If OSAS Is True, Then What About Heb.10:26-31?
Question: If once saved always saved is true, then what about Heb.10:26-31, which says that we can be un-saved to go to hell fire if we continue to sin, the end of which we will only have a "fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God"? What are your thoughts about it. Thank you.
Answer: Greetings in Jesus mighty name!
Here are the verses Heb 10:26-31, "26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Because the verse says “The LORD will judge His people,” I fully agree that this above verse speaks about believers who are in danger of punishment who choose to lethargically trample the Son of God underfoot by voluntarily sinning against God, and thus count the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insult the Spirit of grace. God expects voluntary gratefulness for all the good things a person receives as his child. There is nothing unusual in this sort of behavior from a believer when his love for sin becomes more than the love for God, he will have neither thankfulness for what he has already received from the hand of God, nor will have praise looking forward in faith for God to unfold the promises He has given to them personally. He will start to live a life unlike the life of holiness he is called by God to live as His children (1 Pet 1:16).
When it comes to playing with sin, God has no favorites, he deals sin in the life of His adversaries in the same way he deals it in the life of His children first (1 Pet 4:17). If we think that God is not serious about punishing us for our sins, then look at Jesus who became a sinless substitute of sacrifice for our sins, God left him on the Cross to bleed to death for our sins even though he cried out for God's help, there was no response from Him at that point of time as Jesus Christ the very Son of God the Creator of all the heaven and earth was forsaken for a moment of time from the very presence of God for our sins (Isa 53:1-12; Matt 27:46; Isa 54:7-10).
Look at Jesus, though Jesus Christ was received in to heaven after his death with open arms by God the Father who raised Him from the dead through His Spirit, yet he has to suffer in the flesh on earth to learn obedience to God (Heb 9:24; 5:7-8; Eph 1:20-21,22). Likewise we are called to follow Jesus and suffer for God for no other reason except following God which makes Satan and his demons hate us to inflict suffering in his pursuit to make God suffer as He loves his children so very much even more than his own life (1 Pet 2:21-23). But regarding the suffering that comes to us in this world for our own faults, even though it has no value of commendation before God, a person who is convicted by truth and agrees to confess sin as sin to God and to people will show the character of honesty which lies within them, as the children of God have the restored image of God and his character which lies within them to make them accept their own fault which God commends as the truth.
The phrase "If we sin willfully", is a unique phrase that God has revealed in His word to denote to make us understand that as believers we can be tempted by the self, Satan and flesh to make poor choices to follow its whims and fancies that has the potential to make us suddenly forsake the narrow way and choose the broad way of the world to embrace it, and thus forsake the love of our Father in heaven just like the prodigal son did in his life (1 John 2:15-17; Luke 15:11-32). To embrace the broad way of the world is to live in unbelief by doing nothing but accept the soulish leading of sin, self and Satan. And daring to walk through the narrow way is to live in faith by hearing the word of God and believing it more and more to become established in it by carrying our own cross that God has given to us to break our self and walk in dependence on Him (Rom 10:17; Matt 7:13-14; Luke 9:23-26).
God helps us receive the knowledge of the truth that we are sinners in need of the Savior, then relishes us when we hold the truth and walk in it to accept ourselves as sinners and begin to confess all of our sins to Him and become cleansed by the blood of Jesus as often as possible, this is the only thanks and praise offering we can offer Him now so that it can be a soothing aroma to the Lord constantly (1 John 1:7, 9; Heb 13:14-15).
If we choose to walk in darkness of the world again by rejecting the way of the Cross by failing to confess our sins to God by repentance and instead hide ourselves in our sin to get accustomed to the passing pleasures of this world, flesh and Satan, then we as a person must understand and, "Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God and treated his cleansing blood as though it were common and unhallowed, and insulted and outraged the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to his people" (Heb 10:29, LB). Here we see God tests every believer whether he or she does have reverence towards the blood of Jesus which has sanctified them, or by choosing not to confess their sins to Jesus Christ to let themselves be cleansed by it to walk in the light of God, or they let themselves continue in sin without repentance to consider sanctification as a common thing to insult the Spirit of Grace who has made them to walk in sanctification through confession of their sins and cleansing from it to be made possible in their lives (1 John 1:9; Prov 28:13). Mercy is God giving us not what we deserve, in other words, as sinners we deserve hell fire, but God in his mercy has chosen to given heaven. We deserve to receive the wages of sin as sinners which is separation from God for eternity, but thank God for his mercy, God gave us instead the gift of God which is eternal life of friendship in Christ Jesus our Lord which starts now and continues for eternity (Rom 6:23). Hallelujah! What a glory! We deserve curses for our sins we have done and still do some in our thought life and still others in our actions, but thank God for His mercy which endures forever (Psa 136:1), but thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord who took our curses upon Himself and instead have paved a way for us to receive all the blessings of God through our faith in Him (Gal 3:13-14). Praise the Lord!
