When a new believer accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior it’s only the beginning of their walk with God. We all begin our spiritual journey on the spiritual milk of God’s word but we must constantly move forward in our walk with God or in all likelihood we’ll start to doubt our faith and end up becoming backsliders. The Bible refers to it as a “falling away” from the faith. The Bible assures us that in the end times many of the elect will “fall away” from God. Our task is to make sure our faith is rock solid and we’re not influence by, or in the company of, those destined to “fall away” from God. A new believer must grow in the faith by moving on to the spiritual meat of God’s word so their faith can never be doubted or shaken when persecution and hard times come; and they will come.
Psalm 33:11 – The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.
Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Gentile).
Psalm 18:46 – The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
2 Timothy 3:1 – But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.
How can a believer become a resolute Christian? A committed Christian should maintain their fellowship with God by reading their Bibles daily. Christians should study God’s word for knowledge, understanding and wisdom on a regular basis. Lastly, Christians should pray to God at least daily. Praying is talking to God, which we’re commanded to do and which we must do to stay in fellowship with God the Father. In fact, believers should be praying to God all throughout the day and in every circumstance. There’s no such thing as praying to God to much but there is such a thing as praying to God too little. The Bible tells us to pray to God continually because God wants to hear from us about anything and everything that concerns us. We’re God’s children and he is always there for us 24/7.
Proverbs 23:12 – Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.
2 Peter 3:18 – But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Isaiah 33:6 – Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation; the fear of the Lord is His treasure.
2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.
If you believe in God and that his son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to die on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins before rising from the dead and ascending back to heaven then you have eternal life in heaven because you have believed in this gospel message. The Bible is the inerrant word of God. The Bible is the truth of God. That means every story in the Bible is true, and either has happened already or will happen in the future. If you believe in God and Jesus but don’t believe every story in the Bible as written then you’re calling God a liar to his face because God wrote the Bible and God cannot lie. You cannot pick and choose what you want to believe in God’s word. God speaks the truth plainly and if you don’t believe him you’re what God calls a “lukewarm” Christian and God says he will spew you out of his mouth. If you’re a believer you still have your salvation but calling God a liar means your works before Jesus will be burned up by fire on the last day.
Deuteronomy 8:3 – Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
Pslam 18:30 – As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
Psalm 19:7 – The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
Ephesians 3:11-12 – According to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
The Apostle Peter admitted that some teachings are hard to understand yet as believers we’re to walk by faith and not by sight. God wants believers who are all-in; who believe every word of the Bible and not believers who pick and choose what they want to believe. As Christians, know what you believe to be the truth of God and why you believe it. That comes by studying the evidence in God’s word, which is irrefutable. When talking to most nonbelievers about my faith I can usually count on them saying the same thing. They all read from the same hymn book. Nonbelievers think there’s no God because they don’t believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale. They also don’t believe the story of the flood and all the animals fitting inside Noah’s ark. And last of all, nonbelievers have bought into the humanist lie that dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago therefore the Bible couldn’t be true because God’s word reveals that creation was only 6,000 years ago.
2 Peter 15-16 – And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation – as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things which are hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
2 Peter 1:20 – Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 2:1-2 – But there were false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 – Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord.
If Satan can convince people the Bible has errors in it then, by extension, it cannot be the word of a perfect God who is incapable of lies or making mistakes. It’s all part of Satan’s plan to hide the truth of God from man to ensure their eternal damnation in the fires of hell alongside him. We can all agree on one thing; if the Bible isn’t error free then God doesn’t exist. Thankfully, there is overwhelming evidence that God exists and that the Bible is indeed the word of God! The nonbeliever bases his conclusions on false assumptions without looking at the hard evidence for God. Sadly, I also hear these same arguments from some believers. These are the so called “lukewarm” Christians who will be the ones who will “fall away” from the Christian faith in the last days according to the Scriptures. The important thing is to study God’s word so that we can identify false teachings for ourselves so we’re not fooled by what someone tells us is true. Study God’s word so that we know the truth of God when we hear it, read it or see it. We need to be firm in our convictions so no one can fool us with their lies.
Psalm 53:1 – The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.
1 Corinthians 3:19 – For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness.”
Proverbs 12:15 – The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.
Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
You know, it’s a funny thing. You can have a believer who is wise in his own eyes who will accept 95% of the Bible as true yet he can’t accept that the remaining 5% of the Bible is the truth of God. I find that odd. With the Bible it’s all or nothing. Believe all of it or believe none of it. The choice is yours. What you can’t do is cherry-pick which parts of the Bible you want to believe and decide which stories in the Bible you don’t think really happened. The wrath of God will be upon your shoulders if you call him a liar. The fact that over 500 Bible prophecies have been fulfilled should be convincing by itself. The fact that over 60 Bible prophecies about the coming Messiah were fulfilled by the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ should cause any rational human being to accept the entire Bible as God’s word, as it is written. Statistically speaking, the odds of there being no God is zero. The odds of the Bible not being God’s word is also zero. Both God and the Bible have been proven irrefutably. Scholars have been trying to find errors in the Bible for 2000 years but they have all been unsuccessful. The more we investigate God’s word the more it is confirmed as the truth of God without any errors in it.
Psalm 68:11 – The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it.
Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:97-98 – Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me.
Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Why is it some believers think they are wiser than the experts? God refers to those who don’t believe his word as fools. Instead of the massive amount of irrefutable evidence in the Bible (95%) causing the believer to believe the entire word of God by faith the lukewarm believer allows the 5% of the Bible that is hard to understand, which may not have irrefutable proof, to cause him to doubt the word of God in its entirety. It’s like throwing the baby out with the bath water. Where is the common sense? Besides calling God a liar to his face, once a believer starts to doubt God their faith cannot stand firm during tribulation. Satan caused Eve to doubt God and look where that has led us. How can anyone trust in their salvation if they lose their belief that God’s word is true and without errors? They can’t. That’s the lie that Satan sells to nonbelievers and lukewarm Christians of all ages. If you’re a lukewarm believer rest assured that all of your works will burn with fire before Jesus Christ on the last day.
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.
Jeremiah 17:7 – Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Romans 5:1 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.