Does God promise Eternal Security?

The idea of eternal security in Christ should provide believers with relief and it does for those of us who understand that salvation is eternal. But for some who over analyze this wonderful truth, it has become a stumbling block.

Let me explain what I mean.

I have read articles and spoken to some who believe that eternal security somehow is ultimately contingent upon man to secure it. Now if that is true, then Christ's atonement on the cross was not sufficient. For many believe it cannot be that easy - for Christ to die and someone repents and believes and they are saved eternally.

The question must be asked then. "What if someone believes in the work of Christ on the cross, but still lives the same way they did before their profession of faith?" This is an excellent question. Let's explore this.

1. The one who made the profession of faith in Christ yet still lives as if they are unsaved most likely is still unsaved. Remember if a person is genuinely born of God's Spirit, then they are a new creation. Old things have passed away and all has become new (2 Cor 5:17-18a). We must realize a supernatural transformation has occurred in our inner man and we cannot remain the same. God dwelling on the inside of us demands that we conform into the image of Christ our Savior. The true believer who grows to understand this truth will happily submit their will to God's will. This of course is an ongoing life long process. But, it will occur in the child of God. We must choose to live a sanctified life.
2. Our salvation is secured by God at the moment we believe so it is guaranteed to endure until the end of our lives. It will carry us into eternity. Why would God provide salvation for those whom He chose and leave it for us to actualize it? There is no eternal security if it's up to us to secure our own salvation by trying to live right. If we have to live right to keep our salvation, that is legalism, or salvation by works. We do not live right to keep our salvation, rather we live right because God has saved us. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God had prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (i.e. the good works). It was God's plan before creation to save those who believed in Christ for them to walk faithfully with him.

I see two extremes happening here regarding eternal security. 1) There are those that are smug and careless with this reality so they live anyway they want. Since they believe they are saved and nothing they do will ever change that status, they think it is okay to be hell-on-wheels for they are going to heaven. 2) The other group lacks faith in the completed work of Christ on the cross so they exert useless energy to make sure they secure their own salvation. For the second group lacks assurance of their salvation as presented in the Bible. Group one is cheapening the grace of God. Group two does not realize the sufficiency of God's grace to save alone without man's help. Both groups are in sin.

Those in group one are frustrating the grace of God with their irreverent behavior. Romans 6:1-2 tell us that, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" The obvious answer is we can't! Those that die are free from sin. Since we symbolically died with the Lord when He was crucified - that is the old man of sin was buried in the grave. When Christ raised from the dead, we were raised with Him in newness of life (Rom 6, entire chapter). Those in group one cannot be saved if they are living a habitual unrepentant life of sin. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Those that truly know the Lord will be smitten of guilt and will run to God for repentance and cleansing of unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Those who name the name of Christ are to depart from iniquity (2 Tim 2:19b).  Those in this group have not exercised faith, only foolishness and presumption.

Those in group two are afraid so they are doing every "good" thing they can think of to merit the salvation God promised them when they believed. Salvation is obtained by grace through faith. It is the gift of God, not works lest any man should boast (Eph 2:8-9). We are used to working for what we want so it is a natural proclivity to attempt to do the same thing to secure our salvation. This group is attempting to have faith in their own faith, and not faith in God.

The work has been completed perfectly by Jesus Christ. We cannot add or take away from it. If we truly have salvation, we can never lose it. God is going to see to that. If we can lose it, we never had it in the first place. How can salvation be eternal if it can be lost or forfeited? If one insists on saying and I have heard this phrase, "Salvation is secure as long as you secure it!" My reply to that statement would be, at what point is your salvation secured? What or how many steps are there to securing it since for you genuinely repenting of sin and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith isn't enough to save you? There is no way one can meet the requirements needed to secure their salvation apart from Christ. This mindset makes you perhaps a "Good Catholic", but a bad Christian. Once again, this is a person who lacks faith in the atonement, and ultimately in the Word of God.  This person is double minded and unstable in all their ways (James 1:8).

