The Eternal Security of the Believer

There are approximately 100 Scripture verses affirming the fact that once a person is saved they are saved for all eternity. There are a few “gray area” passages that people tend to relate to as proof this isn’t true.

A basic principle of Bible interpretation is when you come to a verse you do not know what it means go to a verse that speaks on the same topic you do understand and interpret the one of unknown meaning in light of what is known.

Pivotal to this topic is John 3:16 and the little word “hath,” meaning “once and for all.” The meaning is obvious. That being the standard all difficult passages should be interpreted in light of it.

Another verse with clear meaning is Romans 8: 35, “Who shall separate us from the love of God….” After listing possibilities the conclusion is “nothing.” Absolutely nothing.

John 5: 24: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death into life.” It is hard to overlook that verse.

Key words are “everlasting” and “is passed.” The latter is aorist tense which means “has once and for all passed.”

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them … and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28).

Operative expressions in this verse are “eternal life,” and “they shall never perish.” “Never” translates to the Greek word which means literally “not ever at any time.” In the Greek text it is a strong declarative negative used for emphasis meaning it just doesn’t happen; they just don’t perish —- ever.

John 1:7 notes, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”

When He gives a gift He doesn’t take it back. Once we “become the children of God” when we do things unbecoming of God’s children, we don’t un-become His child.

Our salvation is not based on what we do or don’t do, but on what Jesus has done.

Now a question posed by Scripture for those who believe you can lose your salvation.

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, 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” (Hebrews 6: 4-6).

If you can lose your salvation how many times can you lose it and be saved again? The Scripture answers with a clarion “none.”

Note the obvious. “If” a person could be saved and lost no one can “renew them again to repentance.” That precludes being saved and lost, saved and lost, lost and saved, etc.

The little word “If” is the basis for understanding. In the Greek language there are four cases. The one used here gives the following meaning to the word “If.” “If a person could be saved and lost, if he could, but he can’t, but if he could, he couldn’t be saved again.”

Now use your imagination and draw the following on the chalkboard of your mind or better still get paper and pencil and draw it out to keep.

In the upper right hand corner of the page write the reference John 1:12: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” “To become” is the aorist tense which means “at a point in time, divorced from time, and perpetuated into eternity to once and for all become.” That point in time is when the individual trusts Christ as Savior.

To visualize this draw a large circle. In the middle of the circle put an “X.”  Make it look good; it represents you, the believer, one who has been saved.

As the “X” is in the circle so the believer is in Christ.

On the outside top of the circle write the word “Relationship.” As the “X’ is in the circle so the believer is in relationship with Christ. The believer has become the child of God.

Believers do things unbecoming of children of God. What happens then? Is their salvation lost? NO!

Now, inside the circle draw a square so that the “X” is in the middle of it. On the top outside of the square write the word “Fellowship.” When a believer is doing God’s will, living according to the Scripture, being filled with the Spirit he or she is in “Fellowship” with God. There and only there is a person truly happy, fulfilled, and productive.

To envision what happens when a Christian sins, place a large dot outside the square but still inside the circle. This represents the believer who has sinned. At this point the believer’s fellowship with God is broken, but not the relationship. Communion with God is broken, but not the union. They are still God’s child, though His disobedient child.

It is in this state believers are most unhappy and unproductive. They have placed themselves in a position to merit God’s discipline. Hebrews 12: 6, “Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”

The words “discipline” and “disciple”come from the same root meaning “to train.” Because God loves His children He trains them using chastening and scourging as two techniques. Chasten refers to light discipline and scourge to severe discipline.

The purpose is to direct people back into “Fellowship.”

First, digress and put a check outside the circle. It represents an unsaved person. Such a person is not the world’s most unhappy individual. Satan will give such a person “kicks” lest they realize a need and turn to Christ. The world’s most unhappy person is represented by the dot in the circle but outside the square; the Christian out of fellowship.

God’s discipline is intended to train the believer to return to “Fellowship.”

I John 1:9 tells how. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The confession of sin relates to salvation. The cleansing “from all unrighteousness,” that is negative righteousness, is a reference to the sins of believers.

