Eternal Security? Free Grace?

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 2:1-3). “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end… Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Heb. 3:6,12-14). “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… Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (Heb. 4:1,11). “Who in the days of his [Jesus] flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared” (Heb. 5:7). “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).

“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he [the believer] was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:26-31). "Through faith he [Moses] kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them“ (Heb. 11:28). "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. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more…

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven…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. 12:14- 19,25,26,28,29). Wow, wow, and WOW! Where on earth is the space to believe “eternal security” or “once saved always saved” in these passages my friend? Here we see absolutely nothing but a continuing flow of thought in the holy Ghost that signifies nothing but serious warning against the mindset that “being under grace” means that we have some kind of lock on eternal life, regardless of the condition of our heart and our deeds. No wonder the apostle Paul admonished us to “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philip. 2:12). These quotes are, as you can see, from one single book in the Bible. And make no mistake friend, this is a new testament book written under the grace dispensation. These kinds of sobering warnings were written due to the same reason that the following passage was written: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6:1,2).

Be certain that there is no scripture that contradicts the overwhelming evidence of truth that we have seen here from the Bible regarding the reality of the fear of God being very much intact under the new covenant, but rather confirmation. So why would I see fit to write about so much godly terror that we have seen conveyed from these passages from Hebrews? Simple. The fear of God has been more than anything else, eliminated by the cheery Christian Gospel that prevails over the minds of God’s people today. There is a very good reason indeed my friend, that the scripture admonishes us to “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling,” and many, many like admonitions and warnings as well (Psm. 2:11). In conclusion let me echo the sure words of the great apostle Paul: “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (II Cor. 5:9-11). That sounds nothing at all like what is conveyed so widely today as ‘free grace.’ And note once again that this passage is from the new testament. For some strange reason most people have been convinced that God has changed who and what he is since old testament times. He most assuredly has not (Mal. 4:6; Heb. 13:8; Jas. 1:17). There simply can be no contradiction of this sobering, powerful truth unless one is willing to make himself look quite foolish trying. May God be merciful to one and all. Amen.