Post by George on Jul 1, 2006 18:02:31 GMT -5
(This is the second and last part of the study.)
Let us take a look at some of the many verses in the Bible that explain, in no uncertain terms. That Salvation is not only as stated above but is also eternal and everlasting. There are many such verses and stories. I will provide a few of them that I believe point out this fact without doubt.
Probably the most well known verse in the Bible is John 3:16:
(Joh 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Actually one need not go any farther than that particular verse. If you dissect and define that verse you will see first that all you have to do is believe. Believe in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Right after that it tells us the result of our belief in Christ. Does it not say “but have everlasting life?” Everlasting is everlasting. It is eternal. It is forever. This verse does not say that you will receive conditional everlasting life. It does not say that you will receive everlasting life based on anything you can or should do other than believe in Christ Jesus. It does not say that you will receive everlasting life that is susceptible to being taken away if you are not good. It does not say that you will receive everlasting life based on how many doors you knock on of a Saturday morning. It does not apply any conditions of any type or sort to Salvation except the all-important belief in Jesus Christ.
(1Jo 5:11) And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1Jo 5:12) He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1Jo 5:13) 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.
John speaks here of the things that he has written. If you go back and read 1 John you can see the entire message he speaks of in this phrase. Notice carefully that John says that these things have been written to those that believe on the name of the Son of God, THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! What does this mean? It means that this epistle was written so that we can be assured of our Salvation for all eternity. Assured! So that we can KNOW that we have eternal life.
Very interesting is the verse that immediately precedes these.
(1Jo 5:10) He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
That is pretty blunt and even frightening to me. We are told that if we don’t believe God we have made Him a liar. (Shudder!) I don’t know about anyone else but I do not even want to think of the possible results of making God out a liar. Is the Bible, or is it not, God’s Holy Word? Do we not believe as independent, fundamental, New Testament Baptists that the King James Bible is the inerrant Word of God, preserved as such for the believer? The Bible (God’s Word and therefore an extension of God) tells us repeatedly that we have eternal life by our belief in Jesus. Nothing more and nothing less. If we doubt that we have made the Bible a false document and have therefore made God a liar and then we better hope and pray with everything we have that we are not taken out of this life immediately. In fact, if we do not believe that Salvation is eternal and everlasting and that we cannot lose it we might as well throw our Bibles in the trash and go out and eat, drink and be merry. (That is a whole different series of lessons.)
Look at some of the other rather familiar verses that are part of the Romans Road that is quite commonly used for leading others to Jesus.
(Rom 10:9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Rom 10:10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Is it difficult to see and understand what the Apostle Paul writes there? I don’t think it is all that difficult. To put it in easy words, acknowledge (confess) the Lord, Jesus, believe that He was raised from the dead on the third day and…thou shalt be saved. That is all that is required. Again, we do not earn it and nay, we do not even deserve it. My word, I am so thankful that God does not mete out justice! Look at the end of Romans 10: “with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation.” I added the capital “S” to Salvation because not only is it the most important decision we can ever make in our life it is also of God and therefore deserves and warrants a capital letter.
(Joh 10:27) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (Joh 10:28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (Joh 10:29) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Here is an interesting exposition of the fact that not only is Salvation eternal and a gift (“I GIVE unto them eternal life”) but that there is no man that can pluck us out of God’s hand. There is no man that can do anything to cause us to lose our Salvation. Brothers and sisters, “no man” includes you and I. Think about that. Since no man can pluck us out of The Father’s hand once we have received the gift and no man includes you and I, there is nothing we can do to lose Salvation.
Certainly it is possible to fall from grace. That is entirely different. If we fall from grace, and I do on a daily basis for the simple reason that the Bible tells us that any “little” sin grieves God’s heart and as a mortal human being born with a sin nature I cannot help but sin no matter how hard I try not to.
One of the ways that we can fall from grace is by the testing, trying or losing of our faith. Not only that but if we put faith in faith alone we will fall flat on our faces. Although sometimes that is where God wants us, flat on our faces in the dirt, as did Paul on the road to Damascus, we must have faith in God so that these things happen less and less often. We are supposed to grow in grace so that the trials and tribulations of this life are lessened.
(2 Peter 3:17) Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. (2 Peter 3:18) But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
Recall the story of Peter and his losing his steadfastness and falling from grace by losing his faith.
(Matthew 14:28) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. (Matthew 14:29) And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. (Matthew 14:30) But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. (Matthew 14:31) And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
When we lose our faith we can in no way predict the consequences. Most certainly we will fall from grace and suffer consequences as did Peter. You have seen me write many times before that in Reformers Unanimous we use a set of 10 Principles. Principle #9 speaks to just this very situation. “We lose our freedom of choice after we have chosen our actions. The consequences of our choices are inevitable, incalculable and up to God.” If we make a bad decision we will suffer the consequences. Look at what this Principle says. When we make a bad decision we know that something is going to happen (inevitable). We don’t know what, we can’t predict when, and we don’t know how it is going to happen (incalculable). For the simple reason that it is all up to God!
So we lose our faith or even relax it a little. We fall from grace and we pay for it in this life. Does that mean that we are not saved? Does that indicate in any way that we can lose our Salvation? I don’t see it.
Salvation is eternal. Since there is nothing that we can do to earn or deserve it there is nothing we can do to lose it.
_____________________________________________________
I pray these two studies may have helped someone or perhaps someone to help someone else who may be struggling with this doctrine.
