August 22, 2004

Cawson Street Church of Christ

Mural Worthey

Hopewell, VA

Introduction

There is an important aspect of the Gospel that we do not often point out. It is the ongoing or continuous nature of it. From the time you are born into a family, you will need a home, a place to live. That need and blessing in our lives is ongoing. We feel secure, in part, because of our homes and families. In like manner, we need to feel secure and assured in Christ. We need a spiritual environment or home in which we may live that is ongoing and continuous.

Here are some examples of the ongoing nature of our hope in Jesus Christ.

One of the points that the Hebrew writer repeatedly makes is that the priesthood of Jesus Christ patterned after Melchizedek is forever.

"Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." (Heb. 5:6; 7:17; 7:21.) This quotation is from Psalm 110:4. The story of Melchizedek and Abraham is found in Genesis 14. "Where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." (6:20.) "[Melchizedek] abides a priest continually" (7:3.) "But this man, because he continues ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." (7:24.) "The Son, who is consecrated for evermore." (7:28.)

Why did the Hebrew writer repeat this point? Because he wanted us to be assured that, even though the first priesthood after Aaron came to an end, this priesthood would last forever. The New Covenant will not wax old like the first one did and was done away. This Covenant is an everlasting covenant that reaches into heaven and the new world. Jesus will abide as our high priest until the end. There will never be another covenant or priesthood. This is the great problem with the claim of Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints. If there is another testament, as they claim, then there must be another priesthood. But what is it? The teaching of the Bible is that this priesthood is forever. Another will not exist by the power and ordination of God.

The New Covenant with God and our hope is secure because the priesthood of Jesus Christ continues forever. A covenant and priesthood go together. Under the Levitical priesthood the Law was given. Under the priesthood of Jesus Christ, that of Melchizedek, the New Covenant was given. The Covenant is secure because it came from God and the priesthood of Jesus cannot be changed.

"For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower thereof falls away. But the word of the Lord abides forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." (1 Peter 1:24-25.) "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matt. 24:35.)

The heavens and earth may tremble and be shaken, but God’s word will abide. This provides security and hope to man as he learns to trust in God. God is secure and remains when all else fails. Even when men do not believe, God abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. (2 Tim. 2:13.) God’s word cannot fail or end because God cannot deny himself or cease to exist. We have an ongoing God whose word will stand; we have an ongoing Priest and priesthood providing our hope and assurance. Our great High Priest ever lives to make intercession for us before God. (Heb. 7:25.)

Paul wrote, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit." (1 Thess. 5:16-19.) This little phrase, pray without ceasing, often mused over and left for another day is filled with meaning. We often wonder why Paul said it this way. We can be sure of this: It is not an isolated teaching or something out of harmony with other truths. It expresses a great truth about the whole of Christianity; i.e., that it is ongoing and continuous. It can be counted on everyday. We practice it daily. Paul wrote, "I die daily." (1 Cor. 15:31.) "We walk by faith." (2 Cor. 5:7.) We always rejoice in our faith and hope. We must so live that we do not quench the Holy Spirit of God by lust and a carnal mind.

In like manner, Paul wrote to the Romans: "Serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of the saints." (Rom. 12:11-13.) All these activities are ongoing in nature. This is the way of life for Christians.

For someone to ask, How can we be constantly praying? shows a failure to understand the very nature of Christianity and our faith. Does it mean that we must constantly be verbalizing a prayer to God? We must go beyond a mechanical, rigid, legal view of Christianity.

Augustine observed, "For it is your heart’s desire that is your prayer. If your desire continues uninterrupted, your prayer continues also. For it was not without meaning, when the apostle said, Pray without ceasing. Are we to be without ceasing in bending the knee and prostrating the body and lifting up our hands, such that he says without ceasing? If that is what it means, then I do not believe it is possible. There is another kind of inward prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart. (Ancient Christianity Commentary, Vol. 9, 98.)

Because of sin, on ongoing battle for even believers, we must be constantly penitent and humble. If we pray without ceasing and quench not the Spirit in our lives, then we never cease being penitent. Repentance should not be seen as something that starts and stops with known sins or overt sins that we commit. What about sins that you are not even aware of in your life? They exist.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." (Psalm 51:17.)

