Denying Jesus is Rooted in Fear
Matthew 10:32“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33“But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. 34“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
Denying Jesus, betraying Him, or falling away, isn't limited to an inner complete loss of faith...it is defined as a verbal choice rooted in fear of the consequences of loyalty to Jesus, or offense with Jesus' leadership.
We cannot redefine what the Bible says this means and call it hope. Contending in faith for some miraculous conversion of someone literally denying the Lord before the whole world is not wise... Being real about the consequences is wise.
We need to be sober about what the Bible says...not fall in to the trap of faith leaders trying to reason Bible verses away.
If you deny Jesus before men, He WILL deny you before the Father. It isn't a line to get close to. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We can take analogies about His willingness to overlook our choices farther than the Bible does. This is great error.
Judas regretted his decision to betray Jesus...He wasn't settled on his action of betrayal. The Bible lays this out clearly:
Matthew 27:3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” 5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Jesus said he was lost:
John 17:12“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
If someone gives you the impression that Jesus always contends until a heart is completely hard, you must know the Bible does not say that.
We cannot invent our own theology that makes us feel more hopeful. The truth of the Bible IS the only hope. If you fall away...before men...you are running the risk of being unable to be forgiven again. The real issue is the "open shame" it brings to Jesus. We really are called to the first commandment THEN the second. In that order. There is no other statement the Bible makes...
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. 7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
God wants to help you bear fruit. You have to abide. If you don't, and you bear thorns, you will be burned.
This is love. Love requires a choice. The beauty of the ability to deny Jesus is found in the ability to choose Him. If you keep saying yes and asking Him to keep you, He will. We should tremble more. The cavalier attitude of the church towards the things Jesus warned about will be very costly.
It would be impossible to be more hopeful than Jesus in truth. If I sound more hopeful than Jesus does about any particular doctrine, then I have lost truth.
False prophets always sound more hopeful than God does. Jesus said to Peter "get behind me Satan" when He sounded more hopeful than Jesus did.
Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
This is a consistent message through out the Bible. True hope is found in truth... Even the hard truth of judgment:
Jeremiah 23:18 For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. 21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.
The false promise peace when there is no peace. Not once in the Bible did the Lord correct a prophet for being too sober and warning of judgment....not once:
Jeremiah 6:13“Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely. 14 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.
Denying Jesus, betraying Him, or falling away, isn't limited to an inner complete loss of faith...it is defined as a verbal choice rooted in fear of the consequences of loyalty to Jesus, or offense with Jesus' leadership.
We cannot redefine what the Bible says this means and call it hope. Contending in faith for some miraculous conversion of someone literally denying the Lord before the whole world is not wise... Being real about the consequences is wise.
We need to be sober about what the Bible says...not fall in to the trap of faith leaders trying to reason Bible verses away.
If you deny Jesus before men, He WILL deny you before the Father. It isn't a line to get close to. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We can take analogies about His willingness to overlook our choices farther than the Bible does. This is great error.
Judas regretted his decision to betray Jesus...He wasn't settled on his action of betrayal. The Bible lays this out clearly:
Matthew 27:3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” 5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Jesus said he was lost:
John 17:12“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
If someone gives you the impression that Jesus always contends until a heart is completely hard, you must know the Bible does not say that.
We cannot invent our own theology that makes us feel more hopeful. The truth of the Bible IS the only hope. If you fall away...before men...you are running the risk of being unable to be forgiven again. The real issue is the "open shame" it brings to Jesus. We really are called to the first commandment THEN the second. In that order. There is no other statement the Bible makes...
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. 7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
God wants to help you bear fruit. You have to abide. If you don't, and you bear thorns, you will be burned.
This is love. Love requires a choice. The beauty of the ability to deny Jesus is found in the ability to choose Him. If you keep saying yes and asking Him to keep you, He will. We should tremble more. The cavalier attitude of the church towards the things Jesus warned about will be very costly.
It would be impossible to be more hopeful than Jesus in truth. If I sound more hopeful than Jesus does about any particular doctrine, then I have lost truth.
False prophets always sound more hopeful than God does. Jesus said to Peter "get behind me Satan" when He sounded more hopeful than Jesus did.
Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
This is a consistent message through out the Bible. True hope is found in truth... Even the hard truth of judgment:
Jeremiah 23:18 For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. 21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.
The false promise peace when there is no peace. Not once in the Bible did the Lord correct a prophet for being too sober and warning of judgment....not once:
Jeremiah 6:13“Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely. 14 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.
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