July 2002
Over the past year I have met several people who have asked for prayer concerning a loved one, who had been involved in a church but have returned to the world in various pursuits. Several of these people believe in eternal security: “Once saved, always saved. Give your life to Jesus and do what you want.” Is it really the truth? Some would say it is, quoting:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro.8:38-39)
I think the proper question is: “Is it the whole truth?” What does the Bible teach about love?
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. (Jn.15:9)
Satan used this same technique when he tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. He told truth but not the whole truth when he said:
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Ge.3:4-5)
Man did become like God knowing good and evil, however man also received the sentence of death. Can we be eternally secure? Yes, however, we cannot claim to be saved, and still live in sin. You may tell me what you believe, but I can see what you believe by your actions:
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. (Ti.1:15-16)
James was right when he wrote that faith without works is dead; for Christ died to free us from sin:
Nevertheless, God’s solid
foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows
those who are his," and, "Everyone
who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
(2Ti
If we do not turn from wickedness, we have nothing to base our confidence on. Many people will say that all we need do is look to Christ and believe in him:
For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (Jn.6:40)
If I would tell you that I just saw a lion outside, and you respond with, “How terrible” as you walk out the door, did you believe? True faith always manifests an appropriate response. To believe in Christ means more then to believe that he died, we need to believe in all he commands of us as well:
Ja.1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
When we suggest that true Christians (Are there really any other kind?) are eternally secure, it is based on how the Scriptures defines it:
Jn.10:27-29 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
It is only when we follow Christ that we can have confidence in God’s promise to keep us. Jesus said, “My sheep follow me”. That constitutes obedience, which is contrary to disobedience otherwise known as sin. It is not that Jesus keeps us in spite of our sin; he keeps us from our sin:
1Co
Eternal security is based on God’s ability to keep us from being tempted in areas where we might fall:
Jn.6:37-39 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
Christ will not lose any that are his because he has bound Satan, took away his weapons, and took us as his possession. If we are in him, there is nothing that Satan can do to keep us continuing in sin:
1Jo 5:18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
Still many claim our response to Christ does not matter; only, what Christ has done matters:
2Ti
I agree what matters is what Christ has done, but we must include the present, He continues faithfully work in us:
2Th.3:3-4 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.
I could go on giving verses out of the context of the Scriptures to say, “Once you prayed the sinner’s prayer it does not matter what you do, as you are saved for eternity. But I will not lest some of you start to believe that false doctrine. For I believe in eternal security based on the Scriptural principle that God holds Christians eternally secure from sin. You cannot offer the rights of grace apart from man living responsively to that same grace:
Ti.2:11-14 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope— the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
When Christians stop being transformed into Christ’s likeness and return to following the ways of the world, they lose the assurance of their salvation:
2Pe.2:20-22 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
These people do not lose their salvation, they prove that the Holy Spirit is not living in them:
Ro.8:9&13 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. … For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
Many people do not understand the principle of the harvest: you reap what you sow.
Ga.6:7-9 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
You reap what you sow: You either live to please the sin nature and end in hell, or you will live to please the Spirit- its one or the other. A person does not oscillate between the two, as the Spirit when the teaches the one and the one, or in the following verse: those and those- two differing types of people.
Ro 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
It is not like a spiritual light switch: one moment living according to the sinful nature and the next living according to the Spirit. It is those people who live according to the Spirit, and those who live according to the sinful nature. Those who love and then those who commit murder:
1Jn.3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
If someone who calls himself a Christian, commits murder, he does not lose his salvation. He just proves he does not have eternal life. It is the same if we deliberately continue in sin:
He.10:26-27 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Some churches teach that if one would leave the faith, they will still go to heaven. However we read:
He.10:37-39 For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
Christ will destroy those who claim to be a Christian but leave the faith- tares amongst the wheat:
Jn.15:6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
It is our remaining in the church, note I did not say a church, that proves we are saved:
1Jn.2:19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
To accept Christ means nothing and to stop sinning for a period of time means nothing, if we do not continue:
Mt 12:43-45 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
The only way the final condition of a man could be worse then the first, is if the person went to hell with the knowledge of Christ. It is only when our hearts are occupied with Christ, who cleans and straightens our priorities, that we can have eternal security. When we walk as Jesus did, and leave our life of sin:
Co.1:21-22 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.
For this reason, the Bible teaches us that by a Christian’s fruit- his actions at a given moment, will it either confirm that they are saved or that their salvation should be doubted:
Mt.7:16-21 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
If we do not bear good fruit, it proves our hearts are bad, and God will cut us off from his people:
Jn.15:2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
It is not a question of whether we ever did the will of God, but rather are we doing the will of God when we die:
Heb
It is not how one starts a race that is significant, it is how one finishes the race.
Mk.13:13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Therefore, I believe in eternal security as long as it is based on us being secure in him for eternity.