Eternal Security

God's Wonderful Reassurance To Man

 

     Among the cults people are kept in uncertainty about their future relationship with God after this life. They are put in a position of having to earn whatever eternal destiny they seek. Usually their position in that eternity rests in the hands of the leadership of the group whether the leader be a single individual or a board. Unfortunately many of our Christian brethren are not much better off for they too dwell in uncertainty that something might intervene at the last moment to cause them to miss heaven. This keeps them in fear, and fear is part and parcel with that which we often call bondage.

 

For  ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;

but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,

whereby we cry, Abba Father.

                                                                    Romans 8:15

 

Please notice that a being called the Spirit of Bondage is being referred to here. It is a demon that is being spoken of. The outcome of this demonic beings influence is fear. It is only those who experience victory over this demon of bondage in their lives who are not only freed from fear, but imparted with the boldness and confidence to enter the throne room of God as a child coming to his parent. This is a wonderful thing which includes all the intimacy a child might expect from a loving parent.

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     I have heard it said that John Wesley, with some amazement, viewed the Baptists and others who understood some-thing of the security from uncertainty to be had in Christ Jesus. He was surprised by their labor and sacrifice. He thought it strange since they considered their transaction with God as unalterable that they should have any incentive to work. Perhaps the falling away that has occurred in so many within the denomination he founded is due in part to being uncertain about the certainty of Christ's work. But that fault would not lie at the door of Christ, but at the door of men who have held the truth in unbelief. God does not desire men who serve Him to earn something, rather He desires those who give themselves to Him in love responding to the love He has shone them.

 

As the Father hath loved Me,

so have I loved you:

continue ye in My love           John 15:9

 

I am crucified with Christ:

nevertheless I live;

yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:

and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,

who loved me,

and gave Himself for me.                                 Galatians 2:20

 

 

 

{H.A. Ironside contributed much to understanding this doctrine}

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself,

and God, even our Father,

which hath loved us,

and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

Comfort your hearts,

and establish you in every good word and work.                     II Thessalonians 2: 16 & 17

 

In this was manifested the love of God toward us,

because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world,

that we might live through Him.

Herein is love,

not that we loved God, but that He loved us,

and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved if God so loved us,

we ought also to love one another.                          I John 4: 9-11

 

Looking at what we have just read we can see the issue is God's love and the depth of His commitment behind His extending that love. I believe this is precisely a reason Satan has to attack the knowledge of our certainty of relationship.

 

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying,

Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:

therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.                     Jeremiah 31:3

 

 

     Not only is the endurance God's love brought into question, but also the adequacy of what He did for us as the only sacrifice for our sins. If He is not able to keep that which is redeemed in spite of all odds, then we are without hope since clearly man cannot keep himself.

 

Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost

that come unto God by Him,

seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them                  Hebrews 7:25

 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

For I am persuaded,

that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,

nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,

shall be able to separate us from the love of God,

which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.                                              Romans 8: 35 & 38-39

 

 

pg 2

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,

and they follow me:

And I give unto them eternal life; an they shall never perish,

neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.                  John 10: 27-28

                                                                               

My Father,

which gave them Me,

is greater than all;

and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand

I and My Father are One.                                                    John 10: 29-30

 

Since God claims no limitation in being able to keep that which is committed unto Him, we have an insurmountable obstacle if we believe a man can be saved and lost. All that is left one who refuses to believe the precious doctrine of eternal security must be doing mental gymnastics and taking God's words out of context to maintain their stubborn hold on denial. Ultimately they are the losers for the refusal to believe what is plain.

 

 

The truth that a person is eternally secure is one of the grand themes of the Scriptures. If a person believes in the inerrancy of the word of God they must also believe in the relevancy of the semantics in which that word is framed. Therefore arguments for the truth of eternal security which proclaims that the word says not 'any man' may pluck the believer from the Lord Jesus Christ's hand must also include the individual who entered into that commitment in the beginning. Otherwise the term 'any man' is not inclusive or absolute. So we see the cleverness of the trap laid for any who would deviate from the word at this point. Ultimately their reliance upon that word will crumble because they have allowed question to creep in. It might also be pointed out that so-called proof texts that man may lose salvation have to be taken out of context which also violates the word and ultimately makes it of non-effect in other ways.

