It is impossible for those that fall away to be renewed to repentance. What does that mean?

    Hebrews 5-6 is about the need of these Hebrew, Jewish, believers to mature in their faith. The scripture here that gets the most attention is the one that says “if you fall away it is impossible to be renewed again to repentance”.

    These Hebrews, who were used to having to go make another sacrifice each time they sinned, had fallen into that trap in their Christian faith. They were going back and trying to get saved every time they sinned. The book will tell them and us many times that what Jesus did on the cross he did one time, for all time, and it was sufficient to cover the sins of all humanity that will come to him in faith.

    It is impossible to be renewed again to repentance because in terms of salvation it is a onetime event. By trying to do it over again you say that what Jesus did for you is not sufficient and that he must be crucified again for you, which puts him to an open shame. If your decision to accept Christ was a genuine one, you do not need to do it again if you fall away (Backslide), in fact it is impossible, you simply need to come back to him with concern over your relationship being broken and mend it.

    It is no longer necessary to strike the rock (what happened to Jesus when he died on the cross for us), now we only need to speak to the rock (because now Jesus sits at the right hand to make intercession for us. To say that you need to get saved again if you sin deeply enough to lose your salvation (Which by the way, who decides what is a deep or serious enough sin), is like saying that you and your spouse have to remarry every time you have a serious disagreement or do something to hurt one another.

    Jesus is not going to resave you, because what he did the first time is sufficient to cover all your sins, if you genuinely put your faith in him. Let’s move on from these elementary things and move into perfection in our understanding of our Lord’s sacrifice.

When I am weak, He is strong

2 Corinthians 12

1. Paul’s thorn in the flesh (1-10)

  a. It was a messenger of Satan - The devil troubles us

  b. It had a positive purpose, which was to keep him from pride- The negatives in our lives often have positive purposes.

  c. He ask God specifically to take it away and God said no - We should not think that God is always going to take away our health problem or negative situation. Sometimes he will say no because he has a purpose.

  d. Instead of healing God offered him grace - What a joy to know that God's grace is sufficient for any need we have.

  e. He found the ability to have joy and even pleasure in difficulties, because in his weakness was when God's strength shined - We should develop this same attitude.

2. His willingness to sacrifice for them (11-19)

  a. He was willing to sacrifice for their well being.

  b. We need this spirit as we minister to people.

3. His desire for a visit without contention (20-21)

2 Corinthians 13

1. Though he wants no contention he will stand up to those who are not doing right (1-10)

2. Closing words (11-14)

Would you miss it?

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2 Corinthians 10

1. Appropriate weapons of warfare (1-6)

    Our weapons are not fleshly or carnal, not of this world or our own strength, but they are mighty in God. These Godly weapons pull down strong holds, they cast down ungodly arguments and anything that exalts itself above God, forcing them to obey God.

2. Further defense of ministry (7-18)

2 Corinthians 11

1. Paul’s concern about them being misguided by false ministers (1-4, 12-15)

    False teachers have always been around. Funny thing is that they are sometimes hard to spot because they disguise themselves as the good guys, just like the devil does. There are only two really sound test of whether some one is a true or false teacher.

    1. Most importantly, how does what they teach line up with the word of God. Be ware of teachers who teach for an hour and have 5 minutes worth of scripture. Be ware of a teacher who jumps from scripture to scripture and uses bits and pieces to make their points. The true teacher will be able to take the word of God, leave it in it's context, and teach you what it is saying. By the way this is another critical reason for you to be on the journey. You must be in God's word faithfully. If you are saturating yourself with the word you will be able to spot a false teacher, but if you are just playing around with God's word, they will deceive you.

    2. Watch their life. None of us are perfect, but usually the false teacher will begin to display consistent tendencies that obviously do not line up with God's word.

2. His commitment to not take money from them (5-11)

3. Further defense (16-33)

Are you choosing form the list or completing the list?

2 Corinthians 8

1. The example of the Macedonians (1-5)

    When we see scriptures such as these that hold sacrificial giving up to such a high regard, we often quickly say, "but sacrificial giving is about more than our money". While that statement is very true, the specific context here is money. God does expect us to be sacrificial in our financial giving. We usually run to the statement to soften the impact on the financial end.

    You have probably heard teaching that we are to give God our time, talent, and treasure. That is good teaching, and I have used it many times myself. However, we can not afford to view it as a list to choose from, but a list to complete. In other words, some would say, "Well, I give of my time or talent", as an excuse not to give financially. God is not saying, "oh yea, I think that much time will make up for what you did not give in finances. He is saying way to go, but let's complete the list, let's be well rounded, let's give of all".

    They gave out of their deep poverty. A very short look at the world around us will help us see that none of us are living in deep poverty. Are we giving sacrificially? God never measures our giving by the amount, but he always measures it by our sacrifice. God is not so much interested in how much you give him as he is how much you keep for yourself. The amount we keep for ourselves tells him how much we have sacrificed.

2. Encouragement for them to follow through in their giving (6-24)

    Jesus is the supreme example of sacrificial giving (9). We should follow that example in all of our giving.

