Eternal Security Part 2

Defending Eternal Security


(My notes taken from Reclaiming the Mind Ministries Theology program)

#1 I would be denying the clear teaching of these scriptures...
Romans 9 & 10
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,(made right with God) and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

#2 The bible clearly teaches that a true believer cannot ever be lost.
John 10:25-29
"Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."
So no one can take my salvation away. Looking from God's perspective who has a hold of me, I can't imagine me being able to get out of His grasp once I am truly there it's totally impossible.

#3 Romans 8:29-30 Predestination...I'm saved and in the process of being saved (8:38-39 This is a completed action! This is not just based on affection for us or from God, but Paul has put this in to explain our salvation. This is an ACTIVE love of God.

#4 Eternal life begins the moment you have it or receive it.
John 5:24
"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.

#5 This is a down payment...a guarantee
Ephesians 1:13-14
"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."
John 6:39-40
"And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day."

#6 Scripture clearly teaches we can be CONFIDENT of our salvation:
2 Corinthians 5:6-10
“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Philippians 1:6
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Response to "Conditional Security" arguments
1.TWO THINGS WRONG
*Based on faulty notion of free will. Our free will is limited by ability, and no one has the ability to choose God on their own (Romans 3:11)
*Even the conditonal security advocates believe that in eternity we will not be able to reject God.

None of these passages teach that a person can loose their salvation

2. John 5:16
Death here is not spiritual, but must be physical. If this was a reference to an unforgiveable sin causing spiritual death, God did not do a good job of covering a spiritual topic.
(there is a sin that leads to physical death)

3. MATTHEW 3:28-29
The unforgiveable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, is the sin of unbelief or rejection of Christ.

4. Hebrews 3:26-28
HAVE YOU NOT SINNED WILLFULLY AFTER RECEIVING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH?
They have overturned the system of sacrifice for 2,000 yrs. Now everyone is still doing this system of sacrifice, their saying the old system does you no good, after you've been introduced to Christ, He does away with the sacrifices.)

5. 2 Peter 2:19-22
THE FALSE TEACHERS WERE NEVER TRUE BELIEVERS
They escaped this thing of this world in that they made an outward change, but they never really had a change of heart.

6. Galatians 5:1-4
"Falling from grace" does not mean that they fell from saving grace, but sanctifying grace. This is the entire argument of the book. Paul is wondering why people think that it is possible to be sanctified by the law when they have been saved by grace (3:1-3) When a person tries to be sanctified by the law, he or she has fallen from grace in that they have no power to grow in Christ.
(Not using the provision of grace from God-they have fallen outside the use of God's grace. Every one of us can fall from grace, if we are not using God's grace or power available to believers. In other words, the flesh instead of the spirit.

7. Matthew 18-23-25
This passage is not speaking about salvation, but about forgiveness.

8. Hebrews 6:4-9
This passage does not suggest that true believers can leave the faith, but if they could they could not be restored to repentance. This is made clear in verse 9, "But Beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, & things that accompany salvation." Things that accompany true salvation must not include apostasy. Perseverance would have taken hold.

9. Hebrews 4
These scriptures are real warnings. The writers all encourage their readers to persevere in the faith, but are not suggesting that one can lose true faith. The scriptures do, however, teach that many people have a nominal or "said" faith. People are encouraged to examine their faith, to make sure it is true. If people do not persevere until the end, they were not ever true believers.
Matthew24:10-13, John3:16, 2 Cor.13:5, 2 Peter1:10, 1 John2:19
Matthew 7:21-23 (sure would look like a true believer!)

****************THE OUTCOME TOTALLY RESTS ON GOD*************************************

The means by which you are saved is also the means by which you are kept. If you were saved by grace, you are kept by grace. If you were saved by faith, you are kept by faith. Both are true. God graciously gave us the gift of faith when we were not seeking it. If we were to loose our salvation, God must take the gift back. But if man produced faith by his own volition, as the conditonal advocates teach, then his own volition can also decide to reject God.
While it is true that the majority of church history has believed that one could forfeit their salvation either through mortal sin or apostasy, this does not make it correct. The majority of church history also believe in baptismal generation. (saved when baptized)
CONCLUDING PRINCIPLES

1. Our salvation is protected by the Power of God

2. If you are trusting in Christ for your salvation, you have eternal life as a present possession.

3. We are to persevere in our faith.