(The following is the October 27 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Hebrews 10 and pay close attention to verses 26-39.)

Today’s passage contains an ominous warning. It describes the fate of those with knowledge of the faith who “deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth” (v. 26). For such people, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries” (vv. 26-27).

The writer warns, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (v. 31). Those who reject Christ and choose sin will receive God’s vengeance (v. 30). There will be eternal judgment for anyone “who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace” (v. 29).

This fate will not happen to those born again who prove their faith by enduring to the end. “So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised” (vv. 35-36). May these words describe us: “But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved” (v. 39).

As Jesus’ parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 reminds us, some false converts respond to the gospel in ways that initially look and sound like genuine faith. Time eventually distinguishes between born-again hearts changed forever and those who flirt with faith for a season. Endurance is proof of faith, for “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13).

Next Step:
Can you imagine abandoning your Christian faith? (I hope not.) Read John 10:27-29 and rejoice that our Father firmly holds his children in his hand and enables us to endure.