Eternal security rests on God not us. Salvation is God's gift to humanity. Those who obtain it will over time treat it as the most precious gift they have received because it is. But it came to us at the ultimate price - it cost the life of our Savior and the spilling of his blood. His holy sacrifice was the perfect means to redeem mankind. Christ death was the cause and our salvation is the effect. There should never be any doubt whether God's gift of eternal life could not be anything but secure - look who is securing it!

Listen to the eternal security language of the Apostle Peter, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (italics mine), who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5). 

The Greek word for guarded is phroureo. It is a military term. It means to protect with a garrison.  In the 1 Peter context God by His omnipotent power is protecting and guarding us in Him.

Rest assured we are eternally secure in the Lord.

Is there a time when God permits anger?

Does the Bible provide examples to the above question? Yes. There are many examples of what is called righteous indignation. We should be angry about what the Lord is angry about. Unfortunately, we are often laughing and making light of what God hates. We can attribute that to our fallen sinful nature.

We are so desensitized to sin that things that are heinous in the sight of God are pleasurable to us. 

Jesus said in John 3:19b, "Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were (and are) evil".

Yes, this is one of those articles that will step on toes, mine included. And by me writing this article, it makes me even more culpable for my actions - something the natural man hates to admit. 

Phineas

Phineas was a priest during the time of Moses. He was the son of Eleazar who was the son of Aaron, the first High Priest of Israel. Aaron and Moses were brothers.  Aaron was dead by this time and his son Eleazar was installed as High Priest after him (Num 20:28-29). 

In Numbers 25 we read of Israel committing gross sin. They are intermarrying with the Moabites, sacrificing and worshiping their gods - idolatry. This violates the first two commandments inExodus 20:2-6).  This angers the Lord so He commands Moses to kill all the perpetrators. Phineas sees a Hebrew man bring a foreign woman to his tent so he grabs a spear and kills them both, through the man's back, and through the woman's stomach. 

  

Why would Phineas commit this seemingly gross act of murder? We discover as a result of Israel's sin, God sent a plague of death through the land. Phineas was angry for the Lord's sake. Killing the Hebrew man and woman was an act of righteousness that ended the plague, not before it claimed the lives of 24,000 people (Num 25:9). God commended Phineas for this and promised him a covenant of peace (Num 25:12).

Samuel 

The Amalekites were enemies of Israel for around 350 years during the time of the Prophet Samuel. The Lord promised that He would blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven during the time of the Exodus (Ex 17:14-15). A short history of the Amalekites: Amalek was the grandson of Esau the twin brother of Jacob (Gen 36:12). God commanded Samuel to give word to King Saul to destroy the Amalekites. Saul did not obey the Lord's command. He saved the best animals. He also spared their king, a man by the name of Agag. Samuel obeyed the word of the Lord and hacked Agag in pieces (I Samuel 15:33). 

Again, this was Samuel executing divine judgment on behalf of the Lord's wrath. It had to be done. This occasion was the perfect time to be angry because it was divine justice. Agag was an evil man and was doomed to destruction. Samuel being a righteous man was grieved by Saul's disobedience. The disobedience led to Saul's throne being taken away and given to David (I Sam 15:28).

The Corinthians 

In I Corinthians 5 we read of a man having a sexual relationship with his father's wife - his step mother. This sin was so gross that Paul said that the heathen would not engage in it (vs. 1). What made this even worse was that it was happening among professing Christians! Paul was outraged, but the Corinthian church was not. Rather they were arrogant. What should have happened is that the sinning member should have been removed from their assembly until he repented. Since it was not done there, Paul tells them to "put out that wicked person" (vs. 13).

There should have been grief over his sin instead of apathy among the congregation. It is important to remove the evil person before their ways influence others to commit sin as well. If allowed to remain in the bosom of the church the person believes there is no divine retribution for their sinful behavior and others will follow their evil ways deceiving themselves into thinking one can live anyway they want and God not chasten them for it (Heb 12:5-11).

Paul said later in this same letter that, "Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals" (I Cor 15:33).

What do these accounts teach us? There is a time to be angry - when God is angry. In each instance God commanded his servants to take action. To ignore the righteous anger of God is sin, and will be met with retribution on those who ignore His divine command to execute justice.

