Let's go back to the phone lines -
- by the way the quote of the day will be up on the web soon -
Jeremy in Calgary, Alberta Canada - CHRB
Hi Jeremy!
Hi there Hank, thank you for having me
I do want to bless you, for you and your ministry and what you're going through yourself.
May God keep you - praise God.
Thank you.
My question is: if I have a friend who's going through baptism
but he's actually been baptized
and he again turns and walks with the world afterward would -
- would a person consider him lost?
I -
I don't know if I seen like so much signs of the Holy Spirit, maybe some.
Or maybe you can explain that to me please? Thank you.
Well yeah I mean
you have to
you have to distinguish between reality and appearance.
The example that I've used continuously in the Bible Answer Man broadcast is Judas.
If you were around in the first century,
when Jesus walked the earth
and you were an eyewitness to the inner circle of Christ,
you would have said I want to be like Judas.
I mean if there's someone you wanted to emulate it would have been Judas.
He was performing miracles,
he was driving out demons,
he was proclaiming the works of Christ,
and he was even entrusted as the quote/unquote "treasurer"
that's overstating it a little bit but you know scripture says he kept the money bag,
so, you know he'd say this is a guy with great integrity, and wisdom, and
and this has to be the real McCoy.
And so you would watch from a distance and say
"Wow. I want to be like Judas."
However,
Jesus saw a far different reality.
He saw that Judas was not there because Judas loved Jesus,
but rather, Judas was there because Judas loved what was on Jesus's table.
in other words Judas liked all that Jesus brought,
until of course,
Jesus said "My kingdom is not of this world"
And then Judas had a change of heart.
until Jesus became unpopular with the people,
and with the leaders.
Well, Judas had at least an apparent change of heart, but Jesus saw what Judas
was about from the beginning because Jesus looks beyond externalities,
Jesus sees the heart.
So I think the first thing that we have to discuss
whenever we talk about this subject is,
the fact that we really don't know who the real McCoy is.
We see the exterior, the Lord sees the heart.
So that's one part of the equation.
The other thing I think that's very important for all of us to
recognize is that true followers of Jesus Christ are not those who made a
transaction somewhere along the line, but rather those who are involved in transformational
relationship
to the pillar and the ground of truth.
Meaning that they are partaking of the graces
by which they become by grace what God is by nature.
So it isn't transactional,
it's transformational in a relational sense within the community of faith.
Now, there are people that start out with the Lord
and then many fall away. Why? Because of the very difficult things that Jesus said.
Remember when he said
"Unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no life in you"?
Wow that was really hard for people to take and many
at that point decided "I'm out of here."
Particularly when you recognize the impact of the
secular Koine Greek in which these words were spoken.
a little more impactful than even the translation into modern English.
and then the last thing I would say in this regard, and I think this is very very important and that is:
Look, if you are a genuine follower of Christ,
you can have confidence that He who began a good work in you is going to carry
that work on to completion.
Because scripture tells us precisely that in Philippians.
Chapter 1.
Or you can read
the words of John in John chapter 5.
"He who believes has eternal life."
Or, what Paul says in 1st Corinthians chapter 1, that Christ will keep you strong to the end.
Now, Christ works through means.
You can walk away from those means, and if you do then you're demonstrating - like Judas
and others that could not take the words of our Lord -
that, the faith within you was not genuine faith.
you were not genuinely
turning with God's help
and demonstrating a change of heart, a change of mind, and a change of the will
because those that do are "marked in Him
with the seal - the promised Holy Spirit - who is a deposit guaranteeing
our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession."
Now, I'm simply quoting scripture there.
Which is to say that I have an absolute assurance
that I will never walk away from the Lord.
I have the seal of the Holy Spirit, I know
that I have ordered my life around the divine,
and I have fallen madly in love with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ -
I've fallen madly in love with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And I've realized my all in finding my fellowship in the Trinity.
So ultimately,
that love is only going to increase as my love for my wife and kids continues to increase
I've written about this in various places,
but don't think that this is a journey you can go alone. When you become a believer
you're part of a community of faith.
You're never a "lone ranger" Christian