“…Do you Love Me?”

Matthew 10:33 “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. (NASB1995)

John 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. (NASB1995)

This is not a reflection of Jesus love for us, but a statement of truth which we are meant to take to heart.

Romans 11:22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. (NASB1995)

1 Corinthians 15:2 by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. (NASB2020)

Galatians 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace. (NASB2020)

We have given to Him our life, unworthy as it is, have we not? Because we could not refuse His love for us. Do we still love Him, because He first loved us? Can we do less than offer Him our all? Do we not know that kind of love? We have seen it in Him.

1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, (NASB1995)

If we have left our first love will we be able to die daily for Him?

1 Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. (NASB1995)

Salvation is our gift from Him to be cherished and fully understood and Is the reflection of our love for Him, who is truth. Truth drives us to stand for Him when the whole world seem to be turned against us. Do we compromise on truth — His message in order to lessen the wrath of man against us? Do we rationalize His word because we are unable to stand firm in the faith that He has delivered unto us?

1 Timothy 5:15 for some have already turned aside to follow Satan. (NASB1995)

Satan is the god of this world.

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (NASB1995)

Do we make decisions benefiting us materially rather than for His gain within our lives?

2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; (NASB1995)

Do we take up our cross and die daily to the flesh and to self?

Hebrews 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, (NASB1995)

Do we not realize that daily walking with Him in this way is the only path to seeking first the kingdom of God?

Hebrews 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we keep the beginning of our commitment firm until the end, (NASB2020)

Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and [then] have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. (NASB2020)

Understand, this falling away is not a fall into sin for we are still human, and sins are they for which we can be forgiven, but if there is a following after sin resulting in a turning away from the Christ who bought us all, what will be the end of this one?

Hebrews 10:26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. (NASB2020) 28 Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on [the testimony of] two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? (NASB2020) 30 For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (NASB2020)

1 John 2:24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. (NASB1995)

2 Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (KJV)

2 Peter 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, (NASB1995)

If we see a brother straying from truth it is our duty to if necessary shock them back into the understanding of what is at stake for them.

James 5:19 My brothers [and sisters,] if anyone among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. (NASB2020)

Revelation 3:3 ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep [it,] and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. (NASB1995)

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, our Lord is speaking to the various bodies of believers within His Church, and each message is for all of us. So the question is if this word is not heeded, will those failing to overcome not need our warning because of the truth of these verses to them? Listen:

Revelation 3:5 ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (NASB1995)

Does Jesus have all of us? Do we seek to have all that He offers us? Using a collage of these types of scriptures is rather a negative thing to him who neglects so great a salvation.

So why would I or anyone in Christ emphasize these verses? Because Isa 28:10 and following demand that we put it all together lest we be led astray. Quite often I hear Church leaders refute these warnings of Scripture with a statement which will imply that no man can pluck them from the Fathers hand including they themselves. Is the reasoning sound? You obviously are also a man, did Jesus mean in that statement that even you cannot remove yourself from His hand? If that be the case are these Scriptures merely here to deceive us and therefore need no introspection or understanding on our part? Are these verses and their understanding really meant to confuse, or is it really just the one verse that is misunderstood when devoid of these warnings?

Could it be that just as no man can give us our faith in Jesus for salvation, nor are they able to cause us to be placed into Jesus’ hand or into the Father’s hand; that then no man can remove us either. So if only you can place yourself there when He calls; then is it wrong to understand that only you can bring about the neglect of your faith in Him as these scriptures would make clear?

Do you love Him enough to overcome this worlds claims on your life, which overcoming does only come to you from the Son of God, who loves you so much? “Do you Love Me?”