Andy Woods - Soteriology 36: OSAS & Romans 8:13

chapter 8 verse 13 and we're continuing to sort of navigate through these shark-infested waters of eternal security of course by now you know that eternal security is the idea that the grace that saved you is the grace that keeps you so if that's true forfeiture of your salvation is impossible and we've gone through several arguments about thirteen of them that teach security and most people stop their series at that point and that's why there's so much acrimony on this because we don't really we just shout verses back and forth against each other we don't really know how to interact with the other side's verses so we're actually taking this step a bit further and this is a little bit longer of a treatment than you would usually get on this subject where we're actually interacting with the passages that at first glance make it look like you can lose your salvation so we've looked at a bunch of passages from the Old Testament several passages from Matthew including the so called unpardonable sin past is from John passages from acts such as the conversion of Simon the sorcerer and then last week we looked at passages from Paul we looked at Galatians 5:4 where it says you've been severed from Christ and I try to show you what I think that means and you have fallen from grace and then we looked at the so-called household codes or it's it mentions a bunch of sins 'men it says those that live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God there's about four of those so we went through those and tried to show you that none of none of them really deny the security of the believer when rightly understood so we're continuing to move through Paul and some passages that are sometimes used to deny security one of them is Romans 8:13 which says for if you are living according to the flesh you must die [Music] but if you but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body you will live so you look at a verse like that and it says basically to the believer because these are people that have the spirit you'll notice the word spirit there that if you go back to the flesh you will die and it's kind of a side note a lot of people today are arguing that we are one natured as Christians the reformed camp says that over and over again that we're not - natured and frankly I don't believe that that's true I think that we are dual natured in the sense that the Holy Spirit comes inside of me and I receive the new nature at the point of faith alone in Christ alone but have you noticed that the old nature doesn't wither away and die it's always there to return - now we don't have to return to it but we certainly can return to it so we are very much dual natured in that sense and we don't become single natured until I'm out of this body which would be glorification so as long as I'm in this body I have the potential of going back to the sin nature almost at will and God has given me certain resources where I don't have to do that but you'll notice that it says here in Romans 8:13 if you go back to the sin nature which is the Sark's or the flesh then it says you will die and people that deny eternal security say will die means you lose your salvation but I don't think that's what it means here it's not talking about a loss of salvation it's in actuality talking about the reality of a deathlike existence as a consequence of being temporarily separated from the joys and blessings of walking in fellowship with God so when I go back to the sin nature and I live in the sin nature and I don't confess my sins to God basically I'm still saved positionally but my fellowship with God has been broken so I may be pleasing to God positionally but the moment-by-moment intimacy and walk with God practically I'm displeasing to him it's just like a relationship a marriage for example you know I can offend my wife she can offend me you know but we're still married right positionally but until I confess whatever I said that hurt hurt her or vice versa the fellowship the intimacy in the marriage would still exist is largely broken so that's basically what returning to the sin nature does in the life of the Christian and that's the death that he's speaking of here it's not eternal death it's a death like existence and you're sort of cut off from joys and blessing of walking in fellowship with God and what you'll discover is is the Bible trick or the New Testament warns us over and over again of this death like existence just a few verses you might notice the book of James James has a quite a bit to say about this James is really misunderstood to understand the book of James you have to you have to understand that he's writing to believers that have the spirit and people want to turn James into a test of whether a person is saved and that's not the point at James at all they clearly have the spirit chapter 4 verse 5 says that but he's warning them about if you go back to the flesh you will die in the sense that your fellowship with God will be broken James 1:15 says then when lust conceives it gives birth to death and with sin is accomplished it brings forth death so there can be death even in the life of the Christian who is eternally secure in terms of fellowship James 5:20 says virtually the same thing it says let him know that he who turns a sinner from error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins so if God uses you to turn someone a fellow believer away from the sin nature you're sparing him from death not positional but practical the Apostle Paul talks a lot about this idea over in first Timothy chapter 5 and verse 6 it says but he it's talking about the widow but she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives so the only thing she really has that this person given over to wanton pleasures she has momentary pleasure which sin does bring but she's dead even while she lives she can't and as long as she's in that state she can't enjoy moment-by-moment intimacy with God over in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15 verse 24 he says for this son of mine