Harry Potter, Magic and Should I Read It?

There has been much controversy among Christians ever since the Harry Potter books first came out whether these books should be read. I must confess that my wife and I did not start reading them until the 6th book was coming out, because we had simply bought into the belief that they were not to be read due to the utter focus on magic and did not investigate it for ourselves.

Having just finished the 7th and final installment of the series (at 12:30 this morning!), I can honestly say from a literature standpoint, it was very well written, and the themes and plots of the series were wrapped up quite nicely (I will not say anymore since there are likely people reading that have not finished/may want to read the books!).

For those that would wish to criticize the book, I would ask them to examine their reasons from refraining. Is is because they have carefully looked at its content and in good conscience not wished their children to read it? If so, then I wholly support that conviction. However, it is often that there are those that take one look and state "it has magic in the book! It is evil! It cannot be read!" Funny, so did The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis (though there are those who do not think these novels should be read either).

My friend Joseph Bailey wrote an article recently (which I cannot find, but as soon as I do, I will link it here--I will attempt to paraphrase) about the Potter books and others like it, in that when he looks at stories or books and whether they are appropriate for a person to read as a Christian, he looks at the overall themes, such as the fight against good and evil.

In the books, evil is not glorified, and teamwork, courage, love, and trust are exemplified. Now, it is important not to make the books do more than they are made to do, since that goes beyond Ms. Rowling's intentions. This book is not to be overly trumpeted by Christianity, something for us to shove theology in every nook and cranny of the story that we can find. To do so tortures the story and goes to the opposite extreme--though I will say that the theme of redemption is prevalent.

Ms. Rowling tells a great story, the books are a great read, and I believe they can teach valuable lessons. Magic and the wizarding world only provides a backdrop for the relationships that are formed and the fight against good and evil (and that often such a fight requires sacrifice). So, in examining whether to read this or any other piece of literature yourself or to children, ask yourself what is being held up as truth in the themes and concepts of that book? What is glorified? Asking such questions can help us know whether we are living by conviction or simply rejecting something (which may have value) without thinking--Truth is in the world and God owns that Truth, wherever it may be found.

Great Memories, Part Three

So I was chatting with my brother the other day about old video game systems, and we were talking about the Sonic the Hedgehog (yeah, Sonic is to the right) video game we loved to play, and it took me back to the time we bought the Sega Genesis game system we used for playing Sonic.

Flip back to when I was about 14 or 15 (or was it sooner? I can't really remember the exact year) and our family had a BIG yard sale, and sad to say, I sold some toys and other items now that I wish I had not but my brother and I were making money like crazy! I cringe now, but I sold an Atari 7800 and 40 (yes, 40!) games for about $50 Who knows what it would fetch on Ebay now?

At the end of the day, we counted our money, and do you know what? We had about $160 between the two of us! Know what we did? Well, what any self-respecting kid would have done, but march right down to the toy store (might have even been that day!) and buy a Sega Genesis video game system. We thought we were on top of the world! Now, of course, we got tired of it eventually, but I'd have to say that we felt pretty good to take our earned money and go down to the toy store and buy something so expensive! We thought we were rich!

So Who Was Melchizedek? Part One

In the first of two parts, Pastor David preached on Hebrews 7:1-3:

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

Who Was Melchizedek?

1. He was a king (vv. 1-2) of peace (Salem is derived from shalom, meaning peace) and of righteousness.

2. He was a priest. Now why is this interesting?

Because the Levitical priesthood was later created by Mosaic law, and this was 400 years away! So we have a priest essentially before there was an "official" office. In addition, the Mosaic law made a VERY strict line that separated the King and the priest, making them separate offices (one need only look to Uzziah's mistake in 2 Chronicles 26 to see this illustrated).

3. He also had no genealogy.

This is also interesting because you have to realize that both for the hearers of Hebrews and those living in Old Testament times, genealogy was VERY important. Why do you think that Matthew begins with a genealogy in setting the scene for the Gospel? EVERY other Old Testament believer had a genealogy, but it was likely because he was a type.

