M-G: 8.23.16 // How Should We Then Live in Light of Eternal Security, Part 1 of 7

If God said it that settles it whether we believe it or not, right? But that is not always the case with some professing believers who refuse to wholly embrace the belief that the Bible is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice. They may talk about the Book but not walk the whole Book. What I mean by walking the whole Book is not cherry picking the Scriptures in what to obey and what to ignore in the Church Age.

Consequently, they unwisely pursue an ungodly lifestyle while basing their actions on the mistaken idea that belief and behavior do not have to match up consistently, only occasionally; after all, “We are all sinners; nobody is perfect….” They aggressively stake their claim on the idea that “once saved always saved.” Therefore, sin is not an issue with them. Their critics, however, point out the incongruities between their talk and walk. Naturally, those critical of their actions are accused of being self-righteous. It seems nowadays sharing the truth that opposes a determined agenda is deemed as self-righteous among the saved or unsaved as they play the “judge not” card in response to the criticism that may not prove to be hypocritical. Hmm.

Those opposing, sometimes militantly, the “once saved always saved” crowd are tired and disgusted with these people who praise God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. Now that sounds like a pretty good stance to take if they are not being hypocritical as well (Mk 7:6); I mean; if we claim to be in Christ, we shouldn't be unlike Him. Ah, there's the rub of having a sin nature and walking worthy of the Lord - those inexplicable choices (cf. Rom 7:15-25). Paul doesn't offer his wrong choices as an excuse or portray himself as some helpless victim. But most of us don't want Paul struggling with his sin nature for he penned the majority of the New Testament! 

We put Paul or any preacher worth a lick behind the pulpit in stain glass. God help them if they prove to be human! The only person we should ever put on the pedestal is Jesus. Only He is worthy who demands our soul, our life, our all (Deut 6:5; Rev 4:11; 5:9, 12). Man, no matter who he is, will disappoint us, but never Jesus. 

Unlike Jesus' righteous criticism of the Pharisees' lips and hearts being out of sync, the opponents of eternal security base such an imbalance of professing believers with sin in the life (which is fair) and a loss of salvation unless he or she repents (which is unfair). Broken fellowship is the result of sin in the camp, not loss of salvation (cf. Rom 8:1; 1 Jn 1:9). It is an inevitability that saved sinners are going to sin. He that has no sin is a liar (1 Jn 1:10). Yes, there are those in the mix who make claim of being a Christian while sporting an ungodly behavior. Are they saved in the first place (1 Jn 2:3-4)? Paul stood in doubt of the believers in Galatia who were seeking a right standing with God by the law. So, it is biblical to stand in doubt of those claiming to be believers who are fruitless. We should be cautious about it nonetheless for only God knows the heart of man (Jer 17:10), but it is not rocket science; if a person claims to be an apple tree, show us the apples! Jesus declared to His disciples “Every tree is known by its own fruit” (Lk 6:44)!

Both groups share something in common as I see it. They both have a problem with the teaching of Scripture. To get to the root of the problem, we would have to inquire what a person understands about what it means to be “saved.” It stands to reason in our culture now, that when a person claims to believe in God, we have to first find out what God he or she is talking about, and then ask the pertinent question how does a person spend eternity with Yahweh in heaven. There is nothing that surprises me concerning the various views of Christianity living in the Bible-Belt. Rejecting the truth about eternal security or using grace as a license to sin are extremely unwise and foolish positions. The former actually leads to an anti-grace salvation (Eph 2:8-9) while the latter leads to loss of blessings (during periods of unfaithfulness) and in jeopardy of being chastened if truly born again (Deut 8:5; Heb 12:6-11).

The security of the believer is a comforting truth because if we are honest, the sin nature causes us all kinds of fits (again, see Rom 7). It is a constant struggle to keep the sin nature at bay, avoiding any flesh flare-ups. If you are like me; there are times I would like to flare (and I do, but not always), but fleshing out really gains us no advantage, and we do it anyway! Imagine if you will the sin nature as a powerful coiled spring, metaphorically speaking, it is compressed by obedience to God’s Word (Gal 5:16; Eph 5:18). As soon as you release the slightest pressure in failing to do God’s will, it springs forth rearing its ugly head. Obedience to God’s Word through the enablement of the Holy Spirit is what keeps it suppressed and in its place.

What we quickly discovered after becoming a born again Christian is that God does not remove the presence of sin from our body, and the Holy Spirit doesn’t keep the sin nature compressed apart from obedience to God’s will. The Holy Spirit enables us to prevent it from springing forth, but it remains a matter of choice to sin or not to sin. Only through the Holy Spirit do we gain the victory over making bad choices (Gal 5:16). Oh, how we need the Holy Spirit in every moment in our lives to avoid the flesh from springing up and causing problems in our lives and in the lives of others. To stray from God is natural; to stay in His will is supernatural.  