“If” means it is optional. “We” means it is personal. No one can do it for us. “Confess” means to agree with God about it, acknowledge it is sin, repent, and ask forgiveness. In that moment the believer is back in fellowship.

The practice is called spiritual rebound. It means to get back on the mark. There is where God wants believers because He knows it is the state in which they have the optimum joy of their salvation and are most fulfilled.

Every Christian should ask and answer as to where they are now. Which represents you? Is it the check mark, the dot or the “X?”

The Devil You Say

Are you inclined to ask questions for which there are no answers? Keep in mind God has told us everything we need to know. All “need to know” questions have answers. There are questions seeking to know what we don’t need to know. All we really need to know about God is found in this text.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1: 18 – 21).

First, He opposes all unrighteousness. That is logical in that “God is love.” The very essence of love is God.

Next, what can be known about God has been made known in Scripture and creation.

Finally, in this passage the issue is not what is unknown, but the rejection of the known. Why and how? The answer is found in this text: “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Revelation 12:9).

Speaking of the Devil metaphorically Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10: 10). That is the primary role of the Devil.

Scripture, speaking of the devil’s minions, says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6: 12). The Devil’s allies are thus depicted.

We are counseled to: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6: 10, 11).

The most effective tactic of the Devil is noted in my italics in this text. He schemes to deceive. If he deceives acts of deception are of the Devil. In our national politics do you see deception? If so, it is of the Devil. Opposing acts of deception is fighting against the Devil.

Our choices are obvious. The design of the Devil is to scheme how to deceive.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Do you want to follow deception or the truth, the Lord Jesus or the Devil?

Do You Have a Blind Spot?

I have Scotoma (pronounced skuh-tow-muh). No, it is not some type of vehicle, it is the medical term for a visual field abnormality commonly called a blind spot. You have one also.  Every eye has a blind spot in the visual field where the optic nerve enters the eye, because there are no photoreceptors at that location. This blind spot is completely normal and is usually not noticeable in typical daily life.

Mine often occurs when I am writing. It is a sphere in which I have no vision. It is like laying a quarter on the page obscuring what is behind it. I can see most of a page, but it has a sphere in which there is nothing. I don’t know why but if I take a drink of water my vision fully returns.

We all have an emotional blindspot. Put simply, they are emotions that we haven’t completely dealt with. We simply can’t see how a certain thing or thought can be true. It may be a significant truth we can’t accept as true.

Those who have a spiritual blind spot can gain a better perspective on the issue if they take a drink from the pool of the Living Water, Jesus. To get a good insight regarding your blindspot get Jesus’ perspective of the issue.

To paraphrase, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that it might give insight to my blindspot.”

There is an old hymn that may take some people back to a small country church. It was by Clara H. Scott, published in 1895. The lyrics are still applicable.

“Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for Thee,
Ready, my God, Thy will to see;
Open my eyes….”

Apply the principles in the following text to yourself by inserting “my heart” for “your heart.”

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…” (Ephesians 1:18).

Upon gaining spiritual insight to deal with your spiritual blind spot you can say with the blind Bible character healed by Jesus: “whereas I was blind, now I see.” (John 9: 25).

Is there a spiritual, or social, or political, or moral issue regarding which you have a blind spot? Take a deep drink of Living Water and ask Jesus to help you to see it from His perspective.

Eternity Exists

Occasionally we need to take a deep dive in considering a complex spiritual issue. Following is certainly one. Try this, what is eternity, that is, there being no time. We live in a parentheses called “time.” We are so sensitive to it we count seconds. When thinking of spending eternity in heaven or hell we question won’t that get boring?

We ask what age we will be in heaven? We are so preoccupied with growing old that we think the aging process will be a part of the afterlife. No it won’t. Remember we are considering eternity where there is no time, hence no age.

Three things were created simultaneously: time, matter, and space.

John 1: 1 states, “In the beginning was the Word…” Theological scholar Herschel Hobbs says the Greek literally states, “Before time began to begin was the Word….” Sounds confusing but there was a time when there was no time.