Vengeance is a strong word, which means in Greek 'ekdikesis', "(that which proceeds) out of justice," not, as often with human "vengeance," out of a sense of injury or merely out of a feeling of indignation. But rather the word is most frequently used of Divine "vengeance," e.g., Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30, which clearly shows that God's judgment is always impartial and applies to all equally out of His sense of justice and not just out of His indignation. God has no favorites and God shows no partiality to anyone, even his own children and that is why God allowed His only begotten Son to die on the Cross of Calvary for the sins of world so that out of those who believe and become His children can be justified by Him and shown favor for a lifetime (Acts 10:34).
The judgments of God are always holy and right (Rev 16:7), and free from any element of self-gratification or vindictiveness. That is why God reveals through His apostle Paul the greatest secret of the whole truth about how he has made us who are born sinners to become saintly children of His by saying, God "...made [i.e. Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor 5:21). In other words, when God sees a believer in Christ Jesus, He sees a saint who is as righteous as God is through Jesus Christ. Further the Bible reveals, that the God who has forgiven all our sins of the past, present and future in Christ Jesus (Eph 4:32), and have chosen to remember it no more against us (Heb 10:17), says that because of what has happened within his mind because of Christ Jesus towards us who believe, "1 So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 For the power of the life-giving Spirit--and this power is mine through Christ Jesus—has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death. 3 We aren't saved from sin's grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can't and don't keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours--except that ours are sinful—and destroyed sin's control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 So now we can obey God's laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us." (Rom 8:1-4, LB). Hallelujah! GLORY TO GOD!
Now that our Lord Jesus Christ is judged on the tree by becoming a curse for us already (Gen 3:13), God does not take directly vengeance upon us now because we cannot be condemned for us sins anymore, but rather He chastises us as his dearly beloved children first when we continue in certain habits of sin that withholds us from growing in our spiritual life which He expects us to grow and become like Jesus Christ our forerunner (Heb 12:3-11; 6:20). So we should not become weary and get discouraged in our souls thinking God is angry at us when we are chastised, even after we have believed Jesus Christ and got saved from all sins. No the scenario is just the opposite, because God wants us to become overcomers over sin to resist its power and do not want us to become stunted without spiritual growth, because of His love towards us He chooses to chastise us so that we can become partakers of His holiness and be profited by it for eternity ahead. God sees the long term blessings which will stay with us forever more, so we should not focus on our short term comfort on earth and become disappointed with God. His ways are higher than our ways (Isa 55:8-9), cooperate with Him until He achieves His plans and purposes for our lives and our generation! Amen!
Only those who are not perfected among the saints, will not know the love of God to feel secure to live in satisfaction and thankfulness, but rather in the various level of fear because of sin without confession and repentance (1 John 4:17). There is no fear in love, perfect love of Christ when received and experienced through confession of sins, and attitude of repentance (1 John 1:7, 9; Matt 4:17), will start to break us free from fear of judgment for sin which involves torment. Therefore if we have been fearful of judgment for sin, we have not yet been made perfect in the love of Christ which ought to be so, because of our lethargic attitude towards sin (1 John 4:18). Remember, we do not deserve the least of the goodness of the salvation package we experience, but we are actually experiencing it all because of the Lord who has loved us first which made us love Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior and Friend in return (1 John 4:19). In fact, we have started to love the Lord Jesus Christ, because first He is the one who started to love us even when we do not deserve the least of it because of our sin nature within that made us to continue as enemies of God before we became adopted in to the family of God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:8, 10; Eph 1:5).
