Sermon Tone Analysis

*WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS ABOUT ETERNAL SECURITY*

By Ralph Sorter

* *

*Introduction*

            Soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, centers on the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

Its theme spans both the Old and New Testament.

It’s all about God reconciling sinful man to Himself, to restore the broken relationship that sin produced.

With the death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, redemption was accomplished.

The result is that we are in God’s eyes a new creation; the old is passed away and all things are new.

There are a variety of views concerning salvation – all the way from a works-based approach and law keeping, to extreme predestination, where man has to do absolutely nothing.

In the doctrine of salvation (as with any important doctrine of the Bible) one must apply the rules of hermeneutic interpretation.

Without these guidelines, one can come up with any sort doctrine by just making the scriptures say what you want them to say.

It is these rules of biblical interpretation that guided us away from false doctrine and into the safety of the truth of the Word of God.

Therefore, I will review some of the rules of hermeneutic exegesis; that is, proper biblical interpretation.

#.

A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or their readers.

#.

Who is the passage written to?

Is the command, promise, warning, etc, written to a select group, or to all?

#.

Under which covenant was it written?

The Christian is obligated only to that which Christ, the Apostles, or any New Testament writer brings from the Old into the New, or what they wrote.

#.

Interpret scriptures in light of their context.

Look at the verses before and after (sometimes you need to scan previous chapters) to gain the context of the verse in question.

Never take a verse out of its literary context.

#.

Your interpretation of one verse must never contradict or conflict with another verse of like subject.

If it does not agree with other verses on the same or similar subject, you have not finished your homework of hermeneutical interpretation.

#.

When interpreting parables~/stories, always stick to the original interpretation as explained by the speaker or author of the text.

#.

Passages must be understood and interpreted in light of the historical particularity in which the author wrote.

Never take a verse out of its historical context.

Pay attention to historical, social and cultural contexts.

#.

Find the meaning of the words in the original languages.

Meaning is sometimes lost or confused during the process of interpretation.

If you do not know how to interpret the original languages, use the most accurate English translation available; such as the New American Standard or the Revised Standard Version.

Do not depend on a functional equivalent or paraphrase version for proper exegesis.

(The version used in this article is the New American Standard, one of the most literal English versions on the market.

Go to: http:~/~/www.thomasnelson.com~/consumer~/dept.asp?dept_id=1117932&TopLevel_id=100000)

 

*The Source of Our Salvation*

            “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

(Titus 2:11-14)

 

            Our salvation is provided by the loving, gracious act of God in giving up His Son in our place to atone for our sin.

Grace sets us free from the necessity of trying to enter heaven by any law code.

Under grace we break the commandments, but because of God’s grace and our faith, we escape the penalty.

This is called the vicarious or substitutionary atonement.

In other words, Christ suffered and died for our sins in our place.

*Rom.

3:23-26; Mk. 10:45* 

            The doctrine of salvation is unique in Christianity in that outside of the Bible, the way to salvation is always by works, merit or achievement.

This is why, in part, so many avoid conversations about salvation; and it’s because they don’t want to add a list of do’s and don’ts to their already busy list.

The basis of salvation by grace is rooted in what God does in justification.

Justification means that we are made right in the eyes of God, not on the basis of what we have done, but on the basis of what He did…He sent His Son to die in our place.

*Rom.**

5:1-2, 9-11, 17-19* 

            Connected to justification is imputed righteousness.

Impute means to credit, to attribute God’s own righteousness to the sinner’s account.

*2 Cor.

5:21**; Phil.

3:8-9*   Justification is our state declared by God and He credits His own righteousness to our account; but that does not mean we are free of our responsibility to personal righteousness.

Our own personal righteousness does not earn our salvation, but we have a responsibility to live to the standard Christ has put us when He imputed His righteousness upon us.

See *Phil.

3:12-16; Col. 3:1-2; 3:4-5*.

When we are born again in Christ, we are a new creature.

Our sins are gone and the old man died with Christ at the cross.

The trouble is that our old nature keeps resurrecting itself because we have a memory.

Therefore our old memories have to die a little bit every day – where we choose to walk a closer to the example of Christ.

This is the battle of walking in the Spirit vs. walking in the flesh.

To illustrate, when we are sick and go to the doctor and get an injection, flowing through our blood is the cure.

But it takes time for the antibodies to find their target and destroy the bug that made us sick.

Likewise, the Spirit is present in our soul and as we say “yes” to His prompting and conviction, the bug of sin is destroyed one decision after another.

This process of matching our righteousness with the righteousness of God is not a process we are left to achieve on our own.

God is at work in assisting us in walking the talk…matching the practice with the position.

This process is called regeneration and sanctification.

Upon salvation, there is an inner change affected towards sin’s tempting pull.

Jesus changes the desire in us, puts to death our desire to sin, and puts a new desire in our heart to want to please God.

He puts the Holy Spirit in our heart to alert us to the lie of temptation and give us the power to resist.

*Rom.**

6:6-22; Gal.

5:16-18*

 

*A Proper Understanding of Eternal Security*

            “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

(John 10 27-28, Jesus is speaking.)

This is the hallmark verse in regards to eternal security.

A proper understanding of it can give us great peace; but that understanding must harmonize with all other verses of the Bible.

If your interpretation of it is in opposition with other verses with the Bible, then you haven’t done your exegesis correctly.

First of all, let’s look at what the verse does say.

It says that those that follow Jesus, He gives eternal life to them.

This is key to understanding eternal security and our harmony with other verses.

It is in our act of faith of following Jesus that is rewarded with eternal life.

This is not salvation by works…for no work of man can secure our salvation; our salvation is wrought by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ alone.

But God looks for our faith in Him as evidenced in following Him.

It is in our continual following of Jesus that gives us eternal security; but as we shall see below, if we choose to not follow Him, that is, defect from Him, then our salvation is not secure.

Secondly in our John passage, Jesus states that not only will they never perish, but no one will snatch them out of His hand.

No outside source or power can snatch the follower of Christ out of His hand.

But proper exegesis harmonizes this with other passages to understand that it is only outside sources or powers that cannot snatch us from His hand, but we can choose on our own volition to no longer follow Christ; and if we do so, our salvation is no longer secure.

There is another great verse that underscores our eternal security, 1 John 5:11-13.

“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

To have the Son (Jesus Christ) as your Savior is to have life.

If you do not have the Son, you do not have life.

To properly harmonize that verse with other passages, we must understand that that also means letting go of the Son results in losing eternal life.

Often the rebuttal is spoken that if someone deserts Christ, then they never were a true follower in the first place…for if you are a true follower of Christ, you would never desert Him.

That statement is not only inconsistent with real life experiences, but it’s also inconsistent with scripture, which I will reveal now.

“For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and /then/ have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

(Hebrews 6:4-6)

            To understand this verse you must ask, “Who are these that have fallen away, and it is impossible to renew them again to repentance?”