Let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;)
and let us consider one another to provoke unto
love and to good works: not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner
of some is; but exhorting one another:
and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully after that we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment
and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the adversaries.
Hebrews 10:23-27
The world and its culture contrary to the will of God and to Christianity, Christians attempts in every way possible to cause a Christian to lose their faith. We are told to hold fast to our faith and not waver. I cannot help but remember the might Christian man, a disciple of the Apostle John, Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, 155 A.D. a martyr who held fast to the faith delivered to him by the Apostle John. Polycarp when hearing that he was to be arrested was not dismayed and when the men came to arrest him he asked for some time to pray, to get ready for the ordeal that he was about to face. We too should go to God in prayer when we are about to face a circumstance that is beyond our control. The age of Polycarp was 86 years of age and when not yielding to the pressures of the men who questioned him and mocked him and having put him in the area where Christians were forced to fight hungry lions, etc., the Proconsul asked him to recant, to swear by the genius (an oath invented under Julius Caesar, and under Augustus certain special days were set apart for worship of the Emperor), to repent and say 'Away with the atheists!' and this he did in a manner that only a faithful Christian could and must do for he said looking up at the crown in the stands: "Away with atheists." The proconsul angry with him and could not persuade Polycarp to recant his faith in Jesus Christ and replied to the proconsul: "Thee I had deemed worthy of discourse, for we are taught to render to authorities and the powers ordained of God honor as is fitting. But I deem not this mob worthy that I should defend myself before them." Further Polycarp knowing that he would be put to death be fire, said this: "Thou threatenest the fire that burns for an hour and in a little while is quenched; for thou knowest not of the fire of the judgment to come, and the fire of the eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. But why delayest thou? Bring what thou wilt."
Polycarp is a great example of holding fast to the faith unwavering, and if you read Fox's Book of Martyrs you will find many men and women of the years to be just like Polycarp. What about you? Are you willing to hold fast to your faith unwavering? The opening Scripture tells us of a very frightening thing: "
For if we sin willfully after that we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment
and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the adversaries.
The Greek here cannot be more clear, this expectation is to receive from another, to look for, to wait for and the Greek translated judgment that means a judgment, a decision, a judicial sentence, and adverse sentence, and administration of justice. Notice here that the one willfully sinning after having the truth is not sentenced to Gehenna, to destruction, rather to a judgment. Some will say that this means you can lose your salvation and this is not what is being said here, no, you will face a judgment as we all will also face a judgment. Paul writes: "If any man's work abide which he hath built there upon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's world shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire" (1Corinthians 3:14-15). Revelation chapter 20 tells us of a time when men will go before the judgment seat of God and those whose names are written in the Book of Life go into a time of eternity, and those whose names are not found in the Book of Life are thrown into Ghenna, even hell, death, all to be destroyed eternally. It is true then that when a person comes faithfully, and this by the grace of God who gives this faith freely, and this by hearing the word of God, will live forever but we all are going to receive a reward as to how we have lived in this life. What that reward is above living eternally? I do not know and I do not want to know, I want to be as Polycarp, faithful to the end, no matter what!
As in the days of Polycarp and throughout the history of the Christian Church persecution is always present in some form or the other and today within the Church many have turned to a form of modern liberalism and this is not just an academic matter, it is an attack upon the fundamentals of the Christian faith. The problem is exacerbated by those who have attended Seminaries, Christian Universities that are teaching liberalism and then those people are those who are teaching Sunday Schools, and being pastors and even professors, or teachers. To grow in grace, to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and to be an Authentic Christian there is a need for truthful teaching and searching after the truth and have loyal devotion to the truth once it is found.
This, once again, is the thrust, the mission of this blog: to lead you to the place where you examine your faith and if there is something lacking within you, to change from the inside/out, to return to the truth of the Gospel delivered to us by men inspired of God to reveal to us what God wills for us in this life, and to teach us about the life to come. I will in the next blogs address: doctrine.
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul
of the father, so also the soul of the son
is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Exekiel 18:4
Leave the past behind: press forward in truth
Richard L. Crumb
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