ANDREW WOMMACK
SPIRIT SOUL AND BODY
Chapter 10
Fullness Received
My spirit was created in righteousness and true holiness when I was born again (Eph. 4:24). Then, the Holy Spirit sealed this purity into my brand-new spirit (Eph. 1:13). Any sin I commit now in my physical actions cannot penetrate or contaminate my spirit because it’s been sanctified and perfected forever (Heb. 10:10,14; 12:23). My born-again spirit cannot sin (1 John 3:9)!
I have received eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). This doesn’t encourage me to live in sin but instead gives me stability in my life and relationship with God. I live holy because I want to, and if I don’t, I know I’ll give Satan and other people an opportunity against me (Rom. 6:16). Living holy is definitely more beneficial than living in sin!
God is pleased with me because of who I am in the spirit (John 4:24). When I do fall short, sin doesn’t have dominion over me the way it used to because I know now that God has already forgiven me completely—past, present, and future sins (Rom. 6:14). My spirit isn’t stained in any way. Since God is a Spirit, I must fellowship with Him through who I am in the spirit.
My relationship with the Lord is constant. He’s always loving me. He’s always pleased with me—the real me, the born again me, my spirit (Eph. 1:6). That’s the part of me that God loves and that I’ve come to love. I’m not enamoured with my carnal self and actions. I don’t like some of what I see, do, and think, but I’ve come to realise there’s a new me. In my spirit, I am thrilled with what Jesus has done, and I place my full confidence in that. Since I walk by the spirit, and not the flesh, I experience God’s peace, joy, and life on a daily basis.
My life is stable. I don’t feel like I lose everything every time I sin or fall short. I don’t think that I need to be born again, again and start the whole growth process over. This concept of “one step forward and two steps back” is totally gone. When I do fail, I just turn from it. I repent and get back on track with what God’s told me to do, knowing that I’m still who I am in Christ and infinitely more in my spirit than I’ve ever yet been able to appropriate and manifest. That’s why I actively and aggressively continue renewing my mind to His Word.
Fruit Unto Holiness
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
First John 1:9 has been traditionally taught that every time you sin, you have to confess your sins in order to receive forgiveness. If that’s truly what it means, then this would put a tremendous burden upon you to deal with every sin. Religion categorises sin, but God’s Word is much more inclusive. Sin isn’t only what you’re doing wrong, it’s also the right you failed to do. Some sins you realise, most others you don’t. If you have to confess every sin before it’s forgiven, nobody could retain their salvation. This just can’t be what it means!
First John 1:9 refers to when you first come to the Lord. If forgiveness were dependent upon your confessing everything you’ve ever done wrong and failed to do right, salvation would be out of reach because you’ve forgotten too much. This verse instructs the unbeliever to be born again, not the believer to confess every sin all the time. It’s how you first come to the Lord. You acknowledge your sin nature and separation from God in order to bow your knee and receive salvation. You confess that you’re a sinner in need of forgiveness and are cleansed from all unrighteousness by receiving your brand-new, born-again spirit.
First John 1:9 can also mean cleansing the effects of sin from a believer’s soul and body. Your spirit isn’t affected by sin, but your soul and body are. Sin gives the devil a legal right to work his death into your life because you yielded yourself to him (Rom. 6:16). How do you repent of it and get him out? You say, “God, I was wrong and You were right. I sinned and gave Satan this opportunity. I repent!” By confessing, you take the salvation, the forgiveness, the holiness, and the righteousness that’s already a reality in your spirit and never fluctuated when you failed, and draw it out into your body and soul. This literally drives the devil out and takes his place away. The enemy no longer has rights and privileges in your life once you repent and turn from what you’ve done!
If you understand your eternal redemption, you won’t be emboldened to sin, but you’ll be freed up to declare, “What a great God You are!” You’ll want to spend even more time with Him. You’ll desire to live holy so that nothing will ever dull you or keep you from perceiving these great truths and His love. Understanding your eternal redemption will cause you to live holy!
