12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:12–14, ESV)
The warning is clear and undeniable. A Christian can develop “an evil, unbelieving heart” that leads him or her to “fall away from the living God”. In spite of this clear language, theologians have convinced multitudes that this is false, saying instead that “once saved, always saved” is what the Bible teaches. The fact that a Christian can “fall away from the living God” does not indict God’s power to save (“the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save”, Isa. 59:1). Instead, it shows that Christians must be vigilant against sin (“your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God”, Isa. 59:2). Truly, God’s grace is greater than sin, but God’s grace does not remove one’s freewill to “abhor what is evil” and “cling to what is good” (Rom. 12:9). Do not be deceived by sin; it hardens your heart against God and His truth (Heb. 3:13). Be steadfast in your faith to the end, reject sin and obey righteousness.
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