EUSEBEIA BIBLE CHURCH PREP SCHOOL LESSON
CORE DOCTRINES
Eternal Security Part 2
In our last lesson we discussed what we are like before and after our moment of believing in Jesus. Can you guess which is which in these 2 cameras? We also discussed the miracle of what happens in that moment of time, how you are IN CHRIST, how God the Father, God the Son & God Holy Spirit (the trinity) live inside of you and how you are a “living temple”.
So now the big question:
Can a believer lose their salvation? Can a person who is saved be lost again?
In other words, once someone makes a decision to believe in The Lord Jesus Christ (TLJC), can that person somehow, at a later time, lose their salvation for any reason? The answer to the question is the cross and the work completed on the cross. Jesus said “IT IS FINISHED!”
The second question here is:
Did TLJC accomplish enough on the cross to not only save an individual, but also, keep them saved for all of eternity? Was the cross enough or not quite enough? How you answer the second question will be the basis for how you answer the first question.
The Bible clearly states the following FACTS:
1. The cross was enough
2. All believers have eternal security (a guarantee that you are saved forever!)
If you are not secure in your salvation, then you are insecure. Being insecure regarding your salvation causes insecurity in all other areas of your spiritual and physical life. If you don’t have faith in your eternal destiny, you live your life in fear of losing Heaven as your final destiny. That stinks!! You think, “What if I do that ONE thing that makes me NOT saved anymore and then I die??”
If the cross ISN’T enough, then what is? Is God’s perfect grace insufficient? Did the Son of God’s (Jesus) sacrifice fall short of the mark? How arrogant we are if we think we can add anything to our Lord’s work on the cross!! If we believe that we can do something to LOSE our salvation then we must also think that we can do something to earn our salvation. The truth is we can do NOTHING but believe! One tiny speck of faith in the perfect complete work of Jesus Christ Is ALL that we do. How arrogant we are if we think we play any part in this gracious act of God.
We are now going to dig into the scriptures to see what the Bible has to say about eternal security. Specifically, we are going to discuss several reasons why all believers should rest on God’s grace provision of saving us. When He does something He does it perfectly and FOREVER!
Principle #1 - God has a purpose for your life that He planned in eternity past
Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”
We see the statement that God chose us “in Him” before human history, before the world even was! This is huge!!! It tells us that God had a plan for all believers before the world was created. That plan was that we would be “holy and blameless.” Do you believe you are holy and blameless in His eyes once you are saved? You should. Your sins were wiped away at the cross and that was before you were even born!
Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Let’s apply a little logic. There is only one sin that can squash your salvation and that is the sin of unbelief. God is all knowing (omniscient) and was able to look down the corridors of time and see that you would believe in His son.
Psalm 44:21 “Would not God find this out for He knows the secrets of the heart.”
God is all knowing (omniscient), and as the verses above clearly state, He has designed a very personal sense of destiny for you after knowing everything about you. This is a present, a grace gift from your Father to you. And guess what? Perfect grace never removes a gift or expects anything in return. And…………He did this before you were even born! So, how could you have ANYTHING to do with this? If we had to pay for it or work for it, grace would no longer be grace! In God’s perfect integrity, He inspired the following passage:
Romans 8:29-30 “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.”
Once His purpose for you is set in motion, He will not stop it, even if you are negative towards learning Bible Doctrine. His plan from eternity past is that you are justified, and made righteous. So, what else is there to accomplish?
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Grace is not only the basis for our so great salvation, but also the basis for our eternal security. One might say, “grace” is the security in eternal security.” He did it all, so it is all done perfectly once and FOR ALL!! A predominant part of this idea of eternal security is that we are identified with TLJC at salvation. Recall that in the Bible, the term “baptized” means to be identified with.
Galatians 3:27 “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
Baptized, which is baptizo in the Greek, means to be identified with. In this case, at salvation, we are baptized into union with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry during the Church-Age dispensation (also: mentor/teacher). This is like when we wear uniforms for team sports. We wear the uniforms to be easily identified as a member of our team. So, the Holy Spirit gave us a “uniform” (the very righteousness) of Team TLJC!!!
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
“In Christ” means that a believer is what we call ‘positionally sanctified’ or set apart and seen differently by God. Not only are we on the same team, but as close to Him as a body part. Would you say you are close with your arm? I would say so since it is attached to you!!!
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
So, you see that we are made perfectly righteous in God’s eyes when we accept the invitation to salvation.
But yet, we read in Romans 3:10 just the opposite!
Romans 3:10 as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
So how can this be? How can the Bible say, “there is none righteous” and yet also tell us that we are perfectly righteous “in Christ”? How can we claim eternal security for that matter? Listen carefully. What I’m about to say is very important to your understanding of the spiritual life. You have two different natures inside of you. The first one you were born with, and it is evil. The second one you received at the moment of your salvation, and it is perfectly righteous. (See cameras above just in case you forgot. :o) Don’t miss this! BOTH of them are currently inside of you and will be there until either you die (ultimate sanctification) or you are taken up at the Rapture of the Church. At death or the Rapture, the “old self” or evil part of you, is done away with, leaving you with only the “new self”, which is baptized (in union with) TLJC forever.
So be sure to keep this in mind as you learn more and more Bible doctrine. The doctrine of the two natures will help you understand important ideas such as WHO and WHAT WE ARE IN GOD’S EYES. He is not limited to seeing things along a “time line” since He is eternal. God sees us as PERFECT in CHRIST right now!!! That is our position. We call this “retroactive positional truth” in “theological” terms. But, as you know, those big words are useless if you do not know what they really mean!!
Colossians 2:12-13 “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions”
Colossians 2:14 “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
Retroactive positional truth is a theological description of the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross, so did our old selves. Our debt to God was nailed to the cross, wiped away! But, are you dead? No, you are very much alive and so is your ability to SIN, which reveals that your sin nature is still very much alive, too! This is very important to understand. For example, by understanding that the evil “old self” died on the cross with Christ, you will see that the position of the old self is atoned for. You were born dead, but Christ took care of that at the cross.
If you understand this doctrine, then you’ll never try to add anything to God’s grace to keep yourself saved. The old self is dead and there’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is the new creature! This NEW NATURE is perfectly righteous!
These two natures are polar opposites. So don’t ever confuse your condition with your position. You choose every day which nature you will FEED! You also choose which nature you will listen to! You feed the new nature with Bible Doctrine. You feed the old nature with worldly thinking, thinking that is opposed to the Bible. So, whichever nature you feed the most will be the strongest and will determine if you produce divine good or evil in your actions. So, as far as God is concerned, your old man is dead and crucified (position) but as far as your life in time, YOU choose who grows stronger!
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Pastor Ed Collins www.pastoredcollins.org © 2009 Eusebeia Bible Church