this is the prodigal son remember for the son of mine was dead and has come back to life he was lost and has been found and they began to celebrate and your typical interpretation of the prodigal son is it's an unbeliever that gets saved that's how most people preach that and that's the prodigal coming home well let me ask you a question if it's an unbeliever getting saved how is that how does that fit the analogy of returning home how does that fit the analogy of the prodigal still retaining his position as a son so the and by the way Luke was written to Theophilus when you study Theophilus in Luke 1 verses 1 through 4 you'll find that he's very much a believer so the story the prodigal son is not unbelievers getting saved you go to the Gospel of John for that this is talking about an out of fellowship believer that gets restored back into fellowship and you say well gosh this that sets a very severe terminology death I mean is it really that serious to be out of fellowship with God even though your fire insurance may be paid up and you're going to heaven well you look at the life of David David of course being the second king of Israel I don't think there's any doubt that David was saved right but David as we know stepped out of fellowship with God through his sins that are given in 2nd Samuel 11 he committed you know first of all adultery then he tried to cover it up through the commission of murder and you do those two you've only violated to two major Commandments and he then he pretended like it never happened which is much basically what we do when we go into sin we just kind of bury it and act like no and David and Psalm and I think it was about eight six months to a year we're told that he lived in this condition and psalm 32 is a description of his life in that condition psalm 32 verse 1 says how blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered how blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit so he's talking there about the blessings he experienced when he finally came clean and confessed his sin to God verse 3 says when I kept silent that's describing the six months to a year that he you know wouldn't confess what he had done when I kept silent about my sin now tell me if this doesn't sound like death my body wasted away through my groaning all day long for day and night your hand was heavy upon me and my vitality vitality is life right my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer and then there's this little word here that shows up all the way through this Psalm in many Psalms Selah which basically means to consider carefully to contemplate carefully and then he says I acknowledge my sin to you and my iniquity I did not hide I said I will confess my transgression to the Lord and he forgave me the guilt of my sin and he says Selah again so he's contrasting what his life was like after he confessed his sin were spirit spiritual life and enjoyment of God returned versus what it was like before he confessed his sin and he says as long as he was in that unconfessed state even as a believer his vitality streps was stripped away like the draining of us water or a swamp or draining a water at least and God's hand was heavy on him how long was God's heavy on him heavy on him I think it's his night and day doesn't it and he talks about groaning all day long so that's what Paul is warning you against here don't go back to the sin nature because you will die it's not a necessarily a statement of loss of salvation it's a statement of enjoyment of God blessings fellowship disappears from a person's life you know the most miserable people on planet Earth the most unhappy people are God's people in sin in a nun confess state and the reason I know that is because God loves you loves me too much to see us wreck our lives in sin he we always think well you know I can kind of contain it and you know I can keep things under control and wear it we're self deceive because we don't really understand the nature of sin we don't understand its horrific consequences and so we think we can play a little game of you know getting close to it committing view and it's really not going to affect us and so when you get into that condition God just sits there and bothers you in fact I believe lot largely I was in that condition all those years he spent in Sodom and Gomorrah because he talked about his soul being vexed and some of the Bible versions translated as tormented so if you want to be very unhappy in your life then go back into sin because God is not going to allow you to feel good in that condition very long because he loves you too much to see you wreck your life in it so he'll sit there and bother you amen anybody been in that condition I've been in that condition and it isn't a fun place so that's what Paul's warning about it's not a eternal security kind of issue and it couldn't meet be an eternal security issue because what does he say at the end of Romans 8 see what I quoted was at the beginning of Romans 8 what does he say at the end of Romans 8 for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus see that's a powerful eternal security verse which if you could go back to the sin nature and lose eternal security in Romans 8:13 that would be a contradiction of what he says at the end of the chapter that wouldn't make any sense all right let me take you to another verse that is used to deny security go over if you could one book to the right from Romans go over to 1st Corinthians 8 and verse 11 and I'm gonna use the King James Version because a lot of people use the King James Version and the King James Version translates it in a way that makes it look like you can lose your salvation which says and through and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died so 1st Corinthians 8 9 and 10 are dealing with the subject of freedom your freedom in Christ so in Christ you have freedom to do a lot of things but as Paul says all things are lawful but not all things are what expedient are profitable and the specific issue he's dealing with here is food sacrificed to idols you know what's