Recently, I have left a few long comments on a website's post. In that post, the writer (a sister in Christ) mentioned about the division among Christians and some "Christians" falling away from the faith. I would like to share my thoughts here, too :). Here's part of my comments:-
True Christ's followers bear good fruit and have a heart that wants to please God. It is sad but true that some people call themselves "Christians" but continue to live in sin and do whatever they're pleased (neglecting what God says). I believe they just consider "salvation" as a fire insurance. In fact, they have never been born again.
It's a matter of the heart. Ultimately, only God knows who is saved and who is not. I am not one to judge anyone's salvation. I just share what I have observed: some say the sinner's prayer...without true repentance...without genuine desire to die to self and to live in Christ.
John 15:1-8 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 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. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. 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. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples."
After I left my comment, she asked what I think of people who fall away from the faith and live in the world again for a season like how Peter denied Christ .
My answer: Peter denied Christ with his lips out of fear, but he never denied Christ in his heart. Matthew 26:75 "And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly." (showing repentance). I believe Peter never stopped believing in Jesus and loving Him. After Jesus Christ's resurrection, He asked Peter three times whether Peter loved Him. Each time Peter replied that he loved Jesus, Jesus said, "Feed My Sheep." (John 21:15-19) Amazingly, Jesus not only offered Peter forgiveness and love, but He also commissioned Peter for ministry. We, like Peter, have failed God at one time or another; yet God's amazing grace and His compassion are overwhelming. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9) (Added note: In my opinion, Peter had never fallen away from the faith.) By the way, failing or struggling does not mean one is not saved. Paul struggled (Romans 7:18-20). We all do fail, struggle, and/or make wrong choices at times.
Now let's look at 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, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 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." The prime example of this is Judas Iscariot. I John 2:19 says about the antiChrists, "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." From us, but not of us!
What do I think of people who fall away from the faith and live in the world again for a season? God is outside of time. He knows who is His and who is not. He does not turn a switch on/off (saved/not saved). It is the attitudes of the heart. Failing, struggling, or making wrong choices are different than falling away from the faith/ turning your back on God/ ongoing rejection of the Holy Spirit/ denying the deity of Christ/ keeping on sinning continually. It goes back to the question whether those people were truly saved in the first place. The Bible says that no one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him and he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. The Bible also says that no one who lives in Him keeps on sinning and no one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. This refers to an ongoing sinning/living in darkness. "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." (I John 3:10) "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (I John 2:15-16)
We are saved by grace through faith unto good works (Ephesians 2:8-10) Saving faith will produce good works. |
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Sunday, November 23, 2008 - Hi Urailak,
I never thought about this.
What awesome insight. PTL
Blessings,
Michelle@JourneyHome