Eternal Security
The two camps “once saved
always saved”
& “saved and then lost” do not co-exist.
They are Scriptural opposites!
#1 “All false doctrine is an attack one way or another upon Jesus Christ” - MMJ. Upon His: blood, work, character, power, life, will, word etc.
1 Pet 1:18-19 Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Heb. 13:5, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. Is this truth? Can He be trusted?
John 10:27-30 My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
These are positive, emphatic, clear declarations!
Consider this very common
scenario: someone is saved, then serves, then slips, then slides, and finally
succumbs (dies). What will God do with his salvation and service?
Heb 6:10 For God is
not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed
toward his name, When and where will he be rewarded, in hell? No!
Mat 6:20 But lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Psa 37:28 For the LORD
loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever:
A
3000 year old universal truth.
#2 What takes place when you are saved, when you believe?
You pass
from death to life. The following verses do not “imply” eternal security, they
state it emphatically.
John 5:24 Verily,
verily,(repeated for emphasis) I say unto you, He that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath (has)
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation;(judgment)
but is passed from death unto life.
1 John 3:14 We know
that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:
John 3:18 He that
believeth on him is not condemned:
When Israel wanted “in heart” to return to Egypt, they could not. The Red Sea was closed!
We also might “wander in the
wilderness”, but we can never get ourselves un-born-again.
1 Cor 7:23 Ye are
bought with a price; He will never re-sell you. He owns us forever.
#3 The 6000 year war between Adam and God is over for the believer.
Rom 5:1 Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus Judgment or condemnation of our works? Yes, but not
our life. Jesus Christ took the judgment and damnation we deserved.
#4 It’s not a new leaf, it’s a new life. Our new life in Christ is
not a made over old nature.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: We are a new creation
with “Christ in us”. Col.1:27 We still carry around with us our “old man” (our
old nature) until we leave here, but in Christ “all things are new”. It’s a new
life!
#5 The Holy Spirit is our guarantee or promise that we are sealed.
Eph. 1:13-14 in whom
also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest (guarantee) of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Eph 4:30 And grieve
not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
To say you can break this seal is arrogance before God. It’s His seal!
#6 Therefore, we have confidence!!
Phil 1:6 Being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Can He? Is He able? Will He
finish what He started?
Heb 12:2 Looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher (when, in hell?) of our faith;
1 John 3:9 for his
(Christ’s) seed remaineth in him: (“in” the believer in hell?)
1 Cor 1:8 Who shall
also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I’m blameless and confirmed all the way home, thank God.
1 Pet 1:4-5 To an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. I didn’t earn my salvation, I
don’t keep it with any abilities I might have, and I can’t lose it by my
actions, feelings, attitudes or sin.
Num 23:19 God is not a
man, that he should lie; Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life,
which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. I choose
to believe God’s Word.
#7 The Body of Christ (The Church)
Eph 5:30 For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (1st
Lady: “I’m safe in His hands”.2nd Lady “I’m safer than that! I’m
part
of His hands!”.
Matt 16:18 I will build
my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The
church will be called away with out spot, blemish or wrinkle. (No missing
members!)
#8 Correction for believers. What does sin do to Christians?
It breaks
fellowship with the Father and with the faithful, but nothing can void the
Father/child relationship. Ever!
1 Cor 3:13-15 Every
man's (saved man’s) work shall be made manifest: for the day
shall declare it, because it shall be revealed fire; and the fire shall try
every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath
built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned,
he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
This is a judgment of our “works” for rewards, not a judgment regarding our
eternal destiny. This is not a test we must pass to be saved. We are saved!
2 Cor 5:10 For we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad. Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of
himself to God.
Heb. 12:5-6 My son,
despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth. What kind of a Father is He? A loving father and He
remembers we are “dust”, He takes “pity” on us. Ps.113:13-14
#9 What is the sin, or where is the line we cross that causes us to stop
being a son? What could possibly cause us to become un-saved, un-born again,
un-baptized etc.? Did David lose his salvation when his life was so
unrighteous? What was his standing with God?
Psa 51:12 Restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Psa. 51:10 … renew a
right spirit within me. What about Uriah, Bathsheba, his neglect, lust,
adultery, treachery, murder, lying, the death of the baby, keeping Israel at
war for two years etc.etc.? He lost his “joy” and his “right spirit”, but you
can’t lose everlasting life.
