“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” (Hebrews 2:1-4 NASB1995)
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – left his throne in heaven, came to earth, and was born as a baby to a virgin woman, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of man. So he was not born with a sin nature as we are. And when he lived on the earth he was both fully God and fully man (God incarnate), yet without sin. And Jesus came to this earth to save sinners from their slavery to sin so that they can now walk in obedience to God.
When Jesus lived on this earth, during his years of ministry, he healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, fed the hungry, and performed many miracles. And he preached death to sin and walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands as necessary components of faith which saves us from our sins, and which promises us eternal life with God. So, as followers of Christ, by God-gifted faith in him, we must deny self, die to sin daily, and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands.
And this is what our salvation is all about. It is not just forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life with God in heaven, but it is deliverance out of our bondage (addiction) to sin so that we can now serve our Lord with our lives in walks of surrender to him, in obedience to his commands, in holy living. And this is not something we do once and then we are “good to go,” regardless of how we live. We must continue in these walks of surrender to God in obedience to his commands, living to please God in all we do.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
So, please know what the Scriptures teach in the correct biblical context. For, according to the Scriptures, it is possible for us to drift away from the gospel message, and for us to end up escaping our great salvation because we did not hold fast to the teachings of the Scriptures, but we listened to and we believed the lies, instead. And so we got this idea that because we made the confession of Christ that heaven is guaranteed us, and it can’t be taken away from us, regardless of how we live. So know the truth taught.
Mary, Did You Know?
Songwriters: Greene Lee Rufus / Lowry Mark Alan
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy
Has come to make you new?
This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy
Is heaven's perfect Lamb?
That sleeping child you're
Holding is the great, I Am
Mary, did you know?
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Pay Much Closer Attention
An Original Work / December 2, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
