In this chapter we want to review some of the many warnings that we find throughout the scriptures concerning the constant danger of falling short of what God has prepared for us as His people. In reviewing these many warnings, we want to consider how they might apply to those of us who are truly born-again believers.

Many professing Christians believe that it is not possible for a genuine, born-again believer to fall away from the living God. They believe that because God started this salvation process, it is His responsibility to see that it is completed, and that He will do that regardless of our unfaithfulness.

Many believe that it is not possible for a genuine Christian to fail to finish the course that God has set him on. They claim that if a professing Christian falls away, that person could not possibly have been a real Christian. His falling away is in fact proof that he was not a true Christian.

Again, our desire is to know the truth. To come to a better understanding of the truth, we must be willing to allow the scriptures to interpret the scriptures. We must humble ourselves and be willing to drop all our preconceptions and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us.

Let us begin by considering Hebrews 10:26-39. “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 

“How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, ‘In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.’ And, ‘But, my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.’ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”

In this passage the writer of Hebrews speaks of one that had received the knowledge of the truth, and afterward has deliberately continued to sin. For such a person, there remains no sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment. This person has insulted the Spirit of grace, regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified.

We are encouraged not to be like this one, because we have a better and enduring possession, better than the one under the first covenant, better than under the law of Moses. We are encouraged not to throw away our confidence, which has a great reward.

We are encouraged to endure to the end, so that after we have done God’s will, we may inherit the promises. We are further encouraged by being reminded that Christ’s return will be very soon, and that we need to continue to walk by faith. Christ abides in us as our righteousness, if we continue in faithful obedience to the Spirit’s leading, if we continue to walk by faith, enduring to the end.

We are warned again that His righteous one must not draw back. If he does, God will have no pleasure in him. In fact, he goes on to say that the one that draws back will be destroyed, but those that continue faithful to the end will obtain life.

God speaks in the book of Ezekiel of His displeasure with those who draw back, turning away from God and His righteousness. “If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. 

“And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live.

“Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just. If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so. Yet you Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to your own ways” (Ezekiel 33:13-20, NIV).

There are many professing Christians that seem to believe that God is bound to His promises, but they are not bound to anything, that they are under no obligation to do anything. They seem to believe that the Christian life is just a matter of faith and faith alone. As long as you believe you believe, you are okay.

According to many of them, there is no place for works in our becoming saved or in our remaining secure in that salvation. Apparently, it is all of faith, and none of works. We couldn’t earn it, and we can’t lose it.

This is reminiscent of the husband who believes that his wife is bound to be faithful to him because of the vows that she made when they were married. However, this husband seems to sense no obligation to any vows he may have made to his wife. Therefore, the husband envisions himself as one that is free to be faithful or not to be faithful, depending on whatever he finds most pleasing at the moment.

A false understanding of the truth, believing a lie, can produce a false sense of security. It can produce a sense of arrogance while walking in error. This arrogance, this pride, seems to grow to a pinnacle of folly just before the fall. Indeed, pride comes before the fall, and behold how great that fall will be!

 Let us continue by turning to the second letter of Peter. “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 

“Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. . . These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm.

“Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for ‘people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.’ 

“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them” (2 Peter 2:1-3, 17-21, NIV).

In this passage, Peter speaks of people who had escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who are again entangled with the sins of the world and are defeated. The last state for them is worse than the first. After having been saved, knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior, they turned back, loving the world and the things of the world. They turned back having eyes full of adultery, and always looking for sin, seducing unstable people.

These people weren’t just born-again Christians, they were teachers, they were prophets. They began to err from the truth by secretly bringing in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them. They were bold arrogant people. They led many away because of their unrestrained ways. Because of them the way of truth is blasphemed. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandments delivered to them.

In his letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, Paul sends greetings from some of the co-workers that were the closest to him. “Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you” (Colossioans 4:14). “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers” (Philemon 23-24).

A little later Paul writes to Timothy concerning Demas. “Be diligent to come to me soon, for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.” (2 Timothy 4:9-11). It seems clear that Demas was in fact a genuine Christian before he fell away.

Paul warns the believers in Romans 11, “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too will be cut off” (Romans 11:17-22, NASB).

Paul has addressed this letter “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” Clearly he is speaking to the Christians in the church in Rome. He is speaking to believers that have been grafted in and have become part of the body of Christ. He warns them not to be arrogant, but to fear.

When he says not to be arrogant, he seems to be referring to those that believe it is not possible for themselves to be cut off. He reminds them that they stand by faith and that those natural branches that have been cut off were cutoff because of unbelief.

He charges them to consider God’s kindness and severity. Severity towards those that have fallen, but kindness toward you, if you remain in His kindness. Otherwise they, the Christians in Rome, would also would be cut off.

It is amazing how God’s word, when taken at face value, can cause us to tremble! Perhaps this is what Paul was referring to when he wrote to the believers in the church in Philippians 2:12, “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

The writer of Hebrews addresses those he was writing to saying, “Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was in all his house. . . But Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end. 

“Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, while it is said, ‘Today if you will hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.’

“For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.

“Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest” (Hebrews 3:1, 6, 12-19, 4:1).

The writer is speaking to Christians, addressing them as holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling. He is encouraging them to remain steadfast in the faith, holding their confidence firm to the end. He is warning them about the danger of falling away from God because of an evil heart of unbelief. This is why it is necessary that we encourage each other daily, as long as it is called ‘today’.

He reminds them that we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold firm to the end. Those that rebelled were disobedient, their hearts were hardened. Therefore they were unable to enter into His rest.

He warns the believers that, in the same way, their hearts could become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. These believers are told to fear, lest any of them should come short of the promise of entering into His rest. Because of the deceitfulness of sin, believers hearts are in danger of being hardened and falling away from the living God.

Jesus said, “I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12).

I believe that when Jesus uses the term “the children of the kingdom,” He is referring to those that are trusting in their godly heritage, their religious background or their religious training. Because of this background according to the flesh, these people are very confident that they will be welcomed into the kingdom of God with open arms. These people are in for a very rude awakening when they find themselves thrown out into the shady area of darkness outside of the kingdom. There will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth as they realize that they had been so badly deceived.

Jesus told a parable of a king that said to his servants, “‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the wedding feast.’ Those servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless. 

“Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’ For many are called, but few chosen” (Matthew 22:8-14).

Again Jesus taught using a parable, “He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you didn’t sow, and gathering where you didn’t scatter. I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.’

“But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter. You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest. Take away therefore the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 

“For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away. Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 25:24-30).

Jesus makes it clear that unfaithful believers will not be found worthy to enter into the kingdom of God, but will be cast out into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Entrance into the holy city, new Jerusalem, being denied to them, at best they may find themselves outside the city, away from the presence of God, in the outer darkness where the nations will be (Revelation 21:8, 23-27, 22:14-15).

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth 
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light  -  Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.