Does this mean I cannot be reconciled with God if I have sinned purposefully?

faceofbear · #1 24th October 2009, 09:28 PM

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment... Hebrews 10:26-27

I am saved, and I sinned deliberately because I was weak and enticed by my own desires... does this mean that I am going to hell?

I am new to christianity sorry.

RobertZ · #2 24th October 2009, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by faceofbear

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment... Hebrews 10:26-27

I am saved, and I sinned deliberately because I was weak and enticed by my own desires... does this mean that I am going to hell?

I am new to christianity sorry.

Keep in mind that Hebrews was written to the Jews who were facing major persecution for placing their faith in Christ and leaving the Law Of Moses. I have read a million different interpretations for this scripture because I too worried about it greatly and from what I understand this scripture is warning the Jews that after they recieve the knowledge of the truth (The truth about Christ sacrafice) if they keep sacraficing animals then their no longer remains a sacrafice for their sins because Christ is the only one and true sacrafice.

To continue living by the law and depending on animal sacrafices would be considered willfull sinning and trampling over the blood of Jesus and counting the Blood of the Covenant as nothing more than common blood.

Any sin that can be repented of can be forgiven, your sins are not too great or too many for Christ Blood to cover. You are concerned and that is a good thing.

Vince53 · #3 24th October 2009, 10:14 PM

Farther along, the passage states that we are persuaded better things of you, and things that concern salvation. Falling away is proof that a person was never really saved to begin with. Various Scriptures teach that you cannot lose your salvation.

As far as your sinning because you are weak, God's grace is sufficient for all of us. Take it as a warning, and continue in God's grace.

faceofbear · #4 24th October 2009, 11:02 PM

Originally Posted by Vince53

Farther along, the passage states that we are persuaded better things of you, and things that concern salvation. Falling away is proof that a person was never really saved to begin with. Various Scriptures teach that you cannot lose your salvation.

As far as your sinning because you are weak, God's grace is sufficient for all of us. Take it as a warning, and continue in God's grace.

I just fear some times that my repentance was not genuine and because of that I may be living a false profession of faith so then I will sin purposefully (I struggle with a previous addiction to pornography) thinking that perhaps all hope is lost and I give up and then after sinning I feel stupid for even thinking the way I did and seek forgiveness but I am not sure if I genuinely am seeking forgiveness or not.

RobertZ · #5 24th October 2009, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by faceofbear

I just fear some times that my repentance was not genuine and because of that I may be living a false profession of faith so then I will sin purposefully (I struggle with a previous addiction to pornography) thinking that perhaps all hope is lost and I give up and then after sinning I feel stupid for even thinking the way I did and seek forgiveness but I am not sure if I genuinely am seeking forgiveness or not.

Do you have OCD?

Vince53 · #6 25th October 2009, 01:12 AM

Faceofbear, spend some time carefully reading the first epistle of John. God wants you in Heaven, and if you're not really saved, He'll work on you.

It sounds to me as if you really did accept Christ, and then you started messing with your former sins. Then God really convicted you, because you are a child of God, and your sins are now dealt with more strictly, because you're part of God's family. Remember that once you're born again, you're a new creation. You can't act the way that you used to act.

I haven't checked it out, but there is a thread for pornography addiction on this forum. You might want to look at it.

Hammster · #7 26th October 2009, 04:11 AM

Just for the record, all of our sins are willful and purposefully. Also read Romans 7. Paul struggled with doing what he knew he shouldn't do, and not doing what he should. He called himself a wretched man. But he then transitions to 8:1, my life verse. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus."

Focus on the cross, on the Gospel, and let the same grace that saved you also transform you.

TimRout · #8 26th October 2009, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by Hammster

Just for the record, all of our sins are willful and purposefully. Also read Romans 7. Paul struggled with doing what he knew he shouldn't do, and not doing what he should. He called himself a wretched man. But he then transitions to 8:1, my life verse. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus."

Focus on the cross, on the Gospel, and let the same grace that saved you also transform you.

Indeed.

The issue is not one of willful sin per se, but the directionality of one's lifestyle. The Christian lifestyle is characterized by repentance, faith, and a desire to be conformed to Christ. While all believers stumble into sin on a fairly regular basis, we are nevertheless heaven bound. Over time, a genuinely saved person will grow in his love for God and his hatred of sin.

faceofbear: Nevertheless, I am encouraged to see you asking these vital questions, even as the Word instructs [2 Cor. 13:5].

Webers_Home · #9 27th October 2009, 11:59 AM

.
The Hebrews letter was written, and sent, to a group of the author's fellow Jewish countrymen. I know that from the introduction.

