Rediscover the Gospel

De: Eduard Serediuc
  • Resumen

  • Understanding is a fountain of life. This is a Christian teaching ministry with the purpose of bringing more understanding and revelation to the global body of Christ about the Gospel of Grace.
    © 2024 Eduard Serediuc Ministries
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Episodios
  • Session 15 - Suicide (Saved for Eternity)
    Sep 11 2024
    Objections Against Eternal Salvation (Part XII)SuicideMany Christians have wondered at least once in their lives: Is suicide an unpardonable sin? Do believers who commit suicide lose their salvation and go straight to hell? Most people, even believers, answer “yes” to this question because suicide leaves no room for repentance; a person enters eternity with unconfessed and, therefore, unforgiven sin. Such a conclusion is based on the assumption that believers’ sins are forgiven in time, depending on their confession of, and that their salvation fluctuates and is not final until they die with all their sins confessed. However, the Bible teaches all sins—past, present, and future—are forgiven and erased through faith in the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. One’s eternal destiny is sealed and set at the time of justifying faith, it has already, and forever, been determined at the time of salvation. Moreover, numerous instances of sudden death may bring Christians into eternity before they have the opportunity to confess and repent. As theologian Robert N. Wennberg puts it, “What about the heart-attack victim who dies while brutalizing his wife or amid an adulterous liaison? Does his failure to repent in this life forever remove the possibility of forgiveness in the next? And must we not pass from this life with unconfessed and unrepented sin lest we never find forgiveness and reconciliation with God in the next?” Common sense reveals that many, if not most of us, will die with sins we have not asked for forgiveness of. Repentance itself does not seal us into the Heavenly Kingdom—the Holy Spirit is such a seal (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30). For a more in-depth study about future sins and confession of sins, I recommend reading another book, written by me, entitled The Glory of Righteousness.People’s perspective on suicide and salvation is probably also significantly influenced by the mortal sin position found in the Roman Catholic Church, which views suicide as a lethal sin, maintaining a distinction between unpardonable and pardonable sins. The former separate a person from God’s grace, while the latter, equally serious, do not. Mortal sin is considered a severe offense that merits eternal damnation if not repented and forgiven before death. This creates a system of major or minor offenses within Catholicism. It also creates a framework where living in a state of grace is like a moving target for the believer, like a daily struggle to stay in God’s good graces. Complete and total forgiveness is conditional and requires strict repentance. The Roman Catholic position affirms that taking your own life deliberately and without remorse incurs eternal damnation.Is suicide considered a sin in the Bible? The most basic definition of suicide is that a person intends to die or acts on the desire to die. This person pursues a course of action for the express purpose of ending their life. In this definition, suicide is a sin because it is murder and comes against one of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). Although we don’t instinctively think of murder in this way, unlawfully taking one’s own life does not differ morally from taking another’s. However, we should also keep the following important aspects in mind. Suicide is mentioned only six times in the whole Bible. In none of these cases is an explicit moral evaluation or judgment rendered as to whether it is right or wrong: the case of Abimelech in Judges 9:50–57; Samson in Judges 16:28–30 (although some are not convinced this is suicide in the strict sense of the term); King Saul and his armor-bearer in 1 Samuel 31:1–6 (2 Sam. 1:1–15; 1 Chronicles 10:1–13); Ahithophel in 2 Samuel 17:23; Zimri in 1 Kings 16:18–19; and Judas Iscariot in Matthew 27:5.There are also cases of apparent suicide, that are morally permissible. For example, the soldier who fights the enemy in a time of war, knowing he most likely will die, is not guilty of committing suicide. As Wennberg puts it, he is not choosing this act as a means to his death “but rather is accepting a foreseen, yet unwelcome, consequence of what he is doing.” In a sense, then, the soldier is engaging in a suicidal act but is not committing suicide. What about the case of a soldier who falls on a live grenade to save his friend’s life, or when a destitute mother stops eating what little food remains so her child may live? What about a Christian in the third century who was given a choice: either deny Jesus or be thrown to the lions? By refusing to give up on Jesus publicly, the believer chose a course of action he knew would result in his death (even though it was not his conscious intent to die), but that would not be considered suicide because the death he chose was an unintended side effect of his fidelity to Christ. What about Jesus, the Messiah, Who willingly fully chose to allow Himself to be killed? Can He be ...
