED.

But you cannot get already saved, past tense, unless you REPENT.

Luke 13:3  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Hebrews 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

You have to REPENT from dead works. What works are dead? ALL fleshly works are dead. Not a single one produces eternal life! They all result in death.

Your flesh is dead, and all your fleshly works are dead.

You must repent, change your mind, from believing that fleshly works matter. They are not a part, and they are not a result of salvation at all.

You have to judge righteous judgment. You cannot be judging based on works.

Then once you repent… You just have to believe and confess.

Romans 10:9-10  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Repent of works. Believe the gospel. Confess it… Call upon the Lord.

That is how you get ALREADY saved.

That is all you have to do: R-B-C. Another C word is… Call!

Romans 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

You do that ONE TIME, and you are saved, past tense. Done.

No matter what you ever do, no matter how you live, no matter what you transform yourself into, no matter if you STOP believing, or even if you KILL YOURSELF! You are saved, and your body is going to be resurrected to eternal life.

That is the PROMISE of Jesus Christ. The promise that you must believe in order to gain salvation.

If you have not believed that, then you still need to be saved. And if you are listening to this, and if that is the case, and you have not seen our salvation plan videos, please do so. They are on our website, on YouTube, and on TikTok. We have a 5 min version, a 1 hour version, and a 3 minute version that we made for Kids. They explain the true gospel of grace, how to repent, believe, and confess, and there is a prayer at the end of each of them that you can pray to call on God and get saved. Past tense. Saved.

So alright, with all that in mind, let’s actually start talking about Hebrews.

How to Look at Hebrews

Hebrews 6 and 10 do offer a real challenge to people who believe what we believe.

And look I won’t sit here and pretend it isn’t challenging, or that it is easy to interpret, or that I have it all figured out. I don’t. These things are very hard, and very spiritual, and to a large extent, we CANNOT fully understand them now, because we are flesh, and salvation is spiritual.

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

We can kind of see the shape and patterns of spiritual things, but we just can’t see them clearly.

So you have to open your spiritual eyes, and train those spiritual eyes to see spiritual things.

2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The true things are the spiritual things. And the true spiritual things are eternal; they last forever.

If you produce true good fruit, it lasts forever. But you can’t see it now.

If you do a true good work, spiritually, it lasts forever. But you can’t see it now.

If you build a house for the homeless spiritually, it lasts forever. But you can’t see it now.

You can’t see spiritual things. You can’t see them, but they are there. And the things we are going to see in Hebrews: they are there. We just can’t see them clearly yet. We can only see them THROUGH a VAIL: a vail of FLESH.

Isaiah 25:7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

Hebrews 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

His flesh is a veil, and I believe our flesh is a veil as well. Flesh is a veil. It stops us from seeing the true spiritual things. One day that vail (our flesh) is going to be removed, but until then, we see through a VAIL. We see through a glass darkly.

So it can be hard to paint a very clear picture of what is going on in Hebrews.

The best we can do right now, is to try to look at the things which are not seen: the eternal things.

The eternal things were PATTERNED, and PICTURED in the Old Testament by earthly things.

The earthly things are a SHADOW of the heavenly things.

The tabernacle of Moses was a SHADOW of God’s true tabernacle in Heaven.

God told Moses to make all things after their heavenly PATTERN.

Hebrews 8:5-6 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.  6 But now hath he [Jesus] obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

The very best things on Earth, called “holy things” by God, made with the very best intents,… I mean building the tabernacle, serving God in His temple, and doing his sacrifices to get forgiveness of sins for the people… the very best good works that mankind can do, are at best, a mere EXAMPLE, a mere SHADOW, a mere PATTERN of true good heavenly things.

All those things were temporal. And they perished. True good things are ETERNAL.

Do you know that there is only instance of “good work” in the ENTIRE old testament? The only thing that was ever called a “good work” in the Old Testament was building the city of Jerusalem. Building the house of God.

Nehemiah 2:17-18  Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.  18  Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

That is the ONLY mention of “good work” in the entire Old Testament.

Building God’s house is a good work.