That’s the way it should be! You shouldn’t be trying to live holy out of fear of rejection and punishment; you ought to live holy as a result of your salvation. You should have “fruit unto holiness” (Rom. 6:22). Notice how it’s a fruit, not a root, of salvation. “Holiness” doesn’t produce God moving in your life, but your external actions of holiness are a result of understanding the righteous nature of your born-again spirit.
Never Separated From His Love!
This has changed my life! It’s given me a deep abiding security in my relationship with God because I know He loves me! In fact, He loves me infinitely more than I’ve ever yet perceived. After the warm feelings of my miraculous encounter with God subsided, (because of my actions) I thought, Well, He loved me at one time, but I’m not sure He still loves me now because I just don’t feel worthy. Then I came to realise that my born-again spirit is righteous and holy. I recognised that God looks at me Spirit to spirit, and He loves the born-again part of me!
I’m His workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10). In my spirit, I’m perfect and pure. God loves me and I’m never separated from His love. This sheds new light on, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 38-39). In my spirit, God has already given me His full measure of love. “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16). I’m full of God. One-third of me is wall-to-wall Holy Spirit! And if you’re born again, all these things are true of you too!
This knowledge will impact your life and make you feel so pure. You’ll be so appreciative of what God has done that you’ll live holier in your actions accidentally than you’ve ever lived on purpose!
CHAPTER 9
Once Saved, Always Saved or Born Again, Again?
When I first started understanding this revelation, I wondered, God, is it like the Baptists say—once saved, always saved? Or is it like the Pentecostals teach—saved, lost, saved, lost, born again, again? I struggled with these questions for a long time. Finally, the Lord spoke to me about it one day saying, “It’s not A—once saved, always saved; or B—saved, lost, saved, lost, born again, again. It’s C—none of the above!” He showed me that both positions have a partial truth, but the full truth is somewhere in between.
The “once saved, always saved” camp understands that your spirit is sanctified and perfected forever. Since you aren’t saved by your own goodness, your lack of goodness can’t un-save you. If you confess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are born again. Since faith is the issue, sin doesn’t cause you to lose your salvation.
Someone might say, “Now wait a minute! I believe if you sin, you lose your salvation. You can’t tell me that a person who’s committed some grievous sin can go to heaven!”
Even though I would be considered “holy” by most religious standards, I’ve fallen short in my actions. I haven’t used profanity, drank liquor, smoked a cigarette, or committed adultery, but I’ve broken some of God’s laws. I haven’t loved people the way I should, neither have I always told the truth. I try to, but I remember being caught lying as a kid. I haven’t committed what’s considered “big” sins, but I’ve broken God’s Law!
Plate Glass Window
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). The Law is like a plate glass window. You could shoot a BB through it and make a little hole or throw a piano through it and make a huge one. Size makes no difference because the glass can’t be patched. It’s broken and must be replaced. If you violate one tiny command, you’re guilty of breaking the whole thing!
You might not be transgressing all of God’s commands, but you won’t ever be able to do everything He’s told you to do. Nobody always does all of the good they know to do (James 4:17). Therefore, everyone falls short.
Those who say “You have to be holy! You can’t have sin in your life and still think you’re saved” have to categorise it into “big” sin and “little” sin. They contend, “I’m talking about the big things. You can’t tell me that a person who commits adultery and dies in a car accident on the way home with their sin not confessed, would still be saved. Surely, they would go directly to hell. You can’t tell me that an adulterer would go to heaven!” Forgive me for bursting your bubble, but that’s religious tradition!
According to God’s Word, there is no such thing as a “big” sin or a “little” sin (James 2:10). Speeding while driving is sin. Romans 13:1-7 instructs you to obey the laws of the land (End of Page 1) and to submit yourself to the governing authorities. Driving 56 in a 55 mph zone is breaking the command of God. If you break a little command, you are guilty of violating the entire thing.