the big deal I'm under the grace of God if I eat if I eat food sacrifice to idols it doesn't damage me spiritually so what well what do you do with somebody that just got saved that has a strong Jewish background and they've been told their whole life that food sacrificed to idols is a sin now they just got saved they don't have the theological understanding you have you know it's there's nothing wrong in eating food sacrificed to idols but that's not that's not their conviction and they really haven't had time to grow so what do you do then what do you do with your freedom do you just flaunt it in their face or do you cur do you volitionally curtail your freedom for the benefit of somebody else and that's that's what Paul's getting at and he talks about what happens to the weaker brother when you flaunt your freedom you know in their face they actually perish it says and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died now people look at that word perish and they go oh my gosh that's hell because that's how the word perish is used in the famous John 3:16 passage right which says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not what perish but have eternal life so when people see that word perish in 1st Corinthians 8 verse 11 they kind of developed this argument that the weaker brother can actually go to hell if you flaunt your freedom well let me ask you just just a real simple question what God ever conditions someone's eternity based on the response of another believer I mean if I flaunt my freedom or don't flaunt my freedom why would God base someone's eternity based on my decision to flaunt my freedom or not flaunt my freedom so that really it doesn't make sense does it I'm just keeping an example of this before I got married I had the roommate and really nice guy but he was coming out of a accuser Christian but he was coming out of a lifestyle of severe alcoholism and he got saved and actually he had part of his liver removed and all of these things because of abuse of alcoholic beverages you know you know my understanding of the Bible and I don't mean to get any Baptists mad at me here I don't really see any great sin in social drinking I really don't I see a sin and drunkenness I see that very clearly condemned in Ephesians 5:18 but let's say I'm mowing my lawn in Houston and I'm hot and I go into my house and I open up a cold beer and drink it I mean I really don't think I'm in sin however what if I did that in the presence of this recovering alcoholic I could sit and argue him theologically because he he was so he had had such a bad experience with alcoholic beverages that in our apartment he banned anything related to alcohol even the you know certain recipes and bottles of things that you you pour in for like spice and flavor and things like that if it had alcohol in it it was out of the apartment that was no big issue with me because I didn't I'm not a drinker anyway but what if I had just flaunted my freedom in his presence I would have actually been destroying him see that I would have been putting him back under state of bondage and he would very much be perishing not going to hell but going back into bondage see that and so that is really what Paul is dealing with here gramática the New Testament scholar defines parish in the 1st Corinthians 8 passage as follows the weak Christian perished in that he suffered a spiritual loss a sense of sin that affected his fellowship with God the reckless use of Liberty actually violates the purposes for which Christ died that's what parish means parish doesn't mean hell everywhere it's used it certainly means that in John 3:16 but it's flaunting one's freedom to the point where you're putting someone else in a state of bondage so you know back to the alcohol example it's once I saw that my wife and I just made a commitment you know that we're just not going to drink we don't have alcoholic beverages in our house and the reason is because I'm actually a Bible teacher and you know what if sought someone around town you know saw me drinking maybe they're a recovering alcoholic and like I would be using my freedom in a way which would put them in a state of bondage so because of the position I'm in I just decided we just decided as a couple that we're just not going to drink alcohol even though we don't have any big issue with Christians that drink alcohol it's a private conviction that we've decided as a couple you know to live by because we don't want we don't want others to perish and how you come down on that is between you and the Lord it's a freedom in Christ issue I mean you got a lot of freedom as a Christian to do a lot of things but there are times when we're called to volitionally curtail our freedom for the benefits of somebody else recognizing that the use of that freedom could cause someone else to perish not go to hell but go back into a state of bondage so that's really what he's dealing with here it's not a eternal security issue even though the word perish you know is used at least in the in the King James Bible so this can't be a loss of salvation issue because because it's dealing with is abuse of Liberty damages the immature Christians growth that's what he means by perishing you're putting a obstruction in their pathway to maturity so hopefully that makes sense and let me take you to another one if I could let's go to first Corinthians 9 I told you these would go faster once we got beyond those big problem passages about the unpardonable sin notice 1st Corinthians 9 just one chapter to the right verses 24 through 27 a very common verse that's used by people to deny the security of the believer Paul says do you I think Paul was a sports fan because so many things he talks about deals with sports and in Corinth I'll show it to you on a map in a second there was an isthmus or a land bridge separating Corinth from Athens and on this land bridge they had a lot of Olympic contests what what was kind of a precursor to our Olympics called the Isthmian games you know where people were competed as athletes and they were rewarded with crowns