#10 Two records? Two gospels??
Scenario: How do you get
saved? Ans. “ZZZ”. (ZZZ=Whatever their plan of salvation is)
Can you lose your
salvation? Ans. “Yes”.
How do you get saved again?
Ans. “Just confess like 1 John 1:9 says”.
You mean you are just as lost
as you were before but don’t need to ZZZ again to be re-saved? Ans. “That’s
right, you don’t need to ZZZ again”.
This scenario presents two
plans of salvation, #1 “ZZZ” and #2 “just confess”. Two plans of salvation is
sin and it is “accursed” in God’s word.
Gal 1:7-8 ..but there
be some that trouble you, and would pervert (change a little) the
gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
This verse is repeated for emphasis. Two plans of salvation is “another
gospel”. Now consider this:
1 John 5:9-13 If we
receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: (Choose your
witness wisely) for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of
his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he
that believeth not God hath made him (God) a liar; because he
believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record,
(hold on to this “record” at all costs) that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath
life (Positive, emphatic, past tense, present possession); and he
that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have
eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. If
there is any chance you can be lost, then you really don’t know for sure you
are saved, do you? Also, don’t fall into the trap of calling God a liar just
because you might not understand a passage of Scripture that you think implies
“saved and then lost”.
#11 “WHO” is going to face God and answer these questions?
Remember, sin
has been paid for! Isa 53:11 The Father shall see of the travail of his
soul, and shall be satisfied:
Rom 8:33-35 Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is
he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:38-39
For
I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“Oh, but you can separate
yourselves”. The man that says this is actually saying: “I am stronger than
God, I can break His seals, change His word, and stop everlasting life”.
#12 Some thoughts & questions
I know of no instance in
Scripture where one who is positively said to be saved and given ETERNAL LIFE
is later said to be lost. But there are many recorded instances of saved
people walking in sin who are still said to be saved. For example: Lot, who
“vexed his righteous soul” (2Peter), David, mentioned earlier (2Sam.), and the
believers at Corinth (1Cor.3) who were “confirmed unto the end” in spite of
their carnality.
The following questions must
be answered before we could entertain the philosophy that the Good
Shepherd could lose His sheep. Does a GOOD SHEPHERD lose sheep? Of
course not!
How can one who is saved from
hell ever be lost? How can one with the unending life of Christ in them ever
be lost? How can one who is born of incorruptible seed which remains in him
ever be lost? How can one who has already suffered the penalty for sin be put
to death again by a righteous judge? How can one who is sealed by the Holy
Spirit unto the day of redemption ever break that seal? How can all of God’s
guarantees of His unconditional promises be nullified?
Some of God’s promises are
conditional, how to be saved is one of them, being saved isn’t.
#13 “NO-ROOT” believers and “BREAD KING” disciples??
Yes, there is a DANGER of
being deceived with a “believing” that is short of real heart surrender. Not
everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” (Matt.7:22-23) will be saved. And when God
says to them, “I NEVER KNEW YOU”, He isn’t lying. HE NEVER knew
them. They were never saved! There is no such thing as being saved once and
then lost.
SHEEP NEVER BECOME GOATS,
WHEAT NEVER BECOMES CHAFF, AND GOLD NEVER BECOMES DROSS!! Saved people
never die!
John 11:26 whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die!.
John 6:15 When Jesus
therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a
king, he departed (They wanted a “bread” king. No real salvation here.)
Luke 8:13 and these
have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away
They
have what would be described in James as a “devils” belief, but real
salvation isn’t a devils faith plus good works. Real salvation is with/out
works, and it comes from a real living faith in Jesus Christ. Real
faith has “roots” in Christ and truth.
There are, of course, different “kinds” of belief. So the
big question is: what KIND of believer are you? Can you say with
absolute assurance, But we are …of them that believe to the saving of the
soul ? Heb.10:39. Real believers can because their trust isn’t in
their performance but in the Savior.
#14 “Rightly dividing” God’s Word is of great help on this subject.
Some verses that appear to teach a believer might be lost are cleared up when the
passage is properly considered. Example: Matt 24:13 But he that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved. This is speaking of “enduring” physically
through the tribulation time period so you can be “saved” physically to enter
the kingdom.
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