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It is not a small matter that the idea of unconditional eternal security had never occurred to the early church fathers........
Whether or not the early church fathers understood the reality of the believers eternal security does not have any bearing on the fact that the Scriptures teach it. The early church was full of heresy just as it is today. It also took time for the early church to come to a proper understanding of certain doctrines. The Trinity for example.
Are you stronger than God?
Are you greater than the integrity of God?
Are you able to undo what God has done?
Can you break the sealing of the Holy Spirit?
Can your works of Unrighteousness cancel out God's Perfect Righteousness which He imputes to those who believe on Christ?
Can you commit any sin for which Jesus Christ was not already judged?
Can you do anything which would cause God to change His mind about not revoking His gifts and His calling?
Are you an exception to 'nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? (Rom 8:39). You are a created thing are you not?
Can you break God's grip on you?
Excerpt:
'Your salvation is based on the integrity of God, which was manifested at the Cross by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit can do to cancel our salvation after we believe in Jesus Christ. There is also nothing we can do to cancel our salvation. Even if you have believed in Christ, and are now renouncing Him you are still eternally secure. The justice of God imputed eternal life to you, and declared you perfectly righteous when you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, because He satisfied the justice of God. There is nothing Satan and the kingdom of darkness can do to cancel your salvation.' The Grace Gifts given at Salvation - Publications - Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries / Grace Bible Church - bible doctrine truth in Christ
Last edited by Michael Way; 02-28-2012 at 09:50 AM..
This idea that once you are saved through faith, that you can live your life anyway you want makes the patb quite wide yes? I mean who can beat that deal?
The misconception people have is that eternal security = putting the feet up on the desk, grabbing a beer, and calling in the dancers because the ticket to heaven has been paid. I see this misconception resulting from people that aren't regenerate. They are attempting to reconcile a Spiritual book with a Natural mind.
Upon the new birth, the believer is given a new heart.
Ezekiel 36:26
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
They are a new Creation. No option
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
People aren't taking into account the Power of God to transform the believer.
No true born-again is NOT going to respond to the Gospel. The fruit will be variable among believers.
Are there false converts from the eternal security doctrine because they said a prayer once? You better believe it. Does that mean that it's not Scriptural? No. I am witness that the Holy Spirit indeed transform the inner man. The old man is growing more and more unacceptable.
The question always arises to the likeness of. What about the person that did the walk and said the sinners prayer then ended up a mass murderer? I think if these are the fruits of someone claiming to be Christian, they have not been regenerated by the Power of God.
Parable of the Sowers. This is the group in which the wicked one snatched the word out of their Heart prior to conversion.
If you only understood that the message of salvation is not about being eternally secure, but having Life and Life more abundantly.
Now is the day of Salvation for the believer in the salvation of God.
Let us boldly approach the throne of grace and find help and His Salvation today.
ROM 8:2 "For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."
Eternally secure means to have the eternal fruit of the Spirit. It is what secures you and sets you free from sin and eternal death. Things that are eternal have nothing to do with time as they are eternal in nature. The Spirit of Life in Christ is the fruit of the Spirit and eternal. Love sets us free from hate, joy sets us free from depression, peace sets are free from aggravation of mind and so on and so forth it goes that a fruit of the Spirit sets us free from the counterpart of it's evil. To be set free is to have Eternal Life. Now is the day to have these things because you have no promise of tomorrow. "Ask and you shall receive."
How sad it is that so many believers think that they can lose their eternal salvation. There are passages which because they are misunderstood cause many to think that eternal salvation can be lost. But Scripture does not contradict Scripture. The believer can not be caused to lose his salvation, nor can he choose to walk away from his salvation. Once you have been saved through faith alone in Christ alone you are eternally saved and it is irreversible.
Believer in Jesus Christ, Here is your eternal security.
***Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
God does not revoke what He has given or whom He has chosen.Both Israel and the church have their election. Both are called.
In Romans, as in all of his epistles, Paul was addressing the church - believers in Jesus Christ during the church-age. In Rom 1:6 Paul told believers that they are the called of God.
Romans 1:6 'among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; 7] to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as Saints; Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. .
All Christians are saints. That is, all Christians are positionally ''set apart'' unto God.
Now in Romans 11:29 Paul stated that God does not change His mind regarding His call. Even though Israel is currently in a state of unbelief, God has not forsaken her.
***Romans 11:29 'for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Again, both Israel and the church are called - are elected.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29] For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; 30] and whom he predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
***Romans 11:29 'for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
33] Who will bring a charge against God's elect (called)? God is the one who justifies; 34] who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes 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?
