Is Work a Result of the Fall?

His work a result of the fall semester is one of the questions will be answering on today's addition of core Christianity will hi this is Bill Meyer along with Pastor Israel Sanchez and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. At 833 the core that's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. In fact, you can watch a drill live in the studio right now on our YouTube channel and message us that way. Of course you can always email us your question at questions at court.

Christianity.com first up today let's go to a voicemail received from one of our listeners named Gordon about right. All Gordon, thanks for listening to the broadcasting and for following up on on a question that we answered earlier from Hebrews chapter 10.

This is a chapter by the way folks that that gets a lot of people upset because they they struggle to understand the lien is the author of Hebrews here saying that we can lose our salvation that if I continue in a pattern of saying I'm lost forever. I know sincere Christians who really, really struggle with this because they think that I haven't perfectly repented at maybe this is me. Verse 26 Hebrews chapter 10 if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, they are no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who is set aside to love Moses dies without mercy on evidence of two or three witnesses.

How much worse punishment, do you think will be deserved by the one who is trampled underfoot the son of God and his pro flick profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified scary words from the author. The Hebrews here and so people think okay if I go on sinning willfully, deliberately, does that mean there's no more hope for me and and that the answer is we got understand the context of the book of Hebrews Hebrews was written to a group of people who had you know embraced the apostolic gospel. The preaching of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. At least it seemed like they did, but then all of a sudden after after the preaching of of the disciples, they began to go back to the types and shadows. The ceremonies of the old covenant, the Old Testament and that's why throughout the book of Hebrews.

The constant refrain is, Christ is better. He's better than the Angels.

He's better than Moses.

He's better than the Levitical priesthood don't go back to those things go to Christ and so for people who abandon the gospel, who flee from Christ who don't believe in him there is no hope because there's no other sacrifice for sins, apart from Jesus and that's right just a little bit earlier in verse 19 he said. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. The point is this if you're trusting anything besides the blood of Jesus Christ to justify you before God, you're hopeless, and with the people in in the Hebrew church were being tempted to do is to go back to trusting in the blood of bulls and goats and the ceremonial system of the old covenant the believers as if you do that you're here trampling Jesus underfoot. You're counting his blood is a common thing is is as though it were worthless.

And if you do that your you're in big trouble and so this is actually an encouragement to us to cling to nothing but the cross of Jesus Christ.

The blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.

And that's with the author. The Hebrews is try to get across here in chapter 10 and throughout this book. Thank you for that question. Great question and great response. I will, thanks for that. This is core Christianity with Pastor Israel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life.

We would love to hear from you and by the way, feel free to let your friends from church know about this program if they have a question and maybe even though some people who struggle with their faith or have questions about the Christian faith it will be glad to take those calls as well so give them this number it's 833 the core that's 1-833-843-2673 Michelle and Cincinnati, Ohio Michelle what your question for a drill hi Michelle, what's your question cheerful question and work out your foundation right here in channeling that workday right now I think I smoked a little time on that I seem to really die with my lock what God might argue out for a week like I feel like I am trite. Three weeks when I come back and I consistency in prayer and even any lien talking Mary Bible and I feel like I'm not a Christian counselor like Christians believe God for a like amount of income that Michael Oliver again and I don't know you're being genuine or just going to motion Michelle, thank you so much for that question. So with regard to the first party or question you're quoting from Philippians chapter 2 verse 12 and 13.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. This is a really is calling them to to pursue the Lord faithfully to love the Lord and the this is another verse that causes a lot of questions went to fish when you stop it. Verse 12.

Work out your salvation with fear and tremble anything okay is this business works based does this mean that I have to save myself and that it's it's just you know this await this burden that I have to carry will that would be good news, that would be gospel. Would it Michelle that the gospel is what God has done for us, for you in Jesus in the perfect life that Jesus Christ lived for you on your behalf.

In his suffering and death for you for the forgiveness of all your sins for the forgiveness of your sister of all the times that you turn your back on him and you do well for a week and then you struggle for two weeks that that kind of a thing.

There is grace sufficient for you, and we got to go to verse 13 as well. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And so that obedience that call to pursue the Lord in holiness. Even the desire that the will to do that and and those works. Those are things that the Lord places in our hearts. It's God was working in you by the grace of his Holy Spirit that with regard to the struggle that you mentioned one. Let me just say if you're a Christian, you're going to struggle never the sign of you know, the fact were Christians is not that we don't struggle just read Romans chapter 7 or Galatians chapter 5 there is this battle with the flesh and if we are not diligent.

