THE CHURCH – ETERNAL SALVATION
Friday – October 6, 2017
Once accepted is our salvation eternal no matter our actions? I am talking today about the age old argument frequently identified as: “once saved, always saved”. Is that true or are there some who were truly saved and choose to abandon God for another god. As you may know this topic has sparked many lively and emotional debates. On the side of once saved, always saved is the argument that the person is supposed to have backslidden (gone back to the old ways) was never really saved in the first place and that truth simply became manifest. Another common comment that usually comes to the surface is that although fellowship is broken it is impossible to break relationship. The example is usually put forward of a child that abandons the family and there is no fellowship however they remain your child. It is not uncommon that this argument over salvation goes hand in hand with a discussion about the issue of predestination. Predestination basically says that the people going to Heaven have already been selected, therefore their fate or destiny is Heaven. God will do whatever is necessary to see that those persons make the right decisions and end up in Heaven. This is the picture of puppets (us) and a pupper master (God).
Both the “one saved, always saved” and “predestination” ideas preclude the freewill of the individual. I will leave the “predestination” idea here and move on with a discussion of “once saved, always saved”. Freewill was given to mankind and we see the exercise of freewill right from the beginning in the Garden of Eden and down through Scripture. It seems to me that a lot of this argument hinges on who we think is in control of our individual lives. Those who believe God is in control of our individual lives and He knows the details of our lives front to back have to be in the predestination. On the other hand if one is in the camp that says we are the captain of our own ships be it for good or bad then we embrace the spiritual law of freewill and reject predestination. The spiritual law of freewill does not preclude God being a powerful influence in our lives in response to His love and the prayers of the intercessors in our lives, even the prayers of parents and relatives who claim us according to the Word of God for the Kingdom. Seems logical that if we can choose to leave the kingdom of darkness and enter the Kingdom of God that we can go the other way as well.
Jesus and the Apostle John speak of a sin unto death (spiritual).
Matthew 12:31 (KJV)
31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
Leading up to this statement the Pharisees had said that Jesus cast out devils by the Devil. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the Devil is blasphemy and “shall not be forgiven”. It seems to me that this must be with full knowledge and willful not steeped in ignorance such as when some say that speaking in tongues is of the Devil. Jesus goes on and says in the very next verse that this sin will not be forgiven in this life or in the next. Some of us will die with unconfessed and therefore unforgiven sin in our lives and this will be forgiven in the next life but not blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Let’s see what the Apostle John has to say.
1 John 5:16 (KJV)
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
Listen to what the Apostle Peter wrote led of the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 2:20-22 (KJV)
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 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.
This sure sounds to me to be a lot more severe situation than forsaken fellowship. Brother Jude does not seem to embrace once saved, always saved. Notice the twice dead comment. Since the Day of Sin all persons are born dead. When they are saved or born again they are a living soul quickened by the breath of life. When they exercise freewill and abandon God either by choice or blasphemy of the Spirit they are twice dead, born dead, and now dead by choice.
Jude 1:11-12 (KJV)
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Think of the Prodigal son, he flat out left the father and went into a far country. Look at what happened when he returned in repentance. Seems to be a clear example of one who was alive, became dead, but in repentance was again alive.
Luke 15:22-24 (KJV)
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Of course there is much more that can be said but I think the point is made that a person can backslide and end up in Hell when at one time Heaven was their destination. There are many references in Scripture to being blotted out of the Book of Life. I want my sins blotted out but not my name from the Book of Life.
By: Dr. David R. Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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