If We Hold Fast

     "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." I Corinthians 15:1-2

      "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called 'Today,' lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end;" Hebrews 3:12-14

      In my previous post regarding apostasy, I said that my next post would be about salvation being conditionally based on our continuing in the faith. As you know, if you have read the posts that followed, my plans were interrupted. I have been dealing with other issues, but I am ready to return to this very important topic once again. There are a few more scriptures I want to share with you on the topic of OSAS, just to be sure you understand that the scriptures abound with warnings to believers that we must continue in the faith in order to be saved.

     There is a parable that Jesus told that gives us a picture of what happens when different people hear the word of God. It is commonly called the Parable of the Sower and is found in Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-20, and Luke 8:5-15. I would encourage you to read the whole passage in all three of these gospel accounts. In this parable the seed is the word of God, and the soil is the heart of man. In all three accounts, after telling the parable, Jesus says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Not everyone responds to the preaching of the word in the same way. Some people hear the word, but their heart is so hard that it goes in one ear and right out the other. It does not take root at all, and Satan snatches away what was sown in their heart. Another group of people hear the word and receive it joyfully. Luke tells it this way,"And those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away." Luke 8:13. Mark 4:17 says of the same group, "they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away." A third group hears the word, but "the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." Mark 4:19 The last person in the parable is "the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Matthew 13:23 This parable teaches us that not everyone who initially receives the word of God continues to follow after Christ. I definitely want to be in that last category, don't you?

          There are other scriptures that tell us that we must endure to the end in order to be saved. Paul tells us in I Timothy 4:1, "...the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." Jesus, when speaking of the last days, told His disciples, "And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end shall be saved." I Timothy 6:10 speaks of those who have "wandered away from the faith," and I Timothy 6:21 speaks of those who have "gone astray from the faith." What does that mean? I think I will play it on the safe side and believe it means just what it says. I do not want to be found anywhere but IN the faith when I come face to face with Jesus! I hope that is your goal also, so keep on keepin' on! Don't get sidetracked! Don't let Satan trick you! Listen to the Holy Spirit, and be obedient. It will all be worth it some day!!!!
         
         

Easter or Passover?

          In Chapter 12 of Exodus, God told the Israelites how to save themselves from the last plague which He was about to pour out on the Egyptians. That plague was to be the death of all the first-born in the land. The Israelites were told to take a one year old, unblemished male from the sheep or the goats into their house on the 10th day of the first month, the month of Nisan, and they were to keep it with them in their house until the 14th day of the month, at which time they were to kill it and eat it. That sounds quite cruel, doesn't it, to take this young, innocent animal into your house, make a pet of it, and then kill it and eat it? They were also told to put its blood on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the house so that the death angel would "pass over" them. This is where the Jewish feast of Passover originated.
          Skip ahead in time about 1500 years to the time of Christ around 30 A.D.  When John the Baptist saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29  John was proclaiming to all the world that Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of the Passover which the Jews had been celebrating every year for about 1500 years, ever since they came out of their slavery in Egypt. Jesus was the ultimate Passover Lamb who would keep the death angel away from the door of all who would trust in Him for salvation from their sin.  Those who believed would never know spiritual death. The physical death of the ones who trust in Christ would only be a passageway into eternal life with Him.
          There is so much more meaning in the Passover celebration which I won't elaborate on right now, but I just want to express my disappointment that the church today is mostly ignorant of the meaning of Passover. Instead, I see churches celebrating something called Easter, named for a pagan Babylonian goddess of fertility called Ishtar, with chocolate bunnies and colored Easter eggs, symbols of her fertility. How it must grieve God's heart to see those who call themselves Christians openly celebrating a pagan holiday and yet, ignoring the very feast that He instituted to point to His Son, Jesus, as our Passover Lamb.
          It is true that some Christians have tried (mostly in vain) to change the name of Easter to Resurrection Day, but wouldn't it be even better to teach our children about Passover so they could learn the rich meaning behind it? The only way we will rid ourselves of the pagan aspects of Easter is to make a clean break from it. Unfortunately, even the Jews who still celebrate Passover don't understand what it is all about, but Christians have not helped in that department either. Maybe if we Christians understood the true meaning of Passover, we could better help the Jews to see that Jesus is the Savior they have been looking for, since it is their Passover celebration that points so dramatically to Him.
          I am challenging all Christians to do some study regarding Easter and Passover to see which one truly honors God. I believe we would all be blessed if we would do this. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32  You may never want to call it Easter again!

Temporary Body, Eternal Soul

          "Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered and said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but, unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.'" Luke 13:1-5

          What is more important, the temporary physical body or the eternal soul? We spend our lives catering to this physical body, feeding it, clothing it, possibly exercising it, nursing it when it is sick, pleasuring it ....etc. Is that wrong? That is certainly what comes naturally to us. We all have that innate self-centered, self-serving, self-preserving programming that tells us what to do all the time, but, as a Christian, I believe I must get past that. The flesh is not supposed to be in control! It is the spiritual side that must be exercised, nurtured, and strengthened. Gal. 5:16-25
          Yes, it is important to take care of the body God has given me. It is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and God expects me to treat it as such, but there is something about me that is much more important than my physical body, and that is my eternal soul. This physical body that my soul dwells in is only going to last at the very most about 100 years. None of us will get much past that, if we even get close to it, so shouldn't we be preparing for what comes next, after our physical bodies have given out? Shouldn't we spend at least as much time cultivating the spiritual side of life as we do caring for the physical? What is 100 years, more or less, compared with eternity? It is the snap of a finger!
          I think that is what Jesus was trying to say in the passage quoted above. Don't we realize that sooner or later our life here on earth will end? That is inevitable, but what comes next? This is a very important question that we would be foolish not to ask. Not contemplating what comes after physical death would be like blindly walking off the edge of the Grand Canyon with no thought of the obvious consequences; only worse, because eternity is forever, and forever, and forever.....
          "A voice says, 'Call out.' Then he answered, 'What shall I call out?' All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field, the grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever."  Isaiah 40:6-8
          Let's do all we can to be sure we will be with the Lord forever! Believe! Have faith! Submit and be obedient to His voice. Walk with God.