First the Question: Does the Great Tribulation begin immediately following the Rapture? Yes or No?
Take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day
And now the answer to the LLM Question of 7-1-2012
Question: Did the NATION of Israel Commit the Unpardonable Sin? Yes or No?
Answer: TRUE! Now, pay attention, NATION Israel committed the unpardonable sin. HOWEVER, any individual Israelite may be saved by Grace at any time he believes. They sinned against the Son of man and put Him to death. He prayed for their forgiveness on the cross. Luke 23:34. According to Acts 5:29-32, Christ was raised from the dead to be Israel’s Prince and Savior to give them repentance. The Holy Spirit was present to witness. Acts 5:32. If Israel sinned, against the Holy Spirit, rejecting His witness concerning the resurrected Son of man, Israel would NOT be forgiven. Matthew 12:32. Stephen saw the Son of man in Heaven. He so testified to Israel. AND, They sinned against the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:51 and Acts 7:56. Now, out of the 755 responses we received to this question, ONLY 42.5% of you got it right! Therefore, NOW, let us take a look in depth at...
Did the Nation of Israel Commit the Unpardonable Sin?
“FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THOSE WHO WERE ONCE ENLIGHTENED, AND HAVE TASTED OF THE HEAVENLY GIFT, AND WERE MADE PARTAKERS OF THE HOLY GHOST AND HAVE TASTED THE GOOD WORD OF GOD, AND THE POWERS OF THE WORLD TO COME, IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY, TO RENEW THEM AGAIN UNTO REPENTANCE; SEEING THEY CRUCIFY TO THEMSELVES THE SON OF GOD AFRESH, AND PUT HIM TO AN OPEN SHAME.” Hebrews 6:4-6.
First of all let us observe that this Epistle is addressed to Hebrews.
God’s people, Israel, for many centuries had been under the Law. They had been observing the feasts and the rituals, keeping ordinances, and practicing the ceremonies which God gave them through Moses, the mediator of the Old Covenant. Therefore, after we have carefully read the Epistle to the Hebrews we can plainly see that the Epistle is written to believing Jews and those who professed to be the people of God.
What you must keep in mind is that many Jews were both confused and uncertain as to their obligation to the ceremonies of Judaism after Christ had died on the cross. Perhaps we can better understand this when we take a hard look at what is going on today among so-called orthodox Jews who think they are carrying on the program of God in their religious observances during their Passover holy days, Sabbaths, and their Yom Kippur celebration.
Inasmuch as Gentiles today are saved by Grace, and have NO DESIRE to turn to the sacrifices of Judaism for cleansing their sin, no primary application of Hebrews 6:4-6 can be made to any member of the Body of Christ.
In Hebrews 10:26 we read, “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the Knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more SACRIFICE for sins.” Some have read into this verse, “if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more FORGIVENESS for sin”, (but that is not what it says). The word “forgiveness” is not suggested; it is “sacrifice”. All the way through the Epistle to the Hebrews we are told that the once for all sacrifice, which Christ made on the cross, forever put away sin.
In this same tenth chapter we read, “there is no more offering for sin”, “no more sacrifice”, “no more remembrance of sin”; that is, God remembers “no more” the sins of those who have been saved by the blood of Christ.
If we will read carefully Matthew 12:51 and Matthew 12:32, and then study the history of Israel in the Book of Acts, we will learn that the NATION Israel committed the unpardonable sin.
They sinned against the Son of man and put Him to death. He prayed for their forgiveness on the cross. Luke 23:34. According to Acts 5:29-32, Christ was raised from the dead to be Israel’s Prince and Savior to give them repentance. The Holy Spirit was present to witness. Acts 5:32. If Israel sinned, against the Holy Spirit, rejecting His witness concerning the resurrected Son of man, Israel would NOT be forgiven. Matthew 12:32. Stephen saw the Son of man in Heaven. He so testified to Israel. AND…They sinned against the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:51 and Acts 7:56.
Now, pay attention, NATION Israel committed the unpardonable sin. HOWEVER, any individual Israelite may be saved by Grace at any time he believes.
So far as Salvation by Grace is concerned, “where sin abounded grace did much more abound.” The Gentile sinner is alienated from the life of God; is dead in trespasses and sin, and is by nature the child of wrath. Ephesians 4:18; Ephesians 2:1-7. In THIS state all of a man’s sins remain unpardoned. And therefore, there is NO SUCH THING as an unpardonable sin for one who has been saved by the Grace of God and the Blood of Christ.
Every Child of God, member of the Body of Christ, believes that any believer, who deliberately practices sin after he has become a child of God, CAN be restored by confessing his sin and turning to God.
Everyone who turns to God, whether sinner or saint, must turn through Jesus Christ, the one Mediator. The person who has once been saved and has fallen into sin habits does not turn to God through Christ on the cross. But he turns to God through Christ the Advocate and Intercessor in Heaven, though it is ALWAYS on the grounds of His shed blood. Christ is in heaven interceding for saints.
In John 17:9 He said, “I pray not for the world”. Therefore, we see that Hebrews 6:4-6 does NOT refer to the so-called backslider who has fallen away but who can be restored. For this Scripture, Hebrews 6:4-6, says it is impossible to renew the man who has fallen away. Thus we see how frequently this portion of Scripture is misinterpreted and misapplied by those who apply it to a person whom they declare was once saved but lost his salvation by falling from grace.
Surely a person who has become a partaker of the Holy Spirit has become a child of God. Therefore, if there is any application of Hebrews 6:4-6 to be made to members of the Body of Christ, it must prove the very opposite of what is taught by many falsely. It must prove that the child of God CANNOT fall away.
Therefore, the case presented in Hebrews 6:4-6 could only be considered a hypothetical case so far as any member of Christ’s Body is concerned.
The impossible of Hebrews 6:18 PROVES the eternal security of the believer and therefore Hebrews 6:4-6 does not prove the opposite. One thing is sure, if we apply it to a so-called backsliding Christian, there is no hope for such a backslider in Hebrews 6:4-6, for the person therein described cannot be renewed. And such is NOT the case with members of the Body of Christ.
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In Ephesians 1:13 the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul declares that men are saved and sealed by hearing and BELIEVING the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation. Therefore, here, now, is declared unto you the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your Salvation: "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. BELIEVE today. The time is short.
So There You Have it!
Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide.
Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.
In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry
Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
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