December 6, 2012

• 不可能 --- Impossible.

  It may seem odd, but one of the first Chinese words I learned was "Impossible" or 不(boo)可(kuh)能(Nung).  I don't know why it was a part of my college language training, but it was, and it was one of the rather easier ones to memorize.

  But the actual word it represents is one that I don't think we often give thought to.  I don't think we think in terms of impossibilities.  We prefer to think of what "IS" possible and grasp at that.  Thus it is that we frame questions of impossibilities almost as jokes.

  Is it possible that God can create a boulder so large that even He can't move it?

  In the scriptures, the word "Impossible" is used super sparingly.  It appears only 10 times in the New Testament.  4 of them in the same book, but each time covering a different topic.  Only twice is it used by Jesus.... and that should bring comfort to those of us who trust Him.

  What is impossible for man is possible for God.  (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27)

  If you have faith as small as even the mustard seed ... nothing shall be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)

  Salvation of man is the aim of the first statement.  If the rich aren't able to buy their way into Heaven --- if their money does them no good before the Father --- then how might any of us be saved?  You see, the religious view of Jesus time was that those who were rich had a direct line to God ---- because of all that they could do with their riches!  This was honestly the thinking behind the question the disciples asked.... because Jesus, in saying that it was easier to thread a needle with a camel than for a rich man to enter Heaven ---- was attacking the common belief that the Rich man was already blessed by God and would therefore be ipso-facto a part of the kingdom of God.

  But it's not these uses of the word that I am considering and have been considering for weeks now.  It's the other ones.  The ones we don't like to consider because they represent dark places in the human heart.... questions we don't like to face.  Things we don't like to consider.

  It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  (Hebrews 6:4-6)

  Impossible --- to be "RE"-saved.

  Impossible for someone who's walked in Christian circles --- and rejects what they've seen --- to come back to that point of acknowledging Christ as savior.

  Impossible for someone to turn from Christ to Atheism.... and then back to Christ.

  Why?

  Here's an extract of a conversation on Facebook I'm presently having.  It gives some of the reasoning behind this --- but know this, I've already said this very point many times over the last 3 years... it's nothing new to my blogging, I've alluded to this many times.  This is only a full crystallization of my thoughts on the matter.

  Matt, all the ones that I mentioned are former Christian musicians, lead singers for various Christian bands, who've since become atheists and have an agenda to now actively preach against that which they once (said they)believed. Ojo has spoken openly at "Freedom FROM Religion" (an active atheist council that pursues the eradication of ALL religion from social life), Roger Martinez has vowed to actively pursue every soul he's put into the Kingdom of God and convince them he was wrong, we're all wrong.... for every sermon he preached, to produce a new one extolling atheism.
  
  I have had friends who've walked away over the years. One walked for 6 years and came back a much humbler man. Another has never come back and considers himself "happily miserable and content to live without God." For weeks now I have pondered the implications of 1 John 2:19 ---
  
  
  

  they went out from us because they never belonged with us, had they belonged with us they would have never left.
  

  
  --- and other similar verses and thought about how these men were never saved in the first place. It's not that they were saved, then fell away, and now we're to try to convince them they're wrong and need to come back.... it's that they created an idol called "christianity" (small "c") in their minds, and to their detriment they followed that construct that had no bearing upon the real thing.  They are goats .... content to be found IN the church but never to become a part OF the Church... and that's the point they need to see. The truth is, ..... they never really believed in the first place.
  
  If --- then. simple logic statement that I need to set out for this to all make sense. (Maybe not to you, but to some others who might follow this through.)
  
  IF... they were honestly believers beforehand, and they then walked away....
  THEN ... according to Hebrews, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to come back, because they then crucify to themselves Christ all over again. (Hebrews 6:1-6)
  
  If these men were once believers and now are not... and that is the truth of it.... then salvation is held in the hands of men, not God, and we could all lose what we've attained as a gift from the Father (Ephesians 2:8-10). This contradicts Philippians 1:6 which says "He who BEGAN the work of salvation in you WILL BE FAITHFUL to complete it." and John 10:28 where Jesus states "(Those who come to me..) No one can take them out of my hands." and Romans 8:31-38.
  
  Sorry, again for such a lengthy response, but all these things truly have been heavy on my heart for weeks now and I have looked at these verses and so many more trying hard to understand why someone could walk away from Grace so amazing, so profound, so abundant, so humbling, so pure ---- and call it worthless and vain.
  
  Only the Spirit can honestly show these men the state of their hearts... both before and now... and prayerfully humble them enough that they'll come to hate their sin enough to leave it and HONESTLY embrace Christ for the first time, not the second.