Well, it's really easy to drift. I was just quoting from the book of Hebrews right with. There's this this threat of drifting of drifting away from the gospel and of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and so we are called to pursue the Lord diligently in holiness, but the reality is sister we don't do that perfectly and so we have to continually go back to the cross and and and that the. The reality is it were not Christians because were were you know we do our devotions every single day or because we are faithful to the Lord for three weeks without any failures. That kind of a thing know what were Christians because we believe in Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins for people who don't deserve it, not one follow-up question that I have for you, Michelle and I think this is really important in terms of just the everyday Christian life, and growing in grace is are you a part of a good church. Are you a member of a local church somewhere where you live okay and you feel like you have community there people around you that can encourage you in your walk with the Lord, and you have these kinds of conversations with your pastor with with some sisters in the faith who can encourage you in my pastor about not probably always like struggle.

Electricity has had bipolar and blankets that like I'm not really keep commitments that well on like I may always like struggle, but I don't want to be a Christian in name only, or go to religiously search a line of people here says depart for me.

I never got your saved NSI is asking how you know if you're being genuine natural ecology, or are you going to the motion really really good questions there and thank you for some of that clarification, sister, and so let me let me point to another passage of Scripture that I think could be encouraging for you. It's in Hebrews chapter 6 and here the author the Hebrews is encouraging this church to to cling to the object of hope, of what Christ has done for them. He says in verse 17 when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. When you struggle with these feelings is as we as we do at times. The temptation is to look within to say, boy, I'm just not that faithful in other times I feel like I'm really walking with Jesus well and then the next week I'm struggling that kind of a thing.

And when we look in we see indwelling sin still and we can become despairing. Here's what you need to do.

Michelle you need to look up you need to set your eyes continually on Christ and on his gospel. The anchor of your soul is not how well you do this week or next week.

The anchor of your soul is Jesus Christ and what he's done for you and we struggle to see that to embrace it to lay hold of it, especially when we feel like were caught up in in a pattern of sin.

But again, that the answer is looking away from yourself to something secure to an anchor to something stable and that's stable anchor is Jesus's love for you as exhibited at the cross, so I just want to encourage you continually to to fix your eyes there to continue to press into your Christian community and I'm so grateful to hear that your pastor spends time with you and and talks with you and Jen just know that you're not alone in feeling these things.

It faithful Christians can really struggle with the sense of assurance. But instead of looking to yourself and how well you're doing look to Christ and to what he's done for you even when you fail and lay hold of that and as you lay hold of that continue to turn toward him and away from those those patterns of sin that you feel like get you get you way down and so may the Lord bless you and I just want to pray for you, really quickly. Michelle father, I thank you for Michelle I thank you Lord God that she she wants to know that she's genuine that her faith is genuine. That she's forgiven. So I pray Lord God that you would you would help her by the grace of your Holy Spirit, and through your your pure gospel Lord forgiveness for sinners that she would know that that's for her and that she would experience a sense of peace, joy, Lord, knowing your love, the love of your son Jesus I pray that knowing that Lord day by day she might walk with you. Draw near to you. And when she struggles when she falls or fails, she would lift her eyes up to you once again into Christ into the cross and receive the grace that is there for her. Would you bless Michelle in Jesus name, amen. I meant Michelle, thanks so much for your call for listening to core Christianity and you know Israel I'm I'm just struck Michelle's. She said not alone. We get so many calls from people who are are basing their faith on what they feel at the time or their circumstances at the time and you keep coming back to this because it's so key it's the objective work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The finished work, not how we feel on a given day absolutely because they're gonna be warped. Mornings were you wake up and you feel very spiritual level. I just want to read my Bible and praying and it's wonderful.

And then there to be mornings were you wake up and you don't feel any of those things and you think yourself boy did the Holy Spirit leave him.

I really even a Christian. That's why we have to to base everything not on our feelings, but on on that anchor that we have in Jesus Christ.

He really did die and rise again from the dead. That's true that's history. That's objective.

That's where we get our comfort from and so continually going back to that message is so important for us. Amen.

This is core Christianity with pastor Gabriel Sanchez see if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Here's the number it's 833 the core, you might want to make a note of that for future reference 833.

The core now one of the things we often receive questions about on this program is the topic of repentance. What is it mean to be truly repentant to truly turn from your sent, we actually have a wonderful free resource on that topic would like to make available to you. Yes seven things everyone should know about repentance. It's a free download it core, Christianity.com that describes repentance and this is a biblical word. It's something were called to as people and as Christians every day to turn to the Lord away from our sins and to Christ and to his grace, and so get a hold of this resource is free resource seven things everyone should know about repentance, you can find it on our website. It's a free download to just go to core Christianity.com/offers again core Christianity.com/offers look for seven things everyone should know about repentance of a voicemail. We wanted to listen to from one of our listeners. This is Anna who called in earlier this week.

My question is about three actually started when line 17 says, since you listen to your wife and ate from the tree I commanded you not eat, the ground is cursed because of you I want to know what that means. I was just wondering if you could break it down for me because I had a couple thoughts about like one being know is that the reason why we have to work a whole life up until we die. I just wanted clearly understand this.

So thank you yeah thank you for that question. Anna appreciate your your voicemail so Genesis 317 to Adam he said, because you listen to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I command you shall not eat of it.

