Eternal Security for the Believer:
By Dan Lirette
NOTE: I take one exception to this teaching, and that is that a non Believer and a believer, through deliberate resistance of the conviction of the Holy Spirit concerning personal sin, can blaspheme the Spirit to the place where a second chance is no longer possible???.this, however, is a separate teaching which I will not take time to discuss in this particular article. Today we deal with an issue which is HIGHLY debated amongst Christians of various denominational backgrounds.... This is the issue of Perseverance of the Saints versus the doctrine which teaches that once you become Born Again you can become UN-Born Again. In this letter, we're going to attempt to bring the ICM spin on the topic. Forget Calvin and Arminian and Macarthur and Corner! Let's start and FINISH at the Word of God. Ok, here goes.... 1- Can a TRUE Christian become a NON Christian through sin/falling away/denying the faith? Answer: Most reading this article have ALREADY given an answer in their minds, because they ALREADY believe that they know what the Bible teaches on this subject; if this is you, be it far from me to encourage you to read further....you have already come to your own conclusion. For those who do NOT know what Scripture teaches on this answer, let's start by saying this: a) When you become a Christian you become a Child of God...correct? Yes. John 1:12-13 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Ok, right here we see that once you receive Jesus Christ you become, immediately, a Child of God. If you have a child can you then STOP being the child's parent? Of course not! You may stop DOING what a parent should do for their child (food, clothing, etc etc) but you're tied by BLOOD, and you CANNOT "stop" being that child's parent. 1Peter 1:18-19 orasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot You see it? The BLOOD of Jesus Christ has REDDEMED YOU. Easton's Bible Dictionary states Redemption as this: Redemption: the purchase back of something that had been lost, by the payment of a ransom. The Greek word so rendered is _apolutrosis_, a word occurring nine times in Scripture, and always with the idea of a ransom or price paid, i.e., redemption by a lutron (see Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). There are instances in the LXX. Version of the Old Testament of the use of _lutron_ in man's relation to man (Lev. 19:20; 25:51; Ex. 21:30; Num. 35:31, 32; Isa. 45:13; Prov. 6:35), and in the same sense of man's relation to God (Num. 3:49; 18:15).There are many passages in the New Testament which represent Christ's sufferings under the idea of a ransom or price, and the result thereby secured is a purchase or redemption (comp. Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Gal. 3:13; 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Titus 2:14; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Rev. 5:9). The idea running through all these texts, however various their reference, is that of payment made for our redemption. The debt against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ's blood or life, which he surrendered for them, is the "ransom" by which the deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin and from its penal consequences is secured. It is the plain doctrine of Scripture that "Christ saves us neither by the mere exercise of power, nor by his doctrine, nor by his example, nor by the moral influence which he exerted, nor by any subjective influence on his people, whether natural or mystical, but as a satisfaction to divine justice, as an expiation for sin, and as a ransom from the curse and authority of the law, thus reconciling us to God by making it consistent with his perfection to exercise mercy toward sinners" (Hodge's Systematic Theology). When one becomes a genuine Child of God through Faith alone in Jesus Christ, his or her sins are FULLY paid, thus requiring NOTHING MORE to secure Salvation.... We are saved by the BLOOD of Jesus, REDEEMED FULLY by that Blood and our sins are PIAD IN FULL by that Blood. Once you become a Child of God....well, God is your FATHER, and how can GOD, who is Holy and Perfect and LOVING, cease being your FATHER? Some would argue that is a Christian goes back into sin and falls away from serving the Lord that that person is again LOST and NOT a Chrisian anymore. Such an argument is faulty, as the following will show: John 10: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 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. You see, when you become a Child of God, NO ONE can pluck you from the Mighty Hand of Almighty God! Not only THAT, but Jesus SPECIFICALLY states that you will NEVER perish.... either never means NEVER or it doesn't! Another Scriptural text states the same: Romans 8: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 ??For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. a) God FOREKNEW YOU: This means BEFORE you were born God KNEW YOU PERSONALLY! b) God PREDESTINATED YOU to be conformed to the image of CHRIST! What does this word "predesinate" mean? From: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary (Miriam-Webster) Main Entry: 1pre??des??ti??nate Pronunciation: prE-'des-t&-n&t, -"nAt Function: adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin praedestinatus, past participle of praedestinare : destined, fated, or determined beforehand Beloved, God determined BEFOREHAND that you would be saved! You have been PREdestined by God if truly you have been BORN OF GOD! c) God CALLED YOU! If God has CALLED YOU then you???re literally hooked up??? to the GREATEST POWER SOURCE KNOWN IN TIME AND IN ETERNITY! 