Rediscover the Gospel

OBJECTIONS AGAINST ETERNAL SALVATION (PART VIII)

Romans 11:16-24 (The Severity of God)

Romans 11:16–24 (NKJV)16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

Whenever I tell people about God’s goodness and love, there is almost always someone calling for balance and saying I should also preach on His severity. Then they quote Verse 22 from Romans 11: “You see, God is kind, good, but He’s also severe, so watch yourself! He has given you a chance to repent, but now you must prove you were worth it by getting your life in order, otherwise it’s the end for you!” And we wonder why unbelievers don’t get excited about this so-called Gospel! This passage, especially Verse 22, raises these questions: Who is the apostle Paul addressing? What does it mean to be “cut off”? What is the significance of the condition “if you continue in His goodness”? Many believers contend Paul is talking here to individual Christians who can be cut off from their salvation if they do not continue to live faithfully. However, let’s see together why this is not true!

First, if we look at the context, the passage itself may, at first glance, appear to be contradictory. For how could the apostle Paul write of branches being cut off in Verse 22 and then, in the same breath, turn around and say that the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable in Verse 29? Which of the statements is real? Is Paul telling us a Christian can lose his salvation, or is he talking about something else? Second, who are the “they” that were broken off, and who are the “you” that were grafted in? Paul is not speaking about individuals, and he is not speaking about the church as a whole either. He is talking about two groups of people—Jews and Gentiles:

Romans 11:13 (NKJV)13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.

The nation of Israel, as a community, was ”cut off,” and the Gentiles, as a group, were grafted in. The Jews had been shown favor from the Lord, but they did not accept it (although certain individual Jews had, such as Paul himself and the apostles of Jesus). God reached out to the Jews in love, but they gave Him the cold shoulder, and now His favor is extended to the Gentiles. God desires to bless everyone, but not everyone receives His blessing. The reason for “being cut off” or for “the severity of God” being manifested toward them, was not their low level of holiness and good deeds but their unbelief in Jesus. The Jews tried to earn His favor as a group and were cut off. That sounds like divine judgment, as though God were rejecting them. But look at what Paul says:

Romans 11:1, 2, 11, 20 (NKJV) 1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! ...2God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew...11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! ...20 Well said. Because ...

This twelfth session of "The New Creation Series" depicts 2 more things that are part of the new creation's inheritance: (1) divine prosperity and success; (2) freedom from generational curses.

The eighteenth session of the "Divine Healing Series" concludes the discussion about spiritual violence by teaching how to develop a tenacity of faith. Then, a new big chapter commences on the main law of the Kingdom of God and that is: sowing the seed of the Word of God and the different types of grounds on which it falls.

The Conscience and the Law of Moses

Here we arrive to a major point that can change your relationship with God in a significant way if you understand this concept properly. The reason why God gave the Law was to bring your conscience back to a proper place, to the way that God intended it to function; back to the standard of God. The Law was an attempt to ”reset” and recalibrate the conscience. This was the purpose of the Law, namely The Ten Commandments. However, religion has missed the point and has propagated the idea that the reason God said “you shall not do this and that,” was because He wanted you to fulfill and obey all these commands, in order for you to be right with Him. But nobody can keep the Law. Nobody has ever kept the Law. That might be a radical statement to many people. Some of you may still think that God gave the Law to people so that they would keep it. It’s not true. You can never keep the Law. The Law was not given for you to keep. The Law was given to show you God’s standard of morality and perfection. If you yield to it, instantly it will cause your conscience to start functioning right, it would calibrate and tune your “internal moral monitoring system.”

Imagine yourself for a moment as standing in quicksand and sinking and having everybody else around you in the same quicksand. If everybody is sinking at the same rate, most of those people will not notice it and the sinking rate will be relative, because everybody compares themselves with the others. However, if you have a pillar on solid ground with markers on it, even though everybody is sinking at the same rate, you can look at that pole and realize: “I am sinking, this is getting serious.” In this case, you have a fixed and immovable reference point. In the same way, the Law with the Ten Commandments was God’s immovable standard of right and wrong, and the reason God gave it was to re-activate your conscience and bring you back to where you would not have a dull, evil, and defiled conscience anymore, or a conscience that has been skewed by comparing yourself with other people.

The Law was given to show you right and wrong, and to condemn you. The Law was not given to set you free, but to condemn you.

2 Corinthians 3:7–9 (NKJV)

7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,

8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

The Ten Commandments were the only ones written and engraved in stones as this is mentioned in verse 7. Those Ten Commandments are called the ministry of death in verse 7 and the ministry of condemnation in verse 9. In the New Testament, Jesus came to give us life and Satan came to give us death:

John 10:10 (NKJV)

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

In the New Testament, Jesus made you free of condemnation, but the devil and your conscience continue to condemn you. The conscience is like a robot that knows only good and evil. The conscience knows only when you sinned, but it doesn’t know about the higher wisdom and righteousness of God in Christ that have already removed those sins that the conscience is condemning you with:

Romans 8:1 (NKJV)

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Jesus, Who fulfilled all the Law, and Whose life was in complete unison with the Law, is not condemning you when you sin; yet the Law condemns you and it has always been a ministry of condemnation. Jesus is not the One condemning you when you sin, but your conscience fueled by the Law.

1 Corinthians 15:56 (NKJV)

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.

This passage tells us that sin produces death and that the strength of sin is the Law. Before I talk about sin and the Law, I would like to explain a little about what does sting of death mean. I personally didn’t understand this expression for years and I am sure that there are other Christians in the same situation. How does death sting people, including believers, through sin and what does that mean practi...

Introduction

Hebrews 3:7–4:16 (NKJV)7Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice,8Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness,9Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years.10Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’11So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”12Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.14For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,15while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”16For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?17Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?18And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? (God’s purpose was not just to get them out of Egypt, but to get them into an inheritance, into His rest) 19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. 4:1Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.2For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.4For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;5and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”6Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,7again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”8For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.9There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.11Let us therefore be diligent (make every effort, work) to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.12For the word of God is living and powerful (active), and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.13And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.14Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.15For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.16Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God promises Abraham 700 years in advance that the people of his seed will go through slavery in Egypt, but then will be brought out and taken to the promised land. And then God sends Moses to the people in captivity to bring them this good news, to preach the gospel to them about a promised land flowing with milk and honey into which they will go and enter. They will live in houses they did not build and eat from vines they did not plant. Great news! It sounded too good to be true.

What happened? They came out of Egypt’s captivity and in how many days did they reach Kadesh-Barnea? In 11 days (Deuteronomy 1:2). After 400 years of slavery, God wanted them in the promised land in 11 days. So, these spies go and inspect the la...