Wheat field Banner

Gleanings From The Word

Category: Hebrews

  • Proximity Doesn’t Produce a Profession

    Do you really know Jesus?

    An empty church pew with sunlight streaming on it reenforcing the theme of proximity, closeness

    I was thinking about Pat, a late friend from “the cowboy church,” recently. She attended and served at churches her entire life but later in life realized she didn’t know Jesus. She had thought that attending church and doing “Christian” things made her a Christian. After truly becoming a believer, she was an unstoppable force, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but with a zeal matched by very few.

    I have met so many people like that, faithful in church, but without Jesus. What a tragedy it will be when He says to them, “Depart from me; I never knew you.” 

    I’m not judging them; I’m going by the fact that they told me of their conversion experiences later. It’s not for me to judge someone’s salvation; only God himself can do that. 

    Being near the holy doesn’t make you holy, or, as a nicely alliterated sermon title, “Proximity doesn’t always produce a profession.” That shouldn’t surprise us. Judas Iscariot walked with Jesus for three years and didn’t believe. Jesus worked signs and wonders, and people didn’t come to him.

    When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. John 6:60-66 ESV

    I have met people who have told me, “I tried Christianity, but it didn’t work for me.” Of course it didn’t. “Christianity” has no power to change anyone. We must be changed by the Holy Spirit, be born again and be in the process of being made Christ. God has the power, not some vague definition of Christianity.

    The Apostle Paul warns

    For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Hebrews 6:4-8 ESV

    It’s possible to go to church, have a Christian family or family members, and receive some of God’s blessings by being in their proximity without knowing Jesus. That’s a sobering thought.

    It’s why I believe that every sermon should point to the cross explicitly or implicitly. It doesn’t have to be the key point of the message, but it’s likely in most (every?) congregations that there is someone there who doesn’t know Jesus.

    What are you trusting in? If you aren’t trusting in Jesus by faith, you need to change direction.

    May you know the Lord and be bless by Him,

    Kevin

    Did you enjoy this devotional? Subscribe today 

    SUMMARY

    I think about my late friend Pat, who served faithfully in church her whole life before realizing, late, that she’d never actually known Jesus. Her story is a reminder that proximity to church doesn’t equal salvation, and every one of us needs to ask honestly what we’re really trusting in.

    TAKEAWAY

    Being near church, Christian family, or “Christian” activity doesn’t make anyone a believer — only faith in Christ does.

    Scripture shows this is nothing new: Judas walked with Jesus for three years without believing, and many disciples turned back after a hard teaching (John 6:60-66).

    Hebrews 6:4-8 warns that tasting the blessings of God’s presence isn’t the same as bearing real fruit — the question every reader must answer is what they’re trusting in.

    YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

    Why no one has an excuse

    The gospel, the best news ever

    Read the Bible to know the truth

    Last minute decisions – come to Christ before it’s too late

    Running Late

  • Why the Old Testament Still Matters to Christians Today

    Two Christian friends were debating the value of the Old Testament to Christianity. One was spouting the heresy that the God of the Old Testament was different than the God of the New. Of course we know Scripture explicitly claims that isn’t so. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

    He went on to say there is no need for the Old Testament, since we have grace in the New Testament and are not under the Law. When asked about what Jesus thought of the Old Testament, he stammered and changed the subject.

    Jesus knew the Old Testament perfectly both in wording and spirit. Depending on how you count, He explicitly quoted the Old Testament ~40 times and alluded to it is somewhere between 180-250 times in the gospels alone. 

    Many “new” things Jesus taught are straight out of the Old Testament. In Psalm 105, we read a recap of the Exodus story. Here’s an excerpt:

    Then He brought them out with silver and gold,
    And there was none among His tribes who stumbled.
    Egypt was glad when they went out,
    For the dread of them had fallen upon them.
    He spread a cloud for a covering,
    And fire to give light by night.
    They asked, and He brought quail,
    And He satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
    He opened the rock and water flowed out;
    It ran in the dry places like a river.
    For He remembered His holy word
    With Abraham His servant;
    And He brought His people out with joy,
    His chosen ones with a shout of joy.     Psalm 105:37-40

    Jesus takes His audience back to the Old Testament and shows Himself to be the chosen one, the long awaited Messiah.

    Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses has not given you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:31-34

    I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” John 6:48-51

    Jesus shows from a historical passage that He is the one they have been waiting for. That doesn’t count the estimated 300 places that there is a prophetic mention of His coming.

    Without the Old Testament, we have no idea that there was even a Messiah who would come to rescue us. With it, we would have no basis to evaluate His claims.

    Augustine said, “Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet.” For most of us who don’t speak Latin, that is “The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.” Or as it is sometimes translated, “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.”

    While certainly there are passages in the Old Testament that don’t apply to us directly, like the ceremonial and dietary laws. There are passages that seem obscure and uninteresting, like the long genealogies. Still, the Old Testament is vital to our understanding of the New and to our understanding of God and our need for Him.

    Praise God we have both.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    You might also enjoy

    Did you ever wonder? Is the God of the Old Testament than the God of the New?

    What if I asked you, What is your favorite book of the Bible?

    Some thoughts on the importance of Reading the Word

    Jesus, the Fountain of LIving Water in Jeremiah and John