In short, how could God who knows that we were his enemies in our sinful nature by birth could still choose to love us and not just stop there with a full stop, but rather could sacrifice his only begotten Son to save us from the wrath of His and even make us one of his adopted family member for eternity (Psa 51:5; John 3:16; Rom 5:9; Eph 3:20)? It is because of His Love towards us that God chose to bless us in His will and purpose through Jesus Christ, even before we could be born he chose us and foreordained us (Jer 1;5; Eph 1:4), at that time when we were in God's mind, we have not done anything good or evil still (Rom 9:11), so that the purpose of God according to the election in which we believed him could be given a chance to become a recipient of his grace, so that we might be able to understand that we are blessed and favored in our life not because of what we have done for God but rather by what He has already done for us, which makes us understand in our life that the God who has called us in to this kind of life is gracious, kind, longsuffering and always ready to be merciful towards us who believed Him (Eph 2:7). Hallelujah!
If ever a saint is in expectation of judgment and raging fire, it is because of fear that has come in to his life through unbelief, worry, sin that make him move away from God, rather than confessing his sin and repenting it to move towards the Lord in humility and fear of the Lord. When the Lord's promise stands to keep secure a believer from condemnation (Rom 8:1), love for sin and for the world and for one's family more than for the Lord will keep them in fear (Rom 6:15; 1 John 2:15-17; Matt 10:37), which makes them continue in fear rather than in "faith acting through love" (Gal 5:6), which further brings "fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God" (Heb 10:27). A certain fearful expectation is only a wrong expectation that has been created in the soul of a back slidden person because of unbelief, rather than in rejoicing through faith and knowing the truth of the great blessings of God that is ahead for eternity which God has in store for even the least of all the saints like them who feel as the worst sinner who have committed unpardonable sin even when they have not (1 Cor 2:9; Matt 11:11). This attitude makes them commit more sin which in turn takes them deeper in to such attitude of hopelessness. The only way out for them is to turn to the Lord in humility and expect the Lord to give them repentance for His Glory. Praise the Lord!
A human is either saved from sin or is still unsaved to remain as unbeliever. There are no in-between, just because a unsaved person is born in a Church or goes to a Church or may even be registered as a member of a Church to pay tithes to it, yet to the Kingdom of Heaven it does not make a difference, until that person starts to repent of sin and look to the Lord Jesus Christ who only has the ability to save him from sin and condemnation that he deserves from the God of justice who has created him or her for His own Glory (1 John 2:19).
Once we are saved, we are saved for eternity of friendship with God through Jesus Christ His Son, through whom we live and breathe and have our new being in the family of God (John 17:3; Acts 17:28). We are saved not to get condemned again because of our sins after we become saved (Rom 8:1), instead we are saved so that we may have no more condemnation and assurance of forgiveness for any of our past, present and future sins for the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 4:32), so that we may continue to do the good works prepared for us by God the Father to do after we are saved (Eph 2:10).
I believe that every believer who is saved, were saved by God and will be kept by God to endure in faith for eternity ahead (John 6:39; 10:27-30; 17:12; Rev 13:8; 17:8).
So the following explanation will show us how God our Father in Heaven sees us from heaven, all of us who are saved, whom He has chosen beforehand to become a member of His family in heaven and on earth:
God sees us the believer as righteous as Jesus Christ is, when He sees us through Him (2 Cor 5:21). God has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph 1:3). God chose us to be His child in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world so that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph 1:4). God has adopted us believers as sons within His family, with predestined purpose of His which is designed according to His own good pleasure to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted to Himself in the Beloved Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior (Eph 1:5-6).
God sees us sealed with the Holy Spirit the moment we believed Jesus Christ by repenting for our sins, this seal will keep us intact from becoming used to the lifestyle of unbelievers until we die and go on to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, so that until the day of rapture comes to resurrect us in our new glorious eternal body to continue as his sons for the rest of eternity, we can have the assurance and guarantee that we are part of the family of God on earth and in heaven too (Eph 1:13-14; Rom 8:14; Eph 3:14-15).
Understand one thing, though we are saved, we will sin as long as we live in this natural body which is influenced by sin nature, and only when we die and leave this natural body, the sin nature will leave us for eternity ahead. In our new glorious metaphysical body, we will have no sin nature and will be guided by the Holy Spirit Himself hundred percentage of time (Rom 6:6; 7:24; 2 Cor 5:1). Though a more sanctified person might sin to some lesser degree, a new born believer or a lesser sanctified person might sin to some greater degree of even some visible external sins of certain kinds. In fact when a person comes to a holier than thou attitude to say that he or she has no sin after being saved, the Bible clearly says that He or She is deceived and the truth is not in him or her (1 John 1:8). If someone says that they have not sinned in their past life at all, then such a person makes God a liar who has declared through his Word that "all men are liars" and "all have sinned and have fallen short of the Glory of God" (Psa 116:11; Rom 3:23). So every believer will have a inner knowing of their unworthiness because of sin and sin nature which is healthy as long as it leads them to thankfulness and praise for what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for them, which has saved them and also sanctifies them more and more, day by day as they live a holy life worthy of praise from God and humans.