Melchizedek Was a Type of Christ

1. Definition: a TYPE is a divinely-purposed illustration or example of the ultimate reality

2. A type POINTS or foreshadows the reality--at the end of Hebrews 6, it states that Melchizedek was a forerunner

3. When the type is considered, the reality of that type is greater appreciated--just as Melchizedek was king of peace and righteousness, Christ is the ultimate King of peace and righteousness.

How did Melchizedek act as a type of Christ?

Pastor David closed with three points to illustrate this:

1. Melchizedek was a king; Jesus is the KING OF KINGS.

2. Melchizedek was a priest; Jesus is the HIGH PRIEST.

3. Melchizedek did not have a father or mother; Jesus is THE ETERNAL AND ONLY Son of God, THE Ancient of Days, always existing, immutable, glorious.

The importance of this forerunner to Christ is the illustration of the joint office of Christ: He is both our intercessor as priest, ever our representative before the Father and King over us as our Creator! And even more, He acts as the person offering sacrifice AND having been the sacrifice! Glory in Christ as your King and High Priest!

God Made a Promise!

Continuing on in Hebrews 6, Pastor David (on July 15) finished that chapter by stressing the assurance that God provides.

To introduce the topic, he quoted Romans 15:4: For whatever was written in former days (the OT) was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

And now to the passage:

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, [2] having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

God uses the Scriptures to encourage His people, and what a better example to point back to than Abraham (vv. 13-15)! We are to patiently wait for the salvation of the Lord, just as Abraham did on the mountain as he was about to sacrifice Isaac. Why is this significant?

Notice in Genesis 22 that Abraham doesn't merely think that God will provide, but KNOWS he will since Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son: Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

Our pastor stated something, and I thought this was great: "Truth properly understood can give encouragement, and enable us to live our life." Focus on the first part of that: Truth PROPERLY understood. I can look outside and see that it's raining but if I don't have an understanding or make the connection that I will get soaked unless I wear a coat or grab an umbrella, the knowledge that it's raining will not help me.

Similarly, our faith grows by the power of the Holy Spirit helping us to understand the Word--our study of God's Word to us increases our understanding of who God is, and can follow this progression:

ASSURANCE--> PERSEVERANCE --> HOPE

Biblical instruction in the church is an instrument of God to lead to encouragement of the body of Christ. If we are strong in Scripture, we can be strong in hope.

So after describing this example, Pastor David then moves to how God brings about such assurance. God swears by His name and in doing so, He shows us two things:

1. That in swearing by His name, God gave His promise an especially solemn character.(v. 16)
I have been reading in Isaiah over the past month or so, and in the last 10 or so chapters that I have read (Ch. 40-50), I have been overwhelmed by the glory of God that is proclaimed by the LORD Himself:

Isaiah 42:8: I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.

Isaiah 43:25: I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.

There are many other examples--but note on the second verse I mentioned--he blotted out our transgressions for HIS OWN SAKE. Many other examples of Scripture point to the fact that God does things for Israel and His people for His name's sake, because His holiness, righteousness, and might are not to be trifled with and if He states that a people will be redeemed, they will BE redeemed, and there is nothing that ANYONE OR ANYTHING can do to undo that promise.

2. That as a result of this, in God swearing by His name, we are to be encouraged!(vv. 17-18)

We are to hold to this strong promise of God and know that He will accomplish the work that He began in us, and will bring it to its end.

Last, Pastor David closed with a wonderful illustration that shows how God is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul (vv. 19-20):

Cargo ships coming into the bay would oftentimes have to wait for the high tide because there were often sandbars that would prevent them from coming all the way into the bay and making them unable to set anchor. However, over time, smaller boats were made to come out to the cargo ships to bring them into the harbor and help set their anchor. Similarly, Christ comes out to us, anchoring us with the Word and His Spirit as we live this life--He does so through His person and His life lived on this earth in spreading His Gospel.