The speeder is as guilty of sin as the adulterer. In man’s eyes, there is a radical difference between going 1 mph over the speed limit and committing adultery. A speeder and an adulterer deserve different consequences in man’s opinion, but in the eyes of God, sin is sin. Both come short of His standard of perfection. If you keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point, you be come guilty of it all.
If the born-again believer who committed adultery and didn’t confess it before dying goes straight to hell, then so does every believer who has ever sped. If that were true, then nobody would make it to heaven because we all come short and fail in many different ways!
Michael Jordan Vs. Couch Potato
If you’ve come short of the glory of God, you’ve missed it! Suppose you were in a room with a 20-foot ceiling, and God said you had to jump up and touch it in order to be saved. If you’re Michael Jordan, you might be able to jump 15 feet high and get close. If you’re a couch potato, you might only jump six inches and miss it by a bunch. Either way, the end result wouldn’t be any different. If you can’t touch the ceiling, you can’t be saved. Both miss it!
That’s the way it is with God’s standard. He doesn’t grade on a curve saying, “Do the best you can. As long as you’re in the top 10%, I’ll accept you, because you really tried.” No, either you have to be perfect, or you need a Savior who is!
If you can sin your salvation away, then the only way to heaven is to die immediately after being born again. The loving thing to do with new converts would be to kill them. Then they wouldn’t have a chance to sin and lose the salvation they just received. The evangelist who murdered them might go to hell, but the new believers wouldn’t have time to void their ticket to heaven through sin. Sound ridiculous? It is!
Your spirit has been sealed, sanctified, and perfected for ever. Its righteous state doesn’t fluctuate with the holiness of your actions and attitudes. Since salvation depends solely upon putting your faith in Jesus and being born again, your sin doesn’t affect your relationship with God. He fellowships with you based on your faith in Christ alone!
Renouncing & Rejecting
However, Scripture doesn’t teach “once saved, always saved.” Several places discuss the possibility of becoming reprobate and losing your salvation. The classic example is, “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” (Heb. 6:4-6). (END OF PAGE 2)
If a person falls away, there’s no more sacrifice. Hebrews 6:4-6 is located in the same context, emphasising how Jesus’ one offering provided your eternal redemption. However, if that one sacrifice is voided, there isn’t any other. It cannot be reapplied. You can’t be born again, again. Jesus Christ is not going to suffer through that shame and humiliation to die a second time. His one sacrifice was it—forever!
You can make the sacrifice of Christ of no effect by turning to legalism and trusting in your own works for righteousness. “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:1 3).
Salvation is both received and maintained by faith in Christ alone. “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering” (Heb. 10:23). You can’t sin your salvation away, but you can renounce it. Rejecting your faith isn’t easily done, but it is possible. Personally, I don’t believe there are very many who do fall away.
Hardened
Before someone would ever renounce so great a salvation, they would have to become hardened toward God (Heb. 3:13 14). Although your spirit is unaffected by sin, your body and soul are. Sin dulls your perception, wisdom, and understanding of who you are in the spirit. If you persist in sin far and long enough, you can come to a place where Satan will try to make you renounce your faith in Christ. However, without being totally blinded to the truth, nobody in their right mind would ever reject the Lord!
If you renounce your faith and reject God, you can throw your salvation away. It’s not something you just lose, like mis placed car keys. You must deliberately and openly reject it. That’s something that takes place over a period of time.
You’re saved by the grace of God, so sinful actions don’t cause you to lose your salvation. However, sin can harden your heart until you eventually come to a place where you renounce your faith in the Lord (Heb. 6:4-6). If that happens, it’s impossible to ever be renewed again to repentance!
This contradicts saved, lost, saved, lost; born again, again. Those who believe you lose your salvation every time you sin, also believe that all you’ve got to do is confess it and you’re saved again. You just “pray through” and come back into right standing with God. Hebrews 6:4-6 says that can never happen! Either you didn’t lose your salvation when you sinned, or if you did—you can never be saved again!
