Sadly, there are
some Christians who erroneously think the doctrine that we call eternal
security is a dangerous heresy. They say that a believer must
then perform to some level of goodness, faithfulness, and religious
commitment in order to remain
saved and in
God's favor. They ignore the fact that Paul, "
the Apostle to the Gentile's, (Rom 11:13), wrote that All those
who have believed to receive salvation
in Christ are
eternally secure, being "SEALED
unto the day of (full) redemption" (Eph 4:30). Yet some
think, after one's initial salvation "by
grace through faith," they can be kept
saved only by then keeping certain religious laws, precepts,
and principles, mostly established in the Old Testament and given to
Israel
.
Paul
records that many Galatians had similarly backslid into the same erroneous
trap of religious legalistic lies. You see, "certain
false brethren" (Gal
2:4) were sent to the Galatians to "to
spy out their liberty"
(Gal 2:4). These
men were sent "from
James" (Gal 2:11), the leader of the Messianic
Jerusalem church to bring the Galatians under "the
Law," that is to "Judaize" these Gentiles who
had believed Paul's "gospel of
the grace of God" (Act 20:24) of "salvation
by grace, through faith" alone.
Thus, Paul wrote the following.
"O
Foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched
you, that ye should not obey
the truth (of the grace gospel) , before whose eyes Jesus
Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2
This only would I learn of you, (or, "Tell
me,)" Received Ye The Spirit By
The Works Of The Law, or (was it) By The Hearing of Faith?
3 Are
ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made
perfect by the flesh (human self-effort)? (Galatians
3:1-3)
Some today say we
need to do what Jesus of Nazareth "commanded,"
even though Jesus was still then speaking "the
Law" (Matt 5:17) explicitly
to "the lost sheep of the house
of Israel (only)" (Matt
15:24). Jesus was NOT speaking to the members of "the
church, which is body of Christ" today because it did not
yet exist.
Some then also require
that believers keep their "denominational laws," and other
manmade tenets in order to remain in good favor with the Lord; some
maintain rules such as don't go to
movies, and don't drink liquor or eat in restaurants that serve liquor,
etc.
All such external
religious law requirements are antithetical to "the
gift" of God's "grace"
for today. Self effort "to do" any of "the works" of "the
Law" is strongly refuted by Pauline Biblical truth. Such
foolishness as self-effort to do "the
works of the Law" in order to remain saved disbelieves the
truth of God's consistent faithfulness
and favor toward all the regenerated
(born-again) believers... even when they fail.
"Knowing
that a man is NOT Justified
by the WORKS of THE LAW, but (Rather)
by the Faith of Jesus Christ, even (that is) we
have believed in Jesus Christ, (so) that we might be
Justified by the Faith
(faithfulness) of Christ, NOT
by the works of the law: for by
the works of the law shall No flesh (person) be justified. (Gal
2:16)
"Blessed
be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who HATH blessed us with
ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ:
4 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 (His) love"
(Ephesians 1:3-4)
We
who placed our faith in Christ to receive Him as Savior "hath
already been blessed with all spiritual blessing in Christ,"
and in God who "chose us before
the foundation of the world." God the Father did all the
work of salvation for
us ... in and through Christ's cross... offering us "salvation
by grace through faith alone in Christ, as the GIFT of God"
(paraphrased Eph 2:8-9). How
can we then be lost to Him simply because after we received His free "gift"
of salvation, we are yet unfaithful to Him at times and still commit some
acts sin?
It
was God; "Who
hath (once and for all) Saved Us, and called us with an holy
calling, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which Was
Given Us In Christ Jesus Before The World Began" (2
Timothy 1:9). Our
salvation was; "NOT
By Works Of Righteousness Which We Have Done,
but According To His Mercy He Saved Us,
by the washing of regeneration, and renewing
of the Holy Ghost; (Titus
3:5). Our
growth in righteous living comes by only His ongoing work of renewal
within us. We learn to let go and trust Him to be our
life and Lord (governor)
mostly as we endure life's God ordained trials.
Paul
writes these words to Timothy concerning all of us who are at times NOT faithful to the Lord; Paul says the
Lord always remains faithful toward us.