Go forth and be encouraged in the certainty of salvation which has been vested in the Lord Jesus Christ and we are all beneficiaries of His work!

Playing Catch-Up

I've been in the midst of reading several good books lately (Next by Michael Cricton and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling) so I haven't had much time to blog on last week's or this week's sermon and I need to post a memory or two as well--I will try to do some this evening, rest assured.

Serving in the Hindmost

As usual, Spurgeon's Morning reading for today was very thought-provoking:

The camp of Dan brought up the rear when the armies of Israel were on the march. The Danites occupied the hindmost place, but what mattered the position, since they were as truly part of the host as were the foremost tribes; they followed the same fiery cloudy pillar, they ate of the same manna, drank of the same spiritual rock, and journeyed to the same inheritance. Come, my heart, cheer up, though last and least; it is thy privilege to be in the army, and to fare as they fare who lead the van. Some one must be hindmost in honour and esteem, some one must do menial work for Jesus, and why should not I? In a poor village, among an ignorant peasantry; or in a back street, among degraded sinners, I will work on, and “go hindmost with my standard.”

The Danites occupied a very useful place. Stragglers have to be picked up upon the march, and lost property has to be gathered from the field. Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.

The rear guard is a place of danger. There are foes behind us as well as before us. Attacks may come from any quarter. We read that Amalek fell upon Israel, and slew some of the hindmost of them. The experienced Christian will find much work for his weapons in aiding those poor doubting, desponding, wavering, souls, who are hindmost in faith, knowledge, and joy. These must not be left unaided, and therefore be it the business of well-taught saints to bear their standards among the hindmost. My soul, do thou tenderly watch to help the hindmost this day.

Very often we as Christians look to the Apostle Paul, Peter, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, even those of our day like Graham, Piper and so on and think, "wow, I wish I could do that or speak in that way!" But Spurgeon points something out here--there must be a rear guard, a servant among the lowly masses. Can Piper serve the neighbor across the street who has no family and doesn't know what love is? Sure, he can send him or her a book, but can he serve that person in the personal way YOU can? As Christians, we are all called to serve the Lord and in different ways. However, we oftentimes think if we cannot serve him in such great ways as a Piper or Graham in preaching to multitudes, we often think there is nothing to be done. But there is!

Note what Spurgeon says: Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.

We may not be the "fiery spirits" but we may be involved in restoration and healing--and he notes too that the rear is a dangerous place, since dark forces will try to attack from the rear and lowly places. Do you think that Satan uses all his forces on a church with 10,000 members? I would say close to 90% of the churches in the country have less than 1,000 members and these have no notable Piper or Dever at the helm, and these are churches he would attack, creating factions and divisions. Pastors who have no help from their members in serving the church are doomed to become overworked and neglect their flock, if not becoming burned out and leaving that church (and maybe even the ministry). We must be on our guard, wherever we are called to serve, and bear the standard where we are, serving our Lord in grace and truth. As Spurgeon states, we should glory in the fact that we have the privilege of being in the army in the first place by God's saving grace.

Father help us to be content wherever we are called to serve, be it in the front, middle, or hindmost and proclaim your Gospel by what we do!

Hindu Prayers in the Halls of Congress

Everyday in the halls of Congress, in the Senate especially, a prayer is given before the start of each day's session. Today, "history" was made because the first Hindu prayer was given by Rajan Zed, who is an interfaith director at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nevada. He was invited by Senator Harry Reid, D-Nevada.

Some protesters made quite a ruckus in the gallery while the prayer was made, and Harry Reid, a Mormon, defended his choice to invite Zed by saying these two things (go here for the story):

"If people have any misunderstanding about Indians and Hindus," Reid said, "all they have to do is think of Gandhi," a man "who gave his life for peace."

Which of course makes all Indians and Hindus ever peaceful, right? Let's forget about violence between Hindus and Muslims or violence of Hindus against Christians, right?

"I think it speaks well of our country that someone representing the faith of about a billion people comes here and can speak in communication with our heavenly Father regarding peace."