Do You Qualify? (END OF PAGE 3)
The qualifications listed in Hebrews 6:4-6 are pretty stiff. You should look them over carefully before condemning your self as reprobate. It’s not talking about that time you were frustrated and said “I’m quitting! This doesn’t work!” and then back slid into sin. No, it’s much more involved than that.
In order to qualify, you have to (1) be enlightened, which means drawn by the Holy Ghost. John 6:44 declares, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” You couldn’t have been coerced into making some statement, signing a church roll, or repeating a prayer. Then, after not experiencing a dramatic change, you became tired and renounced it saying, “I reject this. It’s not real!” If this describes you, it wasn’t a true conviction from the Holy Spirit. You were coerced, not drawn. You went to church because your parents made you, or you were dating someone who had you repeat a prayer. You don’t qualify! Therefore, you aren’t even held accountable for that so-called “rejection.”
You also must have (2) tasted of the heavenly gift, which means you must be truly born again; (3) made a partaker of the Holy Ghost, which refers to being baptised in the Holy Spirit; (4) have tasted the good Word of God, which means the Word has literally impacted you. You’ve done more than just put it in your mouth—you’ve swallowed it, digested it, and benefited from the nutrients and life in it; and (5) you’ve tasted the power of the world to come, which refers to a Spirit-filled person who has exercised the gifts of the Holy Spirit and is going on to maturity. In other words, you must be a mature Christian before you can actually renounce your salvation.
If a mature Christian rejects the Lord, they can never be brought back to a place of repentance. It’s a one-time deal. They’re held accountable, damned, and that’s it!
Jesus proclaimed that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was the one unpardonable sin (Matt. 12:31-32). Yet Paul said he obtained mercy because he “did it ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Tim. 1:13). This shows that even the unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit depends upon whether or not you did it knowingly.
You can’t renounce your salvation ignorantly! That’s what Hebrews 6:4-6 is saying. You have to be a mature Christian who was drawn by the Spirit, born again, baptised in the Holy Ghost, mature in the Word, and operating in the gifts of the Spirit before you can reject the Lord. Only then are you held accountable!
Too Young to Know Any Better
One time when I was a child, somewhere between five and eight, I became upset and ran away from home. I took off running but realised my mistake even before I lost sight of my house. Where am I going? What will I eat? Where will I sleep? I love my parents! I might have been angry, but I didn’t want to run away. Being too proud to admit it, I got caught up in a barbed wire fence on purpose so my brother would catch me (he’d been running after me to bring me home). (END OF PAGE 4)
Since I wasn’t old enough, it wasn’t held against me. Even though I was mad and had declared “I don’t want to be a Wommack anymore!” before running away, it wasn’t imputed unto me. If the police had been called, they would have been on my parents’ side because I was so young. I didn’t know what I was attempting, nor was I legally able to do it.
However, now I’m old enough to decide. As an adult, I could change my name and make a formal separation from my parents. If I renounced them, the government would back me up, and I could legally reject them.
It’s the same thing with renouncing and rejecting salvation. God knows whether someone is mature or not. He alone knows their heart.
Beyond Hope
When someone rejects their salvation, they can never come back into relationship with God. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient…Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom. 1:28, 32). Giving them over to a reprobate mind, God takes away the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
“Reprobate” means “beyond hope.” You aren’t convicted of your need for relationship with the Lord unless the Holy Spirit is dealing with you (John 6:44). As long as He’s dealing with you, you aren’t reprobate. However, if someone fulfills the qualifications of Hebrews 6:4-6 and renounces their salvation, then God takes the Holy Spirit away and they become reprobate. Without conviction, they no longer know they’re doing wrong. Not only do they like it, but they like all those who are in rebellion against God too. Reprobates display a total lack of desire and response toward the Lord.
Are you repenting and sorry for what you’ve done? Do you desire to be in relationship with the Lord? If so, you aren’t reprobate. The Holy Spirit is still dealing with you. You weren’t mature enough when you turned your back or fell away. Like Paul, you’re forgiven because you were ignorant when you did those things. Praise God—He’s your loving heavenly Father! (END OF PAGE 5).