and things of that nature so you'll notice Paul uses the Isthmian games that the corinthians all understood as a springboard for teaching spiritual truths so he says do you not know that those who run in a race all run but the but only one receives the prize run in such a way that you may win everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things then they do it to receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable therefore run in such a way as not without aim I box in such a way as not beating the air I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I preached to others i myself will not be disqualified so Paul himself is teaching the doctrine of rewards and he is acknowledging that there are certain rewards God will give to some Christians and not others at the Bema seat and here he's talking about the incorruptible crown for gaining mastery over the flesh or the sin nature because just because you're saved does it's not automatically guarantee that you're gonna live above and beyond the sin nature in fact I would argue most Christians are not living above and beyond the sin nature because they're not in an environment an environment where they're given instruction on how to live above this in nature and they're not really they don't really understand their resources in Christ whereby they can reckon the sin nature dead and not obey it even though it's powerfully trying to pull them back backwards into sin so the believer that is not perfect but basically lives a life above and beyond the sin nature is given a prize that's the context it's a rewards context the problem really comes in when it says I myself will not be disqualified so people rather than understanding this as a reward think it's talking about you going to heaven so the issue is what prize is does Paul think he might be disqualified from if you don't have a doctrine or rewards in your theology and by the way here the five Crown's that will either be given or not given at the Bema seat judgment of Christ following the rapture the incorruptible crown for gaining mastery over the flesh the crown of rejoicing for the soul winner the crown of life for the believer that endures trials the crown of glory for the believer that faithfully Shepherds God's people the crown of righteousness simply for longing for his appearing and in the far left column you'll see the verses where I got each of those but if but a lot of believers don't have a doctrine of rewards so if you don't have any doctrine or rewards what are you gonna do with this word disqualified and people look at that and say Paul is buffeting his body and making it his slave so that he doesn't go to hell the way people understand that wrongly if that is what Paul is saying then he would contradict everything he ever taught about salvation because how do we gain salvation by faith alone in Christ alone and we've been justified freely by His grace pulses that over and over again says it in Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 so then if Paul were to turn right around and say you know I buff at my body and make it my slave lest I have preached to others I might go back to the sin nature and be disqualified meaning going to hell he just contradicted what he taught about the doctrine of salvation which is always gained by faith alone in Christ alone by grace so Paul's from his other very clear verses never taught a theology which based his salvation on his ability to buff at his body and make it his slave and keep us in nature in check if Paul taught that not only would he be contradicting everything else he ever said about the doctrine of salvation he would be teaching a doctrine of works and really when you get right down to it and people don't like to hear this but the truth of the matter is the view that you can lose your salvation is nothing more than a doctrine of works because the focus is always on you and your ability to stay away from some kind of in the spotlight is no longer on Christ and what he has done for you and how he's given you a free gift that you've received by faith and it can never be withdrawn that's no longer the focus suddenly I'm the focus and the focus is my ability to stay away from sins X Y & Z so in this doctrine of eternal security or lack thereof is is a heavy works emphasis and see I think it's a legitimate question to ask people who believe very strongly that you can lose your salvation I want I think it's a legitimate question to ask them are you really saved I mean who in the world are you trusting in I have you have you trusted in Christ to give you eternal life and keep you or has works and your works mentality simply followed you into your so-called Christianity because under Arminianism you literally are your own Savior is is is simply a work space system so is Paul teaching works here no he's not teaching works here he's teaching works here he contradicts everything he ever said about the doctrine of salvation by grace alone what he is teaching here is the doctrine of rewards that's the disqualification the disqualification is not going to heaven the disqualification is a disqualification of receiving a reward above and beyond salvation and there will be people mark my words at the Bema seat judgment who will enter Heaven and will stand before the Lord at the great white throne judgment and not be rewarded how do I know that because Paul has explained that very clearly as he not in 1st Corinthians 3 verses 11 through 15 he talks there about people who are saved so as by fire I mean they made it in by God's grace but they smell the smoke on their garments almost because their life is spent in Christ and fleshly pursuits and they simply there in heaven and that's great but they're there unrewarded in heaven and and Paul was and one of the things I love about Paul is he practiced what he preached he taught this got this doctrine so aggressively about loss of rewards that he says I myself am a little bit worried from time to time that after I preach to others I might go back to the flesh and be disqualified from the prize the