A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Deuteronomy 14 (Part 1)

This is a chapter that again contains things we have already covered so we’ll be skipping some verses. This is not the Department of Redundancy Department J. But we will look at some parts of this chapter. 

Deuteronomy 14:1-2—1 “You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. 2 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Usually when God begins a statement He will begin by saying “I am the Lord”. But here, Moses begins by saying “You are the children of the LORD your God.” God often needed to remind the people, not only of who God is in relation to them, but also who they were in relation to God. And He would also remind other kings of who the people of Israel were. In Exodus He tells Moses to say to Pharaoh, “‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn”’” (Exodus 4:22). These words should have gotten Pharaoh’s attention. For the firstborn in this time was to be regarded as higher than any other. And if God says that Israel was His firstborn, it meant that they were to be highly regarded by all. It means that God regards them higher than all other peoples in the entire world. “You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” We who are in Christ are valued by God above all other people in the world. This fact should not make us arrogant, but it should rather humble us, that God has chosen us for no other reason than His sovereign will. There was nothing in me that would have made God say “Oh, he is so much better than anyone else. I want him!” On the contrary, I was a sinner just like everyone else. And there is nothing in anyone that makes them better than anyone else in the eyes of God. All are sinners, and if God had not saved anyone, none would be saved, and we would all receive our just reward—an eternity feeling God’s wrath. 

“So, what about the command to not shave the front of their heads for the dead?” This was a common practice at the time, to make extravagant markings in one’s flesh in their mourning of the dead, and cutting the hair on the front of one’s head was a more obvious sign of mourning. Like the prophets of Ba'al in 1^st Kings 18:28—So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. The pagans believed they would be heard for the anguish they suffered in cutting themselves (see also Leviticus 19:28). They thought that by the stripes they inflicted upon themselves they would be heard by their gods and the dead they were mourning would be given a better afterlife for it. Much like in the Roman Catholic System there were some who would beat themselves to show their contriteness and penance. Martin Luther used to do this before he came to know the truth of Scripture, that it is not by our own stripes, but “By His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). When he officiated his first Mass, the weight of the righteousness of God washed over him

 

Luther began to speak the words of the mass, “We offer unto thee, the living, the true, the eternal God.” Luther later writes about saying these words, “At these words I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, ‘With what tongue shall I address such Majesty, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I, that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my hands to the divine Majesty? The angels surround Him. At his nod the earth trembles. And shall a miserable little pigmy say, ‘I want this, I ask for that’? For I am dust and ashes and full of sin and I am speaking to the living eternal and the true God.”

(found at https://themajestysmen.com/joshuajenkins/the-life-doctrine-of-martin-luther-pt-1/)

 It was then that Luther realized that it was not the beatings that he administered to himself that made him accepted in the eyes of God, but rather the stripes laid on Jesus and his faith in that sacrifice that made him righteous. “By His stripes we are healed.” 

There are many New Testament passages that infer this very thing. Ephesians 1:6—To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. We are accepted in Christ, not on the basis of anything we do, but on the basis of what He has done. 2nd Corinthians 5:21—For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. God placed the curse that belonged to us and that we deserved on His perfect Son, so that by faith in Him we might not just have, but become the righteousness of God. Titus 3:4-5—4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. It is not by the works that we do that we obtain the mercy of God, for if it is our works that put us in right standing before God, then God is, by necessity, obliged to save us because of what we have done. Romans 11:5-6—5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace. If we can “earn” our salvation, then we are putting God under an obligation to save us. “So you’re saying we can just believe and we don’t have to do anything? We can just sit back and wait for our golden ticket to Paradise to be punched?” God forbid! James 2:18—But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. It is by our works that we show the world that we belong to Christ. (I posted on James 2 and works here.) 