1 Corinthians 1:23-24: We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. CHRIST is your power and your wisdom if truly you have been CALLED OF GOD! And what does Christ DO IN YOU if truly you have been CALLED? d) The TRULY Called of God are JUSTIFIED! Think of it this way: Justfied: Just-As-If-I???d never sinned! If you???re a Child of the Most High God then Jesus Christ???s death on the Cross PAID FOR YOUR ETERNAL LIFE! HIS Deah becomes YOUR Life! The Called are JUSTIFIED! Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. JUSTIFICATION???.Of LIFE! You are JUSTIFIED and have LIFE???not death! What happens to those who are Justified? Can the Justified LOSE their Justification? Can they LOSE what God has FREELY given them? Romans 8:30 again: ??????and whom he justified, them he also glorified. e) If you???re JUSTIFIED then God will GLORIFY you! To be glorified is to have an immortal and incorruptible Heavenly body! In short, to be GLORIFIED is to be in HEAVEN! Here???s what Matthew henry???s Commentary states on this particular point of interest: Whom he justified, them he also glorified. The power of corruption being broken in effectual calling, and the guilt of sin removed in justification, nothing can come between that soul and glory. This encourages our faith and hope; for, as for God, his way, his work, is perfect. The apostle speaks as one amazed, and swallowed up in admiration, wondering at the height and depth, and length and breadth, of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. The more we know of other things, the less we wonder; but the further we are led into gospel mysteries, the more we are affected by them. While God is for us, and we keep in his love, we may with holy boldness defy all the powers of darkness. You see, friend, if you???re a Child of God and are TRULY BORN AGAIN then you have only GOD to fear???not man???s false ideas and smokescreens of ???you better be good or God won???t love you anymore??? ???. You CANNOT stop being a Christian once you have been Redeemed by Jesus Christ! I mean, think about it! The ENTIRE CHRISTIAN LIFE is wrapped up in Romans 8:28-30! 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 ??For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. READ THAT AGAIN! From BEFORE BIRTH to AFTER DEATH our lives are literally SET for us by our Loving Heavenly Father! How clearer can our father be in how much Eternal Security means to Him and how much He desires to give that assurance to US, His Beloved?! Child of God, DO NOT FEAR! God is with you! Man will give you a thousand verses scattered here and there on ???how a Christian can fall from BEING a Christian??? and yet God???s WORD says: Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 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.
WWJD wrote: Once you become a Child of God....well, God is your FATHER, and how can GOD, who is Holy and Perfect and LOVING, cease being your FATHER? A: I have 4 children. I will never cease being their mother, but I will not defend them when they are wrong. One of my children has a problem with stealing. I taught him better than that. Does his disobedience mean he's no longer my child? Absolutely not! But neither does his being my child make his behavior acceptable. God is our Father and always will be ... but there is behavior (sin) that He will never find acceptable. Some would argue that is a Christian goes back into sin and falls away from serving the Lord that that person is again LOST and NOT a Chrisian anymore. Such an argument is faulty, as the following will show: John 10: 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 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. You see, when you become a Child of God, NO ONE can pluck you from the Mighty Hand of Almighty God! A: You'll notice I've inserted verse 27 to bring this Scripture into context. The sheep which are following Him shall never perish. Are you following Him if you have gone back to your lifestyle of sin? The preacher, for example, who ran off with the secretary had repented, been baptized, and even received the Holy Ghost. He was pastoring a church and guiding people's lives: teaching the truth, but not living it. Was he really following? I agree that nobody can pluck you from God's hand. You can, however, make the choice to leave. Luke 9: 62 - "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." That speaks pretty clearly to me, and tore my heart out as a teenager when a dear friend of mine left the church. To this day, the verse haunts me. If you leave, you are unfit for Heaven. You need to maintain your salvation. Paul said "I die daily." We identify with Christ's death by repentance, and it needs to be done DAILY to secure our salvation!