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    18 m
  • Session 14 - Divorce and Remarriage (Saved for Eternity)
    Aug 27 2024
    Objections Against Eternal Salvation (Part XI)Divorce and Remarriage – IntroductionDivorce has long been a complex and controversial topic in the church. In our culture today, many people are affected by it in one way or another. We all know someone, whether a family member or close friend, who has experienced the pain of a broken marriage. Or maybe you have gone through or are going through a divorce right now. If so, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how painful and devastating it can be for both the adults and children involved in the situation. Moreover, as a child of God, I am sure you may have asked yourself more than once: “Will God still forgive me if I get a divorce or remarry? Will I remain saved, or will I lose my salvation forever?” Those are all good and pertinent questions, especially for believers who have already been through it or are planning to. First, we need to find out from the Bible which cases of divorce or remarriage are sins. Second, for those situations where separation from the marriage partner is a sin, we must determine, again with the help of Scripture, whether that kind of sin is unforgivable and may cause believers to forfeit their eternal salvation. Sexual Immorality & the Unbelieving SpouseThere are two definite instances in which divorce is allowed by God and not considered a sin in Scripture. The first admissible reason, depicted by Jesus in Matthew 5:31–32 and Matthew 19:9, is unfaithfulness through sexual immorality, which applies to both spouses:Matthew 5:31–32 (NKJV)31 “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.Matthew 19:9 (NKJV)9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”Some spiritual leaders in the body of Christ today contend that, based on these two passages, only sexual immorality is a valid reason for dissolving a marriage. If that’s the case, then the apostle Paul contradicted Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 7:15, he adds a second situation in which divorce is not a sin, that of an unbelieving spouse wanting to separate:1 Corinthians 7:12–15 (NKJV)12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her.13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him.14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.Later, we will see that when Jesus says in Matthew 5:31–32, Matthew 19:9, and Mark 10:2–12 that a man should not separate from his wife for any other reason except sexual immorality, he is addressing a specific hot debate of His day on this topic that was based on Deuteronomy 24:1–2. Physical & Emotional AbuseYou may ask: “What about physical abuse, emotional abuse, or the neglect of a spouse? Are any of these acceptable reasons for divorce? What does the Bible say about this?” There is no easy answer because the Bible doesn’t have a clear-cut, black-and-white answer to this dilemma. Here is where things get complicated and into the gray area; that’s why we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us revelation and understanding of His heart. If we look carefully at Scripture with an open and sincere heart, we will discover that it has a solution to this challenging issue.First, through a few examples, I invite you to observe that, as a general principle, God’s love and mercy are always greater than His justice.Without diminishing His righteousness and punishment for sin in any way, He is always in the business of encouraging, building up, and restoring people’s lives despite their mistakes and failures. He always rejoices to see His children happy and well. Even in Old Testament times, during the Law of Moses, when God seemed very cruel and harsh in His punishments for people’s acts of disobedience, He still did everything out of care for them and because there was no other way to accomplish what He needed to accomplish for humanity. When we become parents, we can understand and experience a glimpse of God’s heart for His children. No matter how bad children can be and what evil things they might do normal fathers and mothers will never give up on them, and they will always do everything in their power to see them well and happy. When Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God ...
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    47 m
  • Session 13 - Apostasy Cases (Saved for Eternity)
    Aug 9 2024
    Salvation in the Old Testament and Apostasy Cases in the BibleWhat about the cases recorded in Scripture as actual apostasy in the faith? Among such examples are Lot, King Saul, Solomon, Judas Iscariot—Jesus’s disciple—Ananias, Hymenaeus and Philetus, Demas, etc. First, let’s deal with the Old Testament individuals who lived before Jesus’s death and resurrection. About some of the more prominent figures of the Old Testament, like Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the other prophets, we know for sure that after Jesus’s death on the cross, they became saved. However, on what basis? Moreover, what about all the other less-known people whose names were not mentioned in the Bible but who were still part of God’s people? Were they saved after the cross? If yes, how? On what basis? If not, why? How did redemption touch the lives of Ruth and Rahab? These are essential questions. Personal salvation by grace, through faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross, may not have been as clear at the time of Noah as it is to us today. The Lamb of God, Who takes away the world’s sins, came to the nation of Israel approximately four hundred years after the Old Testament canon was closed. How, then, could there be a clear object of faith?A common misconception about the Old Testament way of salvation is that Jews were saved by keeping the Law. But we know from Scripture that this is not true. Galatians 3:11 says:Galatians 3:11 (NKJV)11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”Some might say this verse applies only to the New Testament, but Paul is quoting from Habakkuk 2:4, where it says,Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV)4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.Salvation by faith, apart from the Law, was an Old Testament principle. Paul taught the purpose of the Law was to serve as a “tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). Also, in Romans 3:20, Paul made the point that keeping the Law didn’t save Old Testament or New Testament Jews because no one can be declared righteous in His sight by observing the Law. The Law was never intended to save someone; the purpose of the Law was to make us conscious of sin. If people’s salvation in the Old Testament was not through the keeping of the Law, then what was it through? The answer to that question is found in Scripture, so there can be no doubt regarding this issue. In Romans 4, the apostle Paul clarifies that salvation in the Old Testament was the same as in the New Testament, which is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. To prove this, Paul points us to Abraham, the forefather of the Jewish people, who was saved by faith and not by works: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). Abraham could not have been saved by keeping the Law because he lived over four hundred years before it was given! Also, circumcision was not introduced to Abraham and his descendants until Genesis 17, that is more than ten years later. Romans 4:13-16 says this:Romans 4:13-16 (NKJV)13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.Here, we see that the promise of becoming heirs of the world, or the promise of salvation, was not made only to Abraham but also to his descendants who came through Isaac. And this didn’t come through the Law, but through the faith of Abraham. All his descendants, from Isaac to Christ, received salvation after the cross federally because of Abraham’s faith and covenant with God, even though some of them did not fully walk with Him. Abraham was the federal head of their salvation through faith. To prove that God fulfills the promises made to a federal head in the descendants’ lives even though they are not always pleasing to God, I will provide a few examples. First, Noah was saved from the flood’s destruction with all his family (wife, sons, and daughters-in-law) although the Bible doesn’t say anything about their relationship or devotion to God. They were saved because of Noah. Second, in 2 Kings 10:30-31, God makes a powerful promise to King Jehu that his sons will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation without adding any conditions or disclaimers:2 Kings 10:30-31 (NKJV)30 And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in ...
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    35 m
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