CHAPTER 8.
Standard Gospel Questions.
Serious questions usually start coming right about now. “What are you saying? God will love me, and I won’t lose my right standing with Him no matter what? Do you mean I can just go live in sin?” Paul dealt with this same thing! “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1). The answer, of course, is “God forbid” (Rom. 6:2).
Unless this question comes up, you aren’t preaching the same Gospel as the Apostle Paul. He dealt with it four different times! “What am I saying? Do we continue in sin? God forbid!” Even though you have to explain what you mean, it should be a logical question.
Nobody interprets most churches today as saying “You can just go live in sin” because they’re busy preaching so hard against it. This question never even comes up! Typical teaching today ties God’s love and acceptance to your performance. Therefore, these messages given “in the name of the Lord” produce a works righteousness (self-righteousness based on your actions) in most believers. The Bible doesn’t teach that God accepts or rejects you because of your actions; it teaches that your actions can never be good enough!
God’s Word says He accepts you based on whether your spirit is righteous or not. That spirit doesn’t become righteous through your good actions and attitudes. Righteousness comes through confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. As you are born again, God gives you this brand-new spirit. Righteous ness is NOT based on your actions!
The next question people ask is, “Are you saying it doesn’t matter how I live?” No, that’s not what I’m saying. Paul continues in Romans 6 giving two reasons why a Christian should live holy: 1. Your new nature desires it, and 2. You don’t want to give the devil access to your soul and body through sin. How you live doesn’t affect your spirit’s righteousness, but it greatly affects your life!
Sin’s Strength.
If you are truly born again, God has changed your nature. “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Do you not know, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death?” (Rom. 6:2-3). You are no longer a child of the devil who loves to sin. You do still sin, but it’s not your nature anymore. Your spirit has been changed, and you no longer enjoy it. Every born-again believer has a built in desire to live holy (1 John 3:3). You might not be fulfilling it, but it’s there! Preaching the Law—legalism and religious works—actually strengthens sin. (1 Cor. 15:56). The Law makes you sin more by causing you to lust for the very thing that’s forbidden. That’s why God gave it! Mankind was being destroyed by sin, but we deceived ourselves into thinking, I’m pretty good! God answered, saying, “Oh, you think you’re okay? Let Me show you what the real standard is.” The Law made sin come alive so you’d recognise your need for a Saviour. (Rom. 7:9, Gal. 3:24).
Since I can’t give a detailed explanation of this truth here, I’d like to recommend to you The True Nature of God. In that teaching, I expound much more on this particular point. You’ll discover how God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb. 13:8), can act so differently toward mankind from the Old Testament to the New. Without understanding how everything changed when Jesus Christ came, you’ll think God is schizophrenic. I assure you, He’s not!
The Lord’s purpose in sending the Law was to make you bow your knee and confess, “God have mercy on me! I can’t do it. I can’t break this sin!” The Law wasn’t given to help you over come sin. It was to show you that sin had already overcome you! The Law actually strengthened sin and gave it so much power that it would effectively remove the deception that you could ever get rid of sin on your own. Religion, however, turns it around and says, “The Law was given to help you overcome sin.” That’s just not true.
If you’re truly born again, you have a desire to live for God. “And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). There will be varying degrees of this purity manifest in your actions and thoughts, but every born-again person seeks to purify themselves.
Sin gives Satan access to your body and soul. “Do you know know, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16). Satan wants to bring death into your life any way he can—sickness, disease, poverty, shame, depression, discouragement, and all sorts of other nasty things. Why give your enemy an opportunity to come against you?
As a Christian, you don’t have to live holy in order for God to accept and be pleased with you. However, your actions and attitudes do determine how you get along with other people. That’s why it’s still to your advantage to live a holy life!
Accidental Holiness.
