Paw Creek Ministries has posted a new
item, 'Security for a "Born Again"
Believer'
You may view the latest post at
http://www.pawcreek.org/sanctuary-sermons/security-for-a-born-again-believer
Best regards,
Joseph Chambers
jrc@pawcreek.org
Transformed “Born Again” believers do not need a crutch
to prop them up. A doctrine that excuses and eliminates sin is
unnecessary, confusing, and damaging. Let me share this written message with you
and then, please listen to the sermon attached. You are very special to this
Gospel preacher and I want to encourage you.
I’m sick of religion that claims the privileges of God,
but refuses the responsibilities of God. I find it even more sickening
when these claims are made on God’s marvelous grace as though grace can be
reduced to something cheap and tolerating of willful and known sin. Paul
addressed this subject when he said, “What
shall we say then, shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God Forbid!
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” (Romans
6:1-2)
“Biblical Eternal Security” is one of the Holy
Book’s most precious commodities. To suggest that we must make our entrance into
our Heavenly reward by great fear and intimidation is unsound. To ever conclude
that God will cast us off because of some human error or weakness does not fit
His great love and forgiveness. We are clearly written on His hear. His patience
is higher than all human understanding. Yet to use such love as an open door to
sin and wickedness; to suggest that this love will tolerate human carelessness
and unbridled rebellion is a travesty of Calvary.
Scriptural eternal security certainly has a counterpart,
as all Biblical truths do. Satan is the master counterfeiter. For every
Biblical doctrine our archenemy has produced a counterfeit. The Trinity of God
beautifully expressed in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is deceptively
reproduced by Satan in a Jesus-only concept that does great injustice to the
scripture.
The Holy Ghost baptism and its initial evidence, speaking
in other languages, has a counterfeit expression that reduces this spiritual
mastery of the believer to fleshly manipulation and even satanic
babbling. We must not allow any holy truth to be less than intended
because someone has a substitute.
Accountability
Before we document the breathtaking realities of our
security in Christ, let’s note His demands for accountability. If the
sinner is accountable to repent, confess his sins, and trust Christ before he
can be saved, it is inconceivable that the new man in Christ is less
responsible. The Holy Scripture is filled with warnings. The Kingdom of Heaven
is under violent assault. Paul warned,
“Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall.” (I
Corinthians 10:12) Jesus said, “And
ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake, but he that endureth to the end
shall be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) Luke recorded Christ’s words as
following:> “No man, having put his hand
to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke
9:62)
The Apostle Paul
constantly warned believers in his epistles of the dangers of backsliding. He
said to the Galatians:
“Ye did run well, who did hinder you that ye should not
obey the truth?” (Galatians 5:7) To Timothy he said, “Some are already turned aside after Satan.”(I Timothy
1:19) In his second letter to Timothy he warned, “If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” (II Timothy
2:12) His words to the Hebrews were even stronger, “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the
beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” (Hebrews 3:14) The
Apostle Paul was not ignorant of Satan’s devices.
Sin Will
Separate
Biblical Security does
not treat human sins lightly. The prophet Habakkuk declared,“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not
look on iniquity.” (Habakkuk 1:13) God spared not Satan nor the angels
when the sinned, but cast them out of heaven. (II Peter 2:4) Adam and Eve
suffered grave consequences for their sins, although they had been created
perfectly and covered with God’s ethereal glory. They were cast out of the
Garden of Eden.
The nation of Israel was
cut off from the natural root of her heritage, and the gentile world was grafted
in her place because of the sin of unbelief. (She will be regrafted back
into her natural tree in the near future.) “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed
lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God:
on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His
goodness: otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.” (Romans 11:21-22)
Any doctrine that
forgets personal responsibility becomes a doctrine of convenience. The
prophet Ezekiel put such thought to rest in His warning to the wicked:
“But when the righteous turneth away from
His righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the
abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness
that he hath done shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he hath
trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” (Ezekiel
18:24)
The wages of sin is death, whether it be found in the man
who has known God, or in the man who has never believed and trusted Him.
We are responsible creatures. God’s revelation has documented that
throughout the scripture.
