November 5, 2024
Passage Read: Hebrews 3-4
Meditation Verses: 3:16-19
Thought
Belief and obedience are inextricably linked. You cannot have obedience to God without belief, and you cannot belief without obedience to God. Those who failed to enter God's rest all heard from God through Moses. It wasn't as if no one had spoken to them, as if God had not taught them right from wrong. But they provoked Him again and again by their sin, by their refusal to believe and obey what the Lord had said, ten times within the first year or so of their deliverance from Egypt! They refused to trust and obey Him, so He swore that none of that generation would enter His rest, except Joshua and Caleb. Disobedience is ultimately because of unbelief. If we will not obey God's Word, we provoke Him to wrath and lose out on our hope of salvation. We do not believe in God for salvation if we also reject His instruction for this life. We deny He is our only Sovereign and Lord when we refuse to do what He commands, even though we claim to believe in His Son for salvation. We cannot have it both ways; that was never God's intent, to redeem a people to continue to walk in disobedience. Jesus died to save us from our sins, not to leave us in them.
Application
I can declare my love for God and belief in Jesus for salvation, but that doesn't mean it's true. Belief is displayed by how I treat God and His Word. If I care nothing for what He says, then I show that I really don't believe He is God. If I hear His instructions but do nothing about them, don't bother changing my life to conform to His commands, then I reveal that I don't actually believe He is anything significant. I dishonor Him and I tell the world that He is nothing to fear. I claim to know Him but deny Him by my deeds. If that is how I treat the Lord, I should not expect any salvation from Him. He died to redeem me from my former evil ways; I cannot continue to live in them and expect to be saved from Hell. I will not enter His rest if I do not humble myself and listen to His commands and do them. I deceive myself and anyone who looks to me as justification to "believe" in Jesus but continue to live in their own rebellious ways. Repentance and belief go hand-in-hand. One without the other does not save.