In Christ,
George
Let us take a look at some of the many verses in the Bible that explain, in no uncertain terms. That Salvation is not only as stated above but is also eternal and everlasting. There are many such verses and stories. I will provide a few of them that I believe point out this fact without doubt.
Probably the most well known verse in the Bible is John 3:16:
(Joh 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Actually one need not go any farther than that particular verse. If you dissect and define that verse you will see first that all you have to do is believe. Believe in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Right after that it tells us the result of our belief in Christ. Does it not say “but have everlasting life?” Everlasting is everlasting. It is eternal. It is forever. This verse does not say that you will receive conditional everlasting life. It does not say that you will receive everlasting life based on anything you can or should do other than believe in Christ Jesus. It does not say that you will receive everlasting life that is susceptible to being taken away if you are not good. It does not say that you will receive everlasting life based on how many doors you knock on of a Saturday morning. It does not apply any conditions of any type or sort to Salvation except the all-important belief in Jesus Christ.
(1Jo 5:11) And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1Jo 5:12) He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1Jo 5:13) 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.
John speaks here of the things that he has written. If you go back and read 1 John you can see the entire message he speaks of in this phrase. Notice carefully that John says that these things have been written to those that believe on the name of the Son of God, THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! What does this mean? It means that this epistle was written so that we can be assured of our Salvation for all eternity. Assured! So that we can KNOW that we have eternal life.
Very interesting is the verse that immediately precedes these.
(1Jo 5:10) He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
That is pretty blunt and even frightening to me. We are told that if we don’t believe God we have made Him a liar. (Shudder!) I don’t know about anyone else but I do not even want to think of the possible results of making God out a liar. Is the Bible, or is it not, God’s Holy Word? Do we not believe as independent, fundamental, New Testament Baptists that the King James Bible is the inerrant Word of God, preserved as such for the believer? The Bible (God’s Word and therefore an extension of God) tells us repeatedly that we have eternal life by our belief in Jesus. Nothing more and nothing less. If we doubt that we have made the Bible a false document and have therefore made God a liar and then we better hope and pray with everything we have that we are not taken out of this life immediately. In fact, if we do not believe that Salvation is eternal and everlasting and that we cannot lose it we might as well throw our Bibles in the trash and go out and eat, drink and be merry. (That is a whole different series of lessons.)
Look at some of the other rather familiar verses that are part of the Romans Road that is quite commonly used for leading others to Jesus.
(Rom 10:9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Rom 10:10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Is it difficult to see and understand what the Apostle Paul writes there? I don’t think it is all that difficult. To put it in easy words, acknowledge (confess) the Lord, Jesus, believe that He was raised from the dead on the third day and…thou shalt be saved. That is all that is required. Again, we do not earn it and nay, we do not even deserve it. My word, I am so thankful that God does not mete out justice! Look at the end of Romans 10: “with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation.” I added the capital “S” to Salvation because not only is it the most important decision we can ever make in our life it is also of God and therefore deserves and warrants a capital letter.
(Joh 10:27) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (Joh 10:28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (Joh 10:29) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Here is an interesting exposition of the fact that not only is Salvation eternal and a gift (“I GIVE unto them eternal life”) but that there is no man that can pluck us out of God’s hand. There is no man that can do anything to cause us to lose our Salvation. Brothers and sisters, “no man” includes you and I. Think about that. Since no man can pluck us out of The Father’s hand once we have received the gift and no man includes you and I, there is nothing we can do to lose Salvation.
Certainly it is possible to fall from grace. That is entirely different. If we fall from grace, and I do on a daily basis for the simple reason that the Bible tells us that any “little” sin grieves God’s heart and as a mortal human being born with a sin nature I cannot help but sin no matter how hard I try not to.
One of the ways that we can fall from grace is by the testing, trying or losing of our faith. Not only that but if we put faith in faith alone we will fall flat on our faces. Although sometimes that is where God wants us, flat on our faces in the dirt, as did Paul on the road to Damascus, we must have faith in God so that these things happen less and less often. We are supposed to grow in grace so that the trials and tribulations of this life are lessened.
(2 Peter 3:17) Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. (2 Peter 3:18) But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
Recall the story of Peter and his losing his steadfastness and falling from grace by losing his faith.
(Matthew 14:28) And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. (Matthew 14:29) And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. (Matthew 14:30) But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. (Matthew 14:31) And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
When we lose our faith we can in no way predict the consequences. Most certainly we will fall from grace and suffer consequences as did Peter. You have seen me write many times before that in Reformers Unanimous we use a set of 10 Principles. Principle #9 speaks to just this very situation. “We lose our freedom of choice after we have chosen our actions. The consequences of our choices are inevitable, incalculable and up to God.” If we make a bad decision we will suffer the consequences. Look at what this Principle says. When we make a bad decision we know that something is going to happen (inevitable). We don’t know what, we can’t predict when, and we don’t know how it is going to happen (incalculable). For the simple reason that it is all up to God!
So we lose our faith or even relax it a little. We fall from grace and we pay for it in this life. Does that mean that we are not saved? Does that indicate in any way that we can lose our Salvation? I don’t see it.
Salvation is eternal. Since there is nothing that we can do to earn or deserve it there is nothing we can do to lose it.
_____________________________________________________
I pray these two studies may have helped someone or perhaps someone to help someone else who may be struggling with this doctrine.
In Christ,
George