“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God Forbid…” (Rom 6:1-2, KJV)
The question posed by the title of this essay is a common one.
The problem that most people have with the issue of eternal security comes down to a combination of ignorance and bad doctrine.
Their ignorance is connected with a lack of understanding that the payment for sins that Jesus Christ made on the cross was effectual for all sins for all time, justifying the sinner who believes on Christ by faith. Romans 3, for example, explains the doctrine of justification.
“Being justified freely BY HIS GRACE through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” (Romans 3:24, KJV)
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified BY FAITH without the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:28, KJV)
“Therefore being justified BY FAITH, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” (Romans 5:1, KJV)
Galatians sums it up:
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16, KJV)
Suppose I buy you a car as a gift. I pay the loan for the car off completely, and give you the title. Once that title is signed in your name, the car is yours, and there are no payments left to be paid on it. Your behaviour in that car from that point forward has no bearing on the fact that the car belongs to you. There is nothing that you’re going to do that will create the situation where, all of a sudden, you owe money on the loan for the car again. The debt is paid, regardless of what happens in the future.
And that’s how it is with salvation. Eternal life is a free gift (Rom 6:23) offered to us by Jesus Christ. He paid for it with His blood. Hebrews 10 says He made “one sacrifice for sins forever.” Your behaviour is not going to create a situation where, all of a sudden, Jesus Christ has to come back and pay for more of your sins—you are JUSTIFIED.
(The book of Romans was written to explain how a man is saved and justified by faith, WITHOUT WORKS; and the book of Galatians was written to explain how a man is KEPT saved by that same faith, WITHOUT WORKS.)
Ignorance concerning this doctrinal truth will hinder someone from understanding eternal security.
When it comes to bad doctrine (the second half of the problem), many people have heard preaching and teaching to the effect that, if you’re not careful, you can “cross the line” (no one can tell you exactly where the line is), and sin in some particular way (you're not told the "particulars"), and “lose it”.
Now, people are not crazy for believing this (one can lose his salvation), because you can find it all through the Bible. The error is that it is not dispensationally correct to apply this to New Testament believers. In plainer words, to teach that a born-again, New Testament believer, who has believed on Christ by faith, and has been made part of the body of Christ, can then be severed from the body of Christ (when Romans 8:35-39 makes this an impossibility), is an example of “wrongly dividing” the word of truth. 2 Tim. 2:15 says, “Study to show thy self approved unto God…rightly dividing the word of truth.”
While the whole Bible is written FOR us, it is not all written TO us, doctrinally. In addition, there are several different applications of scripture (see II Timothy 3:16). Everyone believes this, whether they realize it or not. For example, God’s people in the Old Testament were commanded to offer animal sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem---no Christian today who rejects the idea of "dispensations" ("rightly dividing") practices this. In the New Testament, the directive is “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). That doesn’t mean the Old Testament directives were wrong, but rather that they no longer apply, when it comes to salvation. You find this phenomenon throughout the Scriptures, where God tells one group or one person a particular thing, and tells another group or another person at another time, something different. There were other ages in the past where someone could “lose his salvation”, in the Old Testament sense. Ezekiel 18:20-28 describes this, which see. There will also be other ages in the future when people can have their salvation revoked—for example, if somebody has the “faith of Jesus” but changes his mind and takes the mark of the beast during the great tribulation, there’s no going back. (This explains Heb. 6:4-6, along with Rev. 14:12 and Matt. 24:13.)
The point is, the Bible does teach that SOMEBODY can lose his salvation…just not anyone in the body of Christ, in our age. Romans 8:31-39 was written by the apostle Paul, the apostle to Gentile, born-again believers in the body of Christ, in the New Testament (Romans 11:13). "Rightly dividing" clears up all of the seeming contradictions between the teachings that you can lose your salvation or that you cannot lose your salvation.
“Are you saying that a Christian can just live in wilful, unrepentant sin, and still be saved?”
The answer is, he will still be saved, but that doesn’t mean he can “just” live any way he wants without CONSEQUENCE.
The question reveals something about the “questioner.” Why is it that, upon hearing that Jesus Christ loved them enough to be tortured and bleed to death in their place, and made it so that if they only receive Him by faith, He purges them from all sin forever—ASSURING them of His eternal mercy WITHOUT EXCEPTION—the first thing some people’s minds go to is, “THAT means I can get away with every wicked, debauched thing that comes into my imagination”?
Do you see what I mean?
You come to someone and tell him God is offering him the gift of eternal life, and nothing he can do will ever separate him from God’s love for him, and his response is, “Great! Now, let’s get to the raping and killing and pillaging!” That response says something about a person, doesn’t it?
The first thing a normal person would think is, “If that’s true, I owe Him my life…if that’s true, I will GIVE Him my life.” And that sentiment is what genuine service to God rendered by thankful hearts is predicated upon. We serve God and try and stay away from sin out of a sense of indebtedness to the Lord, and gratitude for what He did for us…not out of fear He will revoke our salvation in a fit of frustration, and send us straight to hell.
When a Christian follows after his flesh, refusing to walk after the Spirit, and sins, he SHOULD confess and forsake that sin as quickly as possible (I John 1:9). The blood of Jesus Christ is spoken of as being presently available to be applied to the sins the Christian commits after salvation. If a Christian does NOT confess and forsake his sins, there will be consequences; but, then again, there will be certain consequences for sin even if he does repent, confess and forsake them. THE PROMISE IS, THE ONE WHO CONFESSES WILL FIND MORE MERCY THAN THE ONE WHO DOESN'T.
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13, KJV)
Repentance is not a "get out of jail free" card, but it certainly helps. A lot. God is always merciful to the genuine repentance of one of His people, and those of us who have experienced His mercy can truly say,
“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” (Psalms 103:10, KJV)
Going to hell is not the only consequence for sin. One of the best reasons to avoid sin in your life as a Christian is the threat that God might "knock the tar out of you", and "slap you into next week."
If you are a born-again Christian, you cannot lose your salvation (it's not yours to lose; it's HIS salvation---Psa. 51:12). But then again, there are many things a Christian can lose, without losing his salvation. With God‘s hand of chastening against a wayward son (Heb 12), a Christian can “sow to his flesh” and reap all kinds of corruption (Gal. 6). He can walk after his flesh (Rom 8:13) instead of walking after God’s Spirit (Rom 8:1), and he can lose his health (I Cor. 11:30), he can lose his time (Acts 24:27), he can lose his wife (See Lot, II Pet. 2:8), he can lose his children (See Lot, and David), he can lose his friends (Luke 15:16), he can lose his ministry (Col. 4:17; II John 8), he can lose his money (Luke 15:14), he can lose his testimony (Prov. 5:14), he can lose his peace (Rom. 8:6), he can lose his joy (Gal. 5:19-26), he can lose his assurance (Rom. 14:23), he can lose his life (I Cor. 11:30-32), he can lose his rewards at the judgment seat of Christ (I Cor. 3:15), and then he can lose his rule and reign with Christ in the millennium (II Tim. 2:12; Luke 19:24-26), as he watches his entire life "go up in smoke."
“If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:15, KJV)
“I have eternal security” is not the same as, “I can get away with anything.“
A born-again Christian does not have a "license to sin." He may have opportunity and capability to sin, but not without cost and consequence. Not by a long shot.
---GLC
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