Calvary Is Our
Security
When we understand the beauty and power of the Calvary
event, there is no need for false security. Everything necessary to get
the believer to their eternal reward is amply provided. There is no power or
tribulation sufficient to destroy or render our triumph invalid. “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”
(Romans 8:37) We don’t need to be ushered into Heaven in spite of a
victorious life when we have all that in necessary to be an overcomer. What is
the purpose of any doctrine that makes idle Christians out of believers who have
such hope and promises?
Isaiah gave us the most
descriptive picture of the cross that is the First Testament.
“Can a women forget her sucking child, that she should
not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah
49:15-16a) The amplified Bible records verse 16 like this: “Behold I have
indelibly imprinted (tattooed) a picture of you on the palm of each of my hands,
O Zion (church)…” The word “graven” is not used as this rendering anywhere else
in the Bible. It means to cut, to engrave, to trace, to tattoo, or to hack. Our
God actually said, I have hacked you in my hands, or even better, I have painted
a picture of you in each of my palms.
This great statement actually takes us back into the
eternal past where God the Father predestined Christ, His only Son, to the
cross, while at the same time, He predestined you and me to His loving
fellowship. He said, while speaking to this prophet who lived hundreds of
years before Jesus, “I have graven (past tense) you.” Such truth leaves you and
me with simple task of trusting and obeying. All provision for our trusting and
obeying is already provided. To engrave suggests the creating of a thing of
beauty. He has engraved you into His palms in such a manner as to create in the
provision something beautiful of your life. It is not just positional beauty,
but experienced beauty. You can be recreated in His image.
The Apostle Paul takes us the next step. We
experience this beauty by looking away from the self life unto Jesus, the Author
of our new life. He said, “Looking unto
Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who, for the joy that was set
before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) When we learn to live by the
Book of Faith, by constantly beholding Him as the Author and Finisher (note
Finisher) of our faith walk, we move from glory to glory. He has already
finished our redemption, so our duty is to receive by abiding in Him. All He has
in redemptive grace is ours if we simply draw from the well.
On the basis of the above promise, this apostle says,
“Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make
straight paths for you feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way;
but let it rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:12-13) It’s faith in Him that
we must express by refusing to be downcast or dismayed. We are to choose moral
and spiritual paths (straight) for our feet so that those in the way may be
healed instead of wrongly influenced. We represent His redemptive power both in
our lifestyle and our witness to others.
Calvary Makes Us
Overcomers
Drifting into heaven is neither desirable nor
possible. It is not downstream, but uphill all the way. One of Christ’s
most powerful statements was recorded in St. Matthew: “Until the present, the
Kingdom of Heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force
(as a precious prize), a share in this Heavenly Kingdom is sought for with most
ardent zeal and intense exertion.” (Amp. Bible Matthew 11:12) It is clear that
Jesus understood the struggle of kingdom experiences. The victory is already
won, but the overcomer must be willing to engage the enemy and press toward the
mark. There is no armor for the back. If we turn to run, we are a sitting duck
for our enemy. He will always attack when you look back.
Eight times John the Revelator
promised that the overcomers would inherit the favors of heaven. He said,
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will
be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Revelation 21:7) What is there to
fear? Nothing but fear itself. It is impossible for a believer to fail in this
walk unless they turn from the provisions provided. Stan cannot pluck you out of
the Father’s hands. Remember, you are graven (tattooed, hacked) in His palms.
The Father and the Son are One though two distinct Person of the Godhead.
Biblical Eternal Security is nothing less than God’s
absolute promise of faithfulness and sufficiency. “Nothing is impossible with
God.” (Luke 1:37) The Lord Jesus has received all power in Heaven and in
earth. Satan is nothing but hot air (don’t underestimate him, but don’t
overestimate him, either). His whole strategy is intimidation. He has already
lost. After you know you have been born again, saved, or washed in His blood,
however you choose to describe it, get in the Word regularly, pray every day
until you know He has heard, be in His house worshipping every worship
opportunity, and you will not fall away. It’s impossible under the provisions I
have described in this article.
You may view the latest post at
http://www.pawcreek.org/sanctuary-sermons/security-for-a-born-again-believer
Best regards,
Joseph Chambers
jrc@pawcreek.org