Now, as Frank Turk correctly comments, "Here we have a Mormon defending a Hindu as if either of them believes in the same god."

Here, a Mormon who believes in a monotheistic God (though that view is warped and false) defends the prayer of a pantheistic Hindu, who prays to an abstract "Deity Supreme," as if they're playing on the same team? Does anything in that prayer even suggest that the Hindu was praying to "our heavenly Father"?

But the best part of the article? The quote by the director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, in response to the protesters, saying it "shows the intolerance of many religious right activists. They say they want more religion in the public square, but it's clear they mean only their religion."

(I'm convinced that the AP has that guy on their speed dial for these stories, because he always seems to be quoted in such religious "equality" or tolerance situations.)

As a lawyer, I understand the idea of religious freedom and free speech--but the real problem going on here is the muddling of the truth. It's not a matter of tolerance but intolerance.

We are told to accept other faiths into the public square while being told to throw away any ideas of there being only one way to heaven which is through Christ. God and Allah are not the same, and neither are God and the Supreme Deity that the Hindu spoke of the same.

Hit Me! (Or, Great Memories, Part Two)

I had thought with these posts that they might go in chronological order, but I dispensed with that when I was watching ESPN this evening--I was watching something about a poker tournament, and that got me thinking about playing cards, etc. and it brought back a great memory.

When I was a kid, one of the greatest things about going to public schools was the opportunity to go on field trips. You couldn't get your permission slip signed fast enough! You found out what day you were going and counted down the days because you knew it would mean a) no schoolwork for that day and b) a chance to get outside the school building. Yeah, you'd learn something too, but who thinks about that?

The story on the game of poker reminded me of a particular field trip that I took when I was in 4th grade. There was an air show that was being held at the Bluegrass Regional Airport (that was then, this is now), and they had planes from World War I and World War II, as well as other types of commercial airplanes. In addition, there were Air Force and Navy airmen, both veteran and current, that were there to answer questions about the planes. I thought planes were the coolest thing--I had a poster of the Blue Angels on my wall, along with posters of F-14 Tomcat planes.

They had a lot of events going on, and for some reason, there were airmen playing cards with passers-by and giving out prizes, one of them being a set of playing cards. The game my friends and I played with an Air Force lieutenant was Blackjack. I can't remember how many times I played, but I remember that I did win at least once and came away with a pack of playing cards that had different airplanes on each card with facts about each plane (yeah, Blackjack is mostly luck and knowing when to press yours, but winning is winning, to a kid).

It was the coolest thing in the world to win a prize, but to win against a grown-up? THAT was priceless, and I got to tell that story to my friends for a while ("Remember the time I beat that Air Force guy at Blackjack? Here's the deck to prove it"). I think if I looked around long enough at my parents' house, I might find that pack of cards.

But really, the great thing was not the cards: it was having a field trip in prime of Spring, being freed from the confining walls of a school building to go look at cool planes (what boy doesn't like planes?) and beat an adult at Blackjack.

What a day indeed.

Inheriting the Promises of God

Pastor David explored verses 9-12 of Hebrews 6 (which you can read in last week's post), and began the sermon by using a diagram. At one end of the spectrum, there are Principle/Truth/God-focused people and at the other, there are People/Love/People-focused people.

John 17:17 shows the commitment of the Principle folks: Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 1 John 4:8 shows the passion of those who are people-oriented: Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

But with any spectrum and in dealing with extremes, there must be balance. 1 Corinthians 13, a chapter that speaks on love and speaks that love is patient and endures all things, states in verse 6 that at the same time, "it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth."

This relates to Hebrews 6 in that the inheritance of the promise and the assurance of that promise is gained by the service to the saints (here on Earth) that is a part of our sanctification.

Pastor David made the point first that God's Word is not divided--the same God that passed judgment on the many different nations that persecuted Israel (as well as Israel itself) is the same God that became a man and walked the earth, dying for our sins. God is both Love and Truth. We are called to balance both.