“And the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” What made these people so special? Why should God look upon them more favorably then the people of Moab or Edom? Well, there was nothing about them that made them any better than any other peoples. God made a promise to one man, to make of his descendants a great nation. What did God see in Abraham that convinced God to make, even more than just a simple arrangement, but a covenant, with him? From what we have in the Scriptures, there was nothing great about Abraham, he was just a man living in Mesopotamia, and God called him to leave there and come to a land that He would give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A land Abraham had never seen before and had no idea about. And from this one man, God would make a people special to Him and separated to Him. A people to whom He would make covenant with also and give them the particulars about how they were to live before Him and what they were to do for their sins to be covered over. “But what about the Ammonite? Why didn’t God give these instructions to them?” That is not up to us to debate. This is what God wanted, and this is how He made it. Our ideas of “fairness” don’t mean a hill of beans compared to it. Psalm 115:3—But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. And it pleased Him to choose this little rag-tag group of slaves and bring them out of their slavery in Egypt and make of them a nation special to Him. 

And do not try to think of yourself more highly than the Israelites. Were they a stiff-necked people? Yes. Did they grumble and complain? Definitely. Did they often forget the goodness and mercy of God? No doubt. But do not think we are any better. How often do we, even after we know Christ, grumble and complain about our lot in life? How often do we forget Him in a fit of pride or anger? How many times do we lose sight of His mercy in keeping us from harm, and take the sacrifice of Jesus for granted? If you know Christ, if He has truly saved you from the wrath to come, if He has taken you out of this world of sin and death and set you apart to Himself, you are His forever! Are you set apart, sanctified by Christ? Hebrews 10:14—By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Has He begun a good work in you? Philippians 1:6—He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Do you realize that you are a sheep, and do you hear your Master’s voice? John 10:27-29—27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.” Is God going to set someone apart to Himself and allow them to go back to serving Satan? What kind of mercy is that? All that would do would give impetus to the enemies of Christ to blaspheme Him. “Hah! He saved this one, but could not hold on to him! Not very mighty for one who claims to be ‘Almighty’!” But that is not the God we worship. What do we read in the book of Jude? Near the very end of the book? Jude 1:24—Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. “Well, yeah, He is able to, but does He really?” What kind of a stupid question is that? Is God faithful? Of course He is. And if you have truly—truly—put your faith in Christ for your eternal salvation, and your life reflects that faith, God is faithful to preserve you until the very end. If you believe you can be unrighteous enough to lose your salvation, then you, by default, believe you can be righteous enough to keep it. 

Begin, my soul, some heavenly theme,/awake, my voice, and sing

The mighty works, or mightier name,/Of our eternal King.

Tell of his wondrous faithfulness,/And sound his power abroad;

Sing the sweet promise of his grace,/the quickening word of God.

Engraved as in eternal brass,/the mighty promise shines;

Nor can the powers of darkness raze/those everlasting lines.

His every word of grace is strong,/as that which built the skies;

The voice that rolls the stars along/speaks all the promises.

Now shall my fainting heart rejoice/to know thy favour sure:

I trust the all-creating voice,/and faith desires no more.

(“The Faithfulness of God”, Isaac Watts) 

Deuteronomy 14:3-21 outlines clean and unclean animals, those that were and were not acceptable as food. We have covered this here and here, so we will move on shortly. First I want to go over Deuteronomy 14:19, as this could be a place for the skeptic to latch onto and shout “contradiction!” Deuteronomy 14:19—“Also every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.” For the supposed contradiction the skeptic could point to John the Baptist, who ate locusts and wild honey. This is easily cleared up. However, by looking at Leviticus 11:20-22—20 “‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. 21 Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. 22 These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.’” Also the Targum of Jonathan renders Deuteronomy 14:19 as “And all flies (bees) and wasps, and all worms of vegetables and pulse, which come away from (materials of) food and fly as birds, are unclean to you, they may not be eaten.” The injunction was against eating any insect that could fly. The command is not that locusts and grasshoppers are abomination to eat, but that flies, bees, etc. are the abomination. So any hope the skeptic has of using this as a “Gotcha!” verse is sorely mistaken.

Part 2 next week

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen. 

What exactly DOES Hebrews 6:4-6 mean, anyway?