Walking (present active imperative) in or by the Spirit (Gal 5:16) is a habitual or continual action on our part, not occasional. It is a lifestyle that is 24/365. When we choose to violate that command to walk in the Spirit, the pressure exuded on that coil is released, and we find ourselves yielding to the cravings of unrighteousness that are contrary to the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:17). We are never victims in this matter but volunteers whether to choose obedience by the power of the Holy Spirit or disobedience in fulfilling the desires of the flesh. There is no excuse to sin, and there is simply no victory over temptation apart from the Holy Spirit. There is no eradication or extraction or domestication of the sin nature this side of eternity. We have to learn to live with it in the here and now but in the right way, God's way, which is always according to the Book of books.

It is not until we are glorified that the sin nature is forever out of our life, and we are radically changed from being a saved sinful saint to a saved sinless saint (1 Cor 15:51-52; 1 Jn 3:2). In the meantime, we all have to deal with the presence of sin in our body, and choice is ever with us making us accountable (a rare word these days….). Sinless perfection on this side of eternity is absolutely impossible. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for the ideal of sinless perfection out of an agape love for Christ, but everybody struggles with sin on terra firma whether you believe in eternal security or not, or claim to be a super saint.

The question generated is whether this struggle results in a loss of salvation or not. “Hope” (Gk, elpizo, G1679) in the New Testament never conveys the idea of uncertainty or doubt but a positive expectation or anticipation. Salvation is never presented in Scripture as something uncertain (cf. Titus 1:2). So even in the struggle we see the war between flesh and Spirit (Gal 5:17) as not in vain; all who are in Christ will emerge victorious in the conflict of living for God if led by the Holy Spirit. “In Christ” (Rom 8:1; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 2:16; 3:26) speaks of eternal positional sanctification, but also it carries the key to growth in progressive sanctification (2 Cor 2:14; Eph 2:10; cf. Php 4:13; Jn 15:5). “In you” is where failure resides. God could rip our sinful nature right out of us at regeneration, but that would defeat the operation of faith and trust this side of eternity.

If we are truly regenerated by the Holy Spirit we can never lose our salvation regardless of the purveyors of conditional salvation, but grace and love do not mean we can live like the devil the rest of our days after regeneration either. This would indicate that we were probably never saved in the first place. Christianity is a relationship (cf. Jn 14:15), not merely a list of rules of doing that define according to somebody who is righteous and who is not. We are defined by the being (in Christ) and the doing reveals the evidence of a change of heart (cf. Jas 2:17; Jn 8:39. 

It is interesting to note that if we didn't have the record of Peter concerning Abraham's nephew Lot (2 Pet 2:7-8), we would all say that Lot probably didn't know God! Loving God with the totality of our being and loving others as ourselves are at the epicenter of what it means to live the Christian life. These are impossible tasks for the natural man because he or she does not have the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 2:14; Jude 19), and we can't do it either as believers apart from Jesus (Jn 15:5).

I personally think that God uses our sinful nature to test our faithfulness to Him to see if we are going to trust and obey His Holy Spirit in the daily routines of life much like the twelve tribes who had to deal with the nations not driven out by the Lord God during the exploits and conquests under Joshua’s leadership in the Promised Land. This Divine strategy is not an act of discovery on God’s part for He is omniscient or all-knowing. God is not evolving, but such a tactic does challenge our resolve to be faithful to God according to His Word, not according to man. The Holy Spirit has a way of revealing to us sin when we decide to cut against the grain of His will.

This tension between our sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit living within us reveals the spiritual warfare taking place within our minds and bodies. Satan and the world system disclose the external side of the conflict. For every believer, there are pressures from within and without. We are constantly fighting spiritual warfare on three fronts: the sin nature, the world system, and Satan along with his demonic forces. Spiritual engagements are never-ending between the forces of darkness (evil) and the forces of light (good) on this side of eternity.

For a genuine believer, the penalty of sin has been propitiated or satisfied by Christ’s work on the cross, but until we are glorified, the presence of our sinful nature will remain intact in our minds and bodies no matter how spiritual and wise we become. All we need to do to be convinced of that is read about Solomon’s deviations from Yahweh or compare our right choices with our wrong choices.  

In the meantime, the best way to deal with the flesh is to be continuously transformed (present passive imperative) by the renewing of the mind (Rom 12:1, 2). We know it is only through submitting to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our life, evidenced by our walk, that we can keep that coiled-up snake within us from striking. When that beast launches God is not glorified by our words and deeds, and the Holy Spirit is grieved by the flesh flare-ups. Does this mean we have lost our salvation? The temporal security camp would have to say, “Yes,” without repentance, but I am of another persuasion. <><

To Part 2