The Sin of Unbelief

Cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, be perfect like God. The Sermon on the Mount isn't difficult, it's impossible. So why would Jesus give us commands nobody can possibly live up to? What if that was the whole point? Hi, I'm Andrew Farley. In my new book, The Impossible Teachings of Jesus, I explore why Jesus' harshest words weren't meant to make you dry harder, but to expose the impossible standard and lead you straight to grace. If you've never measured up, this book is for you. It's called The Impossible Teachings of Jesus. Order your copy now at amazon.com. [music] Jesus plus nothing, 100% natural, no additives. Andrew Farley is celebrating your freedom in Christ. Call in and ask your questions at 877-655-6755, that's toll free at 877-655-6755. By a satellite from Texas, it's The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley. Hello everyone, welcome to The Grace Message, I'm Andrew Farley, so glad you're joining us tonight to that number to call 877-655-6755. We got open lines room for you right now to get in with your question. Maybe you've got a question about a scripture passage, perhaps you heard something in church recently, and you're not sure about it, you want to put it to the test, or maybe you were chatting with a friend in a coffee shop or scrolling through social media, something came up, you just don't know what to think and you want to talk it over, well that's a great reason to join the conversation right now, you're what makes the program so much better. 877-655-6755. We got open lines right now, plenty of room for you, maybe it's a personal issue going on in your life right now, in your marriage with your kids, in your church, maybe you're not even sure about your relationship with God, you need some clarity, some encouragement. Well again, those are great reasons to join us as well, 877-655-6755.

We are live across the United States and Canada on SiriusXM, all kinds of FM and AM stations, and yes, we're around the world via social media as well, we're live streaming on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Acts, our mobile app and our website. It doesn't matter how you're watching or listening, right now you can call in and be a part of it, 877-655-6755. Alright, we're going to start out, in Ann Arbor, Michigan tonight, we'll talk with Roy, Roy, what you got for us. Hey Andrew, thank you so much for taking the call, so I want to explore something with you. Yeah. I was listening to a song today, a Christian song, maybe you're familiar with the group, second chapter of Acts, now that's really dating me. They were popular back in the middle 70s and the song, put a lyric out there and when I heard it, I went, wow, it says, in the song, the lyric said, "Jesus took the sin out of sinning." And when I heard that, it reminded me of the scripture in Romans 5, 14, where it says that death reigned over mankind from Adam to Moses even over those who did not sin after the similitude of Adam. But in 1 John 5, 16, John says, "If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death." So it sounds like Jesus took the death out of sinning, what do you say about that? Well interesting, I mean, we're riffing off of a song lyric, so I'm going to go work backwards with you and tell you my thoughts on each of those passages first, you know, took the sin out of sinning, I don't know, I mean, the scripture doesn't say that, it's catchy, it makes for a good song, not sure the intention of that statement. candidly, I don't know that it goes with those verses. Well, when you look around in that chapter, you say, "Hey, John, come on. What are you talking about here, brother?" A sin that leads to death and a sin that doesn't lead to death and then you tell us not to pray. You're telling us not to bother praying for one of those kinds of sin, the one that leads to death.

