GREAT REVIVAL: THE PERFECT SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER
“BIBLICAL ETERNAL SECURITY” IS ONE OF THE HOLY BIBLE’S MOST PRECIOUS AND GLORIOUS TRUTHS. I’m sick of religion that claims the privileges of God, but refuses the responsibilities of God. I find it even more sickening when these claims are made on God’s marvelous grace as though grace can be reduced to something cheap and tolerating of willful and known sin. Paul addressed this subject when he said, “What shall we say then, shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God Forbid! How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2)
AGAIN, “Biblical Eternal Security” is one of the Holy Book’s most precious promises.” To suggest that we must make our entrance into our Heavenly reward by great fear and intimidation is unsound. To ever conclude that God will cast us off because of some human error or weakness does not fit His great love and forgiveness. We are clearly written on His heart. His patience is higher than all human understanding. Yet to use such love as an open door to sin and wickedness; to suggest that this love will tolerate human carelessness and unbridled rebellion is a travesty of Calvary.
Scriptural eternal security certainly has a counterpart, as all Biblical truths do. Satan is the master counterfeiter. For every Biblical doctrine our archenemy has produced a counterfeit. The Trinity of God beautifully expressed in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is deceptively reproduced by Satan in a Jesus-only concept that does great injustice to the scriptures.
The Holy Ghost baptism and its initial evidence, speaking in other languages, has a counterfeit expression that reduces this spiritual mastery of the believer to fleshly manipulation and even satanic babbling. We must not allow any holy truth to be less than intended because someone has a substitute.
ACCOUNTABILITY! Before we document the breathtaking realities of our security in Christ, let’s note His demands for accountability. If the sinner is accountable to repent, confess his sins, and trust Christ before he can be saved, it is inconceivable that the new man in Christ is less responsible. The Holy Scripture is filled with warnings. The Kingdom of Heaven is under violent assault. Paul warned, “Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall.” (I Corinthians 10:12) Jesus said, “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) Luke recorded Christ’s words as following: “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
The Apostle Paul constantly warned believers in his epistles of the dangers of backsliding. He said to the Galatians: “Ye did run well, who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” (Galatians 5:7) To Timothy he said, “Some are already turned aside after Satan.” (I Timothy 1:19) In his second letter to Timothy he warned, “If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” (II Timothy 2:12) His words to the Hebrews were even stronger, “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” (Hebrews 3:14) The Apostle Paul was not ignorant of Satan’s devices.
SIN WILL SEPARATE! Biblical Security does not treat human sins lightly. The prophet Habakkuk declared, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity.” (Habakkuk 1:13) God spared not Satan nor the angels when the sinned, but cast them out of heaven. (II Peter 2:4) Adam and Eve suffered grave consequences for their sins, although they had been created perfectly and covered with God’s ethereal glory. They were cast out of the Garden of Eden.
The nation of Israel was cut off from the natural root of her heritage, and the gentile world was grafted in her place because of the sin of unbelief. (She will be regrafted back into her natural tree in the near future.) “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.” (Romans 11:21-22)
Any doctrine that forgets personal responsibility becomes a doctrine of convenience. The prophet Ezekiel put such thought to rest in His warning to the wicked: “But when the righteous turneth away from His righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” (Ezekiel 18:24)
The wages of sin is death, whether it be found in the man who has known God, or in the man who has never believed and trusted Him. We are responsible creatures. God’s revelation has documented that throughout the scriptures.
CALVARY IS OUR SECURITY! When we understand the beauty and power of the Calvary event, there is no need for false security. Everything necessary to get the believer to their eternal reward is amply provided. There is no power or tribulation sufficient to destroy or render our triumph invalid. “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37) We don’t need to be ushered into Heaven in spite of a victorious life, when we have all that is necessary to be an overcomer. What is the purpose of any doctrine that makes idle Christians out of believers who have such hope and promises?
Isaiah gave us the most descriptive picture of the cross that is the First Testament. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:15-16a) The Amplified Commentary records verse 16 like this: “Behold I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed) a picture of you on the palm of each of my hands, O Zion (church)…” The word “graven” is not used as this rendering anywhere else in the Bible. It means to cut, to engrave, to trace, to tattoo, or to hack. Our God actually said, I have hacked you in my hands, or even better, I have painted a picture of you in each of my palms.
This great statement actually takes us back into the eternal past where God the Father predestined Christ, His only Son, to the cross, while at the same time, He predestined you and me to His loving fellowship. He said, while speaking to this prophet who lived hundreds of years before Jesus, “I have graven (past tense) you.” Such truth leaves you and me with the simple task of trusting and obeying. All provision for our trusting and obeying is already provided. To engrave suggests the creating of a thing of beauty. He has engraved you into His palms in such a manner as to create in the provision something beautiful of your life. It is not just positional beauty, but experienced beauty. You can be recreated in His image.