"If
We Believe NOT,
yet
(still) He (the Lord) abideth faithful: he cannot deny
himself." (2 Timothy 2:13)
We
need to consider how it was that we were initially reconciled
to God and saved
in order to see how it is that we are to be kept
saved.
First,
Paul says we were initially "saved
by GRACE, through
faith, it is the
Gift of God, NOT of
works, lest any man boast (Eph 2:8-9). To this
some skeptics would say, "Yes, we
are saved by grace, BUT
then we need to love God, be faithful, and work for God in order to please
God."
Paul here
tells us exactly how we are kept
saved and in
God's favor, regardless of our success or failure. Col.
2:6 AS
(Gk., hos, same manner
as) Ye have therefore Received Christ Jesus the Lord, so
walk ye in him:
Here
Paul is saying, the same way as we were saved, which was "by
grace through faith in Christ,"
is exactly how we are to "walk,"
being kept saved. We
began by being saved
by grace through faith,
when we "received Him
(Christ)" into our spirit (
Col
1:27). Now Paul says we are to also "walk"
daily on the very same basis, confidently
trusting in God's love and grace as
our eternal security.
We can be confident that ultimately, Christ
will bring us into living victoriously, with His rest and peace
in our souls.
Then skeptics may
say. "But we need to love God
in order to be kept saved and in God's favor." But Paul says its the
other way around - nothing can separate us from "the
love of Christ." "Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ." It's
significant that the Apostle Paul, in his thirteen epistles, never
once tells us about his love for Christ... Paul is always telling us about
Christ's
unconditional love for him and for others.
By contrast we see
that "the Law" is
required for righteousness from the book of Exodus right up to and
including to Jesus' words in the Gospels. Jesus commanded
Israel
; "Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God" (Mat
27:37). The terms of "the
gospel of the grace of God" (Act s20:24) that Paul
received from Christ to teach the "body
of Christ" puts it the other way around, telling us how
deeply God
loves us — and
also that God's love begets... our love
in return. Paul wrote: "The
Love Of Christ Constraineth Us ..." (2 Corinthians 5:14)
The Apostle Paul
experienced discouragements that would have caused him to give up the work
of the Lord a thousand times, but he could not. Why?
Because, "the love of
Christ constraineth us" (2
Cor. 5:14). Paul's trust in God's love is what bore him along
in his walk, having confidence in the Lord's unconditional love.
No doubt Paul had
this very thing in mind when he wrote this. "For
Thy sake we are killed all the day long…accounted as sheep for the
slaughter" (Rom
8:36). Are we therefore defeated? Far from it. Paul
continues... "NAY,
in all these things we are more than
conquerors through Him that Loved Us" (v37).
Not only do we win the battle of life; we are "more
than conquerors."
Such trying
adversities only serve to draw us into still deeper
dependence upon Christ, and to a closer fellowship with Him,
thus enriching our Christian experience of Him. When people or
nations engage in battle, generally no one wins; both lose. But Paul's
personal experience serves as an example that in the Christian life, "tribulation,
distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril [and] sword" (Rom
8:35 AMP) bring us more than victory when our trials are
borne for Him who loved us.
Romans 8 opens with
"No Condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1) and closes with "No
Separation- from the love of Christ" (v35). This
summarizes the new paradigm for Christian living. The Apostle Paul, lists
all the elements of creation, in heaven or on earth, declaring that none
of them "can separate us from
the love of God, which is
[manifested] in Christ Jesus" (v38-39). Whether "death
or life, heavenly principalities, things present or things to come, height
or depth or any other created thing" — none
of these can threaten our security or "separate
us from the love of God," which is manifested to us in
Christ Jesus.
In
the light of God's love,
seen by "No
Condemnation" and "No
Separation" for believers, for to
teach that our
devotion, consecration, and religious service is required for God's
blessing is to reverse
God's order for us living in the grace dispensation. This false
preaching is of "the
Law"
that "is
not of faith"
(Gal 3:12).