Once you become a Child of God....well, God is your FATHER, and how can GOD, who is Holy and Perfect and LOVING, cease being your FATHER?
A: I have 4 children. I will never cease being their mother, but I will not defend them when they are wrong. One of my children has a problem with stealing. I taught him better than that. Does his disobedience mean he's no longer my child? Absolutely not! But neither does his being my child make his behavior acceptable. God is our Father and always will be ... but there is behavior (sin) that He will never find acceptable. Some would argue that is a Christian goes back into sin and falls away from serving the Lord that that person is again LOST and NOT a Chrisian anymore. Such an argument is faulty, as the following will show: John 10:
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 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. You see, when you become a Child of God, NO ONE can pluck you from the Mighty Hand of Almighty God!
A: You'll notice I've inserted verse 27 to bring this Scripture into context. The sheep which are following Him shall never perish. Are you following Him if you have gone back to your lifestyle of sin? The preacher, for example, who ran off with the secretary had repented, been baptized, and even received the Holy Ghost. He was pastoring a church and guiding people's lives: teaching the truth, but not living it. Was he really following?
I agree that nobody can pluck you from God's hand. You can, however, make the choice to leave. Luke 9: 62 - "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." That speaks pretty clearly to me, and tore my heart out as a teenager when a dear friend of mine left the church. To this day, the verse haunts me. If you leave, you are unfit for Heaven. You need to maintain your salvation. Paul said "I die daily." We identify with Christ's death by repentance, and it needs to be done DAILY to secure our salvation!
WWJD, I hope that you will consider this in prayer, as you have asked me to do with a number of things. This is not a trivial matter - these are the basics of Christianity. It is very dangerous to leave people with the impression that "Christians" never need forgiveness because they have secured their place in Heaven. We are not better than anyone else - we must continually perform maintenance checks to be sure that we are still indeed following.
WWJD wrote:There's a huge difference between a Judas and a John.
For those of you who don't know Judas from John both were apostles. Both followed Christ. John was Jesus' best friend, and used of God tremendously in building the church after Jesus' return to Heaven. Judas, however, betrayed Christ - then hung himself. In other words, he quit following Christ. Hmmmm....but apparently though he was responsible for the death of Jesus and hung himself he went to Heaven anyway?
Write your own ending, but it may be good to put some research behind it. Or ... you can wait for eternity to arrive and find out for yourself.
BlinkeredKitten wrote: WWJD wrote:There's a huge difference between a Judas and a John. For those of you who don't know Judas from John both were apostles. Both followed Christ. John was Jesus' best friend, and used of God tremendously in building the church after Jesus' return to Heaven. Judas, however, betrayed Christ - then hung himself. In other words, he quit following Christ. Hmmmm....but apparently though he was responsible for the death of Jesus and hung himself he went to Heaven anyway? Write your own ending, but it may be good to put some research behind it. Or ... you can wait for eternity to arrive and find out for yourself.
Was Judas saved?
by Dan Lirette
Many say Judas was a Believer who ???lost??? his Salvation???however, what DOES the Bible say?John 6:70 :Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?Note the present tense of this statement from the Lord???.one of you IS (not HAS) a devil.This is more than a play on words, friend???Jesus said what he meant and meant what He said!Note also how Jesus, when praying to the Father, speaks of Judas:John 17:12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.The words ???son of perdition??? are the key in understanding that Judas was not a ???demonized Believer???...he was a FALSE convert and NEVER saved.So, then, what does ???son of perdition??? show?2 Thessalonians 2:3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perditionOnly the lost, such as the Antichrist of 2 Thessalonians, are termed ???son of perdition???!Judas wasn???t ???demonized??? as a BELIEVER; he was demonized by his father, the devil (John 8:44)!Can the Spirit of God live/reside/be present near or beside evil?
Yet, concerning the BELIEVER, satan DEMONIZING a believer is not possible as it???s off limits because of the All Powerful Blood of Jesus Christ!Judas was the son of perdition, a term applied to the Antichrist....he was stealing from the treasury consistently....he was among the 12 yet Jesus made clear that he not not OF the Fold, as "one of you IS (present tense) a devil.Those who teach Judas was a Believer are also stating, unknowingly, that Jesus Christ and satan can reside in the same temple!Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.