38] For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
***Romans 11:29 'for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Believer in Jesus Christ, you are called. You are elected. Your calling is irrevocable.
The gifts of God are irrevocable. Eternal life is a free gift and is irrevocable.
Romans 6:23 'For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
***Romans 11:29 'for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Your eternal salvation and your calling are irrevocable.
And there is no Scripture which can contradict this.
You as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot lose or walk away from your eternal salvation. It is absolutely impossible.
ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED!!!
***Romans 11:29 'for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Amen. God does not play games by giving and then taking back.
I just read through all the posts ...whew! Very interesting comments.
I don't know a single Christian who has ever said to me..."I'm saved so I can live anyway I like." There are consequences to outright disobedience & sin!
I love Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."
You cannot lose what you didn't earn. Grace is God's unmerited favor. If I had to work for my salvation I'd never make it. Thank you Jesus for paying it all!
Blessings <><
Yes. There are indeed consequences to disobedience. Believers need to know however that loss of eternal salvation is not one of those consequences.
Yes. There are indeed consequences to disobedience. Believers need to know however that loss of eternal salvation is not one of those consequences.
Mike, you and I completely agree on this.
We are "chosen from the foundation of the world"
I do believe that those who love the Lord love to do what he says and detest evil things, and so in an indirect way it does matter "how good we are" because the Lord would not ever choose
rotten people for salvation...in his wisdom, so that is really a moot point not worthy of us all arguing over. It can even be illustrated using classic logic what the exact concept is.
I do believe that those who love the Lord love to do what he says and detest evil things, and so in an indirect way it does matter "how good we are" because the Lord would not ever choose
rotten people for salvation...in his wisdom, so that is really a moot point not worthy of us all arguing over. It can even be illustrated using classic logic what the exact concept is.
Peace,
Randy
You have to realize that in God's eyes everyone is 'rotten'. That is, to God all of our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa 64:6). Degrees of relative human righteousness don't enter into it. No matter how good a person is, he is not good enough to satisfy the demands of God's Absolute Perfect Righteousness.
A person goes to heaven for one reason and one reason only. He goes to heaven because when he believes on Jesus Christ for eternal life, God the Father imputes His very own Perfect Righteousness and eternal life to that person therefore making it possible for that person - that believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to spend eternity in the presence of God.
Man's righteousness can never be acceptable to God's Perfect Standard. Only by receiving the Righteousness of God and therefore being declared Justified can anyone be eternally saved. And it is only by trusting in Jesus Christ for eternal life that anyone can receive the imputation of God's Perfect Righteousness.
The believer still retains his old sin nature after salvation. But the believer is declared justified by God as a result of having received the imputation of God's own Rigteousness.
God chose from eternity past those who He in His omniscience knew would believe on Christ. Not those who would exhibit a greater degree of human righteousness compared to other people who have the same human righteousness, all of which God rejects as filthy rags. Man's righteousness simply cannot satisfy God's Absolute Perfect Righteousness. It all falls short of God's Perfection.
The worst of persons are given eternal life by the grace of God through faith alone in Christ Jesus. Even if he continues to sin as he did before he was saved, he is still eternally saved because he possesses the imputed Righteous of God. But he will be disciplined by God.
Last edited by Michael Way; 02-29-2012 at 06:26 PM..
Originally Posted by MysticPhD
This is actually quite true despite the erroneous reasoning and "precepts and doctrines of men" that are used to justify it.
1 Corinthians 15:2 And though which you are saved if you hold fast the word I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain.
Not only were they standing on the gospel, but they were saved by it as well.
See. Rom. 1:16 - the gospel is God's power to save all who believe, both Jew and non-Jew
Notice that there is a if used by inspired writer relating to their being saved by the gospel; relating to their staying saved.
"If you hold fast the word," is the way Paul stated it. Your are saved by the gospel if you hold fast the word. That is another way of saying , "abide in the doctrine of Christ " 2 John 9 .
You are saved by the gospel - the doctrine of Christ, if you hold fast the word; abide in the doctrine.,otherwise, you lose God, and "fall from grace."
This fits precisely what the beloved John wrote in 2 John 9 . He said that whoever continues in - abides in - the doctrine of Christ - has both the Father and son. One who does not "abide in the word " - hold fast the word" - he / she believes in vain. the faith of such a person is worthless at that point.
Hebrews 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened , who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age. 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Can you see the writers point ? Those who chose to fall away and not go on to maturity in Christ shall find it impossible to be brought back to repentance (to be able to make up the mind to return to the Lord and be true to him )
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