We shouldn't even bother praying. I mean, John, are you talking about suicide or something? What are you talking about sin that leads to death? Well, as you look at the context of this chapter, he's talking about whoever has the son, has the life, whoever does not have the son, does not have the life. So what does it mean to have the sin that leads to death? Well, you're rejecting the son. You're rejecting life. And so you don't have life. You've got death. Can I fix that by praying you into the kingdom? No, I can't pray for that. I can't pray. If you're an unbeliever, I can't just pray that God would circumvent your will, override your mind and force you into salvation. No. Today, if you hear his voice, it's your opportunity to not harden your heart. I don't harden it for you and I don't soften it for you and I can't pray you or anybody into the kingdom. And so that's what John is talking about here in 1 John 5. There's a sin that leads to death. It is the sin of rejecting the gospel, rejecting the son of God, rejecting Jesus. And then, of course, there's all kinds of other sinning that happens on planet earth that doesn't lead to death. I mean, we Christians commit sins every day and we don't die spiritually. So if you see a brother or sister committing a sin that doesn't lead to death, in other words, if they're a believer, but they're just struggling with something, pray for them. Pray for them and God will hear that and God will give them life, meaning give them encouragement through his spirit, express himself through them and meet that need. So there's two kinds of sins in 1 John 5, the sin of unbelief, which is the sin of rejecting Christ, which is the sin of not having life because you've said no to the one who is life. And I can't fix that for you. You can't fix it for anybody. They have to choose by calling upon the name of the Lord. We can't pray people into the kingdom contrary to what some movements are saying. You know, there's some people out there praying for dead people. Well, you can't do it. It's up to each individual. Yes, we can pray for open doors for the gospel. Yes, we can pray that the message goes out, but we can't pray people into choosing life. Now, when it comes to your second quotation from the book of Romans, all that Paul is saying there is that from Adam until Moses, there was no law, right? From Adam until Moses, there was no 10 commandments. There were no ceremonial laws. 613 laws didn't exist from Adam until Moses. And so Paul is saying therefore, did sin not exist? Did sin not exist because there was no law to call it out? And Paul's answer is, of course, there was sin, of course. Death reigned, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even in the lives of those who didn't wrongly eat an apple. That's what that passage is saying. Even those who didn't sin in the same way Adam did, even those who didn't commit the sin of

apple eating. Well, guess what? Adam passed down that death to all those people from Adam until Moses, death reigned. Everybody was spiritually dead. Didn't matter if they'd eaten an apple or not eaten an apple, they inherited death throughout them. And so that's what those two passages are all about. Now, your song lyric is interesting. I mean, you know, Jesus took the sin out of sinning, not even sure exactly what that means. But I think I'm more comfortable saying Jesus took our sins away. Jesus remembers our sins no more. But when we commit a sin, it's a sin. I mean, you don't really take the sin out of it. What you do is you take the punishment out of it. That's what the cross has done. There's no punishment. There's no condemnation. There's no anger. There's no wrath. But is it a sin? Well, sure it is. I mean, if you smack somebody across the face and hurt them and insult them, and then tell them, well, Jesus took the sin out of sin, they'd look at you like, wait, what? It's still hurt. And it still hurt me physically and emotionally. well, of course, the cross worked. Jesus took them all away. He remembers them no more. He doesn't hold them against us, and yet we're supposed to be at peace with all people as far as it concerns us. Sometimes we've got to apologize. Sometimes we've got to make peace. Sometimes we've got to reconcile with people, and that's that horizontal relationship that we have with one another. But as far as that vertical connection, he'll never leave us, he'll never forsake us, and we have peace with God through the cross, through the resurrection, we're one with him forever. So, thanks for your call tonight, Roy. Reach out to us again any time. Great to hear from you. All right. Well, let's go now to how about Buffalo, New York, and we'll talk with Barbara. Hi, Barbara. What you got for us tonight? Oh, hi. Reading the gospel. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Okay. In reading the gospel, when Jesus would heal someone, he would tell them, "Don't tell anybody about that." But the thing is, that person would go back, and even if he never said anything, those people, his family and friends would see that he was healed. So, I don't understand that, that it's not going to make any sense if he doesn't say anything, or if he does say something, people will see that the guy's been healed. Right, right, right. I did it. Well, yeah, I mean, first and foremost to Barbara, I think that he's trying to not turn everything into a spectacle. He's trying to live his life and walk through the streets and keep the crowds from turning every sign into some sort of public spectacle. So, you know, he heals a leper, and then Jesus says, "Don't spread the news," but to show himself to the priest. So, isn't that interesting? I don't think it's about keep it a secret from your best

