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The Just Will Live by Faith
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For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10: 26 - 39 ESV)
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We all have need of endurance
Many Christians believe that once saved you are always saved. But the Bible tells us otherwise as we read here in chapter 10. What they fail to realise is this: God gave us a free will to choose our own destiny. God’s long-term plan was to create a family for Himself, of sons and daughters who would want to do things His way, of their own free will. He could have made robots, or He could have adopted apes and chimpanzees. However, we were made in the image of God to have fellowship with Him. The animal kingdom was not.
Many young Christians drop out of the Christian life when they get to university, college or out into the workforce. University professors and academics by-and-large are antichristian in belief and outlook. A great number of these have also refined their attack on Christian values and those who follow them. Young people are bombarded with atheistic philosophy at many of these places and have no real answer to arguments made against the Bible and the Christian faith.
Churches and youth fellowships are not preparing young people with the means to counter this onslaught of atheistic teaching. In particular, creation and evolution are not usually examined in enough detail to help the average Christian young person with their fight against atheistic evolution propaganda.
Satan cannot take our salvation away from us if we are determined to fight on and endure the hardships we face. The choice to remain in Christ or to abandon our faith depends upon us. By trusting God and the truth of the Bible we can survive the fiery darts Satan fires at us. The Bible is relevant to every part of modern human life; it is not old-fashioned, out-of-date or irrelevant. The world will try to tell us otherwise.
We cannot lose our salvation unless we voluntarily give it up. The instruction God gives us is this: stand fast and endure to the end. We can trust the truth of the Bible and must see the lies Satan uses against us for what they really are.
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PeterF
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