prize is not heaven the prize is rewards received above and beyond salvation so how do we please God we believe in his provision Jesus Christ so as to be justified and then we grow in our progressive sanctification learn about our resources and we seek to live a life under God's power not a perfect life but hopefully a life that's not sinless but sins less as we mature and grow that's how we please God practically and that's the believer that God rewards that's the believer that God uses that's the believer that has intimacy with God moment by moment let's go to another verse go over to first Corinthians 11 a lot of these are in Corinthians interestingly enough I would like to be the pastor of the first Corinthians church I mean these guys it's funny they're called Saints at the beginning of the book but they're not acting like Saints they're acting like you ain't just take the S off so they're positionally right with God but they're really not living growing the way God would have them to grow in fact these people got so messed up that they actually showed up to the Lord's table inebriated or drunk I mean how low can we go here guys the reason why race Dedmon used to call first corinthians first Californians now here's the cake here I'm quoting from the King James Version because it translates one of the words a certain way which causes people to question can you lose your salvation Paul says but let a man examine himself so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily you should underline that word unworthily in verse 27 I think it says that also or is it 28 27 28 right in there 29 I'm sorry for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation that's how the King James translate this damnation so people think that's got to be hell for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself so concerning the Lord's body for this cause many of you are weak and sickly and many have fallen asleep for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world so the word damnation makes it look at first glance that if I show up to the Lord's table with a heart that's not right then my eternal destiny is somehow in the balance I could lose my salvation but what I want you to see is verse 32 which I think is the key to the whole thing he says but when we are judged we are what disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the what the world see the world is characterized by certain sins and God doesn't want us to be like the world he wants us to be different than the world so what he does to us is he applies momentary pain in our lives to get us to associate the pain with the sin and that keeps us away from behaving just like the world but you'll see very clearly that he's distinguishing the Corinthians from the unsaved world so so even though the King James translates that damnation it's not talking about the same damnation that the unbelieving world one day will experience it's it's talking about really a different category so what is this talking about I mean some of them are sick some of them have fallen asleep King James translates that damn damnation which I don't think is the best translation what it's talking about is chastisement which can be so severe that it can result in what I like to call maximum discipline where God actually takes believers home early he terminates their natural lifespan because there's such an embarrassment to him and it's very clear here that that's what God did with some of the Corinthians these people didn't go to hell their eternal security was not an issue what God did is he introduced death that's what he means when he says some of you have fallen asleep the word asleep is a figure of speech called a euphemism you recognize the EU prefix as in euphoria a euphemism is a polite way of saying something so he could have said they croaked they kicked the bucket you know some kind of crafts terminology but he uses a polite way of euphemism he just says they fell asleep which is a pretty good description of the believers death because yes they're out of their body but they're going to need their body again one day right so just as sleep is temporary the position of the body as the believer separates from their body temporary as well because in the great resurrection which we believe will happen at the rapture for the church they'll be in that body again except it'll look better and feel better because it'll be resurrected so that's why the euphemism of sleep there isn't it as an appropriate one so what what he's dealing with here and even though the King James I don't think is the best translation translating this is damnation it's really not an eternal security passage it's really talking about maximum divine discipline we've already seen that with Ananias and Sapphira acts 5 1 through 11 we've seen that in the Church of Thyatira revelation 2 verses 23 and 24 and you see that concept in the writings of the Apostle John first John 5:19 where he talks about a sin that leads unto death so so this is that these are divine discipline passages and you see that because the Corinthians are distinguished from the world he's doing this because he doesn't want them to be like the world they are distinguished from the world and the King James unfortunately translates that as damnation and people when they see the word damnation think it's hell it's not talking about Hell you know while I'm on the topic of 1st Corinthians 11 let me just clear up a major misunderstanding and that comes from the word unworthily we saw it in our passage but if you go back to verse 27 what you understand something it says therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy what manner in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord so here's how your typical Christian and this is this is how its taught 99.99% of the time if I come to the communion table and I have some kind of unconfessed sin in my life from six months ago or a year ago or something that happened a long time ago and I've never confessed it then God can strike me dead at the communion table and I want you to