SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER IN CHRIST
. In the last few years the argument of ARMENIANISM against the
theology of Calvinism has flared up in the Body of believers and calls
for a review of what God says on this very important matter - not what
man or denominational dogmas say. This study will require us to look
at many scriptures, but in this particular matter, I will begin with
Romans 8:38 and 39:
. "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 form the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
. This is the inspired answer to the question of verse 35: "Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
. To express this in today's wording, once we are Christians, once
we know the love of Christ, once we have been justified by faith, who
is there, what power is there, that can separate us from the love of
Christ? And the answer, how full, how clear, not a shadow, not a
doubt, not a question left, when the apostle says that neither death
nor life shall separate! Can you think of anything which is neither
included in death nor in life? Neither death nor life shall separate!
. No unseen powers can separate the believer from Christ, "Neither
angels, nor principalities, nor powers." These terms are used again
and again in the New Testament, particularly in the Epistles, for
angelic hosts, good and evil. When our Savior rose from the dead He
spoiled principalities and powers, that is, He defeated all the hosts
of evil led by Satan; and so we may take it that the angels referred
to here are good angels, and the principalities and powers are
possibly evil angels.
. But there is nothing that good angels would do, and nothing that
evil angels can do , which will result in the separation of the
believer from Christ. And then further, he says, "Neither things
present nor things to come." Again let me put the question, Can you
think of any experience through which a believer might ever go which
is neither a thing present nor a thing to come? And the Holy Ghost
says that neither things present nor things to come shall be able to
separate us from the love of Christ. As though that were not enough,
He speaks in a more general way when He says that neither "height nor
depths (nothing in heaven, nothing in hell), nor any other created
thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord." It looks to me as though we are pretty safe
if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eternal Security: Its Meaning
. When we speak of the eternal security of the believer, what do we
mean? We mean that once a poor sinner has been regenerated by the
Word and the Spirit of God, once he has received a new life and a new
nature, has been made partaker of the divine nature, once he has been
justified from every charge before the throne of God, it is absolutely
impossible that this man should ever again be a lost soul. Having
said that, let me say what we do not mean when we speak of the eternal
security of the believer.
. We do not mean that it necessarily follows that if one professes
to be saved, if he comes out to the front in a meeting, shakes the
preacher's hand, and says he accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as his
Savior, that this person is eternally safe.
. It does not mean that if one joins a church or makes a profession
of faith, is baptized, becomes a communicant, takes an interest in
Christian work, that this person is forever secure.
. It does not mean that because one manifests certain gifts and
exercises these gifts in Christian testimony, that this person is
necessarily eternally secure.
. Our Lord Jesus Christ said to the people of His day, as recorded
in Matthew 7: 21-23: "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of
My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast
out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work
iniquity."
. Such people then may have been very active in what is called
Christian work - they have preached, they have cast out demons, that
is, their influence has been such that men and women have found
deliverance from satanic power through their ministrations in the name
of Jesus, they have professed with their lips, they have accomplished
many wonderful works, but they are found in that day among the lost,
and when they plead their great activity and their earnestness in
Christian testimony, the Lord says to them, "I never knew you."
Notice, He does not say to them. "I used to know you, but you have
forfeited My favor and I do not know you any longer." He says, "I
never knew you."
The Sheep of Christ
. You remember how He speaks of His own in John 10:27-30: "My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them our of My hand. 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."
. Of His own He says, "I know them." Of these others, in spite of
all their activity, in spite of all their accomplishments, He says in
the day of judgment, "I never knew you."
. This is a very solemn thing. This answers a question that is
frequently put to us. I do not know how many times I have had
individuals come to me with a "hypothetical" case like this: "Suppose
a man joined the church, who professed to be saved, who for a number
of years was a very active Christian worker, perhaps a Sunday school
teacher, perhaps an Elder or deacon in the church, maybe a minister;
but after some years of apparent consistent Christian living and
helpfulness in testimony he turns his back on it all, returns to the
world, utterly repudiates Christianity, and now denies IN TOTO the
Gospel that he once professed. How does that square with your
doctrine of the eternal security of the believer?"
. This does not touch the matter at all. The Apostle John tells us
how we are to understand a case like this. He states in the second
chapter and the nineteenth verse of his first Epistle, "that they were
not altogether of us." That is, it is possible to do all the things
that I have spoken of and yet never be regenerated. It is quite
possible to join a church to make Christian profession; It is quite
possibleq to observe the Christian ordinances, to teach and to preach,
and yet never be born again.
. If one teaches and preaches the truth, it will produce good
results, and will do men good whether the teacher or the preacher be
real or not, for it is the truth that God uses. Of course He can use
the truth to better advantage when it is proclaimed by a holy man
living to the glory of God, than when it is proclaimed by a hypocrite.
