The Race Set Before Us--mmebs 6

The Race Set Before Us 1

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The Race Set Before Us Chapter 5 Reflecting on Fallen Runners

Who are Those Who Have Fallen out of the Race?

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Reflecting on Fallen Runners

Who are Those Who Have Fallen out of the Race?

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Brief Review of Chapter 4 Our burden in chapter four was to demonstrate that we must take seriously biblical warnings and admonitions because they are a vital means God uses to save us, for by them he calls us and keeps us faithful to Christ. Admonitions and warnings function in the same way as the initial call of the gospel: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NIV). They urgently call for obedient faith as they point out the only pathway to salvation (TRSBU, p. 214).

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Transition to Chapter 5 Many devout Christians disagree with the way we have explained biblical warnings and admonitions. On the one hand, some may object that the Bible speaks of real believers who fail to persevere and perish eternally. On the other hand, some may remain unconvinced by our discussion and continue to use 1 John 2:19 to explain that the Bible warns and admonishes people who are thinking about forsaking Christ that if they do, they were never truly saved (TRSBU, p. 214). 6

Wayne Grudem on Warnings “The purpose is always to warn those who are thinking of falling away or have fallen away that if they do this it is a strong indication that they were never saved in the first place” (“Perseverance of the Saints: A Case Study of Hebrews 6:4-6 and the Other Warning Passages in Hebrews,” Still Sovereign, p. 176). 7

Reflecting on Fallen Runners

Who are Those Who Have Fallen out of the Race?

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What are some NT passages? Four Kinds of Passages: 

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Two instructional passages—1 John 2:18-19; Luke 8:11-14. Several passages remind us of the Israelites who perished in the wilderness—1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Hebrews 3:7-4:13; Jude 5. A few passages that identify individuals who have failed to persevere—1 Timothy 1:18-20; 2 Timothy 2:14-19; 4:10. The contrast between the falls of Judas and of Peter. 9

Two Instructional Passages 1 John 2:18-19; Luke 8:11-14 Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antrichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us, for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us (1 John 2:18-19 NRSV). 10

Antichrists Among Us But Not Of Us 

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They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. . . . For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. . . . But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us.

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John‟s Words Have Both Negative & Positive Functions 

Explains why some fail to persevere with Christ‟s people. They went out because

they are not of us. 

Offers hope and assurance to all who persevere with Christ‟s people. “If they

had belonged to us, they would have remained with us.” If we are of Christ, we will persevere in Christ.

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Two Instructional Passages 1 John 2:18-19; Luke 8:11-14 This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go in their way they are choked by life‟s worries, riches and pleasures, and the do not mature. But the seed on the good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop (Luke 8:11-14 NIV). 13

Those Who Believe for A While 

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Pathway soil. No one takes this as

representing a believer. Rocky soil. Arminians & “Free Gracers” take this as representing a believer. Thorny soil. Arminians & “Free Gracers” take this as representing a believer. Good soil. Arminians, “Free Gracers,” and Reformed take this as representing a believer. 14

The Example of Israel‟s Apostasy   

1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Hebrews 3:7-4:13. Jude 5.

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The Example of Israel‟s Apostasy

“Now I want to remind you, though you all know, that the Lord once saved a people from the land of Egypt and afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5 NIV).

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The Example of Israel‟s Apostasy

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief (Hebrews 3:16-19 NIV).

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The Example of Israel‟s Apostasy

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness (! Corinthians 10:1-5 NRSV). 18

The Example of Israel‟s Apostasy Jude, Hebrews and Paul do not contend that the Israelites had believed unto salvation only to lose God‟s gift of salvation by unbelief. When they use Israel‟s rebellion and destruction to motivate us to belief that perseveres, they ground it in the typological relationship between Abraham‟s earthly and heavenly descendants. Israel‟s rebellion is not an example of children to whom God has given spiritual birth and who nonetheless perish eternally. The New Testament writers do not use Israel to show that it is possible for God‟s spiritually birthed children to apostatize and perish. They appeal to Israel‟s rebellion to admonish us to be the true people of God that Israel was not. They use Israel to exhort us not to presume upon God‟s rich provisions and take it for granted that we have inherited privilege. Our inheritance will be received by faith, not by presuming it is ours. Israel‟s unbelief and eternal destruction testify to God‟s irrevocable order and sequence. Failure to believe God‟s promises terminates unalterably and finally in eternal death. Therefore, do not presume to test God. Without faith, 19 it is impossible to please God (TRSBU, p. 226).