If we are too principle-driven (I don't want to say too God-focused, that doesn't come out right!), we can be wanting in how we love people. I can throw right theology in the face of an unbelieving person who just lost a loved one and while I would be correct, would I be showing him or her love? Truth and Love should be a marriage of concepts, not something divorced from the other, hence the idea of speaking the truth in love. Our speech has the power to heal but also to very quickly and just as easily hurt.

On the other hand, if we are too people-oriented, we can compromise truth to continue pleasing people. To maintain relationships, we rationalize or we bend things so that the people we are trying to please will still remain with us. We need only look to Jesus to refute that--He showed the greatest love through giving His life and in His teaching and His miracles, but not once did He change His methods or His message. He did not tell people what they wanted to hear to appease them--he told them hard truths and some people stopped listening (see John 6), and he said that His Gospel would turn relatives against one another (see Matt. 10) Truth has a place; love has a place. We must show both.

Pastor David then gave his theme: "Assurance of salvation is an intimate, intertwined relationship between the faithfulness of God and the work and love of believers."

Many Protestants may bristle when they see a relation between assurance and works, since we know that anything that we would do does not bring about our justification--but it does assist in having an assurance of that saving work. God through his free grace declares us righteous in calling us to salvation by justifying us, but it does not stop there. The natural outflow of that calling is a prompting to respond not only by accepting the Gospel but to bear fruit! This is what the writer-preacher of Hebrews is talking about when he mentions that the Lord will not overlook the "work" that the hearers have done in serving the saints--the preacher knows that they would not do such works of love for their fellow believers (and non-believers) unless they truly loved the Lord.

This is why the author of Hebrews encourages them to show an earnestness in service to others because it demonstrates not only the love that we were shown through salvation but trusting in God and who He is. We are to imitate those of the faith that have come before us and who have inherited the promises.

Think of it as being laborers in a great company, going down the hall and seeing Noah, Moses, David, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and other Christians through the generations. But it's not just their responsibility to work in the company--we are all called to be a part of it in the body of Christ. As they labored, so are we called to labor--and in that labor we take hold of an assurance of our faith--that the outflow of our faith is the production of fruit which is glorifying to the Father.

Imitate the heroes of the faith today!

Great Memories, Part One

It would be very easy for me to continue to complain about my job situation or other personal problems, but instead, I'm going to take an opportunity on this blog to recount some great memories and times I've had. I don't really know what form or structure these will take, or even if they will be ranked in a certain way, though I think I'll try to go chronologically.

When I sat down and thought about it, I tried to think of the first thing I could remember. It's interesting, but when I think of my childhood pictures, much of it I don't actually remember but the pictures do bring back a glimpse of the memory. I grew up in Versailles, KY, a small town in one of the richest counties in the state (due to horse farms and the tobacco crop) outside of Lexington, KY.

We had lived at three different addresses by the time I was five, and at that third address, my first memory that I can remember was my first real bike. It was red and yellow, with a guard over the chain, big pedals, and of course, training wheels while I was learning to ride it. I rode that bike during the summer as much as I was allowed, and I remember when I asked my dad to take the training wheels off and he helped me learn how to balance. Yeah, I fell--a BUNCH (I'm convinced this is when my accident prone nature began to rear its ugly head)! Once I learned how to ride, I rode everywhere! Wind in your face, going down the hill (of course, way too fast but it was fun!), and riding until your legs are too tired to move!

It wasn't the best bike or even the most expensive, but it was my bike. And I thought it was the best thing in the world.

This Fourth

There's much to be thankful for, in living in a country where we can speak freely and worship freely--but there is a lesson that American Christians should take from the Roman Empire. The very same empire in which the Pax Romana allowed for the spread of the Gospel was the same empire which persecuted and martyred people of the faith. The growing intolerance of the Truth and growing call for "tolerance" for us to "just get along," meaning that the other faiths say: you must validate my faith and yet minimalize your own.