When dialoging with Arminians and others who teach that a person can be "lost" after they have been truly born again, one of their pet passages is Hebrews 6:4-6--4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

Now, at face value, it does sound like the writer of Hebrews (hereafter referred to as "The Writer") is saying that a person can be saved and then fall away to the point that they cannot be saved again. But is that really what Writer is saying? No, it isn't, and we will see why.

The first thing we must do in order to study this passage properly is to get rid of the chapter and verse divisions and any paragraph formatting. While these tools help us to find where certain passages are located, they were not in the original manuscripts and can, more often than not, interfere with our understanding of Scripture. What happens, many times, is our mind sees the numbers, separates Scripture from Scripture, and we put up mental walls around the texts and chop them up into separate thoughts, rather then seeing the constant, continuous flow of thought the writer intended. We also tend to chop paragraphs apart form each other, instead of seeing that the author was writing one long paragraph (for example, Ephesians chapter 1 is actually one long paragraph, rather than a bunch of smaller ones).

That said, in order to understand what The Writer is saying in Hebrews 6:4-6, we actually need to go back and start at chapter 5, verse 12 and read through chapter 6, verse 8. So, here is Hebrews 5:12-6:8, with no breaks--

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

What is the idea that The Writer is trying to get across to the reader? Well, he starts off by saying For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. These people had been taught, over and over again, the first principles of Christ. By now, they should have had a better handle on the truth than what they actually had. But, for some reason, they were not growing in their knowledge, so the writer had to go back over it again. This is the state that many in the church find themselves today. They walk into a fancy building on Sunday morning, they sit in a nice, comfy chair, and a glorified pop-psychologist feeds them some regurgitated, ground-up mush that he calls a "sermon"--while neglecting his duty to take the people deeper into God's word.

The Writer, however makes it clear that those who do not go deeper into God's word will not grasp what true holiness is. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. How is a person going to know how to spot the heresies if they don't have a full knowledge of the truth? Ephesians 6:14--Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Notice how Paul links truth with righteousness?

He puts the two side-by-side because they are linked arm-in-arm. Think about it: when Johnny Pewsitter gets a knock on his door, and a couple of finely-dressed young men present him with "the gospel that was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith", and Johnny doesn't know how to respond to their claims because he hasn't been taught anything more than "Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life"--when Johnny hears this new "plan", he's gonna get sucked in and dragged away into error. It's like Spurgeon said--"Discernment is not so much knowing the difference between right and wrong. It's knowing the difference between right and almost right."

But The Writer isn't going to go back over those things that the Hebrews should have already learned. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. In other words, "Look, if you haven't understood the most basic things, you aren't gonna understand the deeper things of God; go back and learn them and get back to me. Repentance, the uselessness of works, the resurrection--you know these things. And if you don't, you should. But I'm moving on."

And now, we get to the heart of the discussion. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. What is the first word in this section? "FOR." What does the word "For" signify? Well, it means that Writer is using the previous thought as a springboard into his next thought. And if we read this in its full context, this is what we get: Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. So, what is The Writer saying?

What he's saying is this: if a person has heard the most basic principles of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, if they have been taught that we are not saved by works or by baptism or by anything else but the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ--and after having heard and been taught all those things, if they "fall away" or "turn away" from these things (literally, "fall beside, slip aside, deviate from the right path, turn aside, wander, fall away from the true faith") and if they deny these things--then it is impossible for that person who has once learned these things, and has rejected them, to awaken themselves to their need for repentance.

This is a person who has given final, definite proof that he will not accept the truth. The phrase translated "once enlightened" is the Greek άπαξ φωτισθέντας (hapax photisthentas), and literally means "once for all enlightened." They have heard the truth more than once, and in fact they have heard it for the last time that God will let them hear it. They have been adamantly stiff-necked toward God, and should they hear the truth 1000 more times, it will make no impression on their heart.

