Rom 8:37-39
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV
Charles Ryrie, in his book So Great Salvation, quoted the late Harry Ironside:
Harry Ironside stated that salvation was like Noah inviting a pagan in his day to place his trust in God's Word and come in to the ark. Some view salvation like Noah offering to put a peg on the outside of the ark. "If you just hang on through the storm, you'll be saved." Salvation is not dependent on our holding on to God, but on our being securely held by and in Christ.
I had the majority of the message done, and was completing it last night when I had an interesting discussion with a fellow Christian on Facebook. She is a former member of a church that teaches that you can lose your salvation, but now attends a Baptist church. Up until last night, she did not believe in Eternal Security...but now she has much food for thought.
With this in mind, let's take a brief overview of the doctrine and perhaps solidify the teaching in our mind, along with providing great comfort to those who have never come to terms with the doctrine.
I) Some Flawed Ideas On Eternal Security
Before we go very far, let me state that of all of the doctrines of the Bible, Eternal Security is the nearest and dearest to my heart aside from the major doctrines regarding the Godhead himself.
When properly understood, this is a doctrine that is a great comfort to the believer, and a source of greater confidence in God. However, if it is misconstrued, it can be a source of great damage to a person's faith.
Let's take a look at some of the flawed ideas on eternal security:
A) Flawed Biblical Interpretation
Folks that are in the "eternal insecurity" camp as I call it use certain proof scriptures that just don't add up.
Here are a few:
2 Peter 2:21-22
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."
NKJV
The problem with using this scripture is that it has nothing to do with "falling away" or losing one's salvation. If you check the context, the entire chapter is dealing with false teachers who were never saved to begin with. John speaks of these false teachers, whom he calls "antichrists"--small a--in 1 John:
1 John 2:18-19
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. NKJV
John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. NKJV
Again, if you check the context, this speaks of what would look to be believers but instead are not at all. A similar line of thought would be the "thorny ground hearer" in Jesus' parable of the sower. Quick growth, but no roots.
But perhaps the keystone scripture used is Hebrews 6:4-6:
Heb 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. NKJV
Charles Ryrie, in his NASB Study Bible, concisely and correctly shows the different ideas behind this scripture:
6:4-6 This much-debated passage has been understood in several ways.
(1) Arminians hold that the people described in these verses are Christians who actually lose their salvation. If this be so, notice that the passage also teaches that it is impossible to be saved a second time.
(2) Some hold that the passage refers not to genuine believers but to those who only profess to be believers. Thus the phrases in verses 4-5 are understood to refer to experiences short of salvation (cf. v. 9). The "falling away" is from the knowledge of the truth, not personal possession of it.
(3) Others understand the passage to be a warning to genuine believers to urge them on in Christian growth and maturity. To "fall away" is impossible (since, according to this view, true believers are eternally secure), but the phrase is placed in the sentence to strengthen the warning. It is similar to saying something like this to a class of students: "It is impossible for a student, once enrolled in this course, if he turns the clock back which cannot be done, to start the course over. Therefore, let all students go on to deeper knowledge." In this view the phrases in verses 4-5 are understood to refer to the conversion experience.
Notice how the words "enlightened" (10:32), "taste" (2:9), and "partakers" ("share," 12:10) are used elsewhere in Hebrews of genuine experiences.
B) Flawed Understanding of the Cross of Christ
When Christ died on the cross, did he die for all sins or only some? Did your salvation include forgiveness only for those sins that were already committed, but without any guarantee of future sins?
Christ died for all of your sins:
Rom 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; NKJV
Heb 9:12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. NKJV
2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. NKJV
Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
C) Flawed Ideas On What The Doctrine Really Is
The woman that I spoke of earlier told me that, when she was a child, heard a preacher state that eternal security meant that when someone got saved it gave them license to sin. In other words, there is no consequences for the sinning saint, that a person could wantonly sin and have no consequences.
This has unfortunately been the warped, convoluted idea that George Sodini, the mass murderer at the LA Fitness Center in Bridgeville. This is exactly what people fear about the doctrine of Eternal Security...that people will do whatever they want because they have no consequences.
Here is an excerpt from Channel 4's coverage of the incident:
A post dated Dec. 31, 2008, on Sodini's blog says "this guy" -- meaning the church's pastor -- "teaches (and convinced me) you can commit mass murder then still go to heaven. Ask him." It goes on to say, "In any case, guilt and fear kept me there 13 long years until Nov 2006. I think his crap did the most damage."
Later, a post dated Aug. 3 -- the day before the shooting -- says, "Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not matter. I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them."
This is not what the doctrine of Eternal Security teaches at all. This is a perversion of the Scriptures.
How do we know we are saved? That is where Sodini went wrong with his theology. There was no "proof in the pudding" so to speak.
Here is one of the litmus tests in Scripture for the faith:
1 John 1:5-7
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
NKJV
1 John 2:3-6
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
NKJV
Another litmus test...and there are more than just these two...is found in Hebrews 12:
Heb 12:5-11
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
"My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives."
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. NKJV
II) Eternal Security In A Nutshell
I could spend another hour on the doctrine of Eternal Security, showing the scriptures that prove this to be true. However, let's just look at a few.
Signed--Into the Lamb's Book of Life
Rev 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. NKJV
Rev 17:8 And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. NKJV
Rev 21:27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. NKJV
Sealed--Until The Day of Redemption
Eph 1:13
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
and in
Psalm 37:28: For the LORD loves justice, and does not forsake His saints; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. (NKJ)
Delivered--As a son of God
Romans 8:14-15
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