understand that that is not what the verse is talking about it does not say unworthy it says unworthy manner see the difference we might put it this way it doesn't say unworthy it says unworthily unworthily which i think is the right understanding of verse 27 unworthily sometimes translated unworthy manner is an adverb not an adjective what's the difference between an adverb and an adjective an adjective modifies a noun an adverb describes a verb so adverbs you remember from English grammar basically end in ly Joe well maybe I shouldn't say Joe we have a Joe up there we don't have any Sam's in here do we Sam ran quickly so what's the verb ran what's the adverb quickly quickly describes what running so when Paul condemns the Corinthians for coming to the Lord's table unworthily he's not talking about some sin they committed six months ago he is describing the behavior of these people as they practice the Lord's table that's what God is mad about he's not worried that they're unworthy I mean we're all unworthy outside of Christ obviously he's talking about unworthily he's talking about the practice of communion on that given Sunday this was what God's mad about and what what was wrong with their practice well pretty much everything other than the fact that they were at least trying to do communion I'll give him credit for that but Paul says you've taken what is holy and you've made it profane you've taken the communion table and you've turned it into a common meal that's what God is mad about it was like a picnic lunch kind of thing and that's why he says quoting wrote rodney dangerfield movie Caddyshack not the best movie to be watching as a Christian no it's not wasn't Rodney Dangerfield it was the guy that played the judge was the guy's name I won't test your knowledge because then you reveal your carnality that you watch that movie but he makes a statement it was Ted Knight right he says she's carnal she knows he said something like don't you have homes you know like go eat at home and that's what Paul is basically saying he's saying don't you have homes for this in other words if you if you want to have a common meal go home and have your common meal but don't take what's sacred the remembrance of the body and blood of Christ and turn it into a common meal and beyond that you had to have it was a pay-to-play mentality that they had because the only people that could participate at the lord's table were people that had resources so you had to have resources to participate because it was a common meal what do you do with the brother or sister in Christ that's poor they're excluded from the whole process and you see the dominant theme of Corinthians it was Jay Dwight Pentecost that really opened my eyes to this the dominant problem in the book of Corinthians is divisions in almost every major section you'll see Paul upset about divisions and the way these people were practicing the Lord's table brought division into the body of Christ it put a unnatural barrier into the body of Christ because if you were wealthy and had means then you could participate because they turn this into a common meal if you were not wealthy and didn't have means even though you had Jesus and the Holy Spirit inside of you you were on the outside and if all of that weren't enough these people had actually showed you how a little respect they had for the Lord's table they actually showed up as you studied this chapter intoxicated I mean can you imagine that coming to the Lord's table wasted and that's what was happening in Corinth and so when Paul now that you understand that background now you understand why he uses that adverb verse 27 therefore who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner what manner the manner in which they are practicing it eats and drinks shall be guilty of the body and blood of Christ and that's why God moved into this church with divine discipline some became sick some died now the reason I covered that background is because most people are terrified to come to the Lord's table unnecessarily because the way they think and I know this because I thought this way myself for many years until I understood what was happening here gosh maybe there's some sin that I committed when I was 16 that I've never confessed I mean can you even remember all the sins you committed at age 16 I mean that's an impossible burden in and of itself probably too many to confess when you think about it but God if I come with that unconfessed sin boom I can be struck dead and that's not what it's saying it's not saying unworthy you follow it's saying unworthily the only way you can come under this type of discipline is if you're disrespectful in your tone and attitude towards the lord's table on that given Sunday morning that you're practicing it so hopefully that alleviates a little fear in people so again not a lot not a loss of salvation issue divine discipline this year let me cover one more first Corinthians 15 - first Corinthians 15 - this is the resurrection chapter Paul says by which you also are saved if you hold fast the word which I preached to you unless you believed in what in vain now our minions love that verse because believed in vain means you had salvation then it was taken away the reform camp loves that verse because they have the doctrine of the spurious faith they talk about the faith that saves and the faith that doesn't save which I oppose that doctrine from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet and the reason I do it is because of the negative effect it has on God's people if you believe there's a faith that saves and a faith that doesn't save you're gonna spend your whole life wondering what do I have the right kind of faith faith saves period it doesn't matter if your faith is followed by good works or not faith saves period let me ask you it just a simple question when Noah walked into the ark with his family which I would guess would be one step into the ark right he took one step and he was saved from water did his salvation from water depend upon him holding the door the rest of the rest