THIS IS NOT A TIME TO DRIFT AWAY
THIS IS NOT A TIME TO DRIFT AWAY
But My righteous one will live by faith ; And if he shrinks back , My soul has no pleasure in him . But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith for the safekeeping of the soul.
Hebrews 10:38-39 NASB2020
INTRODUCTION
We are living at a time where you either stand firm and press on, or disappear in the dark cloud of lukewarmness, and unwitting surrender to the forces at work calling many to a state of spiritual insensitivity in the absence of active participation.
PERILOUS TIMES
Under the prevailing circumstances today of a protracted (prolonged ) period of the pandemic, fear of death, loss of jobs and loved ones, unpredictable lockdowns, and uncertainty in matters of life and the future - many are drifting away to a life of spiritual apathy and oblivion where one gets lost in obscurity.
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 Timothy 3:1 KJV
A GREAT FALLING AWAY
The Bible says the day of the Lord will not come before there is " apostasy" - meaning a great falling away or departure from the truth or faith.
"That you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
2 Thessalonians 2:2-3 NASB2020...
This Scripture is pointing at what will happen before the final leg of the Second Advent of Christ, but the common denominator here is that the spirit of lawlessness and departure from the truth, or a falling away is already at work.
APOSTLE JOHN SPELLS IT OUT
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already(The spirit) in the world.
1 John 4:1, 3 NASB2020
DRIFTING AWAY OR SHRINKING BACK
God has no pleasure with those who shrink back, because they will end up in destruction.
My righteous people, however, will believe and live ( by faith); but if any of them turns back ( drift away) I will not be pleased with him.”
Hebrews 10:38 GNB
God takes pleasure in those who in the process of what is happening around press on against the tide and all odds and live by faith, rejecting the tantalising pleasures of this present age.
BEWARE OF THE SPIRIT OF DEMAS AND RELAPSE
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
2 Timothy 4:10 KJV
For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:16-17 NIV
“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
John 21:3 NIV
Jesus had said to him ( Peter) I will make you a Fisher of men. He drifted back to his former occupation. Thank God Jesus came on time in the morning.
FINAL THOUGHT
We are not people who turn back and are lost. Instead, we have faith and are saved.
Hebrews 10:39 GNB
But we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.
Hebrews 10:32-39 MSG
But we are not those who turn back and are lost. We are people who have faith and are saved.
Hebrews 10:39 NCV
However, we are not the kind who shrink back and are destroyed; on the contrary, we keep trusting and thus preserve our lives!
Messianic Jews (Heb) 10:39 CJB
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Hebrews 10:39 KJV