  I once existed in the Church, spent 9 years as a part of the church.  I knew theology, I knew scripture, I knew Church history --- and for all that, I was lost.  I asked my pastor once, during that time,

  How is it that I can lead others to Christ, but I myself can be so lost?

  to which my Pastor replied:

  God once used Ba'Laam's donkey to speak truth to that prophet.  You are the same as that donkey, Wayne.    (My pastor had much wisdom.)  

  Everyone around me said I was Christian.  Everyone told me that I had to be --- look at how much I knew.  But that was because everyone around me had a low view of what Christianity was.  It was merely knowledge in someone's head.  My heart told me I was lost, dead in my sins.  My heart was right.  I was, and would remain there for many years yet to come.

  But here's the thing -- I didn't stay that way.  God reached down to me, humbled me, and graced upon me salvation in a way that made it perfectly clear that salvation comes from Him and nowhere else.  It's been 20+ years since that day.  In all that time I have never once --- never again --- had a single doubt as to my salvation.... solely because I (now) understand that when God grants a pardon from sin --- it's a promise which can be wholly, completely, earnestly trusted.  God does not lie (Hebrews 6:18).  I wasn't saved in the 9 years I spent in the church... I didn't trust God, I trusted my knowledge about God.... and it was only when I acknowledged my idolatry that God was actually able to step in and save me.

  These men, and all like them, who seemingly walk away from Christ.  They were never really believers to begin with.  They were the thorny soil, awaiting the moment of crisis that would tear them away.  They were the rocky soil, whose commitment was based only in their emotions and having no root, quickly withered in time.  They were goats..... never once acknowledged by Christ to have been His.  They are the tares.... awaiting the day of judgement that will forever separate them and show them as the frauds THEY ALWAYS WERE.

  We don't like to think in terms of impossibilities.  We like to safely imagine that everyone around us is cool and fine and "christian".  And when someone we know walks away --- we simply say "He's backslidden" and hope for the best.  But if we leave them like that --- the truth is --- we leave them in a state wherein they can't ever be saved.  IMPOSSIBLE... to come again to repentance. (Hebrews 6:4,6)  Why? Because Christ was already sacrificed once for them, and cannot be sacrificed again.  "Once, for all time... Jesus made us Holy by his sacrifice" (Hebrews 10:10)
  
  

  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.  (Hebrews 10:26-27)

  That last passage is the final nail on the coffin here.  No sacrifice for their sins remains, only judgement, for they are not associated with God ---  they are His enemies.

  And they need to see that they didn't 'try Christianity' once and find it lacking --- the truth is they never once came to honest faith, they only played games with God.... they now need to acknowledge that they were playing games if they are ever to honestly come to salvation as found in Christ.   They need to face their former (and present) idolatry.

  Because of our dislike for thinking in terms of impossibilities we've given rise to this culture of people who seemingly can claim they've "tried Christiainity, and found it had no answers, no substance, nothing to offer, no value..... no worth... no truth." ----- because we've not risen to the task of showing them they are wrong.  That they NEVER were Christian, NEVER tried Christianity, NEVER once believed, and NEVER once were saved.  It was all a game to them.... and a deadly one... for the longer they carry this delusion.... the longer they remain dead in their sins with no eternal hope.

  May we not leave them there.

  ---

  Here's my prayer that started off my Facebook conversation...  I leave it here as my prayer for one and all who think they've "tried" Christianity --- and found no answers.

  Father, so many today have fallen to the hard path where the seed of your word is pecked away at by the birds of our enemy. So many today have shown a shallow emotionally charged faith which carries no deep roots grounded in You. So many have become like tares among the wheat --- growing in weedy soil and choked when pressure comes to stand for you.
  
  Father, grant that we submit to your Spirit in bringing these men back to your flock... in planting them into your garden. Let not our witness be the futile and empty arguing of the world, but the careful and blessed grounding of Your Word for which you promised would never return void of it's purpose.
  
  Father in this man's instance we don't know the reasons he now assumes to have once known you and now spurns your very existence. All we ask, Lord, is that you work in his heart to overturn the stones that have choked the growth of Your word and prevented the work of your Spirit. Plow the ground, Lord, that he might be found fertile unto your purpose.
  
  I pray this not merely for this man, but for all others, Lord, who likewise turn and assume that they once "tried" Christ and have found him vain. Ojo Taylor, Pete Stewart, Roger Martinez all readily come to mind from recent conversations, Lord... and I honestly pray that you would break them free from their bondage in blindness and hardness of heart to know once and for all the freedom and joy that truly is found in Christ.

  Amen
  

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