of the flood to make sure water never came in no because that would make Noah's salvation from water contingent on his performance it's not his holding the the door that kept him saved what kept him saved was the grace of God and he took the initial he took a single step the moment anybody in their entire life I don't care if they did it as a little kid or whenever if they have ever exercised faith in Jesus Christ they are safe period and that's not what you're gonna get from reform circles it's not that's not what you're gonna get at the passion conference and all these big reform conferences that they they say there's a faith that saves and a faith that doesn't save and unless your faith is characterized by fruit and sorrow and this and that it's not the real kind of faith so you can see why this verse is a very happy verse to their theology because it talks about believing in vain there it is they say there's a faith that saves and there's the faith that doesn't save again you're rescued from these very poor understandings of the Bible by going back to the context first Corinthians 15 2 says by which you are saved if you hold fast to the word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain now what chapter in the Bible are we in here what do we call this resurrection chapter these people in Corinth are denying bodily resurrection and that's why Paul in verse 12 says now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead how does some among of you say there is no resurrection from the dead now why would these people here in Corinth deny resurrection they deny it because that what was taught that is what was taught in Greece Greece was overrun by an early form of Gnosticism Gnosticism Gnostics taught a dualism and they basically said the spiritual world is good the physical world is bad that was the overarching belief system or philosophy all over Greece and it became really more dominant in the second century and that's why when Paul is preaching in Greece on Mars Hill he had an audience until he got to this part about the what resurrection he's getting ready to close a sermon there on Mars Hill acts 1732 he says now when they when they heard of the resurrection of the Dead some began to sneer why are they sneering well there can't be a resurrection from the dead because we believe Gnosticism the spiritual world is good the physical world is bad but others said we shall hear you again concerning this I mean he had common bond with these people his unsaved audience he was reaching them until he got to the subject of resurrection so that's in Greece now let me ask you a question how far away is Greece from Corinth you can't see it well on that map but they're right next to each other in fact what separates Greece from Corinth is that little strip called an isthmus where soldiers to prevent going around the southern part there of Greece where many lives were lost they would just drag their boats on wheels across this land bridge and so the mentality in Greece was very connected to the mentality in Corinth and this mentality seeped into the Corinthian church and so the Corinthian believers who are all saved started to question whether there is such a thing as resurrection and that's why politics Lanning first Corinthians 15 why he's defending resurrection to these people he's not just you know the thing I understand about the Bible is it's what we call crisis literature it's not like reading Oswald Chambers thought for the day okay that's not the way the Bible is written the Bible is written to resolve problems there were actual crises happening here in Corinth not the least of which was the movement of incipient Gnosticism into the Corinthian church which was causing Christians to doubt bodily resurrection because after all the physical world is bad the spiritual world is good so Paul spends a whole chapter defending resurrection and he makes an interesting statement in verse 14 and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in what vain and your faith is also in vain his only point is simply this if you have believed in a Jesus that never rose from the dead then your believing in a Jesus that has no power to save you anyway because you're believing in a man that never offended who he was through his bodily resurrection so what he's saying is your whole gospel has no power if there is no such thing as the bodily resurrection from the dead he's trying to get them to understand point he's making he's trying to get them to see the ramifications of buying into incipient Gnosticism the ramifications being if Jesus really did not rise from the dead then there's no sense in believing in Jesus for salvation because he doesn't have the power to pull it off anyway he's not getting into the subject of whether these people are saved so when he says you believed in vain he's not at all getting into the topic of loss of salvation and he's not developing that reform doctrine of the two-faced that's totally contrary to the context of the passage he just is making a very simple point if in fact Jesus never rose from the dead and you guys might be going down this road because you're starting to buy into incipient Gnosticism then you're you've believed in someone who doesn't have the power to save you anyway and that's what he means by believed in vain so hopefully that makes some kind of sense now next week we're going to look in-depth at the passage examine yourself to see if you're in the faith because a lot of people take that to me and oh my gosh I've got to examine myself to make sure I'm a Christian and that's and we'll I'll show you contextually that's not what he's dealing with so we'll probably spend the whole lesson just on that one verse anyway any questions or thoughts yeah Andre you

Channel: Andy Woods' Unofficial Channel

Views: 967

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: andy woods, osas, once saved, always saved, eternal security, live after, flesh, mortify, deeds, body, die, walk, Spirit, romans, 8:13

Id: tLOBBxgyLmQ

Length: 60min 16sec (3616 seconds)

Published: Sun May 26 2019