Warning Against Falling Away

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,

“’Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’

“For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:12-19 ESV)

Many people today are teaching that we can “believe” (not usually biblically defined) in Jesus Christ, have all our sins forgiven (past, present, and future), be on our way to heaven, and that it cannot be taken away from us, regardless of how we live. They do not teach that our salvation is conditional upon our obedience to our Lord and our walks of righteousness, but they teach that it is guaranteed to all who make a profession of faith in Christ.

But that is not the gospel that Jesus taught, and it is not the gospel that his NT apostles taught, either. They all taught progressive salvation and sanctification, and that we must now walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, and no longer in sin, or we do not know God, we are not in fellowship with Jesus Christ, we are not born of God, and we don’t have eternal life.

So, all throughout the NT, Jesus and the NT apostles warned all who were claiming that they believed in Jesus against being casual about their walks of faith, and against falling back into sin, and against thinking that they can continue living in deliberate sin against the Lord without consequence. And all throughout the NT, the promises given to those who believe in Jesus are conditional upon our obedience and the forsaking of our sins.

And this passage in Hebrews 3:12-19 solidifies that. For this is written to Christians, warning them against having evil and unbelieving hearts leading them to fall away from the living God. For God defined belief for us as obedience to him, and he defined unbelief as disobedience. So, it is possible for a believer in Christ to fall away from that faith, which is why we are told here that we should exhort one another every day so that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And this is much needed!

One of the problems we are being faced with today, though, is a total reworking of the gospel, the character of God/Christ, and “the church,” conforming them all to the likes of the world in order to attract the world to the gatherings of “the church.” Now God/Christ does not change, and neither does his gospel, nor who the church is made of, but humans have altered the presentations of them to make them more acceptable to the flesh.

And so if you are someone who takes the Scriptures to heart, who believes what they say, and if you are doing what they teach us who believe in Jesus, in practice, and so you are one who does exhort the body of Christ so that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, then you may be called out as a “legalist” or as “negative” and as someone who should not be listened to because that is not culturally acceptable.

And since we have so many people refusing to follow this instruction, because they don’t want others to think badly of them, and since so many are teaching a gospel message absent of the requirements of biblical repentance (forsaking our sins) and walks of obedience to our Lord, then we have a whole lot of people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are not living much differently from the “ungodly” of the world.

But if it is not possible for us to fall away, and if it is not possible for us to do anything to jeopardize our faith and our salvation and eternal life, then why do we have so many warnings to the church in the New Testament regarding such? It is because our salvation will not be complete until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful ones to be with him for eternity. And so we must remain steadfast in faith until the end for us to have eternal life with God.

And why are we, the church, given the examples of the rebellion of the Israelites in the wilderness and of the consequences of their rebellion? It is so that we do not follow suit and end up not being able to enter into God’s eternal rest like so many of them did. For the Scriptures are clear that if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord in holy living, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips profess.

So, if you are not settled on this issue, I pray you will take the time to read the following Scriptures in their context, and to do so prayerfully, seeking the Lord for truth. For if we read these in their context, and if we are open to hearing what the Spirit wants to teach us, we should see clearly that our salvation is progressive and it requires that we continue in walks of obedience to our Lord to the end to have eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]  

He Gives Purpose  

An Original Work / June 9, 2012

“Listen to Me when I’m calling to you.

Obey freely My word.

Follow Me in all of My ways.

Do all that I say.

Hear Me gently whisper to you

My will for your life and future.

Give all of your life and heart to

Follow Me always.”

Repent of your sins and worship Jesus.

He’s your Lord and Master.

He died for your sins so you could

Live with Him today.

He has a plan for your life and

He gives purpose and direction.

He gives meaning to your life,

So follow Him today.

“I love you so much I gave My life for

You to walk in My ways,

Living for Me each day as you

Bow to Me and pray.

Witness for Me of your love for Me and

Of My grace and mercy,

How I died to save you of your

Sins now and always.”

https://vimeo.com/119038798