The Apostle Paul takes us the next step. We experience this beauty by looking away from the self life unto Jesus, the Author of our new life. He said, “Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) When we learn to live by the Book of Faith, by constantly beholding Him as the Author and Finisher (note Finisher) of our faith walk, we move from glory to glory. He has already finished our redemption, so our duty is to receive by abiding in Him. All He has in redemptive grace is ours if we simply draw from the well.
On the basis of the above promise, this apostle says, “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for you feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:12-13) It’s faith in Him that we must express by refusing to be downcast or dismayed. We are to choose moral and spiritual paths (straight) for our feet so that those in the way may be healed instead of wrongly influenced. We represent His redemptive power both in our lifestyle and our witness to others.
CALVARY MAKES US OVERCOMERS! Drifting into heaven is neither desirable nor possible. It is not downstream, but uphill all the way. One of Christ’s most powerful statements was recorded in St. Matthew: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matthew 11:12) It is clear that Jesus understood the struggle of kingdom experiences. The victory is already won, but the overcomer must be willing to engage the enemy and press toward the mark. There is no armor for the back. If we turn to run, we are a sitting duck for our enemy. He will always attack when you look back.
Eight times John the Revelator promised that the overcomers would inherit the favors of heaven. He said, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Revelation 21:7) What is there to fear? Nothing but fear itself. It is impossible for a believer to fail in this walk unless they turn from that which has been provided. Satan cannot pluck you out of the Father’s hands. Remember, you are graven (tattooed, hacked) in His palms. The Father and the Son are One, though two distinct Persons of the Godhead.
Biblical Eternal Security is nothing less than God’s absolute promise of faithfulness and sufficiency. “Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) The Lord Jesus has received all power in Heaven and in earth. Satan is nothing but hot air (don’t underestimate him, but don’t overestimate him either). His whole strategy is intimidation. He has already lost. After you know you have been born again, saved, or washed in His blood, however you choose to describe it, get in the Word regularly, pray every day until you know He has heard. Be in His house worshipping every worship opportunity, and you will not fall away. It’s impossible under the provisions I have described in this article.
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Bill Scudder
A true Christian does not sin willfully with the thought that he is eternally saved no matter what he does. I am secure in Christ and believe Him when He said that I have “eternal life” A rue Christian does not want to sin. They don’t think that way. I can not earn my way to heaven. A person that is truly saved can not be lost. To say that he can is to believe like the Roman Catholic church. When I finally realized that Jesus paid it all for me then I actually lived a better life because I was so grateful for what He did for me.
Ed Branch
Good message! Many have confused “unconditional eternal security” with “Biblical conditional eternal security.” Yes. we must be a willing participant in such Great Salvation. Not that we earn it, but that we do not neglect it. We cherish it, and are beholden to our blessed Redeemer. And yes, we “that overcome shall inherit all things.” “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us,” and we are accountable to Him in all things.
Judy
.. and now, even more … work out your own salvation with great fear and trembling.
Ray
To take scripture and make your own doctrine with them is as witch craft. “Once saved always saved”, “unconditional love”, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin” etc. All attempting to rewrite sacred scripture. If your life is not secure and fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, chances are you are not saved.
The “Comforter” (Holy Spirit) was left with us:
1.That He would not speak of Himself but point to the Father.
2.Lead men into all Truth.
3.Convict the world of sin.
When the Spirit enters us at salvation at dying to themselves, being Born Again the gift of discernment is one of His attributes.
When we sin, we hate it, we hate our weakness of flesh, we do not wallow in guilt but we do not excuse it away with cotton candy “grace”. We come to the Cross in repentance and ask for the strength to deny our flesh.
If one is more concerned about loosing their salvation that they must cling to false doctrine to bring them peace, it is not the Peace of the Lord but peace of the world via emotions.
Bill Scudder
RAY: Are you saying that God’s love is NOT unconditional?
josh
Brother chambers I could not agree more with what you have said and it is especially relevant in today’s day and age , we find ourselves with a reduced gospel that forgives sins from the past present and future . Yes the the blood washes our past but no where in the bible does it state about forgiveness of future sins , this is one of the biggest lies concocted in the depths of hell that deceives many multitudes . If god forgave future sins when we first repented then that means there does not need to be anymore repentance when we sin again (with conviction and knowledge of sin ). Many multitude are deceived by this lie .if we keep sining with the knowledge of sin . Then these sins will harden our hearts and we will become totally immune to the holy spirit but still believing in a false security (once saved always saved ), consider the verse in Hebrews which talks about sining with the knowledge of it and stepping on the blood of Christ .once saved always saved is a false doctrine that is a false security and is a cheap escape from not being able to overcome sin even though we have been given all that is nevcessary to overcome it .
May god enlighten us to not fall into this deadly trap that the devil delights in.
Clarence Clough
Dr. Chambers, bless you. Great treatment of a very controversial subject.I believe the continued propagation of unconditional eternal security is a continuation of the 6,000 year war that was begun by Satan in the Garden of Eden–“Ye shal not surely die, ye shall be as gods, etc., (Genesis 3:4-5).