Please understand the last account is in regard to the Church, the people of God. God judges the outside world (I Cor 5:12).

Here is the balance we must have, "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the son go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity" (Eph:26-27).

We are commanded  to be angry against evil for it will manifest the righteousness of God and show the sinner their sin clearly. This can drive them to godly repentance and ultimately salvation.

Who or what is the Church?

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Will one be sent to hell for calling someone a fool?

We all use the word fool every day. It's part of our daily vocabulary. We call people fools when someone does something we do not like, and we use it often times in jest toward one another. Are there times when we should not call someone a fool?

I would like to examine that in this article.

The word fool has several meanings. One Hebrew word is nabal. This is a person who is a deviant in their behavior, who is ungodly and plots evil. In the Proverbs, the fool is primarily described as one who lacks wisdom because they despise instruction - they act without thinking. This Hebrew word is ewil. Another Hebrew word is kesil. This person is obstinate, arrogant, has no desire for wisdom, Godly wisdom - they not only commit evil, they enjoy wickedness. They also refuse rebuke.  That type of person is a wrecking ball and should be avoided. They are incorrigible. 

In Matthew 5:21-22 we read, "You have heard that the ancients were told, "You shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court, and whoever says to his brother, "You good-for-nothing', shall be guilty before the supreme court, and whoever says, 'You fool', shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. The word fool here is the Greek word moros - where we get our English word moron.

Jesus is the one speaking in these verses. Why is his language here so severe? To get the import of the meaning, we must understand the context.

Jesus began by saying one that is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. Committing murder violated the sixth commandment (Ex 20:13) and was punishable by death (Ex 21:12). Here, Jesus said if one is angry with his brother shall be guilty (italics mine) before the court. Jesus is equating anger with murder - not just any anger, but a murderous anger based on an internal hatred. Remember murder is the context in these verses. 

Jesus takes it a step further. He says if one calls his brother. "you good-for-nothing" (or "Raca") shall be guilty before the counsel or the supreme court. If you call your brother a moron, your guilt is at its worst because your hatred of your brother is wicked enough to send you to hell. That person has exceeded the court of men and has caught the attention of God Almighty.

 I do not know about you, but to me that warning is terrifying! And anyone that knows me well know I do not scare easily. 

When one calls someone a moron in this sense,  we are insulting a person at the lowest possible level. We are calling them a worthless, stupid person. It's the worst character assassination. Jesus sees this type of verbal abuse against one's brother morally repugnant.

      Why?

The problem is not just the words, but the attitude behind the words. If it were just the words, that brought condemnation, then Jesus would be guilty as well - for he called the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites and blind fools (Matt 23).

Paul also rebuked the Galatians and called them foolish. Why? Because they became duped into believing their justification was by the works of the law rather than the law of faith (Gal 3). They knew better for Paul had taught them their salvation came as a result of the atoning work of Christ and their belief in that work and not by their own efforts.  So, in these two instances, it was justified and actually loving for both Christ and Paul to rebuke their audience and explain to them why they were foolish. Turning away from being a fool and embracing Godly wisdom will save your soul.

But, when one has venomous hatred against another human being without a cause, that evil Jesus regards as bad as the act of murder itself, and if someone does not repent of it, could lead to actual murder. Do you understand what Jesus was teaching to his audience? He not only taught the written law, but he amplified its meaning on a level far more revelatory than Moses could have done. For in this context he tells us a man's anger based on an internal hatred is as if he committed homicide! Why? Because of the wickedness in the person.  This is clearly a loving and severe warning from our Lord how we are not to treat one another.

Another point that I must make is when one maligns a fellow human being, it is an attack on God himself. How? All men no matter how scandalous their character are made in the image of God (James 3;8-9).

In 1 John 3;15 we read these sobering words, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

It cannot be made any clearer than that.

Listen to the command of the Lord through Paul, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men (Rom 12:18)."

Finally, let's examine our attitudes and our tongues toward all.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer (Rom 12:12).

What is Universalism?

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What is foreknowledge?

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