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice (Php 4:4), because nothing created in all the universe can separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus towards us, through which God sees and deals with us as sons and not servants for the Glory of God (Rom 8:38-39). Read the following lyrics of the song John Newton (1725-1807), the Former Slaver & Preacher wrote for the Glory of God after God moved in to His life to change it upside down:
Why should I fear the darkest hour,
Or tremble at the tempter’s power?
Jesus vouchsafes to be my tower.
Though hot the fight, why quit the field?
Why must I either fly or yield,
Since Jesus is my mighty shield?
When creature comforts fade and die,
Worldlings may weep, but why should I?
Jesus still lives, and still is nigh.
Though all the flocks and herds were dead,
My soul a famine need not dread,
For Jesus is my living bread.
I know not what may soon betide,
Or how my wants shall be supplied;
But Jesus knows, and will provide.
Though sin would fill me with distress,
The throne of grace I dare address,
For Jesus is my righteousness.
Though faint my prayers and cold my love,
My steadfast hope shall not remove,
While Jesus intercedes above.
Against me earth and hell combine;
But on my side is power divine;
Jesus is all, and He is mine!
IF JESUS IS YOURS, YOUR ALL IN ALL, YOU HAVE ALL YOU NEED FOR ETERNITY AHEAD!!!
IF YOU ARE SAVED AND YOU ARE GLAD ABOUT IT, SHOW IT IN YOUR FACE!
IF YOU ARE SAVED AND YOU ARE STILL MISERABLE WHETHER YOU ARE SAVED, HOLD ON TO GOD AND HIS PROMISES, AND DEPART FROM FEAR AND WORRY BECAUSE OF SINS TIDE, THOUGH IT MIGHT TRY TO OVERWHELM YOU WITH ITS EVIL POWER, REMEMBER IT IS JESUS WHO has SAVED YOU, AND IT IS HE WHO WILL KEEP YOU TO THE END!
Answer: Greetings in Jesus mighty name!
Here are the verses Heb 10:26-31, "26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
Because the verse says “The LORD will judge His people,” I fully agree that this above verse speaks about believers who are in danger of punishment who choose to lethargically trample the Son of God underfoot by voluntarily sinning against God, and thus count the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insult the Spirit of grace. God expects voluntary gratefulness for all the good things a person receives as his child. There is nothing unusual in this sort of behavior from a believer when his love for sin becomes more than the love for God, he will have neither thankfulness for what he has already received from the hand of God, nor will have praise looking forward in faith for God to unfold the promises He has given to them personally. He will start to live a life unlike the life of holiness he is called by God to live as His children (1 Pet 1:16).
When it comes to playing with sin, God has no favorites, he deals sin in the life of His adversaries in the same way he deals it in the life of His children first (1 Pet 4:17). If we think that God is not serious about punishing us for our sins, then look at Jesus who became a sinless substitute of sacrifice for our sins, God left him on the Cross to bleed to death for our sins even though he cried out for God's help, there was no response from Him at that point of time as Jesus Christ the very Son of God the Creator of all the heaven and earth was forsaken for a moment of time from the very presence of God for our sins (Isa 53:1-12; Matt 27:46; Isa 54:7-10).
Look at Jesus, though Jesus Christ was received in to heaven after his death with open arms by God the Father who raised Him from the dead through His Spirit, yet he has to suffer in the flesh on earth to learn obedience to God (Heb 9:24; 5:7-8; Eph 1:20-21,22). Likewise we are called to follow Jesus and suffer for God for no other reason except following God which makes Satan and his demons hate us to inflict suffering in his pursuit to make God suffer as He loves his children so very much even more than his own life (1 Pet 2:21-23). But regarding the suffering that comes to us in this world for our own faults, even though it has no value of commendation before God, a person who is convicted by truth and agrees to confess sin as sin to God and to people will show the character of honesty which lies within them, as the children of God have the restored image of God and his character which lies within them to make them accept their own fault which God commends as the truth.
If We Sin Willfully?
