Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends.
I hope you are doing well today, wherever you are around the world. You might be surprised to know that people in 160 countries, and over 5000 cities are with us on this daily “Walking with Jesus” journey, and yet you probably listen to my voice privately. That is part of the amazement of the technology available to us these days.
So, let’s rejoin our friend, the apostle Peter, as he is explaining some very important things to us about how to actually ‘walk with Jesus’ in our confusing and wicked world.
Peter is writing from Rome, about the year 67ad, and led by the Holy Spirit, Peter is writing to Christians all across the Roman empire in the first century, but have you seen how his words are very, very appropriate for you and me today, 2000 years later? How is that possible? That’s the miracle of the Word of God as described in Hebrews 4:12!
Peter is addressing a problem that has haunted the Christian movement from the days of Jesus. What problem? The problem of people, who are apparently Christians, wandering away from their faith in God, or in some cases defiantly turning their back on God and on their faith!
Many people wonder how Judas, one of the 12 disciples, could actually reject Jesus by betraying Him to those who arrested Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, after Judas had been personally chosen by Jesus to be one of His disciples, and they’d spent nearly 3 years together? Other people wonder how Peter, another of the disciples and a friend of Jesus, could actually deny that he even knew Jesus, not once but three times, while Peter sat in the courtyard of the High Priest’s home where Jesus was being interrogated, only an hour or two after they were together in that upper room Passover meal, which John describes in John 13-18.
Over the past few days, we’ve been discussing the power of the human free will God has given to every person. God has given each of us the ability to think, to reason, to make choices, to act on those choices and to live with the consequences of our choices. Most people find their choices are driven more by their emotions and their relationships with other people, than by their clear thinking, isn’t that true?You may remember that the apostle Paul writes about this problem regarding one of his dear friends Demas who had abandoned Paul. Paul wrote to Timothy: “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me…” (2 Timothy 4:10). Evidently Mr. Demas was unwilling to live the difficult life Paul lived, suffering persecution for being a follower of Jesus, and Demas succumbed to the attraction of the party life or the unethical life the world offers.
Paul challenged Timothy to hold tightly to his Christian faith, as he wrote this about two other men who once had been with Paul in his spiritual work: “hold on to the faith with a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have given over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.” (1 Timothy 1:19,20)
What do you think Paul was saying here? Clearly these two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, had once been partners with Paul in both living and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet they had yielded to great temptations of the devil, including the temptation to blaspheme God and reject their faith in God. Paul seems to be saying he was no longer battling in prayer for these men or debating with these men, but rather Paul had released these two men to pursue their sin of rebellion against God. Now, why would Paul do that, giving up on his former partners in Christian ministry? I believe so they would experience the terrifying results of abandoning their relationship with God and aligning themselves with the devil.
Now think about that a moment, friends. You’ve probably seen this happen. You probably know someone who once was attempting to live a God honoring life, claiming they were a Christian who enjoyed reading the Bible, and enjoyed prayer and worship, and welcomed fellowship with other Christians. But over time, their heart seemed to be drawn away from all they enjoyed, and their Bible sits now under a pile of dust, and they haven’t been with Christians friends in worship in a long time.
In so doing they quench the efforts of the Holy Spirit to draw them back to God and they experience the increasing spiritual emptiness in their lives, and if they are honest with themselves, they are feeling the fear of their growing separation from God. God has not pushed them away; they have pushed God away. They are beginning to taste what Jesus meant when He used the word ‘perish‘. (John 3:16, 10:28) Peter also used this word in 2 Peter 3:9. ‘PERISH’ is a terrifying word, it means eternal separation from God!I think Paul’s hope was that in this empty lifestyle, which grows increasingly dark spiritually, these two men, Hymenaus and Alexander, who formerly had enjoyed friendship with Paul and fellowship with many other Christ followers, would begin to experience the terrifying reality of estrangement from God and His people, and they would hunger for restoration of their relationship with God.
Of course, that would require their repentance. But it would also require God’s willingness to forgive them and reconcile them back to Himself and restore them to full Holy Spirit indwelt relationship with God the Father, God the Son Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. But could that ever happen?
That, my friends, is the big, underlying question, isn’t it? Is it possible Judas or Peter or Demas or Hymenaus or Alexander or anyone else could go so far in their yielding to the devil’s temptations, or in their rejection of God, that they would reach a place of defiance that God would be UNWILLING to receive their repentance? That God would refuse to apply the atonement death of Jesus to their sinful rebellion? And God would refuse to forgive their sin of rebellion, and God would refuse to restore them into relationship with God once again?
Is it possible God would GIVE UP and permanently REJECT a rebellious person who once had been in His family, once had fully trusted Jesus to be their Savior, once had experienced the Holy Spirit in their lives, yet had turned away from God?
Does our salvation, our membership in God’s family, our citizenship in the kingdom of God, DEPEND upon our meeting certain standards of behavior or attitudes or even words? Does our salvation DEPEND upon our doing certain religious rituals with a particular frequency or in a particular place? Is it dependent upon our paying a certain amount of money or praying with a certain number of prayers?
WHAT, my friends, WHAT are the requirements of God for us to REMAIN in His family AFTER we have fully trusted Jesus to be our Savior and God has done all the work in transforming our lives; forgiving our sins; birthing a new, holy, spiritual nature in us; placing His Holy Spirit to live in us; writing our name in His book of life; and adopting us as His son or daughter? What, my friends, is your answer to THAT question? You might need to re-read the question, and your answer is eternally significant!
You see, the question is NOT has someone who has turned away from God lost or negated or undone their Jesus earned, God given salvation. Oh no. That is not possible, for we cannot ever undo the irreversible regeneration work of God which was earned through the atonement death of Jesus and accomplished in us by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit deep within our soul and spirit. No human being can undo this life transforming miracle of God. Oh, we can disregard it, we can reject it, we can refuse to believe it, but we cannot UNDO or REVERSE the salvation miracle of God! God is OMNIPOTENT, His power is far, far superior to any other power He ever created… human or angelic.
The life and death question is this:
Will God REFUSE to reconcile back to Himself someone who has turned away from God?
Will God refuse to restore into holy relationship with Himself the person who has turned away from God or even blasphemed God by renouncing his salvation accomplished by God?
We’re going to pause right here so you can ponder that, and I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow to answer that question.
Today’s Scripture is 2 Peter 2:20,21 & 1 Timothy 1:20.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
1 Timothy 1:20
| |
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.