Baptist Faith and Message Part 10
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All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
This has been called several names.
It has been called:
The doctrine of:
Once saved, Always Saved.
Eternal Security
Perseverance of the Saints
And Some have altered the Last one to say
Preservation of the Saints.
but regardless of what name you call it-
The question that this portion of our confession is dealing with is the question:
Can someone who is united to Christ by faith, become UN-united to Christ by some wrong doing of their own actions?
Work truck talk- Can someone lose their salvation?
There are once again two ditches on either side of the road here:
On one side, you have people who declare that they believe you can lose your salvation. That you chose it. You can choose to leave it.
Jesus blood is only binding if I want to use it in my life.
I’ve had a conversation where someone I love dearly told me-
I just cannot believe in “Once Saved, Always Saved.” I just can’t believe that if I went rogue and went out and cheated on my wife and I were to die in that moment of cheating before I had the opportunity to repent , that God would forgive me of that sin and that I would go to heaven. That seems like a pretty reasonable argument, right?
There are several problems with that:
The first problem with that it presents a salvation that is contrary to Scripture.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 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. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.
Well thats just Paul right?
What did Jesus say?
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. “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. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.”
Scripture does not present salvation in a way that is in anyway determinate upon your ability to achieve it or keep it- As if your salvation rests upon your own work of confessing the sin in order for it to be covered by the blood of Christ.
This is a fundamentally a question of the atonement. For what sins did Christ die for? your past sins before you were saved? and then the rest are on you to atone through your own work? No, Christ died for our sins past present and future.
When he said it is finished he meant it. He was not speaking in potentiality. He was speaking in actuality.
What he starts, he completes.
The second problem is that it underestimates the reality of our sinful flesh.
We are more sinful than we think we are.
This understanding of salvation is completely out of line with what Scripture teaches.
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Paul is speaking to this very issue. He knows that nothing good dwells in him. What does Paul rest in though? What does Paul say is his comfort?
Being in Christ.
So take the example the person used. Dying in the middle of adultery. Adultery is a grievous sin. But all sin contradicts God’s holiness. Let’s say, you are driving, a Mack truck runs a stop sign and at the last moment of your life, you let out a word that you do not and would not ever use in normal day to day life. Are you saved from that one? Or do you die in your sins?
My point is that no one ever dies having perfectly and fully confessed every individual sin that they have ever committed.
Now this is not to say that we should not and do not need to confess. We do.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
He is speaking to believers there. We ought to confess our sins.
But The reality is that we all could right now, pray and confess our known sins to God, and we will inevitably miss one or even millions.
Your salvation does not rest upon your ability to confess every sin you have committed. Your salvation rest in Christ. Being in Christ.
I think though for many the confusion lies with a faulty understanding of what this doctrine means.
I think for many, they hold on to “Once Saved Always Saved” to mean that all they have to do is at one point in their life or another say the magical prayer that then secures them for eternity. They can now go live as they please.
That is as unbiblical as saying a genuine believer can actually fall out side of God’s hand.
Once Saved Always Saved, does not mean Once Saved, License to Sin.
Thats the other ditch on the other side of the road.
Many people believe that if they have professed Christ or confessed to believe in Christ at any point and time in their life, that person is saved even if they prove later to be an unbeliever by a lifestyle of sin.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
It is not professing to believe that saves. Christ saves. Believing in Him saves.
Nothing Else. And that salvation will then lead to a life that produces fruit.
So then the question becomes:
What do we make of people who have once professed, we may have even voted them into the church, but now they have no involvement with the church or the things of God.
Rather than living constantly pursuing God and abiding in His Word, they just don’t?
What do we make of that? Get answers.
It could be that they are in a period of their life where they are disobedient, but make no doubt, if they are genuine believers, they will repent and come back.
It could also be that they are not believers.
This morning’s sermon touched on that very issue.
The people in John 8 said they believed in verse 30, and in verse 59, those same people picked up stones to kill Jesus.
Jesus was speaking to them when he said
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
Why do you think he said that? He knew what they would do just a few minutes later after following their profession.
The Bible actually assumes that there will be people who profess and say they believe but prove to be unbelievers.
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
So again we return to the question:
What do we make of people who have once professed, we may have even voted them into the church, but now they have no involvement with the church or the things of God.
Rather than living constantly pursuing God and abiding in His Word, they just don’t?
What do we make of that? Get answers.
It could be that they are in a period of their life where they are disobedient, but make no doubt, if they are genuine believers, they will repent and come back. (Example of this would be Peter)
It could also be that they are not believers. (An example of this would be Judas).
Practically then, what should the church do?
Again, the Bible assumes this will happen… So what should the church do when these situations arise?
“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
We do a disservice to people, and worst of all, we are disobedient to God, when we allow them to continue in sin while also allowing them to claim to be members of the church.
I said this morning that there are people who are on our church roll, but they have no mark of Christ on their life. They have no involvement with our church or any church for that matter.
God has given the command and the authority to the church to take action to ensure that these people know that they are in sin and need to repent.
The problem is so often we think it is more loving to allow them to continue as if everything is fine rather than confronting them about it.
One thing that keeps me up at night is this verse.
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
There are people who are members of this church, that I have never even met… If I were to see them, I would not know them. They would not know me.
But the Scripture says I will be held accountable for them. That scares me.
The Bible gives clear direction as to what we ought to do.
I say that to say, we ought to believe in eternal security, but we ought not perpetuate false assurance if these people are living in habitual unrepentant sin.
All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.