 

 

      The word teaches we who are saved are eternally certain about our future destination in many places. I believe the greatest of these passages are to be found in the book of Ephesians. Certainly it is very beautiful and expressive:

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. (1:3)

In this beginning paen of praise it is clear the acts on our behalf are totally based on what is done by the persons of the godhead known as the Father and the Son, not by our own

According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,

that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. (1:4)

A great mystery is revealed that because of God's foreknowledge, The Father chooses to never see those who come by way of the Son in their sinful state. He has never imputed sin to us and never will.

pg 3

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself,

according to the good pleasure of His will. (1:5)

The special relationship of an adopted child within a family always insures them an inheritance.

Adoption places one within a family. We may reject friends, but we can never deny our own family members, no matter how they vex us, because the fact of relationship remains.

To the praise of the glory of His grace,

wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved. (1:6)

Here is revealed the height of God's purpose. It is greater than us and inseparably tied to His person.

In whom we have redemption through His blood,

the forgiveness of sins,

according to the riches of His grace; (1:7)

Again what we are benefited with is revealed to not be dependent upon anything to do with us. It is His blood that redeems, and the efficacy of that redemption is according to the 'riches of His grace' which would be less than an attribute of The Complete God if it were lacking in any way.

Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; (1:8)

Now with the wisdom and prudence of God brought into the picture, we must understand that if anything is lacking in God's plan it would exhibit an imperfection in the perfect God. So His plan for our salvation must be perfect, it must be full proof or His wisdom and prudence would be revealed as deficient.

Having made known unto us the mystery of His will,

according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself:  (1:9)

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in One

 all things in Christ,

both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him:  (1:10)

What is revealed here that is new is that the scope of His redemptive plan in Christ includes all God's creation, both in heaven and earth. The fact that it is entirely dependent on the Godhead continues to pulse through the passage.

[In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,

being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will: (1:11)

That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. (1:12)

God only takes counsel with Himself.

He only works after the highest possible purpose, which is also Himself.

It is good He did not seek counsel in His creation else their would be no hope for us.

The inheritance as one preset proclaims the foreknowledge and choosing by the One Who changes not negating the possibility that it could be a false gift to be withdrawn.

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,

the gospel of your salvation in whom also, after that ye believed,

ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise. (1:13)

pg 4

Notice the text does not say ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit; It says ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit. It is saying the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, was literally pressed into you, putting the mark of God upon you. This mark conveys the message that the believer who wears His mark is God's own. This is a separate and simultaneous act of God's grace at salvation, being immediate in its completion.

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,

unto the praise of His glory. (1:14)

God has couched this transaction in legal terms which every person who has ever bought land or buildings should recognize. The third person of the Triune God has moved into the believer from the time of conversion and set up residency until the completion of redemption, which we know from Scripture to be that day we are acknowledged by our Living Lord Jesus, who has ever lived to make intercession for us, in the throne room of the Father.

 

     Thus only in the knowledge that all who trust in Christ are eternally secure may we understand why the word salvation occupies all three parts of speech at the same time:

I have been saved;: From before the foundations of the world and at the moment I surrendered my life to His love.

I am being saved; In the current activity of Christ on my behalf of which I am reassured by the indwelling Spirit of God.

I will be saved; When I stand before the Lord and He redeems me (the purchased possession) and I surrender the indwelling Spirit and go into the state of living forever in the Presence of Him who is eternity.

 

     And yet I could go on. This subject is written throughout the course of scripture from Genesis to Revelation. I believe it was why God pursued to Jonah and brought Him back when He could just as easily raised up another. It is why some saints find death when caught repeatedly in unrepented sin. Such a one is turned over for the destruction of the body as a sign, even though the soul is saved. Eternal security and the believers certainty are issues than transcends the moment. They not only take away fear and uncertainty but they testify to the power of our God. Also they give us boldness in the face of peril that we need not hesitate to stand for fear all might not be right so that we could attain unto the Eternal.

 

            Praise God from whom all blessings flow

            Praise Him all creatures here below

            Praise Him above ye heavenly host

            Praise Him Father, Son, and Holy Ghost....Amen.

                                                               Christian Doxology

 

            Jonsquill Ministries

P. O. Box 752

Buchanan, Georgia 30113

171001-1