Salvation and Scripture

I would like to point out a very important understanding in the scriptures today, that many of God's people have failed to acknowledge, and because of that have been hindered in mind and spirit about the hope of salvation. There's a particular faulty mindset that goes by many names, but 'once saved always saved' generally tells what it's about. A lot of people believe that once a person has been genuinely born again, they could never lose out with God and end up in eternal damnation. Well, one thing's for sure, and that's that it certainly is God's determinate will that we all be saved in the end and inherit eternal life. The scriptures are quite clear on that, just to quote a couple of convincing references: "Who [God] will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (I Tim. 2:4). And this: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Pet. 3:9). So it's clear that it is God's will for us to inherit eternal life, and in fact the death that Jesus died for us is more proof of that than a thousand convincing scriptures. But the fact of the matter is that the hope of our salvation has been placed in OUR hands, and it is up to us to see it through. Obviously we can't see it through by our own means, but rather by cleaving to the grace and power of God that has been imparted to us when we are born again, which is to say when we're baptized with the holy Ghost into Christ (I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27; II Cor. 5:17; Rom. 6:3,4). If it's all sealed up and locked in for us upon being born again, we would NOT have admonitions like the following: "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philip. 2:12). Those words were written to people who were already born again believers in Christ. In fact ALL of the epistles of the Bible were written to people who were already in Christ. These were the congregations that were established by the apostles, and that is why the apostles were writing to them. And there was a very good reason that the apostle Paul admonished those who were in Christ to "work out [their] salvation with fear and trembling."

The necessity of God's people fearing God is very evident by sobering declarations like the following, where Peter spoke of the false teachers that were among the congregations in Christ: "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (II Pet. 2:19-22). The only way that anyone can read that and not see that the 'false teachers' that Peter spoke of were people who had genuinely been born again, is that they just aren't honest of heart. It's that simple. One can't "escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," unless they have, well... "escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." And one couldn't 'turn from' the way of righteousness unless they had "known the way of righteousness," like the passage clearly states. The same goes for the following passage written by the apostle Paul: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" (Heb. 6:4-6). One cannot 'fall away' from the faith of Christ, and from the power of God that redeems the soul from sin, unless they had once BEEN redeemed by that same power of God! You cannot 'fall away' from somewhere that you've never been, or from something you've never had. I mean this is really easy math folks. All it takes is an honest heart to see this sobering reality of the Gospel.

People who adhere to the faulty mindset of 'eternal security,' which is the same as 'once saved always saved,' will claim that those who 'fall away' or 'turn from... the way of righteousness,' were never really born again. That however is a direct contradiction of all scriptural truth, and an insult to the mind of God, and of those who think like God. Look at what Paul told the congregation in Rome in regard to this issue, in light of the reality that God had turned from unbelieving Israel to the Gentiles: "Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off" (Rom. 11:19-22). It's as plain as the nose on your face that he was writing to born again believers in Christ, saying that they had been 'grafted in' to the olive tree of God, and that they would also be 'cut off' if they did not "continue in [God's] goodness." Well, once again, they could not be 'cut off' from something that they weren't in, meaning that they were 'in Christ.' Neither could they 'continue in [God's] goodness' unless they had already been IN God's goodness. So it is a scriptural and spiritual reality that a born again believer WILL lose out with God and inherit eternal damnation if they do not continue in the faith and holiness that they obtained upon being born again. Nothing in fact could be more clearly stipulated throughout the entire Bible, and nothing could inspire the fear of God in the hearts of God's children more than the honest knowledge and acknowledgement of this sobering truth. I could continue to make this point graphically, as I have already done by the scriptures; but I would literally be rewriting the Bible in so doing. No honest believer who loves the righteousness of God should ever allow themselves to be tormented with the question of whether God 'has chosen them' or not. The cross of Jesus Christ is the end of all strife on that matter. It is so much God's will that we be saved and end up where he is at, that he literally gave up his most beloved to a cruel death to demonstrate that point.

Nothing about the will of God that was demonstrated so graphically and so powerfully in Christ will, or even can, ever change. In fact the scripture that says that most clearly is found only several verses further in the chapter that I last quoted from: "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Rom. 11:29). Add this as well: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32) The love and grace of God must never however be seen or perceived as a license to sin, or an excuse for sin. Sin taken to the end of one's life will most assuredly damn him and keep him from inheriting salvation, including children of God who 'turn from... the way of righteousness.' That is the whole point of the fear of the Lord, as the following passage so plainly shows us: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears" (Heb. 12:14-17). So again I point out that these were born again believers who were in Christ, that the apostle was giving this serious warning to. In saying that "NO MAN will see the Lord" apart from holiness is to clearly say that no believer can expect to inherit eternal life unless they finish their course as they began it, meaning literally cleansed and redeemed from sin. The example of Esau was clearly given so that it would be understood that everyone who has been redeemed by the blood of Christ must remain in a redeemed condition, lest they finish their course apart from true holiness; and come to the end expecting to be saved, only to be turned away. That is iactually the theme of that entire chapter, as well as the entire book of Hebrews; and that chapter in fact finishes like this: "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:28,29). Well, like I said, I could continue confirming this irrefutable truth by means of the scriptures, but I believe that will cover the bases for now. God bless.