†. Heb 1:1-2 . . God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son

The fathers to whom the prophets spoke were Jews; and the pronoun us connects the author of Hebrews to the Jews of his own day whose ancestors were the prophets' audiences. The same goes for the passage below.

†. Heb 2:1-2 . . For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away.

The epistle of Hebrews contains some of the teachings of Old Testament Judaism because a good number of Jews are not all that well schooled in Moses' teachings; which is probably why you'll see the author taking the time and ink to actually teach key portions of Judaism first before he attempts to teach Christianity; and his method is pertinent to modern Jews too.

Orthodox Jews today number approximately 800,000 in ratio to an approximate total population of 5.5 million in the modern State of Israel. Which means that a meager 14½ percent of modern Israelis are Orthodox. More than half of all modern Israelis describe themselves as hiloni (secular) viz: they are committed to no religion at all; let alone the faith of Abraham and/or the beliefs and practices of modern Judaism.

So then, Heb 10:26 is not a Christian doctrine; but rather, directly related to Moses' covenanted law; which reads:

†. Num 15:27-31 . . And if a person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat in its first year as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before Yhvh, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them.

. . But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on Yhvh, and he shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised Yhvh's word, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.

What Yhvh is saying, is that if somebody knows full well in advance that something is a violation of Moses' covenanted law, and proceeds to do it anyway, then there is neither pardon, atonement, nor forgiveness available for that person— they are a dead man walking, and severed from Abraham; which implies disconnection from the promises Yhvh made to Abraham regarding ownership, and occupation, of Palestine.

How then can God justify His pardoning David for the sins of premeditated murder and adultery when, at the time, David was doubtless well-catechized in Moses' covenanted law and knew full well in advance that what he did with Bathsheba and her husband was wrong?

Had God been limited to the resources of the Aaronic qorbanot system, David would have been lost because there are no atonements for deliberate sin in Aaron's bag of tricks and David knew it too.

†. Ps 51:16 . . For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

Is that saying that David didn’t believe in the Aaronic atonement system? No, not at all because further down in that very same Psalm David stated that God is pleased with sacrifices.

†. Ps 51:18-19 . . Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

The trick is, God is pleased with sacrifices offered in righteousness (cf. Isa 1:1-20). So then, the sacrifices of a deliberate sinner like David are ineffective so far as atoning for sin; which is precisely why it's essential for deliberate sinners to abandon Aaron's priesthood and sign on to a priesthood like Melchizedek's.

Mel was a priest of the Most High God in Abraham's day (Gen 14:18-20) several centuries prior to the enactment of Moses' covenanted law. So then, since law does not have ex post facto jurisdiction (Gal 3:17) then Melchizedek's constituents (which included Mr. Abraham) were not subject to the terms and conditions of Moses' covenanted law; viz: all sins in a Melchizedekian jurisdiction are forgivable; both the unintentional sins and the intentional.

The New Testament's Christ is a priest of the Melchizedekian variety. (Ps 110:1-4, Heb 5:5-7:28). Therefore, none of his constituents are subject to Moses' covenanted law; ergo: they're at liberty to be pardoned for all manner of sins, even the deliberate ones.

†. Acts 13:38-41 . .Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by him everyone who believes is rendered innocent from all the things from which you could not be innocent by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you:

. . Behold, you scoffers, be perplexed; and perish! For I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though somebody were to explain it to you.

C.L.I.F.F.
/

PrincetonGuy · #10 27th October 2009, 02:22 PM

Heb. 10:19. Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20. by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21. and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22. let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
24. and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
25. not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
26. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27. but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.
28. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
30. For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY." And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE."
31. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32. But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,
33. partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.
34. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.
35. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
36. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
37. FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.
38. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.
39. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Verses 19-25 eliminate any possibility whatsoever that this passage is written to Jews who were not Christians; and the only sacrifice mentioned in this passage is the sacrifice on the cross, the shedding of the blood of Jesus for our sin (vv. 19 & 29). Verses 28-29 contrast the fate of Jews who sinned under the Law of Moses with the fate of Christians who sin, thereby effectively regarding as unclean the blood of the covenant (New Testament covenant) by which they were sanctified. Compare:

1 Cor. 6:9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10. nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Hebrews 10:19-39 is a warning to Christians of the danger of willful sin. My dear Christian readers, if you are still entangled in the bonds of sin, you must place your faith in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross and in His promise to each of us,

John 8:31. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32. and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33. They answered Him, “We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
34. Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
35. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.
36. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

(All quotations from the Scriptures are from the NASB, 1995)