• A Personal Testimony
• THE WALK

Now that I believe in Jesus The Christ, the following questions were asked:

How do you know that you are walking in truth if you have never read the account of the TRUTH GIVER?

How do you know that you are living righteously if you have never read the account of the RIGHTEOUS ONE?

How do you know that you are doing GOD's WILL if you have never read HIS WILL?

Suddenly, I was compelled to study the account of my savior. What I found was truly a world I had not known.

Now I could appreciate the suggestion of my college religion instructor when he said, "If one is considering reading the bible for the first time, start with the New Testament."

My purpose for reading the words of Christ had changed. I was not reading just to say that I had read it, or to see how wrong `Christians' are, or how contradictory the text can be. I was reading to know how I should think, behave, and walk in righteousness. (Romans 10:10 "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." KJV; 2 Timothy 3:16 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness..." KJV) For I recalled hearing through the years that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.(James 5:16 KJV)

Now I could appreciate how God had placed believers in my life. For I was no longer ashamed to discuss the Word of God with the intent for better understanding. (Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." NIV; Psalm 1:1, 2 "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." NIV) The Word was really becoming real to me.

I read where the writer wrote in 1 John 5:17, "All unrighteousness is sin..." KJV and in 1 John 3:6, "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning...". NIV The more I studied, I began to see that there is no righteousness outside of Christ.

As I looked back over my life, I saw many sins I had committed whether in word or deed. I say not all sins I saw because I'm sure there were some sins I unknowingly committed. But forgiveness through faith in Christ I know I have. Nonetheless, the question was asked, "Was my sin based on what I did or why I did what I did?" (Proverbs 16:6 "Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil." NIV; Matthew 10:28 "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." NIV; Matthew 22:36, 37, 38 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." NIV)

I soon realized that I needed to repent for the why I did what I did. I began to see that my receiving eternal life is not so much based on God's love for me than it is my love for Him. (James 1:12 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." NIV)

To sum the whole matter, I read where Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him in John 8:31, 32 "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." KJV For to deny the words of Jesus is equivalent to denying Jesus, which would mean that I am still lost in my sins.

As the saying goes, "When you don't know, you can be told anything."

LORD, I THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORD!

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Warning Against Unbelief

Hebrews 3:7-19 NIV
So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, `Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, `They shall never enter my rest.'"

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Warning Against Falling Away

Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1-6 NIV
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

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