"The
Law" makes God's blessing upon man contingent
upon man's devotion and faithfulness. But
actually, God's grace and love is conferred upon us as
Undeserving, as an Unconditional
Blessing.
"But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that, While We Were Yet Sinners,
Christ died for us. (Rom
5:8)
Even
as believers, we must still learn to open
our mind and heart to receive the Lord's love in its full measure.
Sadly, so many Christians limp through their lives starved for real
love because they've not yet learned the art of receiving God's continuing love... by faith.
We were initially "saved
by grace through faith" and
we still walk "by
grace through faith."
This is a learned discipline, training our minds to trust the Lord, even
in the midst of life's trials.
"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. (Romans
8:28)
One
of the Evil One's favorite deceptions is to undermine our confidence in
The Lord's faithfulness and in His unconditional love. God continues to
work in the heart of every believer - it is God's continuing work. "For
It Is God Which Worketh In You
both to will and to do
of his
good pleasure. (Philippians
2:13) Don't
permit the Devil to lie to you through any person, including well meaning
Pastors or teachers, ignorant of the truth.
The
words "in
you" (above) raises
an important aspect of what occurred the moment we were saved. We were
saved when "the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus" literally came into our
human spirit and we were regenerated, reborn. I sometimes
use the imperfect metaphor of tea in
water to demonstrate the union by which the believer and Christ
are made "one
spirit." - "But he
that is joined unto the Lord is One Spirit. (1
Cor 6:17). Whereas
there was two spirits before our regeneration - Christ's eternal "Spirit
of Life" and our "human spirit" (cf., Jn 3:6,
1Cor 6:17) they became "one
spirit" when Christ came to dwell within their spirit in an eternal union of spirit. Once the tea and water become
mingled together as "one"
they can't be separated.
9b
...the Spirit
of God Dwell IN YOU. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. 10
if CHRIST BE
IN YOU, the body
is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is
life because of
righteousness. (Rom 8:9-10)
Our salvation is not
only a judicial matter of having our record of sins being washed clean
through Christ shed blood. The point of our salvation is that Christ
would come to dwell
within us as our new life. So can we say Jesus came into
us, but He will leave us if we fail to live righteously? This is a
ridiculous. He "will
never leave the or forsake thee" (Heb 13:5). Our
devotion to Him may follow
our receiving God's love, but it usually doesn't occur right away in
proper measure, or as quickly as we might expect. It is God who gave us His
grace and it is He
who is faithful toward us, working in us.
1
Cor. 1:9
GOD
IS FAITHFUL,
by whom ye were called unto the
fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
1Cor.
2:12
Now we
have received…the
spirit which is of God;
(so) that we might know the things that Are Freely
(graciously) Given To Us of God.
Galatians
2:16 Knowing
that a man is NOT Justified by
the Works of the Law, but
by the Faith of (ek, from) Jesus Christ, even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, (so) that we might be Justified By The Faith
of Christ, and NOT by the Works of the Law: for by
the works of the law shall No flesh be justified.
The love that
brought Christ down from heaven to die in shame and disgrace for
our sins is
not affected by our failures now as Christians. The Lord has ascended to
heaven “now to appear in the
presence of God for us”
(Heb. 9:24). He is in us and yet He also is “at
the right hand of God” to “make
intercession for us” (Rom.
8:34). He is able
to save us “to the uttermost”
because “He
ever lives to make intercession for
us.” (Heb. 7:25 ).
Our failures now,
after having trusted Christ as Savior, may and should trouble our
consciences, but this does not change the fact that we are God’s
regenerated children through faith in
Christ, who died for ALL
our sins - past, present and future sins. Though we may be
unworthy, God would have us turn our
heart to Him to
be spiritually refreshed.
Whenever "the veil"
of self-serving sin and failure seems to comes between us and the Lord, we
can simply turn our heart
back to Him and have that
"veil... taken away"; "Nevertheless when
it (the heart) shall turn to the Lord, the
vail shall be taken away. (2Cor
3:16).
We
can be confident. "...
If God be
for us, who can be against us?
32 He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all...33
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifieth. 34
... It is Christ ... at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. 35
Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Rom
8:31-35).