Curse it is the ground because of you in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. You shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return. And so there is this curse on man's labor.

Now it sounds like the question is, does this mean that work. Labor is the result of the fall.

The answer to that question is no, because earlier in Genesis chapter 2, when God placed man in the garden. Verse 15 says the Lord God took the man and put them in the garden of Eden to work and to keep it. Adam and Eve had a duty there in the garden to cultivate it. Now that the that the difference between what was happening there and then what took place after the fall is after the fall. Now the ground yields thorns and thistles. Now the work instead of being a joy.

Is this laborious, painful task sometimes you gotta plan things and and the stuff that's gonna grow isn't gonna be so good. I imagine that prior to the fall. You know they could've planted avocado trees and they would just sprung up like that with perfectly ripe avocados.

Not a lot of work. That's at least what I like to think. But the reality is work is not a moly for everyone. Yes yes luckily for everyone that's a part of it. That's the garden to be but but no so work is not a part of the fall, but painful labor that toiled the thorns and thistles, that is part of the fall.

I imagine that in in the new creation were going to be working serving the Lord worshiping the Lord but it's not going to be painful labor or toil. Some it's going to be pure joy.

And so we do work right now and oftentimes work is not easy. It's it's hard. It's painful, it's difficult and and yet that's because it's it's been corrupted.

If you will or cursed due to sin in the world. That's the problem it's it's in the solution is Christ and his gospel IQ for that question. Anna Greg question Anna, thanks for calling and we appreciate that. Let's go to JT and Suffolk, Virginia JT, what's your question for pastor. Israel question about the Sabbath all looking for other episodes.

Question about all that we not allowed to do any liquidation or doing chores or whatnot on Sundays yeah JT thank you for for that question.

So the Sabbath was instituted by God as a day of rest following the sort of pattern that you see in creation where God rested on the seventh day, which is ultimately a picture of eternity that that that seventh day of eternal rest at something that many of the ancient rabbis would would talk about and then you have this very clear commanded Exodus chapter 20 verse eight. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work you or your son or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock with the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy that there is the Sabbath command given to the people of God under the old covenant. Now it's really interesting because there were all sorts of Sabbath controversies in the Gospels, Jesus was often criticized by the religious leaders for things that he would do on the Sabbath and I bring this up because I think it helps to illuminate a proper understanding of the Sabbath. Let me just give you one example from the Gospel of Mark in Mark chapter 2 verse 23, it says one Sabbath he was going to the grain fields and as they made their way his disciples began to plug heads of grain and the Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath. He said to them if you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry.

He and those who were with him how he entered the house of God in the time of a bias are the high priest and ate the bread of the presence which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat and also give it to those who are with them and he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. There's a very strong claim to the divinity of Jesus Christ is as I am the Lord of the Sabbath, but there's something else that he says it's really interesting. He says the Sabbath was made for man.

In other words, JT. This is a gift given to people.

It's the gift of rest and ultimately that gift is found. First and foremost by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said at the end of Matthew chapter 11 come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you what I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, in Jesus Christ, we find that true Sabbath rest that we need and friends in a world that's just everything seems like it's going 100 miles an hour and were also busy and occupied boy. Doesn't that sound wonderful as the deep soul rest rest from sin rest from evil rest from the fall, if you will. That's we find in Jesus Christ is, I think that's that's key in this discussion is recognizing that it's a gift, and ultimately the Sabbath. JT was about worship was about worship drawing near to the Lord doing good, often in the Sabbath controversies in the gospel. Jesus is you and you guys won't even do good on the Sabbath, which one of you enough it when your animals falls into a ditch on the Sabbath, would you go down and rescue it. Jesus frequently would heal people on the Sabbath he would do good on the Sabbath and he was often criticized for that to think about the Sabbath. In this way, the day of worship was called the day of worship the Lord's day resting together with the people of God. It's about resting in the grace of Jesus Christ. It's a gift that God gives to you JT and Ann were called to do good to love one another on the Sabbath day. Now I would say if if you be brought up this question of recreation will look if recreating means avoiding the people of God, not worshiping and not doing good will then yeah exactly.

A lot of times people today think I need it.

I need rest from church. That's why I'm not going to going to Sabbath, from the Sabbath. If you will. And that's just that's just crazy that the Sabbath was this picture of coming into God's presence and resting in and what he had done for his people and enjoying his presence as we do when we gather together for church and ultimately we gather on what day the first day of the week Sunday why because it's on that day that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, and so every time when we gather together brothers and sisters for worship for rest. We are resting in the work of Jesus Christ that he lived the life of perfect obedience that we could never live weekly struggle, but he lived the perfect life of obedience then suffered suffered for our sake, for your sake, so that your sins might be forgiven rose again from the dead, conquering death, and so we gather together to worship him and to rest in him. Thanks for listening to core Christianity request your copy of today's special offer.

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