Knowing that I can relate to God based on the perfection, holiness, and righteousness in my spirit has set me free from sin— not to sin. In my flesh, I’ll never be completely perfect until I receive my glorified body. Yet, in the meantime, I can go ahead and relate to God based on who I am in my spirit. This makes my relationship with Him stable and secure.
I’ve lived a holier life accidentally than most people have on purpose! Whenever these truths are taught, people criticise saying, “You’re just preaching this so you can live in sin!” No, I’m just telling you that people can’t look at me and say the reason I preach this is because it allows me to live in sin. No, I live a very holy life.
I don’t live holy because I have to but because I want to. I don’t do it in order to obtain God’s blessing. I do it because He’s revealed this truth to me and changed my heart. I desire to live holy because it’s good for me. It helps me minister to others better, and it’s happier to live holy than unholy!
God would still love me if I lived in sin (because my spirit is changed), but I wouldn’t love me and other people wouldn’t either. Sin offends God, but it also offends people. If you’re truly born again, He’ll deal with you as His child, based on your born again spirit. But people won’t love you if you steal from them. If they catch you, they’ll throw you in jail where you’ll suffer, be confined, and hurt. You won’t have as nice of a life, but God will still love you. You’ll still be righteous, but you’ll also be stupid! (I’m not trying to be harsh, just blunt.)
Living holy doesn’t make God love you more, but it does increase your love for Him. Likewise, a lack of holiness won’t cause God to love you less, but it’ll definitely decrease your love for Him. Although God’s love for you doesn’t change, your performance directly affects your love for Him. Can you see now God’s purpose for holiness?
Come Boldly!
Sin is never a wise choice, but it’s also never an issue be tween you and God. He dealt with your sin—past, present, and future—when you were born again. You can come boldly before the Lord at any time—even when you’ve fallen short, even when you’re displeased with yourself, even when you’ve given Satan an inroad into your life. You can still come boldly into the very presence of God your Father and receive from Him because your spirit didn’t lose any of its right standing with Him!
The Word encourages you to come before the Lord when you need mercy and help! “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). Don’t just wait to come before Him until you’ve done everything “right.” You can boldly approach the Lord and receive grace to help when you’ve totally messed things up. Your heavenly Father has invited you to draw near to His throne at any time by faith in His Son and who you are in Him. It’s your birthright as a child of the King!
CHAPTER 7.
Eternal Redemption…
Hebrews 9 contrasts Old Testament Law with New Testament grace. What we’ve received through Jesus in the New Covenant is far superior to the Old. Old Testament sacrifices couldn’t really set anyone free; they were put in place as an illustration and a reminder to the people until the real sacrifice came. Since they were symbolic and couldn’t really purge from sin, Old Testament sacrifices had to be offered over and over and over again. But now that Jesus has given His life as the sacrifice for sin, it never again needs to be repeated. Through Christ, the perfect sacrifice for sin has been made once for all!
Your born-again spirit never needs to be re-cleansed, re purged, or born again, again! “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” Hebrews 9:11-12. Your salvation is eternal!
“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” Hebrews 9:13-15.
Jesus “entered in once into the holy place” and “obtained eternal redemption for us” verse 12. Then, in verse 15, He provided an “eternal inheritance.” Each of these statements emphasises a one-time sacrifice that works once for all.
God really wants this point driven home to us! “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” Hebrews 9:24-28, emphasis mine. Old Testament sacrifices were offered constantly, but Jesus entered once into the holy place and made one sacrifice. Since we die just once, He suffered once, and that one sacrifice paid for sin forever!
Eternal Redemption / End of Page 1
Old Testament sacrifices could not do what the New Testament sacrifice of Jesus did. They were only temporary shadows of the real thing to come. “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make those who come, perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers therefore once purged should have had no more conscience of sins,” Hebrews 10:1-2.
If the Old Testament sacrifices really could have made the people perfect, they wouldn’t have had to be offered over and over again. If they had worked, the worshipers— once purged—should have had no more conscience of sins!