The phrase "If we sin willfully", is a unique phrase that God has revealed in His word to denote to make us understand that as believers we can be tempted by the self, Satan and flesh to make poor choices to follow its whims and fancies that has the potential to make us suddenly forsake the narrow way and choose the broad way of the world to embrace it, and thus forsake the love of our Father in heaven just like the prodigal son did in his life (1 John 2:15-17; Luke 15:11-32). To embrace the broad way of the world is to live in unbelief by doing nothing but accept the soulish leading of sin, self and Satan. And daring to walk through the narrow way is to live in faith by hearing the word of God and believing it more and more to become established in it by carrying our own cross that God has given to us to break our self and walk in dependence on Him (Rom 10:17; Matt 7:13-14; Luke 9:23-26).
God helps us receive the knowledge of the truth that we are sinners in need of the Savior, then relishes us when we hold the truth and walk in it to accept ourselves as sinners and begin to confess all of our sins to Him and become cleansed by the blood of Jesus as often as possible, this is the only thanks and praise offering we can offer Him now so that it can be a soothing aroma to the Lord constantly (1 John 1:7, 9; Heb 13:14-15).
If we choose to walk in darkness of the world again by rejecting the way of the Cross by failing to confess our sins to God by repentance and instead hide ourselves in our sin to get accustomed to the passing pleasures of this world, flesh and Satan, then we as a person must understand and, "Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God and treated his cleansing blood as though it were common and unhallowed, and insulted and outraged the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to his people" (Heb 10:29, LB). Here we see God tests every believer whether he or she does have reverence towards the blood of Jesus which has sanctified them, or by choosing not to confess their sins to Jesus Christ to let themselves be cleansed by it to walk in the light of God, or they let themselves continue in sin without repentance to consider sanctification as a common thing to insult the Spirit of Grace who has made them to walk in sanctification through confession of their sins and cleansing from it to be made possible in their lives (1 John 1:9; Prov 28:13). Mercy is God giving us not what we deserve, in other words, as sinners we deserve hell fire, but God in his mercy has chosen to given heaven. We deserve to receive the wages of sin as sinners which is separation from God for eternity, but thank God for his mercy, God gave us instead the gift of God which is eternal life of friendship in Christ Jesus our Lord which starts now and continues for eternity (Rom 6:23). Hallelujah! What a glory! We deserve curses for our sins we have done and still do some in our thought life and still others in our actions, but thank God for His mercy which endures forever (Psa 136:1), but thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord who took our curses upon Himself and instead have paved a way for us to receive all the blessings of God through our faith in Him (Gal 3:13-14). Praise the Lord!
Because Vengeance is God's domain, When Will The Lord Judge His People?
Vengeance is a strong word, which means in Greek 'ekdikesis', "(that which proceeds) out of justice," not, as often with human "vengeance," out of a sense of injury or merely out of a feeling of indignation. But rather the word is most frequently used of Divine "vengeance," e.g., Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30, which clearly shows that God's judgment is always impartial and applies to all equally out of His sense of justice and not just out of His indignation. God has no favorites and God shows no partiality to anyone, even his own children and that is why God allowed His only begotten Son to die on the Cross of Calvary for the sins of world so that out of those who believe and become His children can be justified by Him and shown favor for a lifetime (Acts 10:34).
The judgments of God are always holy and right (Rev 16:7), and free from any element of self-gratification or vindictiveness. That is why God reveals through His apostle Paul the greatest secret of the whole truth about how he has made us who are born sinners to become saintly children of His by saying, God "...made [i.e. Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor 5:21). In other words, when God sees a believer in Christ Jesus, He sees a saint who is as righteous as God is through Jesus Christ. Further the Bible reveals, that the God who has forgiven all our sins of the past, present and future in Christ Jesus (Eph 4:32), and have chosen to remember it no more against us (Heb 10:17), says that because of what has happened within his mind because of Christ Jesus towards us who believe, "1 So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 For the power of the life-giving Spirit--and this power is mine through Christ Jesus—has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death. 3 We aren't saved from sin's grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can't and don't keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours--except that ours are sinful—and destroyed sin's control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 So now we can obey God's laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us." (Rom 8:1-4, LB). Hallelujah! GLORY TO GOD!