friend, or keep it a secret from your family, or make sure your wife doesn't notice, you know, wear enough clothing so you don't get discovered as being healed. No, I don't think that's what it is. I think it's like, don't go out into the streets and shout it that, "Hey, right around the corner is Messiah, and he's healing people right now." Apparently, that wasn't Jesus's agenda. He didn't want a lineup, and he didn't want to be a spectacle. You know, I guess you could also say, remember their view of Messiah. I mean, their expectation of a Messiah was that he would be a political leader. He would be some sort of influence that would change the course of Israel in a political or military way. So, now imagine you, you know, you feed 5,000 people, you're feeding these crowds of people, then what happened? Well, Jesus took off. I mean, he's gone. Where's the guy? Where's the guy that fed these 5,000 people? Well, he left. I'm sorry. He left. Did you want to interview him? He's gone. Why would Jesus do that? Well, again, I think it, you know, he just didn't want people to think that Messiah was merely going to feed everybody and be everybody's political savior and be everybody's military hero and just be a supplier of food. And he really wanted people to begin to think about the spiritual kingdom. So, I guess the other thing might be that, you know, he's about to do the greatest miracle of all, and that is rise from the dead. You know, the cross and the resurrection are the biggest miracles of all in all of human history. And so, he doesn't want their confidence in his miracles alone, but in his finished work. And so, those are some reasons. I think that Jesus withdrew and told people not to go run and scream. So, it wasn't about a blanket statement or a hard and fast rule of thou shalt not tell a single soul. It was more like, please don't be my PR person. I'm not interested in your version of PR. And I want people to understand why I'm really here. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, the fact that you got healed of leprosy or you can see and you can walk. Those are great things, but there's, well, a greater miracle is coming. And that greater miracle is that you're very core, the center of your being. centermost part of who you are. And I'm going to live inside of you. And that's going to be the biggest miracle of all. And that's what you need to keep your eye out for. So I think that that was his mentality. But again, it was not a blanket rule. I mean, you can look in Mark 5, for example, and after freeing a man from demons, Jesus specifically told him, Hey, go tell your family what God has done in your life. So it wasn't always a cookie cutter conversation. Thanks Barbara. Thanks

for your question and reach out to us again anytime. Great to hear from you. Alright, well, let's go now to how about Niagara Falls? We'll talk with Grace. Hi, Grace. What you got for us? Hi, Andrew. How are you today? Hey, doing great. What's on your heart? Good. I'm thinking about Hebrews chapter 6 verse 4 to 7, where it talks about a person who became a Christian. They tasted the goodness of God's word. There was salvation. There was renewing regeneration that took place. And then they turn their back on the Lord. It's verses 4 to 6. What happens to the Holy Spirit? Like, where is the Holy Spirit? They're not actively involved in Christian service. They're not active periods. They've got a completely carnal in the world. Like, where is the Holy Spirit? It's my question. Okay. Yeah, see, I don't, I don't think that's what's happening in this passage. I think it's a warning to Hebrews, most of whom are unbelievers. Let's back up to verse 1 together, Grace, and just give an alternate interpretation, a chance for a moment. Beginning in Hebrews 6 to verse 1, it says, "Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of what? Of repentance from dead works and faith toward God." All right. So, imagine somebody that might still need to hear about the very basics. And what are the basics? Well, repenting from your sins, repenting from your dead works, and then putting your faith in God. So, that's where these people are. Whoever they are, they're still playing with the milk of the gospel. I mean, have they really repented from the dead works of the temple, or are they still trying to get forgiveness from a bowl and a goat? And so, they need to learn repentance from temple works, from the dead works of the Jewish temple. And then they still apparently need to learn about faith toward God. Well, I'm sorry, but oh my goodness, that's how we get saved people. And so, the author of Hebrews is telling them that. You need to repent from the temple works, and you need to put your faith in God. And then, do we really have to sit around my Jewish brethren? Verse two, do we really have to sit around talking about ceremonial washings? I mean, that's where you're stuck about the ceremonial washings of Jewish practice, and the temple washings, and then the laying on of hands when the