The importance of having a penitent, humble spirit as a way of life is evident in the way that some practice public confessions. The use of public invitations to respond to the Gospel has been extended to Christians to rededicate their lives and make confessions of sins in their lives. I have heard preachers say that if you, as a Christian, have entertained any evil and wayward thoughts, then you should respond publicly and repent. They see penitence and salvation as starting and stopping, instead of an ongoing process. A fellow preacher told me recently about a conversation that they had in their Bible classes when he was a student preacher in training. Someone in the class asked the teacher, What if a Christian sins on Thursday? Can he repent and be forgiven on Thursday, or must he wait until Sunday so that he can respond publicly? The unbelievable reply was that the Christian could not be forgiven until Sunday!

When Simon sinned by offering money to Peter for the gift of laying on of hands so that others may receive the Holy Spirit, Peter told him to repent and respond on Sunday, then he would be forgiven! Peter made no such statement. He rather said, "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." (Acts 8:22.) Peter told Simon to do the praying for his own forgiveness. We should not think for a moment that we are dependent either upon the special day of Sunday in order to be forgiven, or upon someone acting as our priest. We are all a holy priesthood before God. Simon did ask Peter to pray for him, but such was not necessary for him to be forgiven. (8:24.)

Peter wrote, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed." (James 5:16.) James did not say that this was to be done only in the assembly on the Lord’s Day or after Wednesday Bible study. It was an ongoing practice daily and privately. Public prayers often include requests for continued forgiveness of our sins.

Someone asked brother Guy N. Woods about the practice of churches to make pleas for Christians to make public confessions of sins and listing in their bulletins as restorations. One church bulletin said that one member remarked that he made public confessions three times a year. Here is brother Woods powerful reply:

Is there a time when Christians should make public statements to the whole church? Yes, and it is possible for Christians to fall away from the faith and need to be restored. One can "err from the truth" and when converted "a soul is saved from death and multitude of sins are hidden." (James 5:19-20.)

However, it is very important for everyone Christian to know that one does not fall away on the commission or omission of every sin. If so, then we would be saved and then lost every time we thought something amiss and did something sinful. Eddie Hendrix, a fellow preacher, calls this "hop- scotch salvation." At one moment you are on this side of the line and then you jump to the other side, back and forth. You can only hope that death catches you on the right side of the line and on the Lord’s Day so that you can repent. Surely, it is evident that something is wrong with this kind of theology. What is wrong is that it misses the great truth in Scripture that forgiveness, the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, God’s Word, penitence, prayer and all things related to our faith are ongoing and continuous. The blood of Jesus Christ keeps us clean. If one stops walking in the light and living by faith, renouncing the faith, then that person walks away from Christianity and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There remains no more sacrifice for sin. (Heb. 10:25.) But one does that only when one leaves the Christianity assembly and forsakes his only hope in Christ.

This view and practice of Christianity, described above as "hop-scotch Christianity" does great harm to believers. It destroys any assurance of salvation. Christians never know where they stand with the Lord. They know not what side of the line that they are on at any given moment. The Bible teaches that there is "a blessed man to whom the Lord does not impute sin." (Psalm 32:2, Rom. 4:8.) That is a great truth not often mentioned by preachers and teachers. I wonder why. As we continue to live by faith, but not doing everything perfectly, the Lord does not impute any sins to such a one in Christ. The church is described by Paul as having "no spot, wrinkle or any such thing; holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5:27.) How is the church, any local church, really like that? Because the church who honors Christ as the head is always kept that way by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is not lost on Friday and saved on Sunday.

This "in and out of salvation" or hop-scotch religion is actually one glaring symptom of a legal view of Christianity. It views salvation as based upon keeping the rules perfectly, and when you fail mechanically repenting and confessing to obtain forgiveness, instead of a religion based on the right kind of relationship with the Lord.

There is a bold line of separation between the saved and the lost by the biblical description of those in Christ and those out of Christ.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8:1-2.)