Nevertheless, God uses His truth regardless of who may proclaim it,
and that explains how people may do mighty works in the name of Christ
and yet never be born again.
New Creation
. In the third place, we base the doctrine of the eternal security
of the believer upon the fact of the new creation. In the fifth
chapter of second Corinthians, verse seventeen, we read: "therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new."
. That verse may be rendered like this, "Therefore if any man be in
Christ, this is new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new."
. What do we mean by new creation? Just this: we were once in the
place of death, we were once utterly lost and ruined. How did we get
there? Follow me now. It was not by any act of our own. Do you say,
"I did not get into the place of spiritual death by any act of my
own?" No, you did not. Do you say, "I was not lost because of any act
of my own?" No, you were not.
. Then why were you numbered among the lost? Because you were born
into the world a member of the old creation, of which Adam the first
was the head, and every child of Adam's race comes into the world lost
and under sentence of death. And so we read in this same chapter in
verse l4, "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge,
that if One died for all, then we were all dead."
The Two Adams
. Let me try to make that clear. Here is Adam the first, the head
of the old creation, and he was placed on trial in the Garden of Eden.
The entire world was represented in him, you were represented in him,
I was represented in him. As the Spirit of God says of Levi, "He was
yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him." (Heb. 7:l0)
. We, every one of us, were represented there in Adam when the old
creation was on trial. Adam failed, and God said, "In the day thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt die." As a result of that failure the old
creation fell down in death, and every person that has ever been born
in the world since that time was born down there; no one has been born
up here, where Adam the first started, except our Lord Jesus Christ,
and His birth was a supernatural one. Therefore, as members of the
old creation we were all dead, all lost; but now see what happened.
. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world - the written Word here
speaks of Him as the living Word - and He stood on this plane of
sinlessness. Adam was created sinless but fell; Jesus came, the
sinless One, conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of a virgin mother, but
He saw men down there in death, and at the cross He went down into
death, down to where man was, and came up in grace from death.
. But He did not come up alone, for God has quickened us together
with Christ, so that all who believe in Him are brought up from that
place of death; and as at one time we were made partakers of Adam's
race, so now we are made partakers of a new creation.
. What does God do for us now? Does He put us where Adam was
before and say, "Now behave yourselves, and you won't die again"? No,
He puts us up higher than Adam could ever have gone except by a new
and divine creation. "He hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Eph.2:6) Because we
belong to this new creation we can never be lost. You were lost
because the head of the old creation failed, and you went down with
him. You can never be lost unless the Head of the new creation falls,
and if He does you will go down with Him. But, thank God, He remains
on the throne where God Himself has put Him, in token of His perfect
satisfaction in the work He accomplished.
. You may have heard of the Irishman who was converted but was
seized with a dreadful fear that some day he might commit some great
sin and lose his soul, that he might be lost after all, and he
trembled at the thought. He went to a meeting and heard the words
read, "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." "Glory
to God!" shouted Pat; "whoever heard of a man drowning with his head
that high above water?" We are linked with Him, we belong to the new
creation, and that is why we shall never be lost.
Eternal Life Possessed Now
. In the last place, we rest the truth of the doctrine of the
eternal security of the believer upon the fact that the believer is
the present possessor of eternal life. It is not merely that if we
are faithful to the end we shall receive eternal life. There is a
sense in which that is true, there is a sense in which our hope is
eternal life.
. I am a Christian now if I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ;
believing on Him I have eternal life, but I have it in a dying body.
I am now waiting for the redemption of the body, and when the Lord
Jesus comes the second time He shall change this body of my
humiliation and make it like unto the body of His glory. Then I shall
have received eternal life in all its fullness, spirit, soul, and body
entirely conformed to Christ. In that sense I am hoping for eternal
life.
. But over, and over, and over again, Scripture rings the fact that
every believer is at the present time in possession of eternal life.
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up; That whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life."
. This life is nonforfeitable life, otherwise it would not be
eternal. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." (John 3:l6). Everlasting life is life that lasts
forever, and we have it now. "He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see
life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:36). "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him
that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5:24).
His Sheep Follow Him
. I have purposely left this point until last because people
generally take it for granted it will be the first passage used in
taking up this subject. In John l0, reading from verse 27, we are
told, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."
. Notice these three things. It matters not what profession a man
makes, if does not hear the voice of the Son of God he is not a
Christian, and therefore the Savior does not know him as his own. No
matter what profession he may make, if he does not follow the Lord
Jesus Christ he is only a sham and a fraud and a hypocrite. He may
follow for a little while outwardly, like those of whom the apostle
Peter speaks who walk in the way of righteousness and then turn from
it. "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." (2 Pet. 2:22).