high priest of Israel would put his hands on the scapegoat, and send him out into the desert. Are we really stuck there? Come on fellow Hebrews, we got to move past this. And then, the resurrection of the dead? Are you kidding me? We're still gonna debate about whether there's anything after this life? So, what kind of person has not repented from the dead works of the temple, has not understood faith toward God, is still arguing about ceremonial washings, and still isn't certain if there's anything beyond this life? And so, then he says, in the case of those who've been enlightened, that means they've learned some stuff, a light bulb came on, and it says they've tasted. Now, this word "tasted" comes up twice. The word "partaker" or "share" comes up, and the word "tasted" comes up two times. So, he says, in the case of those who've been enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, not swallowed, but tasted. And then it says, "has been made a sharer in the holy spirit and has tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come." All right. Well, think about where these Hebrews are. They're smack dab in the middle of Israel. They're in Jerusalem, in the big city, in the hustle and bustle of all that happens there. The apostles are alive and well teaching and healing. God is doing miracles among them. So, these people who get this letter, I mean, and they have tasted the heavenly gift. they've seen the Holy Spirit doing miracles, they've tasted the good Word of God, but they haven't swallowed. They haven't really had it come to dwell within them. Now, how do I know that? Well, look at verse 7. Verse 7 says, "Because there's ground that drinks the rain which falls on it, and that will bring vegetation or fruit, but there's another kind of ground that doesn't drink in the rain." And that's verse 8, "And that yields thorns and thistles, and then it's cursed and burned." Well, let me tell you, Christians are not cursed and burned, and Christians, we are good trees that bear good fruit. So there's two kinds of people contrasted in this chapter. There's the ground that drinks the rain, and then there's the ground that rejects the rain of the gospel. They have tasted, but they haven't swallowed. And then after tasting, after getting a tidbit, after getting the sampler, what happens? They fall away to what? To the dead works, to the dead works of the temple. They fall back to mom and dad's religion. They fall back to Hebrew temple religiosity. And then you say,

"Well, then how can they repent?" I mean, they're not going to find a place to repent up there at the temple. If they're looking at the sacrifice of animals, there's no place for repentance there. They need to go back to what they originally heard, what they originally tasted. They need to go back to the gospel message and consider it again, because they're not going to find true repentance anywhere else. They got to drink in the rain of the gospel. They got to reject the dead works of the temple. They got to put faith in God through Jesus. They got to get saved. So, this is not a believer who loses their salvation. It's a Hebrew who is riding the fence. They haven't made up their mind about the very basics of the gospel message. They're still arguing about the temple and faith and washings and resurrection. They don't know very much. And the author of Hebrews is frustrated with them. So, I'll put you back on grace and see. Does that make sense, my friend? It does make sense. I think, you know, when I do a summary of what you're saying or synopsis, which have you, it's the fact that they never really knew salvation. They never accepted Jesus Christ. You talk about the analogy of swallowing, tasting and swallowing, swallowing, ingesting, enlightenment, illumination, transformation, right? So, that never actually occurred, which is so interesting. I've talked about the Pharisees. There's so many mechanical things of the religious lingo that you can use to almost convince you that others around you that you're saved. But in fact, there's no heart surgery or transformation. So, that's what I would include. Yeah. I conclude. Yeah, right? No, no transformation. Otherwise, if you tasted the goodness of the Lord, the veil is removed, scales from the eyes you're going to understand. We don't need to re-crucify the Lord, right? Yes, yes. That is it, Grace. I love it. I love it. I think that is the perfect interpretation of this passage. And it certainly jives with every promise we've ever gotten from our God. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Nobody can snatch you out of my hand. Even when you're faithless, I remain faithful. Nothing separates you from my love. For more information on the broadcast ministry of Dr. Andrew Farley, please visit AndrewFarley.org. That's AndrewFarley.org. Join us next time as we invite you to celebrate the Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley. This program is sponsored by your generous financial support. Cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, be perfect like God. The sermon on the mount isn't difficult. It's impossible. So why would Jesus give us commands nobody can possibly live up to? What if that was the whole point? Hi, I'm Andrew Farley. In my new book, The Impossible Teachings of Jesus, I explore why Jesus' harshest words weren't meant to make you dry harder,

but to expose the impossible standard and lead you straight to grace. If you've never measured up, this book is for you. It's called The Impossible Teachings of Jesus. Order your copy now at amazon.com. you You