New Testament believers need not be conscious of sin! The Old Testament sacrifices couldn’t do it, but the New Testament sacrifice could and did. If you believe the truth of God’s Word, you can literally reach a place where you are no longer sin-conscious. You would recognise that your spirit has been sanctified and perfected forever. God doesn’t see you as a sinner; He sees your born-again spirit and is pleased. If you focus your thoughts on who you are in the spirit, you’ll be conscious of righteousness!
This old phrase “I’m just a sinner, saved by grace” isn’t true! If you’re a sinner, then you need to be born again. If you were truly saved by grace, then you are no longer a sinner. Your spirit has been recreated in righteousness and true holiness and it cannot sin. Neither can it be penetrated by sin in your body or soul because of the Holy Spirit seal. Don’t approach God con fessing “I’m an old sinner.” Draw near to Him boldly because you are now “the righteousness of God in” Christ, 2 Cor. 5:21.
Approach God through Jesus and what He did in your born again spirit, saying, “Father, thank You that through Christ I have boldness to enter right into Your very throne of grace because You have made me righteous!”
If you honestly think, O God, I’m so unrighteous! then you either need to be born again, or you need to renew your mind and start believing the truth of God’s Word. You’ve been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!
You’ve been forgiven of your sins—past, present, and future! That’s what “eternal redemption” means. You might think, God can’t forgive me of a sin before I even commit it! Well, you better pray that He can because Christ only died for your sins once. If Jesus can’t forgive a sin before you commit it, then you can’t be forgiven at all. Why? Jesus Christ hasn’t died for sin in over 2,000 years!
Jesus paid for all sins—past, present, and future. Humans may not think this way, but God does. He’s Eternal—time, distance, and space aren’t problems for Him. Through His perfect sacrifice, God has already dealt with all sins!
When Jesus died, He put a will into effect. “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” Hebrews 10:10. You were sanctified—separated, made holy—through the offering of Jesus Christ once for all time.
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Generally speaking, Pentecostals were the ones who came up with this doctrine of backsliding, that every time you sin, you lose your salvation, and if you don’t confess it before you die, you’ll go to hell despite the fact that you’ve been born again for twenty or thirty years. They erroneously interpret this verse to mean “one sacrifice for all people.”
However, the context proves that Hebrews 10:10 means one sacrifice made you holy for all time. Notice all the words referring to time in the next four verses. “And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man [Jesus], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified,” Hebrews 10:11-14, emphasis mine. Christ’s one offering perfected and sanctified you forever!
In case you still aren’t convinced, Hebrews 12:23 is another verse from the same context. “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,” emphasis mine. How clear can it get? Your spirit has been perfected forever—all time. You don’t lose your right standing with God if you sin. What a radical, wonderful truth for the church today!
Most Christians are taught that their performance affects their relationship with God. When you are born again, you’re forgiven, cleansed, and you become a brand-new person. How ever, every time you sin, you lose that right standing with Him until you confess that particular sin and put it under the blood too. If you don’t, God is displeased and cannot accept you. If you were to die before repenting and confessing all of those sins, you would go to hell. In a sense, they’re saying you must be born again, again!
That’s not what God’s Word teaches! The Bible speaks of eternal redemption and eternal inheritance. You aren’t sanctified and perfected only until you blow it—which is constantly. You’re sanctified and perfected forever! People who believe they lose it all and have to start over again every time they sin will never really develop or see great growth in their spiritual lives. They’re stuck in the flesh, focused on the performance of their bodies and their souls. God’s Word reveals that your sins were forgiven— past, present, and future.
David saw by faith through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit just how great salvation would be. “Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered, [past and present tense sins]. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not [future tense] impute sin,” Rom. 4:6-8, Paul quotes Ps. 32:1-2, brackets mine. Psalm 32:2 even adds, “And in whose spirit there is no guile.” David an Old Covenant patriarch saw prophetically the blessedness of your New Covenant relationship with God. Because of your born-again spirit’s righteous nature, the Lord no longer holds any sin against you.
Now that’s good news!
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