I’m glad each of you persevered in showing up to
hear this teaching this morning. I know
that it was God who was at work both willing and working for His good
pleasure. Which of the following
statements are true?
1. A person is given eternal life when their
physical body stops living and their spiritual body enters heaven.
2. Those who have been chosen by God have been
given the Spirit of God. The presence of
the Spirit of God is proof that they will not lose their salvation.
I’ll show what the Bible says about each of those
statements. But first, what does
“Perseverance of the Saints” mean? One
way to phrase it is to say, “Remaining a Christian” (Grudem) or “those who are
truly saved will persevere to the end and cannot lose their salvation” (www.theopedia.com).
What verses show that you can’t lose your salvation?
“Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not
see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” –John 3:36
“I tell you
the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal
life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”—John 5:24
Jesus didn’t say that they will have eternal life,
but that they have it right now. And He
also says that they have already “crossed over from death to life.” Anyone who has believed Jesus has already
crossed over from death to life. That
answers the true/false statement I mentioned earlier. A person is given eternal life when they
believe, not when they enter heaven.
Another relevant scripture is Romans 8:1 which
says,
“Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”
There are people who say that you can lose your
salvation. Some of those people may have
devious reasons to teach that belief.
But I believe the majority of people who believe this are doing so out
of a genuine heart to learn and obey the Bible.
I think that their approach to interpreting the Bible is a misguided
zeal, but I think their zeal is worthy of admiration. They may very convincingly say something like
this, “I have no eternal life in me.
Eternal life is only found in Christ.”
And that’s true. The only eternal
life we can have is in Christ.
They’ll go on to say, “If I’m ‘in Christ’ then I
have eternal life. But it I leave Christ
then I don’t have eternal life.” Then
they may continue say, “A person will never face condemnation from God as long
as they are in Christ Jesus. If I leave
Christ Jesus then I will face condemnation.”
But my question for someone who believes that is this, “We are in Jesus
Christ because of whom? Is it because of
us or someone else?”
1 Corinthians 1:3031 says,
“It is
because of him that you are in Christ
Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness,
holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts
boast in the Lord.’”
We are in Jesus Christ because of God. Just to be fair, it is true that the passage
doesn’t say that we can’t take ourselves out of Jesus Christ. However, if something in our human-ness could
somehow take us out of Christ, then that means that our being “in Christ” was
somehow related to something in our human-ness (our ability, wisdom, etc.) But
couldn’t we boast in our wisdom in the way that we chose God? Couldn’t we boast in our spiritual strength
in the way that we denied ourselves
sinful pleasure so as to please God?
Couldn’t we boast in our
influence or noble birth? What would
Paul say to an argument like this?
Well, Paul’s response is found in the very same
chapter,
“Brothers,
think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human
standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God
chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak
things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this
world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things
that are…”—1 Corinthians 1:26-28
Why did God choose to do this? Verse 29 gives us
the answer: “so that no one may boast
before him.”
God wanted us not to be able to place ourselves
into Christ so that we would not be able to boast in ourselves. 1 Corinthians 1:30 doesn’t say that “it’s
because of him that you are placed into Christ Jesus”, although I think it
probably implies that. It actually says,
“It is because of him that you are in Christ
Jesus.” If I put Max in his car seat
and fasten his seatbelt, he is in his car seat because of me. He doesn’t have the ability, skill, or
whatever to lock the seatbelt, and he doesn’t have the ability, skill, or
whatever to unlock seatbelt either. He
was placed in and remains in the seat because of my choosing. I know this is not a perfect analogy. I’ll try to ignore the fact that there are
times that Max is placed into the car seat while he’s kicking and
screaming. So, I’ll move on to the next
topic...God’s choosing.
Who are the twelve disciples that Jesus chose? He chose Matthew, Andrew, Peter, James and
John, the sons of Zebedee, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Thaddeus, Simon, James,
the son of Alphaeus, and Judas. Did
Jesus’ choice of His twelve disciples mean that they were saved (or believed
Jesus)? No:
“Then Jesus
replied, ‘Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!’”—John 6:70
If this isn’t clear enough, He also says,
“‘Yet there
are some of you who do not believe.’ For
Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would
betray him.” --John 6:64
Judas was not a believer even though He was chosen
by Jesus. This word “chosen” seems to
refer to Jesus calling those men to be one of the original twelve disciples who
would follow Him. Some of the larger
crowd of disciples were believers but some weren’t. In John 6 Jesus had said something that was
hard for the larger group of “disciples” to accept. Verse 66 says,
“From this
time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”
There are all kinds of reasons that people come to
Jesus and be a “follower” or “disciple” of Jesus. For example, in John 6:26, it says that some
were following Jesus because they were desperate for food, or just gluttonous,
I don’t know which.
“Jesus
answered, ‘I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw
miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.’”—John 6:26
In Matthew 23:1, we learn of another category of
people in relation to Jesus. He was about to teach about the Law and the
Pharisees when Matthew says, “Then Jesus said
to the crowds and to his disciples …”
So, there is the crowd of people who knew about Jesus and wanted to see
him, experience a miracle or listen to His teaching. Then there were the disciples, which included
those who believed and those who didn’t believe.
