"Christ, however, was faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. . . . Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ . . . And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." (NRSV)
The first, perhaps most important, part of this passage is the realization that the author of Hebrews was speaking to believers, not to non-believers. "Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." The author goes on to say: "For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end."
As Americans, we live in a society that is predominantly Baptist in doctrine. Many of us (including me, including many of our pastors) have some of our spiritual roots in the Baptist church. And there’s nothing wrong with that. There is so much that is right about what Baptists preach and practice. That being said, it is important that we understand Baptist doctrine so that we can determine whether or not we wish to believe or follow it. In this case, the Baptist doctrine that is important is the concept of once-saved-always-saved (some call it the perseverance of the saints). This is the idea that once you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are automatically going to heaven, regardless of what you do or how you believe from that point on. This doctrine is the foundation of all of our ideas that we just need to get folks "saved" and we are done! It is the basis for most street evangelism and for many other evangelistic efforts in America.
It is my firm conviction that this doctrine is wrong!
How would I, simply a woman seeking God, presume to make such a judgment? It is based on passages like this one in Hebrews and on studying the Messianic/Jewish view of our holy scriptures. I firmly believe that the Apostles did not believe that one simply had to say the sinner’s prayer and their work was done. (If that was the case, most of the New Testament wouldn’t have been written for there would be no need for it.)
That being said, what are the things that keep us from turning away from God?
• an evil heart
• an unbelieving heart
• deceitfulness
• a hardening of our hearts
• disobedience
An evil heart
We know that we have, in the flesh, evil, wicked hearts, hearts that are guided by the lusts of flesh: "But each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death." (James 1:14-15). When we follow our own hearts, we lead ourselves into sin for our hearts are evil. The heart that we must follow is the heart of the Lord Jesus. In Him there is no sin; in Him there is no rebellion against God’s law for He Himself is God.
An unbelieving heart
It is entirely possible for us as believers to doubt God, to refuse to trust Him, to look at our circumstances rather than at His character and His promise: "He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For do not let that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, not dependable in all his ways." (James 1:6-8). "Not dependable in all his ways." When we refuse to trust God, we trust ourselves and our circumstances. We trust that which is not dependable. Only God is trustworthy; only He is dependable. And yet, when we create an unbelieving heart by looking at our circumstances rather than at His character, we trust in that which is untrustworthy.
Deceitfulness
A synonym of deceive is delude which means to mislead the mind or judgment. When we turn from God, we turn to delusion, to lies, and to the Master of lies, Satan. We purposefully deceive ourselves when we turn from the truth of God’s Word to the lies of lust and sin. Scripture particularly refers to deceit when we follow the sins of the lust of the flesh, when we involve our bodies in the sin (particularly sexual sins).
1Co 3:17-18a: "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God shall destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are. Let no one deceive himself."
Why would Paul tell us that we shouldn’t deceive ourselves regarding the defiling of our bodies? Because it is easy to believe the lies that our bodies are our own, that we should tend to the needs of our bodies. Our society has come to believe that lie that sexual needs are "normal" and that we need to focus on them, to tend to that need.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20: "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, whom you have of God? And you are not your own, for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
When we commit sexual sin, we sin against the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are telling God that the price He paid for us isn’t enough; it wasn’t worthwhile. The Hebrew word translated as "flee" in v. 18 means to run away or vanish. We are to so distance ourselves from sexual sin as to not be there at all! (The word translated here "fornication" actually incorporates all sexual sin.)
A hardening of our hearts
I live in the desert. While I’m fortunate to live on an asphalt road, there are also near my home many dirt roads. As people drive on those dirt roads, the roads develop ruts from the tires. If the road isn’t maintained, the ruts become so deep that it’s impossible to drive outside of them. That is the same as hardening our hearts. If we think about something enough, if we participate in an activity enough, pretty soon our very brain patterns become hardened and it becomes difficult to change that behavior. Additionally, if we sin enough, our consciences become seared and unable to warn us that the behavior is wrong. Pretty soon the "rush" of the moment becomes more present than the warning of the Spirit. The Spirit’s voice is silenced so a point where we can no longer hear correctly. Our hearts have become hardened to His corrections. It becomes almost impossible to change.
Disobedience
Disobedience to God’s laws follows all of this. Our lives, at this point, are filled with disobedience, not only in the original area of sin, but in other sins. Once the door to sin is opened, Satan comes rushing in with other opportunities to rebel against God’s laws. It becomes harder and harder to trust God, harder and harder to believe His word. Pretty soon, repentance is the furthest thing from our minds.
It is at this point that we may again begin to lean toward the "Baptist" doctrine of once-saved-always-saved, reassuring ourselves that our behaviors don’t earn us heaven, so it doesn’t really matter what we do. We said the sinner’s prayer once and we are covered by His blood, regardless of our sin. But if we truly believe all of God’s word, we can clearly see that simply "saying the sinner’s prayer" once isn’t enough. We have to live out our salvation every day. Otherwise, we may become one of those who "were unable to enter in because of unbelief."
© 2013 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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