Biblical Examples of Individuals Who Apostatized—Hymenaeus & Alexander I entrust this charge to you, Timothy, my son, in accord with the prophecies previously announced to you, that by them you might fight the good fight, while holding to faith and to a good conscience, which some, upon repudiating, have made shipwreck concerning faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan in order that they may be taught not to blaspheme (1 Timothy 1:18-20).

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Biblical Examples of Individuals Who Apostatized—Hymenaeus & Philetus Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” (2 Timothy 2:14-19 NIV). 21

Biblical Examples of Individuals Who Apostatized—Hymenaeus & Philetus Their Heresy The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.(1 Timothy 4:1-5 NIV).

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Biblical Examples of Individuals Who Apostatized—Hymenaeus & Philetus Their Heresy This Teaches Us Concerning How Crucial Our Beliefs Truly Are 

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By teaching that the resurrection has already taken place, Hymenaeus and Philetus must logically deny that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead (cf. 1 Cor. 15:12-14). Orthodox belief in Paul‟s gospel is inseparably bound with the necessity to hold it fast by persevering through afflictions that come with embracing the gospel. God‟s chosen ones—the elect—will be saved through the use of means. 23

Biblical Examples of Individuals Who Apostatized—Hymenaeus & Philetus 2 Timothy 2:11-13

If we died with him, we will also live with him. If we persevere, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, For he cannot deny himself.

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Biblical Examples of Individuals Who Apostatized—Hymenaeus, Alexander & Philetus Did Paul believe that Hymenaeus, Alexander and Philetus truly had been acknowledge by God as his own children, born of the Spirit and recipients of eternal life and salvation in Jesus Christ? No, the apostle regards them as imposters who made a confession of faith that shipwrecked and thus brought out in plain view the true nature of their hearts. Does Paul regard these men as hopelessly lost forever? No, for he admonishes Timothy, “The Lord‟s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Tim 2:24-26 NIV) (TRSBU, p. 235). 25

Biblical Examples of Individuals Who Apostatized—Demas 2 Timothy 4:9-13 Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful in my ministry. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments (2 Timothy 4:9-13).

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Two Kinds of Falling:

Judas & Peter

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Judas, the Betrayer 

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Judas‟ betrayal fulfills God‟s prophesied plan (John 13:18; Psalm 41:9). Judas carried out Jesus‟ prediction (John 6:64). Judas never possessed salvation; he did not fall from eternal life to eternal death. Judas was always a pretender (John 6:64). Judas‟ fall was not because Jesus lacked power to preserve him from perishing. Jesus did not intercede for Judas, in order that Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12). Judas could not blame the devil, though the devil put it into his heart to betray Jesus. Judas willingly accepted the morsel of bread from Jesus, signifying that he fully knew his role in condemning innocent blood (John 13:27). Judas knew his own accountability for his wicked deed, for when he “saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. „I have sinned ,‟ he said, „for I have betrayed innocent blood.‟ . . . The he went away and hanged himself” 28 (Matthew 27:3-5).

Peter, the Denier 

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Jesus foretold both Judas‟ betrayal and Peter‟s denial. Why such a different end than Judas‟ end?

Jesus predicts that Peter will sin by yielding to Satan‟s wishes, how often he will sin, when he will sin and that he will repent. As some people reason, if Jesus‟ predictions are sure to come to pass, Peter‟s personal accountability, his need to pray lest he fall into temptation and Jesus intercession for him would be set aside as irrelevant. But the biblical text indicates that Jesus made his precise prediction of Peter‟s denial in the same conversation in which he announced that he had prayed that Peter‟s faith not fail and that his prayer would be effective, for Peter would be restored. As in the case of Judas, without any hint of conflict, the biblical writers embrace the fact that God rules over even sinful deeds his creatures carry out and that he does this without destroying their accountability or without being tarnished in his own character (TRSBU, p. 241). 29

Peter, the Denier the Redeemed It was the intercession of Jesus—both his prayer for Peter and his gaze at him when the rooster crowed—that saved the overconfident apostle. Jesus did not intercede for Judas, for otherwise he, too, would have been saved. Such is the power of Jesus‟ intercession. Likewise, all of us who belong to Christ find that, while we are not of the world but still in the world, our only hope of persevering in faithfulness to Christ is his intercession on our behalf. It is not for the world but for all whom the Father has given him that he prays, “I ask you to protect them from the evil one. . . . Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (Jn 17:15, 17 NRSV). As Jesus prayed for Peter, so he prays for us to persevere to the end, for he asks, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (Jn 17:24 NIV; cf. v. 20) (TRSBU, p. 242).

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