12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but [b]exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
Part 1
>He addresses them as brethren (in the church,
not addressing unbelievers).
>You are only in the Church if you have confessed Christ.
>I say it again, he is addressing those who have confessed Christ.
Part2
>These addressed by Paul are warned not to depart from the living God
>this means they were with God.
>this means that departing from God is something that not only is possible, but something that the believer can choose to do.
>Believers are encourgaged to exhort one another so that they do not fall into this trap.
Part3
> how does one depart from God? Well the passage explains it. UNBELIEF
>What leads to unbelief ---- lack of faith
>what is the leading cause of unbelief? Unaddressed sin. It hardens the heart and leads the believer away from faithfulness.
Part4
> the verse "14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end," is in direct contradiction to so many here who say we have become partakers of Christ in FINALITY when we first believed.
>this verse says its the FULL JOURNEY. Starts at belief, but CONTINUES until the end.
>Those who fall away during the journey are not saved.
>OSAS doesn't exist.
A corollary of this can be seen in Marriage.
>A man and woman meet and begin to court.
>They fall head over heels in love and get married
>The honeymoon is great, nothing could be better. The world to them is perfect, and nobody could ever replace them.
>After a few years, the husband is called for his draft (he is a military man). And off he gets posted to a foreign country for a couple of years.
>In the first few monts of being apart, they write letters regularly to one another. Missing each other. Writing that they cant wait to be in each others arms again.
>More time passes. She thinks of her husband slightly less everyday. But she comforts herself that everything is still going well.
>She notices another man who looks at her in a certain way. Passing glances, the odd flirtation, the casual chat encounter.
>they start spending more time together, looking for opportunities to bump into each other.
>after a number of months they go on their first date together (although she would NOT call this a date). How can it be. They are just "friends".
>This becomes a more regular encounter, until one day it goes past what a healthy engagement should really be. Her heart falls for this new man.
>She hasnt seen her husband in a while. The letters excahnged are few and far between. She begins to justify in her heart that she has the right to be happy. Perhaps her husband doesnt love her so much anymore. She has the RIGHT to be happy. The RIGHT to companionship which her husband is not providing. And hey, she is not getting any younger.
>So this woman begins the affair with the new man. Her heart is now split between two men. And the more time that goes by the easier this becomes on her conscience. What was a nagging feeling of unease becomes easier and easier to deal with. Whats done is done she reasons.
>Her husband returns from the draft, but he finds that his wife is not the same woman he left. The light and sparkle in her eyes went out. She doesn't look at him in the same way as before.
>He can't quite put his finger on it. But shortly thereafter he finds out through the rumour mill that his wife hasd been having an affair for a few years.
>He confronts her with this. At first she denies, but when she is shown the evidence that he has, she finally admits it.
>Her husband still loves her, and says that he will forgive her, if she will repent of her deeds and come back to him and agree to stop seeing the other man.
>Yet she in her heart has fallen for the other man, and is not willing to give up on the other man. He makes her feel better than her husband does.
>Her unwillingness to change leads her husband to seek a divorce.
In the above parable, the Husband is God, the Wife the Believer, and the Other Man is Sin.