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“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.” (Deuteronomy 6:16-17 NASB1995)
We read in 1 Corinthians 10:1-22, and in Hebrews 3:1-19, and in Hebrews 4:1-13 that we are not to follow the example of the majority of the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, who God put to death in the wilderness. For they craved evil things, and they were idolaters, adulterers, immoral, drunkards, revelers, and those who grumbled against God and against his servant Moses. And they were the disobedient who God called the unbelieving. For God equates believing in Jesus with obedience.
“Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
‘Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years.
Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, “They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways”;
As I swore in My wrath,
“They shall not enter My rest.”’” (Hebrews 3:7-11 NASB1995)
To whom is this being addressed? It is being addressed to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, i.e. “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.”
“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” (Hebrews 3:12-14 NASB1995)
So, what’s the message here? It is a message that definitely most people who claim faith in Jesus Christ appear to want to avoid, or they try to find a work around. But honestly, we are taught all throughout the Scriptures that our salvation from sin and our eternal life with God are dependent on us walking in obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands, and us no longer living as slaves to sin. For the Scriptures do not teach a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ assures us of eternal life with God.
The New Testament Scriptures, if taught in the correct biblical context, teach progressive salvation which will not be complete until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful bride to be with him for eternity. And they teach that if sin is our practice, and not obedience to God, that we will not have salvation from sin nor inherit eternal life with God in the end, either in death or when Jesus returns for his faithful bride and he takes us to be with him for eternity. So whether we live for self or for God determines our eternity.
So, don’t believe the lies which tell you that all you have to do is to profess Jesus as Lord and believe in his bodily resurrection (Scripture taught out of context) and now you are saved for eternity regardless of how you live. Jesus made it clear that to come after him means denying self, dying to sin daily, suffering for our faith, and walking in obedience to his commands. And he said that not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God the Father in heaven.
[Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 9:23-26; John 8:31-32; John 15:1-12; Romans 6:16; Romans 8:24; Romans 11:17-24; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; Hebrews 3:6,14-15; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5,9; 2 Peter 1:5-11; 2 Peter 2:20-22; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6,24-25]
So, take God and his Word seriously to obey it, and don’t join in with those who claim they do not have to obey God and his commandments, and that they can still go to heaven even if they live in deliberate and habitual sin against God. For this seems to be the predominant and the most popular “gospel” message being taught and believed and practiced today. And the multitudes who believe this false gospel are headed straight to hell, but on the promise of heaven. For, if we do not obey God, we do not know God!
The Spirit Calling
An Original Work / November 12, 2019
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Hear the Spirit calling.
He’ll keep you from falling.
Tenderly He’s calling,
“Come and follow Him.”
Walk with Jesus daily.
Don’t give in to lazy.
Folks may call you crazy.
Fellowship with Him.
Follow where He leads you.
Eat what Jesus feeds you.
His love will renew you
If you follow Him.
Do what Jesus tells you.
Don’t let your faith fail you.
His love will avail you
If you walk with Him.
Jesus, Lord and Savior,
Reigneth now forever.
He gave us His favor
So we’d live with Him.
Turning now from our sin,
Holy Spirit live-in.
Holiness we walk in,
Purified by Him.
Progressive Salvation
An Original Work / March 5, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