Now that our Lord Jesus Christ is judged on the tree by becoming a curse for us already (Gen 3:13), God does not take directly vengeance upon us now because we cannot be condemned for us sins anymore, but rather He chastises us as his dearly beloved children first when we continue in certain habits of sin that withholds us from growing in our spiritual life which He expects us to grow and become like Jesus Christ our forerunner (Heb 12:3-11; 6:20). So we should not become weary and get discouraged in our souls thinking God is angry at us when we are chastised, even after we have believed Jesus Christ and got saved from all sins. No the scenario is just the opposite, because God wants us to become overcomers over sin to resist its power and do not want us to become stunted without spiritual growth, because of His love towards us He chooses to chastise us so that we can become partakers of His holiness and be profited by it for eternity ahead. God sees the long term blessings which will stay with us forever more, so we should not focus on our short term comfort on earth and become disappointed with God. His ways are higher than our ways (Isa 55:8-9), cooperate with Him until He achieves His plans and purposes for our lives and our generation! Amen!
Are The Saints In Expectation Of Judgment And Raging Fire?
Only those who are not perfected among the saints, will not know the love of God to feel secure to live in satisfaction and thankfulness, but rather in the various level of fear because of sin without confession and repentance (1 John 4:17). There is no fear in love, perfect love of Christ when received and experienced through confession of sins, and attitude of repentance (1 John 1:7, 9; Matt 4:17), will start to break us free from fear of judgment for sin which involves torment. Therefore if we have been fearful of judgment for sin, we have not yet been made perfect in the love of Christ which ought to be so, because of our lethargic attitude towards sin (1 John 4:18). Remember, we do not deserve the least of the goodness of the salvation package we experience, but we are actually experiencing it all because of the Lord who has loved us first which made us love Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior and Friend in return (1 John 4:19). In fact, we have started to love the Lord Jesus Christ, because first He is the one who started to love us even when we do not deserve the least of it because of our sin nature within that made us to continue as enemies of God before we became adopted in to the family of God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:8, 10; Eph 1:5).
In short, how could God who knows that we were his enemies in our sinful nature by birth could still choose to love us and not just stop there with a full stop, but rather could sacrifice his only begotten Son to save us from the wrath of His and even make us one of his adopted family member for eternity (Psa 51:5; John 3:16; Rom 5:9; Eph 3:20)? It is because of His Love towards us that God chose to bless us in His will and purpose through Jesus Christ, even before we could be born he chose us and foreordained us (Jer 1;5; Eph 1:4), at that time when we were in God's mind, we have not done anything good or evil still (Rom 9:11), so that the purpose of God according to the election in which we believed him could be given a chance to become a recipient of his grace, so that we might be able to understand that we are blessed and favored in our life not because of what we have done for God but rather by what He has already done for us, which makes us understand in our life that the God who has called us in to this kind of life is gracious, kind, longsuffering and always ready to be merciful towards us who believed Him (Eph 2:7). Hallelujah!
If ever a saint is in expectation of judgment and raging fire, it is because of fear that has come in to his life through unbelief, worry, sin that make him move away from God, rather than confessing his sin and repenting it to move towards the Lord in humility and fear of the Lord. When the Lord's promise stands to keep secure a believer from condemnation (Rom 8:1), love for sin and for the world and for one's family more than for the Lord will keep them in fear (Rom 6:15; 1 John 2:15-17; Matt 10:37), which makes them continue in fear rather than in "faith acting through love" (Gal 5:6), which further brings "fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God" (Heb 10:27). A certain fearful expectation is only a wrong expectation that has been created in the soul of a back slidden person because of unbelief, rather than in rejoicing through faith and knowing the truth of the great blessings of God that is ahead for eternity which God has in store for even the least of all the saints like them who feel as the worst sinner who have committed unpardonable sin even when they have not (1 Cor 2:9; Matt 11:11). This attitude makes them commit more sin which in turn takes them deeper in to such attitude of hopelessness. The only way out for them is to turn to the Lord in humility and expect the Lord to give them repentance for His Glory. Praise the Lord!
Here Are God's Thoughts Towards Us His Children
A human is either saved from sin or is still unsaved to remain as unbeliever. There are no in-between, just because a unsaved person is born in a Church or goes to a Church or may even be registered as a member of a Church to pay tithes to it, yet to the Kingdom of Heaven it does not make a difference, until that person starts to repent of sin and look to the Lord Jesus Christ who only has the ability to save him from sin and condemnation that he deserves from the God of justice who has created him or her for His own Glory (1 John 2:19).