2 Corinthians 9

1. Accountability (1-4)

    Paul was sending someone to check up on them, so that after all the things he had said about what they attended to do in this offering, he did not end up embarrassed and embarrassing them. Accountability is a good thing and if we have agreed to do something we should expect to be held accountable. We should not be offended that someone would check up on us or ask us about our progress in something we have agreed to do, we should find joy in the opportunity to share our progress and be thankful for the motivation accountability brings.

2. A heart of generous giving (5-8)

3. God’s ability to supply (9-11)

    When we give anything for God's Kingdom we must be trusting him to supply and multiply.

4. It’s about more than giving and receiving (12-15)

Separation or Isolation

2 Corinthians 6

1. The example of Paul (1-13)

2. The need for separation (14-18)

 

    These passages call for separation, but not isolation. Separation has nothing to do with your distance from worldly individuals. We would find our Lord right in the middle of harlots and common thieves and yet he was totally separated. Separation will gain you the respect of the lost, where isolation will keep you from ever influencing the lost. If you are separated you will stand out in a crowd, if you are isolated you will never be noticed by the crowd.

    I realize that most of us have not ran off and started our own commune, but in a way our churches have become our commune. We spend hours per week there and then we fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, all of which is not bad in and of its self, but when do we spend time with lost people and seek to affect them? Be separated in deed. I am sure Jesus stuck out like a sore thumb in those crowds. But don't chose isolation, because the lost world is counting on you.

2 Corinthians 7

1. Rejoicing in their relationship (1-7)

2. Godly sorrow (8-16)

Godly sorrow=repentance=salvation

Worldly sorrow=death

"This Ministry"

2 Corinthians 4

1. This Ministry (1-7)

    This ministry, which Paul will be more specific about in chapter 5, is not accomplished by our own craftiness but through the truth(2). We are simple earthen vessels, no flash, no shine, no glimmer. It is the power of God and not us that makes conducts this ministry (7).

2. The Challenges (8-15)

    The challenges are many and some are severe. If you are looking for the easy road this is definitely not it. This is the narrow path. Yet, no matter how difficult it gets it is never to the breaking point. God always shows up and helps us in our time of need. What we do we do for him and for the sake of others.

3. These things are a light affliction compared to the reward (16-18)

    All tough there is suffering and difficulty, it is nothing compared to what God has in store for us. This hope, this steadfast assurance is a powerful motivator in this ministry.

2 Corinthians 5

1. Longing to be with the Lord, we strive here to please him (1-9)

    A life Goal; to be well pleasing to the Lord. That is something worth living for. While we long for the day that we will be with him and freed from all the trapping of the world, being confident that that day will come, because we walk by faith, we must press on in this ministry.

2. The motivation of the judgment (10-16)

    We said earlier that our hope of a brighter future with Jesus should motivate us to serve him. Another future event that should motivate us is the Judgment Seat of Christ (10). This is where all saved people will be judged according to their works, whether that be good or bad (the unsaved will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment). I think the fact that some day we will stand before him and give an answer for the way we have lived should push us to faithful service.

    Even though it is sobering to think about standing before him in judgment, the truth is that fear is not a powerful enough motivator for proper service. Only love will push us to do what he ask. Basking in his love for us and proving our love for him through service (14). Because he died for us we should no longer live to ourselves (15).

3. The Ministry of reconciliation (17-21)

    Here we get to the details of "this ministry". This ministry is a ministry of reconciliation. Here are the highlights.

1. It is about people who have been made new (17) helping other be made new.

2. God took the first step by coming in the person of Jesus Christ, but now we must step out and preform this ministry (18).

3. The ministry of reconciliation is carried out through the word of reconciliation. We call it the gospel. It is the only path through which people can be reconciled to God (19).

4. We have been placed in the lofty position of being God's ambassadors. We are pleading to the lost world on his behalf (20).

5. The message is simple. Jesus became sin for us, so we could become righteousness in him (21).

    It is not that Jesus committed sin, so we could do righteous acts. He was made sin, so we could become the righteousness of God. He was made to be something he could never do, so we could become something we could never do on our own. It was an act of creation. Jesus embraced the ugliness so you and I could be overwhelmed by the beauty.

    So believe it or not, you actually are not trying to help people get to heaven or to avoid hell. That is a wonderful benefit of this ministry. But what we are doing is helping people find reconciliation with God. That is our ministry.

We are God's air freshener

2 Corinthians 2

1. Paul desires to come and have a joyful visit and not one of confrontation (1-4)

2. Time to forgive the disciplined man of 1 Corinthians 5 (5-11)

3. God's air fresheners (12-17)

    We are God's air freshener. But you know how one person might walk in and smell a scent and say, "Wow that is wonderful", but another person can smell the same thing and say, "That stinks". It is the same way with our air freshening for God. The saved say, "That is sweet, it smells like life, real life" and the lost say, "get that stinking thing away from me, it smells like death", even though our words and manner of life are putting off the same aroma. Keep freshening the air. Some people like it and get saved.

    Given our responsibility to be God's air freshener, Paul ask a great question in verse 16. Who is sufficient for these things. It is a grave responsibility. The answer is in Chapter 3 verses 4-6.

2 Corinthians 3

1. Rather than letters of commendation he had relationship with the Corinthians and the power of the Spirit of God (1-6)

2.Their relationship was better and more direct than that of Moses and the Children of Israel, because the veil had been removed through Jesus. (7-18)