So enjoy and cherish your freedoms America--we are a young country at just over 210 years old. Worship the Lord in His splendor this Sunday, enjoying your freedom to do so without persecution. At the same time, pray for the persecuted church, that they would persevere in the faith despite their sufferings and that they would not denounce Christ, but be a witness to His grace.

And thank former and current service men and women especially for their service in keeping those freedoms in tact. Sometimes in our age of nonstop news, TV, work, etc, it's quite easy to forget that.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not?

When Christians talk about the love of God, most will agree that he is very loving to His children--however, there are dear brothers and sisters in Christ that, when reading Hebrews 6, Christians can fall so far as to fall out of the love of God and out of His saving grace.

Our Wesleyan/Arminian brethren would read Hebrews 6 as stating that one who is in the faith can in fact lose their salvation. A simple illustration of humor might sum it up best:

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. Like plucking the daisy here, so goes our faith and our standing in Christ (and the differing viewpoints between Arminians and Reformed folks on justification and sanctification has much to bear on this discussion but I will not expand it here--I have written on it before). Some might laugh this off, but in reality it is no laughing matter--this viewpoint may paralyze Christians from realizing assurance of faith in this life. So you have to ask yourself: does God provide a permanent and lasting salvation which is not able to be lost, and is guaranteed? Or can one truly come to Christ and then wholly lose that salvation?

Pastor David explored the first 12 verses of Hebrews 6, which are as follows:

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, [1] the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 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, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 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. 7 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. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Now, there's a lot in there, and a lot which can be taken to mean different things if it is not read together and in context. Pastor David made a great point in focusing on the pronouns of verses 1-3 and then 4-8. Notice this! It's quite important as to the audience who he is speaking to, and the group he is speaking of--in verse 1 and 3, he says, "let us leave the elementary doctrine..." then verse 3, "and this we will do..." What does he do in verse 4 when speaking of the impossibility of coming back to the faith and the group that is falling away? He says those who have been enlightened, have tasted, etc. He's not talking about his audience, but another group of people. This is evidenced by his switch in verse 9 back to "in your case..."--the writer-preacher knows he is not speaking about them, he expects better for them, "things which belong to salvation."

Now, either he's talking out of two sides of his mouth and trying very hard to confuse his listeners, or he's warning his audience of another group.

Pastor David then made some observations about the writer's discussion of the group that had fallen away: the enlightenment that the writer spoke of could be the common grace that they had experienced being among Christians or even a common grace that is allowed by God on the earth. The word "enlighten" is the same word used in John 1:9-10 in describing Jesus being the light that came into the world and yet did not know him. The writer goes on to say that these people tasted in the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit, which Pastor David indicated could very well be allusions to their participation in Communion and even baptism. Further, they may have sat under the preaching of the Word, tasting the goodness of it.

What do we take from all of this? If we conclude that the writer is speaking of one group of people, who are faithful on one side yet able to take in all the benefits and yet fall, then we would all need to be a bit more worried about our salvation than we are. But other texts argue against that:

John 10:28-29: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

There is definite purpose in what Jesus said, in that there is nothing that can happen which would snatch us out of the Father's hand, let alone us ourselves! Romans 8:38-40 has Paul exclaiming that there is NO POWER or anything else in all creation which can separate us from the love of God!

Pastor David concluded by saying that this passage is ultimately an encouragement to those who are true believers in Christ and yet it is a warning to anyone who would want to "play church" or trifle with such spiritual matters. Jesus is not something you "try" or be apart of like you would the rotary club--this is spiritual life or death. Today is the day of salvation and do not delay, or you may be spoke of in this way:

"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (John 2:19)

God through His Son Christ will lose NONE in the end, and there is nothing, for those who truly believe, that will change that fact, even our own will. Would so great a God provide so amazing a grace that He would save us from drowning only to allow us to jump back in the water and drown ourselves? Some would say yes because God is so loving that he would allow us the choice to turn our backs on Him and do just that. But that's a whole other post.