Hebrews 10:26-31
A princess loved a thief. When the law caught the thief, the courts sentenced him to death. He was awaiting execution when the Kings daughter asked her father to pardon him. The king, because of his love for his daughter pardoned the thief and gave permission for them to be married. The king and his family were a godly and righteous people. By marrying the princess, the thief became a member of the royal family. In his wedding vows, he made a covenant to love and cherish his wife and to live righteous as a child of the king. He thought he loved his wife when he married her; and he most definitely wanted all the benefits that came from being a member of the royal family. After being married for a while, he began to miss some of the pleasures of his old life. He began to cheat on his wife. Worse yet, he kept on deliberately cheating while pretending his marriage was still healthy and real. He thought he was safe; he knew his wife loved him and believed she would always forgive him. He believed that her righteousness would not allow her to dissolve the marriage. Although he was cheating on her, he did not want a divorce. Her father was rich and he knew someday he would be living in her father’s house. He liked the respect that others had for the royal family. He also believed in “Once married, always married.” Therefore, he was not worried about the effects of his continuous deliberate adultery.

He had totally misjudged the nature of the king. The king had pardoned the thief, but the marriage was a covenant relationship. In a covenant, each side has responsibilities to the other side. By his adultery, the thief made a mockery of his wife’s love and broke the covenant. Her father avenged her, and repaid the thief for his betrayal. The father cast the thief out to death and darkness. Salvation is also a covenant relationship; a covenant only we can break.