Before someone can answer the question, “Can I lose
my salvation?” another question has to be asked, “Am I just in the crowd or am
I a disciple? And if I am trying to
follow the teachings of Jesus, then why am I following Him? Is it to just check out His teachings
intellectually or am I ready to trust Him?”
That’s the first step that we have to address for ourselves personally
and that’s the first step we have to help other people to address:
“‘You do not
want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you
are the Holy One of God.’” --John 6:6769
But there are also examples where the word “chose”
does refer to salvation. For example, in
Ephesians it says,
“For he chose
us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his
sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus
Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…” --Ephesians 1:45
So, it does help to clarify, by looking at the
context, what kind of meaning the word “chose” has. In Ephesians 1 it’s in reference to God
saving us because He talks about us having “forgiveness” and “redemption”. Ephesians 1:1114 says,
“In him we
were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who
works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that
we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal,
the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until
the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
When does a person receive the Holy Spirit? It’s when they believe. What does the person need to believe? It’s the “gospel of your salvation.” Why did God give us the Holy Spirit? It’s to show that He is “guaranteeing our
inheritance.” So, one of the reasons
that God gave us the Holy Spirit is to
show us that he will come back for us and take us with Him to heaven. It’s a “deposit.” The meaning of words really does matter.
For example, if I say “Please put the spare tire in
the trunk.” What came to mind? A space in the back of a car...an
elephant...some swimming clothes...a tree...or a piece of furniture? The context helps to define the word. So, if you’ve come to a point that you’re
not sure if you can lose your salvation or not I want you to do three
things.
First of all, don’t panic. Don’t let yourself be blown around by every
wind of doctrine. Second, search the
Scriptures. Make sure you understand why
you believe what you believe. Third, get
some help. There are people around you
that can help you understand the Bible. There
are some passages in the Bible that are misunderstood. I don’t want to back down from any passage in
the Bible. I don’t want to teach only
certain ones that seem to share what I believe.
I don’t want to fit the Bible into my belief system. I want to fit my belief system into the
Bible. For example, some people think
that Hebrews 6 teaches that we can lose our salvation. Let’s look at what it says:
“It is
impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the
heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness
of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 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.”--Hebrews 6:46
At first glance, this passage appears to teach that
someone can lose their salvation, but once you take a closer look at how these
words are used elsewhere in the New Testament this passage makes more
sense. The word “enlightened” comes from
the Greek word photizo. It’s also used in John 1:9 when it says,
“The true
light that gives light (photizo) to every man was coming into the world.”
Just because Jesus gave light (photizo) to every man doesn’t mean that every man is saved. The Bible doesn’t teach that. We know that the road to hell is broad and
many find it, but the road to heaven is narrow and only few find it. So, the word “enlightened” can mean that
people were receiving a general knowledge of the truth.
Another word that is used here is the word
“tasted.” This comes from the Greek word
geuomai which is also found in
Matthew 24:36,
“There they
offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting (geuomai) it,
he refused to drink it.”
Jesus tasted the wine but didn’t ingest it, just
like there are many who have an experience with Jesus but have never come to
the point of salvation.
Another word in this passage is “repentance.” It comes from the Greek word metanoia. It’s also used in Hebrews 12:17,
“Afterward,
as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could
bring about no change of mind (metanoia), though he sought the blessing with
tears.”
The word metanoia,
or repentance or “change of mind” doesn’t refer to a turning away from
sin. It refers to Esau’s desire for his
father to change his mind and give him his blessing back. Isaac, his father, hadn’t sinned, therefore
there was not turning away from sin that was necessary. Esau just wanted him to change his mind. So, the word “repentance” in Hebrews 6:6
could refer to a superficial change of mind.
Oftentimes, Max and Sarah will be playing
together. Sarah will set down one of her
toys in order to play with something else.
Immediately, like a heatseeking toy finder, Max zeroes in on the newly
freed toy...and then darts away with every intention of keeping the toy for the
rest of his life. Of course, Sarah
doesn’t like this. That toy has become
the greatest possession on the face of the Earth. Glory is shining out from this precious
jewel. She screams at Max, telling him to
give it back. Max hasn’t done anything
wrong. He hasn’t sinned. And yet, Sarah pleads with Max to metanoia. She wants him to change his mind about
something physical, and not related to anything sinful.
So, just because the word “repentance” is used, it
doesn’t necessarily have to refer to a salvation experience. Additionally, the rest of Hebrews 6 shows
that this person or persons were never Christians to start with because they
never bore any fruit from God:
“Land that
drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those
for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces
thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end
it will be burned. Even though we speak
like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things
that accompany salvation.” --Hebrews 6:79
What are some genuine signs that a person belongs
to Christ? Let’s look at what the Scriptures say:
“The Spirit
himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”—Romans 8:16
“Those who
obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he
lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”—1 John 3:24
“Anyone who
does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”—1 John 3:10
“Now this is
eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
you have sent.”—John 17:3
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