Never miss an opportunity
Hebrews 6:
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
For the church this was written to, the writer was saying: There's more! It gets better! It goes deeper! These folks were struggling, much as we do today amongst the scores of denominational "churches". But they had already come through the apostles teachings on the foundational doctrines. Even those concerning the gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians Ch. 12 !!! Yet they should by that time have been teaching the foundations to new believers, while they themselves should have been going "on unto perfection".
I don't know what this means to you, but to me this means that perfection is within the grasp of the believer who will SEEK GOD FOR IT. Otherwise you might as well say it isn't there and I'm just imagining those words, making them up.
Before we get all het up, lets look at the word perfection:
From the excellent Blue Letter Bible (on-line):
perfection from 5046 - Strong's concordance
teleiotes {tel-i-ot'-ace} (Greek)
1) perfection
a) the state of the more intelligent
b) moral and spiritual perfection
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/5/1139195987-5844.html (see more on perfection here)
Now I have heard this word perfection taught as functional moral maturity. Not the perfection we will experience in heaven, where slip and fall attorneys will have to cease.
Christian faith is more than the statement "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." It is true that the church is a "hospital for sinners", a place where the spiritually wounded are healed. God is there in Spirit to heal them, but He really does want for an abundance of the spiritually mature to do the light lifting. He, after all, did all the Heavy Lifting at Calvary.
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
My question is where are these spiritual ones? We have teachers by the scores of scores. We have pastors even more. But where are those spiritual, to lay the salve and bind the wounds? Israel Pastors were chastened with a heavy hand for neglecting the health of their sheep. And it got pretty messy because they did.
Isaiah 1:
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
The prophets and priests were guilty too.
Jeremiah 2:8
The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
Jeremiah 23
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
But wait a minute. He says woe to the pastors who feed my people. If they are feeding them, then they are healthy no? Not if they feed them Junk food. The junk food of the day was Baal, Molech, Ashtoreh, and other foreign so called gods. Those who should have been spiritual were feeding on and feeding their flocks on worse than swine, though the swine is a type of spiritual uncleanness. And in feeding them foreign gods and idols they drove the flock from before the face of God, spiritually, and I suspect, in every way so that He could not bless them.
It was really a mess. I urge you to read the 16th Chapter of Ezekiel to see the depth of Israel and Judah’s revolt against God.
It was this ugly situation that Jeremiah wept over:
Lamentations 4
1 How the gold has lost its luster,
the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
at the head of every street.
2 How the precious sons of Zion,
once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
the work of a potter's hands!
3 Even jackals offer their breasts
to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
like ostriches in the desert.
I want to suggest to all who might consider it, that apart from Satan we have no worse threat than the idolatries of our times. We as Christians are called by the name, the Holy and Perfect Name of Jesus. Yet I fear we do not always hear Him.
Matthew 17
5...and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
John 5
14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
He also said to the woman caught in adultery: "neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more."
For many years I looked upon these words of the Savior in despair, wondering why my life was so full of INIQUITY (Iniquity is defined as lawlessness, or the habituation of sin). But today I am a new man on account of these facts:
1) God is not finished with me yet!
Philippians 1: 6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
2) Jesus did not retire from ministry nor from ministering to even me!
Romans 5:
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
God has assured the pathway to a victorious life here and in Heaven!
Romans 8:
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
God has given me the substance of victory!
Hebrews 11:
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1 John 5:
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Today I look at the phrase "Go and sin no more" and I see opportunity! Opportunity to go on to perfection, to become a spiritually mature and functional Christian, one equipped to lay on the salve, to pour in the oil and the wine and bind up the wounds of those who are hurting and even perishing. This is the will of God for a man of God, YES?
May many hear and go, and not just repent and stop sinning, but go on to study and equip their hearts to share the gospel, for God sends His Word to heal.
Psalm 107:
20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
1 John 2:
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
1 John 3
1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Saints: God wants us perfect. He knows if we resist this and do not exercise faith to become perfect, we will languish in sin and the sin of unbelief. It will only get worse until it gets better, and it will not get better until we take God at His WORD, His word which he sent to heal US.
What are the idols that demons push in your face that cause you to stumble ? Find out that you may cast them down and GO ON TO PERFECTION, to that functional spiritual maturity God has purposed to prosper you with, that you may also heal the sinner.
Psalm 51
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
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May God Grant you more than you can ask or imagine, I ask of the Savior. AMEN
