Salvation and the Holy Spirit

It seems I haven't written much against the mindset and spirit of 'eternal security' of late, though I've probably been led to preach on that subject as much or more than anything in the past thirty plus years. Someone got me thinking on it a couple days ago so I want to renew this topic just a bit here today. 'Eternal Security' likes to show itself in various ways, even as all heresies do. The underlying theme however is simply that you will be saved on the bare premise that you have been born again at some point in your life. Of course it's almost impossible to say anything much on this topic without citing the fact that almost universally the truel born again experience is misunderstood, including by those who have it. I can' thoroughly cover two topics in a short post, so let me just suffice to say that nobody is born again, or "born of the Spirit [of God]" until they are baptized BY Jesus WITH the same holy Ghost, and are confirmed by the God-given sign of "speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance" (Jn. 3:5,6; Acts 2:4; I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27; II Cor. 3:17; II Cor. 5:17). I could list more scripture there but again I want this to be at least a not so long post, if not a short one. I know, I know, everybody thinks you "get saved" first and then you receive the Spirit baptism later. The problem with that is that nobody in the Bible ever "got saved" before they received the Spirit, and nobody ever 'received' the Spirit before they were baptized with the Spirit with the sign of speaking in tongues. And the seriousness of that is Romans 8:9, which tells us, "Now if any man HAVE NOT the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Yes I know that the scriptures don't always say that people spoke in tongues upon receiving the Spirit, but that is simply because the writers knew that everyone already knew that. It would be redundant indeed to continue to stipulate in writing every time people were born again by faith in Jesus, that they spoke in tongues, when everyone already knew it. The book of Acts is where we are told about people 'believing,' and being born again, and added to the body of Christ and such. Really one instance alone confirms what I'm saying here, and that is where Peter and his Jewish brethren went to the first Gentiles that had the Gospel preached to them in Acts 10. It is crystal clear that both Peter and the brethren accompanying him knew that Cornelius and his household indeed received the Spirit ONLY AFTER they "heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" (Acts 10:44-46). Nobody "got saved," nobody "accepted the Lord as their personal savior," and nobody "confessed that Jesus is the Lord." They believed Peter's report of Jesus with all their heart, and as Peter recounted later; "God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost... PURIFYING their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:8,9). God "bare them witness" by the same sign that accompanied the first new birth experience at Pentecost, and that baptism from Jesus is alone what washes, or 'purifies' sin out of the heart and soul of man (I Cor. 6:11; Tit. 3:5). God is not double minded, and the experience of the new birth that he furnished in the beginning of this Gospel is still the same. It has just been confused by man, and by his confusing traditions that he has come up with. Having said that, allow me to get back to the error of 'eternal security.'

To some, eternal security means that they are and will be saved simply because they "got saved" by one of the faulty 'new birth' traditions mentioned above. Many believe that we can't be literally without sin, but what really matters is that "we're saved," and that we "have a home in heaven that no one can take away." It seems a lot of folks forget the simplicity of the scripture that says "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). I believe also that many have overlooked the powerful admonition that tells us, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, WITHOUT WHICH no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). And lest someone "wrest the scriptures" to mean that holiness is something other than being without sin, we have Peter telling us again, "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written , Be ye holy; for I am holy" (I Pet. 1:15,16; II Pet. 3:16). So unless we're willing to declare God a sinner, I have to say that 'holiness' means being literally and inwardly without sin. To think we can inherit eternal life if we carry sin to the grave with us is nothing more than the most dangerous of all fairy tales. The other popular form of eternal security is otherwise known as "the perseverance of the saints." That school of thought does not openly confess to believe that we can continue sinning and still be saved in the end. Rather it teaches that those who have 'TRULY' been born again will, by virtue of being the 'right seed,' continue to obey God in holiness BECAUSE they are the right seed. This is the 'Calvinist' doctrine, and on the surface it looks seriously holy. But the truth of the matter is that it is sectarian in nature because those who believe it are in their own minds the ones who ARE the 'right seed.' That thinking cultivates religious pride which is the seat of sectarianism, and in action does not promote true holiness, but rather self righteousness. It also promotes a 'works' based mindset because those who are under it are always pushing themselves to be sure they are the right seed. That pushing of themselves unfortunately genders to the motivation of 'doing more' in and of themselves, rather than just allowing God's Spirit and power to live and manifest through them. Now I'm going to finish this article, which has become somewhat long after all, with a few scriptures that plainly show us that in order for us to "obtain salvation," which salvation is in fact the resurrection of the dead, we must continue in our journey of faith in the exact same way which we began it, meaning remaining washed from sin in our hearts (I Thess. 5:9; Eph. 4:4; I Thess. 5:8; Acts 23:6; Phiip 3:11). "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. BUT he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mat. 24:12,13). "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. 11:22). "Nay, ye do WRONG, and DEFRAUD, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived" (I Cor. 6:8,9). "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things [sins] cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them" (Eph. 5:6,7). "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).

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall DEPART from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron" (I Tim. 4:1,2). "IF we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us" (II Tim. 2:12). "For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end" (Heb. 3:14). "Let us therefore FEAR, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it" (Heb. 4:1). "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure... 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 stedfastness" (II Pet. 1:10; II Pet. 3:17). "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, EVEN AS HE IS PURE" (I Jn. 3:2,3). "I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, AFTERWARD DESTROYED them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:5,6). "Blessed and HOLY is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on SUCH the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years" (Rev. 20:6). We need only to look at these verses honestly, and understand that it is impossible for any other scriptures to contradict the sobering truth of these verses, which is simply that it is up to us as to whether we are going to continue in the wholeness of our faith in Jesus, and the resulting holiness of that faith. We should also note the flip side of all of these verses, which is just as evident and true as what is written. Also it should be understood that all of these scriptures are taken from epistles that the apostles wrote to believers who were already born again and in the body of Christ by means of the baptism of the Spirit from Jesus (Mk. 1:8; Acts 1:4,5; I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27; II Cor. 3:17; II Cor. 5:17). The sad reality is that many saints of old, as well as many today, do NOT continue in the faith in the way that they began, and consequently have not obtained salvation, which according to the scriptures is the END result of our faith in Jesus IF we have endured faithfully in holiness till the end of our lives (Mat. 24:13; I Thess. 5:9; II Tim. 2:10; I Pet. 1:3-9). Jesus made it very clear in the parable of the vine and the branches that there would be born again believers in him who would not continue in their "first faith" and their "first love," and that they would be lost eternally (Jn. 15:5,6; I Tim. 5:12; Rev. 2:4). Herein is the reality of the fear of God. Being born again is one thing, but "growing up into him in all things," and REMAINING "rooted and grounded in love [and not waxing cold]" is yet another. So the only eternal security we have is if and when we die in holiness, and leave this world "in peace, without spot, and blameless" (II Pet. 3:14). And in all reality, why wouldn't we, seeing it is God's will to "save us to the uttermost?" (Heb. 7:25). Amen.