JADDOG

My wife and I were recently reading Hebrews 6 together and interested in understanding how vs. 4-8 relate to the fact that we cannot lose our salvation. John Piper has a great teaching on Heb 6:4-8 that addresses this issue and more. I’ve listened to it twice this week and would like to hear it again. Two items struck me as I reflect on it, I’ll paraphrase Piper:

1. You can both participate in and contribute back to the body of Christ and have not inherited the kingdom of heaven (been granted salvation, been saved)

2. Praying that God would make things better is not repentance, it’s selfishness

In light of these two point I believe it’s important that we are very critical of our prayer life. Our discussion with God is a true reflection of the desires of our heart. Do we pray that God would be glorified and that we are in his service, or do we acknowledge that he is superior and selfishly request that he grant our wants regardless of his will?

I’m left still uneasy with the NIV’s transation that reads “brought back to repentance”. Does that mean that you can repent and not have inherited the kingdom of heaven? either way, the main idea of this passage is now much clearer.

Visit John Piper at www.desiringgod.org
Link to Pipers Heb 6:4-8 teaching

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Depending on Grace.