But that house on earth, was just a figure of God’s true house, as says Hebrews.

Building that house was not a true good work… it was just a figure of the true good work.

A true good work is to build God’s house in heaven. To build New Jerusalem, in heaven.

Hebrews 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

So to build God’s house on the earth is a FIGURE of a true good work. But to build and serve in God’s house in heaven is a TRUE good work.

Hebrews 9:23-24  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

Earthly things are not true good things to God. Heavenly things and heavenly, spiritual works are true good things to God. Earthly things, earthly good works, things that you can do, and build, and give, with your hands, are only “FIGURES of the true”.

That is what the good things on the earth are: patterns of things in the heavens.

The light from the sun? That isn’t the true light. Bread? Manna? That isn’t the true bread. Circumcision of your manhood? That isn’t the true circumcision. Water baptism? That isn’t the true baptism. Jerusalem is called The City of God. But the one on earth isn’t the true Jerusalem. The temple of God in Jerusalem is not God’s true house. God told Solomon that He would dwell in that house that Solomon built forever. Well… that house is long gone. So either God is a liar, or we have to understand what God said SPIRITUALLY. The house Solomon built was a FIGURE of the true house of God that Jesus is currently building, which is His church.

Things on earth, things that you do, are NOT the true good things. You cannot please God with your flesh.

Romans 8:8-9  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

God does not accept FLESHLY good works. You cannot truly serve Him with your flesh. Good works on the earth are not acceptable to God.

He only accepts SPIRITUAL, ETERNAL, good works.

Serving God in the flesh is NOT true service. It will not be counted as true service, and it will not be rewarded as true service. Jesus said …

John 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

A Christian worships IN SPIRIT. And He worships IN TRUTH. (That is true service: get the truth and give the truth. Get saved, and save others. Win souls! That is a TRUE good work – building God’s heavenly house.)

SHOULD you do the figure too? Yes. You SHOULD do good works in the flesh. But they are just figures of true good things.

Not a single person alive before Jesus was a “true worshipper” of God. Of all the OT saints, not of them was able to worship God in truth. None of them was able to do a true good work.

Why not? They could do every good work that you can do, right?

Everything that you can do with your flesh, unsaved people can do, right?

They can love their neighbor. They can give to the poor. They can build houses for the homeless.

And every sin that they can sin, saved people can sin too right?

Christians can lie. Christians can steal. Christians can fornicate. Christians can even murder!

If good works are the result of salvation, then why can unsaved people, unbelievers, do the same works that saved people can do???

We all do the same things. We are all capable of the same works. And not one of those works is a TRUE good work to God. None of us, in the flesh, truly serve or worship God.

You know why? Because we are earthy and our works are earthy.

1 Corinthians 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

We, in our flesh, are earthy. We do EARTHY things. We don’t do heavenly things. We don’t work heavenly works. All flesh is capable of the same fleshly works. Flesh is not capable of heavenly works.

A heavenly work LASTS FOREVER. Once again:

2 Corinthians 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

You can’t see a true good work. Feeding the poor, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, and loving your neighbor on earth, are NOT true good works. You know how I know that? 1 – Because I CAN SEE THEM. And 2 – because THEY ARE NOT ETERNAL.

But… give somebody THE GOSPEL, and they live forever, and they will never hunger, and they will never be naked, and they will never be homeless. That is an ETERNAL good work. A heavenly good work, which lasts forever, which no man can SEE.

Build a church on earth with your HANDS… that is NOT a true good work.

Build the church in heaven with your WORDS, by giving people the gospel, that IS a true good work.

The only true good work that God will accept is to build His house. How do you do that? You get saved, and you save others. You win souls! That is really the only work for which we will be eternally rewarded.

It is an eternal good work. A true good work from a true worshipper of God. It can only be done “in spirit”. It cannot be done with flesh.

So we will touch on this some more, but this is part of the understanding that we must have in order to understand how to apply Hebrews 6 & 10. We have to look at things which we CANNOT SEE. We have to look at Hebrews SPIRITUALLY.