Want to go deeper? There was a time when there was no space.

Now the third creation, matter. There was a time when there was nothing, no matter. According to most astrophysicists, all the matter found in the universe today — including the matter in people, plants, animals, the earth, stars, and galaxies — was created at the very first moment of time. They agree, there was an occasion when there was no time. Remember, it was created.

Before these three were created the Trinity existed in eternity. There will be an occasion when this will be true once more.

Following are three examples illustrative of relative facts. Consider a weight, a clock, and a ruler. They aren’t always the same.

A one pound object here on earth weighs one pound because of the gravitational pull on it. On the moon that same object weighs three ounces. Could it withstand the heat on the surface of the sun it would weigh 28 pounds.

The ruler represents mass. Mass, that is the size and density of an object also varies depending on speed. Driving at 50 miles an hour your car is three ten-millionths of an inch shorter. Traveling at 90% of the speed of light it would be half its length.

Now the mind boggler that hints of a state of there being no time. The star Sirius is nine light years away. If traveling there and back at 99.99999% of the speed of light the following would occur. Your friends on earth would be 18 years older and you would be only 12 hours older.

To conclude by saying we can’t understand this is a bummer. It should not be because no such state exists where there is no time, space, or matter with which to compare it. Even the wisest physicists can’t explain it, yet they believe it. Knowing we live on the vortex of such a state which we enter at the moment of death makes it wise to decide in what state we want to spend eternity.

If the state God was in before He created the heavens and earth was good enough for Him, it is good enough for me. I want to spend eternity in it with Him. Jesus stepped through the veil between heaven and earth, died an atoning  death on the cross, and rose again to open the portal into heaven to all who by faith believe in His redemptive work and submit to Him as Savior and Lord might spend eternity with Him.

What to Do When God Closes a Door – Part Two

Acts 16: 6 – 10

Have you ever had a vision vanish, a dream die, an aspiration expire, or an ambition annulled? Have you ever had your hopes dashed? Has God ever said “NO,” when you wanted Him to say yes?

Has there ever been a time when you thought you were really doing God’s will and God shut and barred every door you desired to have open?

Has there ever been a time when you saw your plan fold only to see God’s will unfold?

Sometimes God has to lead us to a closed door in order to create within us a willingness to follow Him to another door, the right one. Barred doors can be a blessing in disguise.

In the above text Paul asserted that he wanted to go East toward Asia. He wanted to go to Bithynia for a good reason. He wanted to go preach the gospel. What a noble intent! Notice in verse 6: “…they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit…” God said no. Why?

God always knows more and has stronger love than we. He can see what we can’t comprehend.

On a flight returning from the Bible Land much to our dismay our flight went into a prolonged holding pattern. Amid complaints the flight attendant explained we were in a holding pattern to avert a storm over our desired destination.

He put us in a holding pattern. I didn’t want a holding pattern. He put us in a holding pattern for our good. Why? Because he knew more than we knew and was concerned for our welfare.

Sometimes God puts us in a holding pattern. Why? Because He knows more than we and He wants us to make our connections safely.

God put Paul in a holding pattern. He wanted to go to Asia and God said “NO”. Why? God knew more than Paul and He wanted him to make his connections.

Has God ever put you in a holding pattern? Why? Because He knows more than you and is concerned for your welfare. He wants you to make your connections.

God said, “Paul, Asia is out. Macedonia is your route. Don’t go East, go West, that’s the best.”  Why? Because there were some connections about which God knew and Paul didn’t.

God knew Asia would not be open to the gospel.  Macedonia was on route to all the fertile fields of Europe. Beyond Europe was the mission field of England and Scotland. God knew what not even Columbus knew when he ventured westward. The door to the East was closed. The door to the West opened and eventually the gospel brought to America a land not even known of at the time God closed the Eastern door. Thank God He pointed Paul in the right direction.

How do you suppose Paul felt at the time it happened? Probably very much like us when God closes a door on us, frustrated.

Can we learn from Paul’s experience? Can we learn to trust God when confronted by closed doors?