The Writer is not talking about a person who has been saved--he is talking about a person who was never saved to begin with. He is not talking about a person who at one time accepted these truths and is now rejecting them--he is talking about the person who never accepted the most basic truths of salvation in the first place. The one who is "falling away" heard the truth of Christ but never accepted that truth. They took in the truth of the Living Water, and it produced nothing but a barren tree, which is why he goes on to say, For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. Here he compares the one who accepts the truth with a tree that bears good herbs that are fit for use in the kingdom of God. But the one who rejects the most basic truths of the gospel is a tree that doesn't produce anything but thorns and briers, and is only good for kindling.

"But," the Arminian will say, "what does Writer mean when he talks about those who have become partakers of the Holy Spirit? Doesn't that refer to someone who is saved?" The answer to that question is "No." For there are many who may have claimed to have been saved, but were only fooling themselves and others. Those are the ones that the apostle John says went out from us but...were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have continued with us (1st John 2:19). There were many who went out, who even performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, yet who were not truly regenerate. Or what else would our Lord be speaking of when he warns us that "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'"? (Matthew 7:22-23). Or why does Paul tell us that you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him (Romans 8:9). Many there are who have had truths revealed to them by the Spirit of God, but who were never truly indwelt by Him and quickened by Him. Thus, they were 'partakers' of the Holy Spirit, but never children of God.

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God...For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened...to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated...but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

I hope this has enlightened (no pun intended) those who think that we can lose what God has given us. Because we did nothing to save ourselves, and we can do nothing to keep ourselves saved, how could we ever do anything to lose what we have been given? John 10:27-29--"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."

Verse-by-Verse through Philippians (4:2-4:4)

Got a question for you. Which of the following does more harm to a local church congregation:

A) Being surrounded by beer joints and strip clubs?

Or

B) Having an unresolved dispute going on between two members?

We can get a bar closed down. We can go to whatever board it is and say, “There are always fights at this bar, people getting shot and stabbed.” And the board can decide to close the place down. But then what happens? Another one pops up to take its place. You see, as long as we live in this world of wickedness and sin we are always going to be surrounded by wickedness and sin. BUT, the Lord Jesus Christ commands all those who belong to Him, to be united—to be of the same mind, of one accord—one body. Romans 12:4-5—For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. We will always be surrounded by evil. That is to be expected. And evil will always try and find its way into the church and drag us away.

That’s what evil does. It creeps in, from the outside, and it drags us away. But sometimes a disagreement comes up within the church—and don’t get me wrong, we’re not always going to agree 100% all of the time with every single person—but when we start fussing with one another—when we just simply don’t like someone or what that someone is doing—and we lash out, in whatever way, at that person, who are we letting in the door? Satan! Because when we act in such a way—what is causing us to act that way? Five letters, starts with a ‘P’. Rhymes with "pride." What does God think about pride? James 4:6—God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

We’re going to see today that no matter what our quarrel is with someone, we need to let it go. Because it ain't about us. I don’t stand up here, Richard doesn’t stand up here, we don’t do this just to hear our own voice. The church does not come together and meet just to have something to do on a Sunday morning. When we come together we should have only one focus—and if we have that one focus, we should be guiding people to focus on that same focus. And that’s what we will see this morning. Your translation may be different, your mileage may vary.

Philippians 4:2-3—2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

Anybody here ever heard of MRSA? Staph infection? Here’s the funny thing about MRSA. You’ve got it. The person next to you has it. I have it. We all have MRSA. It is part of the natural bacteria we all have on our skin. So if it’s one of the normal bacteria that live on our skin and we are surrounded by it, how do we get infected with it? I'm glad you asked! You get a cut. You pull a hangnail. It gets underneath the skin, and it grows. You see where I'm going with this? Pride is all around us. But if we give pride an opening—same thing’s gonna happen. We’re gonna be infected. Is it gonna be our physical body that gets infected? No. It will be our mind, our soul, our spirit. And when it happens in the church, whose body are we ultimately infecting? Christ’s!

