Obedience is the fruit of faith.

“And without faith, it’s impossible to please God”. (Hebrews 11:6). Remaining ‘carnally minded’ (or in the flesh) does little to help your case either. (Rom. 8:8)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21)

“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away.” (Heb. 2:1)

Have you ever been out on the water, maybe in a small boat or even an air mattress and were not paying attention, then looked up a short time later and you were nowhere close to where you thought you were, or supposed to be? It happens, drifting...that is.

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb. 3:12-13)

The writer here is making the case how we better pay attention and not make the same mistakes their forefathers did in the wilderness. God was rather angry with them for 40 years as their bodies fell in the wilderness and became food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. (Heb. 3:16-17; Deut. 28:26)

God had a land He wanted them to go in and possess. Sure, there were ‘giants’ on the land, and stronger and mightier than these Israelites, but they were no match for God who assured them that as long as they followed Him and did what He asked of them, they would go in and slay these wicked nations and then settle in the land where God could bless them with peace and rest, among other things. (Deut. 28:1-13) You might say they would be ‘more than conquerors...’.

But they rebelled, not believing God could do what He promised. (Num. 13-14). It should be noted their failings were recorded for us, upon whom the end of that ages has come, that we might learn from their mistakes. (1 Cor. 10:4-11)

“And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (Heb. 3:18-19)

As I said at the beginning here: Obedience is the fruit of faith.

We distort the gospel of Christ when we quote John 3:16 all the time without mentioning Hebrews 5:9, which dovetails right in with it- Christ “became the source, or author, of our eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

But it is Hebrews 4:1 that I need to draw our attention to: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear...lest any of you seem to have come short of it.”

Did you know that we ‘followers’ of Jesus, have a ‘land to possess’ ourselves, just like they did back when Joshua led them in to the land of peace and rest? Except in our case, it is Jesus leading us; and it is not a physical piece of real estate we are laying claim to, it is our hearts. “We always go astray in our hearts”. (Heb. 3:10)

And today, it’s not the Canaanite nations on the land that need to come off either. It’s those ‘hostile nations’ of pride and selfishness and anger and lust and greed, to name a few, that need to be removed, the ones that defile us, which Jesus talked about in Mark 7:21-23.

That is what this walk of ‘salvation’ is all about. We were supposed to surrender our whole heart to Jesus, up front ...when we first came to Him. He then was going to begin... begin... begin... to lead us to deal with these ‘nations’ one at a time. (Rom. 8:13; Deut. 7:22-24). And the same warnings that God gave those Israelites back in Deuteronomy have serious implications for us as well, especially when it comes to what will happen to us if we don’t fully obey God’s leading and deal with every ‘enemy’ that’s on the land. Remember King Saul and his tragic downfall? (1 Sam. 15) 

The majority of gospels that are presented today would have us believe that one gets their ‘ticket punched upfront’, some even told it is ‘guaranteed’; and this idea of having to follow God’s leading to begin the work of purifying our hearts was some ‘long term project’ that has more of a ‘holy option’ tagged to it, instead of serious warnings to what happens if we ‘fall away’.

This process of having our hearts purified is also known as ‘sanctification’, the process of making us set apart and holy. It was not an option – “For without holiness, no one will see the Lord”. (Heb. 12:14). Who did Jesus say would ‘see God’, in Matt. 5:8?

Why do you suppose Paul brings ‘fear’ into the discussion when he wrote: “Having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from ALL – ALL – ALL... filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,”? (2 Cor. 7:1)

And why would ‘fear’ be tied in with that warning in Hebrews 4:1 that states: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear...lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” What did the writers of the NT know that we seemingly are ignorant of when you look at the ‘lukewarm’ mindset that has infiltrated many of the churches in America?

“Work (or walk) out your salvation with fear and trembling...?” (Phil. 2:12)

Once again, if your ‘default go-to question’ is wanting to inquire as to whether you are even ‘saved’ or not, you are asking the wrong question.

This I can tell you – IF...you are abiding in Jesus, then you were saved, you are being saved and you will be saved! And IF...you are abiding in Him, then genuine, lasting fruit is being produced. (John 15:1-8,16). And you will be ‘more than a conqueror’ (Rom. 8:37) as you overcome all the wiles and schemes and temptation of the enemy, the devil. All the glorious promises Jesus offered up in Revelation 2-3 when writing to the churches were made to those who ‘overcome’. “He that endures till the end, shall be saved.” (Matt. 24:13)

Should you be feeling the slightest ‘twinge of panic or anxiety’, welcome to the club. That’s what all ten virgins must have felt when they realized they had dozed off during a time of great darkness. (Matt. 25:1-6). Fortunately for them, and for us today, it’s not too late to ‘trim those lamps’ and allow the Holy Spirit to empower you to finish ‘getting ready’...(6-10) because those are the ones who are ‘going in to the wedding’ before the door is shut. What kind of ‘bride’ is Christ returning for...one that is ‘pure and holy and blameless’? (Eph. 5:26-27). Let's not forget the parable Jesus told about someone who even tried to get in to the wedding... improperly dressed; and we see what happened to them. (Matt. 22:1-14)

“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3)

I've said this before and will say it again...because we all need to be reminded of this truth:  This process of being 'made holy' and 'set apart' as our hearts are made pure...does not take place automatically because you were baptized in water, or joined a church, or just because you read your Bible daily.  Nor does a strong desire to be made pure...insure it will happen.  Peter tells us clearly that our "souls are purified in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren,...as we love one another fervently with a pure heart." (1 Pet. 1:22). We have been given everything we need by His divine power having become partakers of His divine nature..." (2 Pet.1:3-5)

We will be without excuse...

.... 

 FYI – I am leaving town this morning to fly back east to join up with all the family as we celebrate my Mom’s life and lay her remains to rest. I am going to step away from the computer with these posts for a few days...and Lord willing, I should be back here Tuesday morning.

Peace and blessings to you and yours...