. If that dog had ever been regenerated and become a sheep, if that
sow had ever been changed and become a lamb, neither would have gone
back to the filth; but, you see, the dog was always a dog, and the sow
was always a sow. They were just whitewashed, not washed white, they
were never regenerated, and so went back to the old things.
. But the sheep of Christ are different. "They follow Me," Jesus
says. Be careful. Do not profess to be one of His sheep if you do
not follow Him. It is the test of reality. There are many people who
tell us, "At such and such a time I was converted, I went forward, I
signed a card." You can do all of these things and be lost forever.
What you need is a new birth, and when you are born again, you have
God's assurance of salvation.
A Dangerous Doctrine?
. People say, "If you preach this doctrine of the eternal security
of the believer, men will say, 'Well, then it doesn't make any
difference what I do, I will get to heaven anyway.'" It makes a
tremendous difference what you do. If you do not behave yourself, it
shows that you are not a real Christian. I know that a real Christian
may fail, but the difference can be seen in Peter and Judas. Peter
failed, and failed terribly, but he was genuine, and one look from
Jesus sent him out weeping bitterly; his heart was broken to think
that he had so dishonored his Lord. But Judas companied with the Lord
almost three and a half years, but was a devil all the time; he was a
thief, and was seeking his own interest. He was even made the
treasurer of that company, and he held the bag, but we read, "He bare
away what was put therein" (John 12:6), as this has been literally
translated. At last remorse overtook him, not genuine repentance, and
what was the result? He went and hanged himself. He was never a
child of God.
. There is a great difference, you see, between a Christian and a
false professor.
Justified by Faith
. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and
I give unto them eternal life." Do you believe it? I do not
understand how people can read a passage like that and then talk about
a Christian losing his life. It would not be eternal if it could be
lost. "And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand." The original is very strong here. In the English a
double negative makes an affirmative, but in Greek it only strengthens
a declaration, "They shall never, no, never perish." It is
impossible, it is unthinkable that one who has eternal life shall ever
perish. "My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all; and
no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
. Here I am, a poor lost sinner, but the Lord in grace picks me up
and saves me, and I am in His hand. And now the Father puts His hand
around me too, and I am in the hand of the Father and the Son, and the
devil himself cannot get me unless he can loosen those hands. Could
you think of any greater security than to be in the hands of the
Father and the Son? "Never perish" - "eternal life" - what wondrous
words are these! Do not be afraid of the beginning of the Gospel that
God can freely forgive and justify a guilty sinner by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
. People try to put guards around that truth and say, "Yes, you are
justified by faith if you have enough good works to add to it." That
is not true; it is by faith alone, and good works spring from that.
When you know that you have eternal life, you will find your heart so
filled with love for Christ that you will try to live for His glory.
Objections
. There will be certain passages coming up in the minds of
different people and they will say, "What he has said may sound
logical enough, but what about this scripture and that?" Let me say,
there is no possible scripture that will come to your mind that the
present writer has not considered carefully over and over again. I
have not the time in one address to go into all these, but I can
assure you that having examined them all with the greatest degree of
care, I have never been able to find one that can set aside this:
"Neither death, not 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."
. When you have a clear, definite, positive scripture, do not allow
some passage that is perplexing, that is difficult to interpret, that
seems somewhat ambiguous, to keep you from believing the positive
statement, "He that believeth hath everlasting life."
. It is because I have salvation like this to offer men, it is
because God has sent me to proclaim a salvation like this to sinners,
that I have confidence in inviting people to come to Jesus, for I know
if they get in living touch with my Savior, He will make them His
forever.
. If you are interested in having the security and peace that
"passes any human understanding" we pray that you will RECEIVE the
Lord Jesus Christ as the one who paid for your sin on the cross at
Calvary. You may do this by praying to the Living Savior, Jesus, in
words such as these:
. FATHER, I AM SORRY FOR MY SINS AND MY SIN OF IGNORING YOUR WORD
AND FOLLOWING MEN TO BE THE ONES WHO CAN LEAD TO SALVATION. I NOW
KNOW THIS IS WRONG AND AGAINST YOUR WORD AND HUMBLY ASK FOR YOUR
FORGIVENESS AND MERCY. I ACKNOWLEDGE THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS AS
PAYMENT FOR MY SINS AND THANK YOU FOR THIS RELEASE. LORD JESUS, COME
INTO MY HEART AND LIVE THERE AND GUIDE MY STEPS FROM THIS DAY FORWARD.
ALLOW ME TO BE YOUR VESSEL ON EARTH TO CARRY THE TRUE MESSAGE OF YOUR
LOVE TO ALL MEN. THESE THINGS I NOW PRAY IN THE NAME OF MY TRUE
SAVIOR AND LORD, JESUS CHRIST. AMEN.
Computers for Christ - San Jose