Verse 2. I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. These were two ladies in the Philippian church. They were having a dispute that was coming between them. And what was that dispute? What do you mean it doesn’t say what the dispute was? Oh, maybe that’s the point. This is one of those times where it shows that God Himself spoke these words to Paul. Why do I say that? I'm glad you asked! There are places where the writer is addressing some issue in one particular congregation. And we could be sore tempted to simply skip over those passages. Romans 16 is a good example. “They're just salutations; they're not that important.” If God thought enough to have those words written down—do you think it might be important? Those are places you have to study. Just like those words that didn’t exist in the Greek at the time, so Paul had to stick this prefix on this word to express himself properly. And as we get to this little blurb about Euodia and Syntyche, Paul really says a whole lot—by not saying a whole lot.

Again, we don’t know the cause of the conflict here. And there’s a reason why we don’t know—what might that reason be? Yeah, it doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter what it was about! The fact of the matter was, these two women were butting heads with each other and causing division within the body of Christ. That little MRSA organism doesn’t care what kind of opening it gets. If it sees a break in the skin—it’s in! Just like pride. Pride does not care how it gets into the members of the body of Christ—just so long as it finds it way in. Richard, what is it that Pastor Phil says all the time about church fusses? Satan would rather start ONE church fuss than open up 100 beer joints and strip clubs. And why? Because the people that go into the beer joints and strip clubs already belong to Satan.

Besides:
• How many churches have split because of a new beer joint opening up down the street?
• How many churches split because they built a new strip club on the other side of town?
• How many churches have split because somebody decided to put up a new liquor store?

Now, how many churches have split because of pride? Hebrews 12:14-15—Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Satan is always looking to take away members from the body of Christ. Question is, are you going to join him?

When the church is doing what it’s supposed to be doing, does that make front-page news? No. When do you see the church in the news? Now, does Satan care what kind of fuss he starts? NO! He is going to use whatever makes people puffed up. Just so long as he can stir up strife in the body of Christ—he’s happy! And that’s why we don’t know the details here. Paul is simply telling these women, “Look, whatever it is—knock it off!” Steve, stop me if you’ve heard your kids tell you this when you break up an argument: “He started it!” And you say? “I don’t care who started it—I'm gonna finish it!” Here’s an example of “letting it go” from back in the 1600’s. George Whitefield and John Wesley—two men who had some very different opinions on certain doctrines. One day someone asked, “Mr. Whitefield, do you think that we will see John Wesley in heaven?” Whitefield responded, “No, I doubt we will see Mr. Wesley in heaven. He will be so close to the throne of God that we will be fortunate to even catch a glimpse of his back.” Be of one mind in the Lord.

Verse 3. And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. Let’s talk a little about the Book of Life. And believe me, I do not consider myself an expert by any means on this subject. I am confident in what I believe, but as with other doctrines, there are men who know a whole lot more than I do, and they could probably articulate a little better than I could. But here goes. The “Book of Life” contains the names of all those who belong to Christ—those who are living on earth now, those who have already “fallen asleep” and those who have not yet been born.

Now, just as there are names which are written in the Book of Life, there are names which are NOT written in the Book of Life. In the 13th chapter of Revelation, when the apostle John is warning us about the Beast who will rule upon the earth during the Great Tribulation, he says, Revelation 13:8—All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Those who will worship the Beast—their names have not been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Their names are not in there. Never were. Never will be. God never wrote their names in the Book of Life. Because the Book of life ONLY contains the names of Christians. The only names in there are the names of those who followed Christ, who are following Christ, and who will follow Christ. There will never be a name in there that does not belong.

Because this is a record that was written before even the creation of the heavens and the earth. Revelation 17:8—“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.” And it is that Book of Life that will be the final piece of evidence that God will use to render an eternal verdict of “GUILTY” upon sinners. Revelation 20:11-15—Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it…And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books…Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. It will not matter how “good” a person was. It will not matter whether that person volunteered at a homeless shelter. It will not matter if that person sat in church their whole life. If that person does not turn away from sin; if that person does not acknowledge the fact that Jesus Christ is LORD; if that person tries to make themselves righteous by their vile human works, then on that Day when the books are opened, and the Book of Life is opened, they will be judged by their works, they will be found lacking, they will be cast into Hell for all eternity.

