Hebrews 10:
26 For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
29 How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." -- Hebrews 10:38-39"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
All men need encouragement and fortitude. But only those who persevere to the end show themselves to have been graced with true faith in Christ.
The rest "draw back unto perdition."
And so the writer of Hebrews encourages and comforts...
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works" -- Hebrews 10:23-24"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
"Good works" being the result of our salvation and not the cause of it.
Great scripture; but IN CONTEXT, it refers to those who are unsaved.
Nice try, but not accurate.
Hoss
Receiving a knowledge of the truth does not by default mean one was saved.
It also says *willfully persists* in sin.
It can mean that they heard the gospel and chose to reject it - spurned Christ, and chose their sin over it.
Of course all that’s left in that case is judgment, there is no other way to God. There is no other sacrifice which will grant us forgiveness of sins. There’s nothing left to turn to, so that person is STILL under God’s wrath.
That does not apply to the sin that we all stumble into every day simply as a result of being human. It doesn’t mean that if we sin between communion and next confession, we go to hell, or lose our salvation.
If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we haven’t sinned, His truth is not in us.
But there’s a world of difference between sinning in a moment of weakness and persisting in sin and habitually living a sinful lifestyle.
If someone claims to have come to Christ and evidences no change, then it’s safe to conclude that they have not been saved in the first place. It’s not a cop out. It’s just a fact.