Once we are saved, we are saved for eternity of friendship with God through Jesus Christ His Son, through whom we live and breathe and have our new being in the family of God (John 17:3; Acts 17:28). We are saved not to get condemned again because of our sins after we become saved (Rom 8:1), instead we are saved so that we may have no more condemnation and assurance of forgiveness for any of our past, present and future sins for the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 4:32), so that we may continue to do the good works prepared for us by God the Father to do after we are saved (Eph 2:10).
I believe that every believer who is saved, were saved by God and will be kept by God to endure in faith for eternity ahead (John 6:39; 10:27-30; 17:12; Rev 13:8; 17:8).
So the following explanation will show us how God our Father in Heaven sees us from heaven, all of us who are saved, whom He has chosen beforehand to become a member of His family in heaven and on earth:
God sees us the believer as righteous as Jesus Christ is, when He sees us through Him (2 Cor 5:21). God has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph 1:3). God chose us to be His child in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world so that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph 1:4). God has adopted us believers as sons within His family, with predestined purpose of His which is designed according to His own good pleasure to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted to Himself in the Beloved Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior (Eph 1:5-6).
God sees us sealed with the Holy Spirit the moment we believed Jesus Christ by repenting for our sins, this seal will keep us intact from becoming used to the lifestyle of unbelievers until we die and go on to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, so that until the day of rapture comes to resurrect us in our new glorious eternal body to continue as his sons for the rest of eternity, we can have the assurance and guarantee that we are part of the family of God on earth and in heaven too (Eph 1:13-14; Rom 8:14; Eph 3:14-15).
Understand one thing, though we are saved, we will sin as long as we live in this natural body which is influenced by sin nature, and only when we die and leave this natural body, the sin nature will leave us for eternity ahead. In our new glorious metaphysical body, we will have no sin nature and will be guided by the Holy Spirit Himself hundred percentage of time (Rom 6:6; 7:24; 2 Cor 5:1). Though a more sanctified person might sin to some lesser degree, a new born believer or a lesser sanctified person might sin to some greater degree of even some visible external sins of certain kinds. In fact when a person comes to a holier than thou attitude to say that he or she has no sin after being saved, the Bible clearly says that He or She is deceived and the truth is not in him or her (1 John 1:8). If someone says that they have not sinned in their past life at all, then such a person makes God a liar who has declared through his Word that "all men are liars" and "all have sinned and have fallen short of the Glory of God" (Psa 116:11; Rom 3:23). So every believer will have a inner knowing of their unworthiness because of sin and sin nature which is healthy as long as it leads them to thankfulness and praise for what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for them, which has saved them and also sanctifies them more and more, day by day as they live a holy life worthy of praise from God and humans.
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice (Php 4:4), because nothing created in all the universe can separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus towards us, through which God sees and deals with us as sons and not servants for the Glory of God (Rom 8:38-39). Read the following lyrics of the song John Newton (1725-1807), the Former Slaver & Preacher wrote for the Glory of God after God moved in to His life to change it upside down:
Why should I fear the darkest hour,
Or tremble at the tempter’s power?
Jesus vouchsafes to be my tower.
Though hot the fight, why quit the field?
Why must I either fly or yield,
Since Jesus is my mighty shield?
When creature comforts fade and die,
Worldlings may weep, but why should I?
Jesus still lives, and still is nigh.
Though all the flocks and herds were dead,
My soul a famine need not dread,
For Jesus is my living bread.
I know not what may soon betide,
Or how my wants shall be supplied;
But Jesus knows, and will provide.
Though sin would fill me with distress,
The throne of grace I dare address,
For Jesus is my righteousness.
Though faint my prayers and cold my love,
My steadfast hope shall not remove,
While Jesus intercedes above.
Against me earth and hell combine;
But on my side is power divine;
Jesus is all, and He is mine!
IF JESUS IS YOURS, YOUR ALL IN ALL, YOU HAVE ALL YOU NEED FOR ETERNITY AHEAD!!!
IF YOU ARE SAVED AND YOU ARE GLAD ABOUT IT, SHOW IT IN YOUR FACE!
IF YOU ARE SAVED AND YOU ARE STILL MISERABLE WHETHER YOU ARE SAVED, HOLD ON TO GOD AND HIS PROMISES, AND DEPART FROM FEAR AND WORRY BECAUSE OF SINS TIDE, THOUGH IT MIGHT TRY TO OVERWHELM YOU WITH ITS EVIL POWER, REMEMBER IT IS JESUS WHO has SAVED YOU, AND IT IS HE WHO WILL KEEP YOU TO THE END!
Much Blessings.....
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