Drawn Away

     Holy Scripture has continuity; there are not really two paths to Heaven. Scripture says that by no other name than by Jesus's can anyone be saved (Acts 4:12). That is a general and all inclusive statement. The biblical patriarchs were "saved" by Jesus's Name. Church doctrine which is the Doctrine of Christ is that ye (you) are saved by faith. "You" is the whosoever from John 3:16. 

     Thus, there was never any type of salvation by works; it was always by faith. Works are the demonstration of faith as we can see from the faith of Abraham. The Hebrews were threshed-out by God. Only a few trusted in the Messiah (Christ). Those who were saved were by God's Name Who is called Jesus. 

    My point is that all Holy Scripture is for the ages. There were never two covenants - the first one was merely shrouded in mystery. Paul called that the Mystery of God. The mystery was that the mystery was the Mystery of Christ.

     Now read what Moses wrote about being drawn away:

Deuteronomy 30:15-18 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

     Again, "keeping His statutes and judgments" are demonstrations of faith. The apostle James reinforced that doctrine when he said, "faith without works is dead" (Jas 2:20). Works, then, are evidence of faith. That's the message the Word was getting across in Deuteronomy.
     Faith must be maintained for salvation. That is "minds stayed on God" of which I wrote the other day and comes from Isaiah 26:3. Deuteronomy reinforces that truth: "Keeping God's statutes and judgments" is stayed on God. What happens when minds' are afflicted by diversions?  "If thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish."
     Salvation is contingent on keeping the faith - being stayed on God's will. It is continually trusting God and not doubting (Deut 7:9) wherein is says, "the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments." There's that contingency again! It won't go away because it is everywhere in Scripture. Jesus didn't die to keep Christians in sin, but to deliver mankind from sin! That is imperative doctrine.
     It is not the keeping of the commandments that is essential but having steadfast faith as a display of diligence and love for God (Col 2:5). Steadfast faith is minds stayed on God. Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son was accredited to him as faith (Rom 4:9). Calvinism falsely diminishes the works of faith, even as Scripture credits works as evidence of faith. If works are not there, then by default, neither is faith.
     What are God's statutes and judgments? His statutes are profound love for him, and loving others as we love ourselves (The Greatest Commandment).  His judgments are, "Do you love me ______ (your name here)?"  He questioned Peter thrice on that because it is imperative! Another judgment is, "Do you love others ________ (your name here)?" The Greatest Commandment - to love God - has a corollary - to love others. The two commandments are one! We demonstrate our love for God by loving others. That is indeed hard work!
     That commandment was the same command as at the beginning:

1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

     Let's examine the real first commandment:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Gen 2:16-17).

     The commandment was a work: Eat of any other tree but the tree of knowledge. That is work because it is a command and something the first people had to do. They had to restrain from eating of the forbidden tree to demonstrate love for God. That is the hard work that was from the beginning, and that was to love God - the greatest Other!
     But 1 John says "love one another" which is the corollary to the Greatest Commandment. Where is that command in the beginning?
     God said, that "of every other tree of the garden thou mayest eat." eating of the Tree of Life would have demonstrated love toward God. Eating of every other tree would have demonstrated love for the other trees. What or who did the "trees" represent? Of course, the Tree of Life represents Jesus Christ as can be found in the Book of Revelation. How about every other tree? It turns out that the trees of the fields are men's lives and shall not be cut down (Deut 20:19).
     Every other "tree" which they may eat thereof represents men's lives. Lives are sacred and the preservation of life is the paramount display of love. As God wants that none should perish (be cut down) because he loves them so, likewise people must want that none should perish (not cut down). The corollary to the Greatest Commandment was there in the beginning as Adam and Eve were allowed to "eat" of every other tree!
     What was Adam's job assignment? To "dress and keep" the Garden of God (Gen 2:15). Dressing and keeping is loving and protecting from harm. Those are demonstrations of love and were operationalized with metrics written in stone by the finger of God - they are the Ten Commandments. The first four are loving God (dressing and keeping the Tree of Life) and the last six are loving others (dressing and keeping every other "tree").
     Love is work because God commands that we love. Love is the contingency for keeping Christians safe from the evil one. Satan's role is to deceive, tempt, and provoke to turn Christians away from Christ. He tests the faith of Christians as Satan is only a tool of God, only able to do what God allows him to do! Why the test of following God's statutes and judgments? To separate the good grain from the chaff. Christians can fall away and do. The Word protects us from the evil one, and provides safety until we are saved in the end.