Question: somebody dies, and let’s say they were an unrepentant homosexual. They spent all their years going from one relationship to another. And, as so often happens, they wind up with AIDS. They spend the next five years going through all kinds of treatments, but eventually their body can't fight off the infections anymore, and they die a very slow, very painful death. All their friends gather around after the person dies, and they all comfort themselves by telling each other…what? “He’s in a better place!” Not necessarily. You see, it doesn’t matter how a person dies. All that matters is they died. If their name is not in the Book of Life—they're not going to Heaven. Revelation 21:7-8—“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” There’s not a whole lot of wiggle room there.

A little later on in the same chapter, John sees the holy city—New Jerusalem—descending from the clouds. And he sees who enters into it—and who doesn’t. Revelation 21:24, 27—And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light…But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. A person could die the most horrific, terrifying, painful death you could ever imagine—but if their name is not in the Book of Life, they will face an eternity that will make the way they died seem almost bearable.

BUT!! You can't know how good the good news is until you know how bad the bad news is, right? IF we do turn away from sin; if we do acknowledge the fact that Jesus Christ is LORD; if we do know that there is no way/no how that we could ever make ourselves righteous by our vile human works, that our righteousness is filthy rags and that true righteousness is from God by faith (Philippians 3:9)—then on that Day, when the books are opened, and the Book of Life is opened, we will NOT be judged by our works, but we will be found sinless because our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), and because Christ has become sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21), and we will live for all of eternity in the presence of Almighty God and the Lamb. And if our name is in the Book of Life, and IF we endure to the end, and IF we keep pressing toward the mark, and IF we keep fighting the good fight of faith, then God hasn’t put it in there using pencil—He used a big, fat, Sharpie® permanent marker! It’s painted there, chiseled in stone, and it ain't coming out! Revelation 3:5—He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

This is an assurance from Christ that those who love Him and worship Him and obey Him will always and forever have their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Let me give you a little background on this verse, because there are some who read that verse and say, “Well, if Christ says He will not blot out the names of those who overcome, then that must mean He will blot out the names of those who don’t overcome.” That is not what He’s saying. John 1:12-13--But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. We did not bring about our own new birth--if we are in Christ, we were born from above--not by our own will, but by the will of God. 1st John 5:4-5--For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? In other words, if a person has been truly born of God, that person WILL overcome the world. It's not a case of "If you do everything you can, you might be able to be saved"--it's a case of "If God has saved you--you WILL be saved to the uttermost." That is, if your name has been written in the Book of Life, it ain't gonna be taken out!!

In Revelation, Jesus told the apostle John to write those words to the church in a city called Sardis, another Roman colony much like Philippi. And in Roman cities—same as in any other culture at the time—they would have a roll which contained the names of all the citizens living there. And what would happen to the name of a citizen of such an area when they died? “Well, Marcus Maximus just died—take his name off the tax roll.” But when a person “falls asleep”—that is, their body ceases to function—does that person cease to exist? Now, if such a person was truly “in Christ”—if they had repented from sin, loved Christ and obeyed Christ until the very end—will their names be taken off of that roll call? Of course not!

Keep in mind the whole “citizenship” issue. We saw a couple weeks ago that Paul said in Philippians 3:20—For our citizenship is in heaven. Where are our names written? And in Heaven, our names are written in that Book of Life. If we are citizens of Heaven, and our name is written in that registry up there, and if we continue to imitate those who imitate Christ—will our names be removed from that roll? No. That is the point Christ is making. He’s saying that if our name is on that roll it ain't gonna come off!

Because it was written there before even the first spark of creation. And who wrote our name in that Book of Life? It was God Himself. Jesus reaffirms this idea in Luke 10:20--"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Not "will be written" or "may be written at a later date." But our names ARE written in Heaven, in the Lamb's Book of Life--never to be taken out!!

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.