Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of commercials for Zion's Torah. The primary purpose
of the giving of the written law to the children of Israel
was not to enable them to live happy lives by abiding by these
commandments, but rather to reveal to them their total inability
as sinners to even begin to keep them or to measure up to the
righteousness which is demanded by these laws. Yet multitudes
in all ages have in one fashion or another taught that men can
earn the favor of God by a conscientious adherence to his precepts. A
misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of the law is at
the heart of the error of conditionalism. Conditionalism is the idea that
men can merit the favor and blessings of God by performance of the
various duties which the children of God are exhorted to do. The
other side of the coin is that they will forfeit the benefits
and blessings of God if they fail to live up to these standards.
This line of thought appeals to men and is a comforting sort
of mindset to the religious man who would go about to establish
his own righteousness. Yet to the man who is convinced
of his own sin by the quickening work of the Holy Ghost, compounded
by the revelation of his own inability to meet these demands,
the law appears a dreadful thing and one which drives him to Christ
for mercy. And so the true purpose of the
law is fulfilled. The blessings and benefits which
are visited upon the sons of God are bestowed upon them by
promise, and purchased and secured by the work of Christ in the
behalf of His elect children. Because these blessings are granted
to the children of God by promise, then there is nothing that can
be either earned by their obedience nor forfeited by their disobedience.
that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. The saints of God
persevere because they are preserved. We must not confuse this order
or we embrace a legalism which would overturn what I would call
the law or principle of necessity. The law of necessity says that
whatever God has predestined to occur must of necessity take
place. This includes not just the major
events that we might witness, but all of the minor events that
take place in order to produce the major ones. If we are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them, then
of necessity the children of God shall walk in good works.
If he has ordained that we must, through much tribulation, enter
into the kingdom of God, then you can rest assured that all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
These things must come to pass. In order to understand what the
Bible means when it says if we sin willfully, we must look to
the context of the passage in order to determine what sin he
is speaking of. It is obvious that he cannot
be speaking of any and all sin, since John has clearly stated,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. So unless he is contradicting
himself, he cannot be speaking of any and all sin, but rather
a specific type of sin, which is defined as being the transgression
of the law, which literally means a total disregard or despising
of the law. The sons of God cannot despise
nor disregard His work, because they are born again by His Spirit,
and would be contrary to their own calling and His work in them.
The willful sin of which the writer of Hebrews is speaking
is a disregard and disdain of the sacrifice of Christ. This
is the exact same sin that is defined in Hebrews 6, 4 through
6, which is impossible to be repented of. It is clearly the
rejection of Christ as a sin substitute. If a man should turn
from Christ, then he would have no grounds upon which to expect
repentance, faith, or any sort of acceptance with the Father.
It is an impossibility that those who are born again by the Spirit
of God and caused to hear the voice of the shepherd should
or could ever deny the very grounds upon which their whole hope rests.
The power of the sons of God to stand and not fall is not
an ability which they possess or exercise, but rather is a
gift bestowed upon them as he keeps them from falling according
to his purpose. He would have to deny his own
purpose of redemption in order for one of them to ever perish.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. The law of necessity
ordains admonitions as a means whereby to teach and exhort the
sons of God to recognize their own continued reliance upon him
until they reach their desired haven. It is in these teachings
that they are made to tremble in consideration of their own
weakness, and magnify His name because of the hope that He has
placed within their bosoms, and the present working of His Spirit
in them. For Christ hath also once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
If you would like a free transcript of this broadcast, email us at
forthepoor at windstream.net.