HEB 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.
So let us start with Repentance
The word "repentance" is the word μετάνοια (metanoia)
which means to turn away from. The idea is that we should turn away from efforts
that are aimed at earning our salvation. This is very important because we
sometimes get caught up in trying to make things right with God because we made
another mistake.
When we sin, we are supposed to go to Him and ask His forgiveness with the
knowledge that He WILL forgive us and forget about that sin. But sometimes we
think it cannot be so easy so we try and "fix" things by trying to be a better
person while we are feeling guilty about what we did.
The right way to do it is not to feel guilty about the sin that we confessed,
but to think differently, I.e. that thing that made you sin started off by
something that happened. For example, you get very cross and use words you
should not have used. It is Dead Works to feel guilty, we should rather think
differently about it and see why we were upset. Most often we are upset by other
people doing something to us or when we think other people has done something to
us that we have no control over, people being unfair etc. We then need to think
differently and say to ourselves that NOTHING anybody can do can harm us because
Jesus will ensure that everything works out to the benefit of those that love
Him.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose.
Psa 5:11 But let all those that put
their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
There are three types of work: The
Works of God,
Dead Works
and Good Works
Joh 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
The works of God is to believe in Him (Jesus) who was sent by God.
Also see Faith in God.
Dead works are works that are done in order to obtain favour with
God. The only way to gain favour with God is through faith.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it
is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him.
This does not mean that we no longer have to do any works
Here is an example of Dead Works:
A little boy was visiting his grandparents
on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the
woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target.
Getting a little discouraged, he headed
back home for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet
duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck
square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a
panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister
watching!
Sally had seen it all, but she said
nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash
the dishes." But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to
help in the kitchen." Then she whispered to him, "Remember the
duck?" So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the
children wanted to go fishing, and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I
need Sally to help make supper." Sally just smiled and said, "Well
that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." She
whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and
Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his
chores and Sally's, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came
to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt
down, gave him a hug and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was
standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love
you, I forgave you - I was just wondering how long you would let
Sally make a slave of you."
We cannot allow ourselves to be kept busy with Dead Works - this is
works that has absolutely no benefit for anybody and is just designed to
make ineffective in God's Kingdom
People sometimes think that they no longer have to do good deeds as they have been delivered
from the curse of the law. We have been freed from the CURSE of the law,
but there are still some laws that are applicable to us. It is true that we no longer have to do good works in order to
qualify for heaven. Only the sacrifice of Jesus could accomplish that.
But look at the following statement made by none other than Jesus Christ
Himself:
MAT 5:16 Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven.
1Jo 3:17 But whoso
hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and
shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love
of God in him?
Doing good works will not get us into heaven, but it surely shows whether an
individual has committed their lives to the Lord.
Here is a story that
explains this well:
In a third grade classroom – There is a nine-year-old kid
sitting at his desk. All of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and
the front of his pants is wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because
he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It's never happened
before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end
of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as
he lives.
The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his
head down and prays this prayer, 'Dear God, this is an emergency! I need
help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat.'
He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher
with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.
As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named
Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in
front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's
lap.
The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying
to himself, 'Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!'
Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of
ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him
downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All
the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk.
The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that
should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie.
She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've
done enough, you klutz!' Finally , at the end of the day, as they are
waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, 'You did that
on purpose, didn't you?' Susie whispers back, 'I wet my pants once too.'
This Good Deed of the girl
did not earn her brownie points with God, but if anybody deserved the right to
speak to this boy about being Born Again, it is this little girl.
Home | Repentance from dead works | Faith in God | Baptisms | Laying Hands | Resurrection | Judgement
This site was last updated
10 July 2008
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