Chapter 24 Continued from Chapter 23

“Words taught by the Spirit” (1Cor.2:13)

An Email Ministry for the Glory of God

 

A series of Bible studies on

SALVATION IN CHRIST

AND

THE ISSUE OF THE ETERNAL SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER

PART C’: Which believer does not risk losing his salvation… (#8)

 

In this chapter, we will continue discussing certain other characteristics of the soul that belongs to the fourth group of the parable of the Sower:

 

1.  Our sins are forgiven provided we walk in the Light… The children of God walk in the light!

Those who assert that they are born of God believers must always have in mind that their communion with God the Father and His son Jesus Christ as well as with the Holy Spirit depends on their walk in the light, that is, in transparency and purity. The Bible is absolutely clear at this point: No walk in the light results in no spiritual communion with God and even with men! IF NOT, HE CANNOT CLEAN OUR SINS, AND BROTHERLY FELLOWSHIP CANNOT EXIST! Here are some of the proofs:

• “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleans us from all sin” (1John 1:7).
• “My little children, these things write I to you, that you sin not.  And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1John 2:1-2).
• “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps.66:18).
• “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight” (1John 3:21-22).

 

2.  Hunger and thirst are satisfied

Those whose spiritual hunger and thirst have been completely satisfied, why should they go elsewhere to satisfy their hunger and quench their thirst? Please, pay attention to the following verses:

• “Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).

• “And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

Those who have tasted that the Lord is good, why should they leave Him and try to find joy and happiness elsewhere? Those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious (1Pet.2:3) and that HE is the only one who has the words of eternal life and that they are sure that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, why should they leave Him and go back to the desert to quench their thirst and satisfy their hunger (John 6:68-69)? The aforementioned verses guarantee us that those who are not anymore thirsty and are not anymore hungry, will have no more interest to go back or to withdraw to the desert of this world to find “water” to drink and quench their thirst or search for food to eat, because they are fully satisfied! He who is pure, he who has become purified by the intervention of the Holy Spirit and has become a brand new creature cannot tolerate impurity! The new man is renewed in the spirit of his mind and is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph.4:23-24). He is sealed! Sealed by God! How wonderful! How encouraging! He who is sealed by God is also “certified! His authenticity as a child of God and his security are “guaranteed”!

 

3.  “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…”

Many are called… but few are chosen. That means that few become “elect”. There are people who dare to enter God’s “feast” without the proper garment, that is, while they do not meet the necessary conditions (Mat.22:11-13). Let the reader understand… and pay attention to the following verses:

• “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you, and peace, be multiplied” (1Pet.1:2).
•  “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him…” (John 6:64-65).
• “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom.8:29-30).
• “Knowing, brothers beloved, your election of God” (1Thess.1:4).
• “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph.1:11).

Conclusion: All those who have been called did not respond positively to become “elect”!  They neglected God’s exhortations and warnings. Those who responded positively became “elect”! God’s prognosis knew those who would become “elect”!

As I was writing these lines I was reminded of the case of Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jer.1:5). Amazing! And what should we say for the cases of John the Baptist (Luke 1:13-17) and Paul (Gal.1:15-16)? Was it not the sovereign will of God in the case of choosing Jacob instead of Esau (Gen.25:22-26)? God did NOT impose them their salvation! He simply foreknew them as well as their choice, and He predestinated them for a certain purpose, for a certain service, for a certain ministry to fulfill in their generation!

Romans chapters 9, 10 and 11 speak extensively about God’s foreknowledge (prognosis). Jesus knew those who believed and those who did not believe… I was strongly impressed by the verse of John 6:6, a verse, which has influenced all my life:  “But this he said, trying him, for he knew what he was going to do.” And what should we say about the prophetic utterances of the Old Testament prophets about the future of certain nations? Also, about certain verses of the NT one of which I consider of great importance: “… For to do whatever your hand and your counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:28).

Let me make clearer the whole thing by adding the following verses:

• “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (What consolation!) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Incredible but true!… Conformed to the image of his Son! See also 1John 3:2). Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? (It did not say the ‘called’ but the ‘elect’.). It is God that justifies” (Rom.8:28-33)
• “… You are my servant; I have chosen you, and not cast you away” (Isa.41:9, See also John 13:18; 15:16)
• “God has not cast away his people which he foreknew…….” (Rom.11:2) (Alleluia!)

If God has foreknown me, is HE going to reject me? Chastise me, correct me, YES (Heb.12:5-15), mais reject me, NO! Is it necessary for me to add anything to these Holy Scriptures / cornerstones?

 

4.  Chapter 17 of the Gospel of John

This chapter corroborates and completes in a clear way what has already been said about foreknowledge and election. Let us pay attention to certain verses from the 17^th chapter of John’s Gospel, which confirm the idea of the eternal security of the TRUE believer:

• “As you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him” (John 17:2);
• “I have manifested your name to the men which you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them me; and they have kept your word” (John 17:6);
• “Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are of you” (John 17:7);
• “For I have given to them the words which you gave me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me” (John 17:8);
• “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me; for they are yours” (John 17:9);
• “(And all that is mine is thine, and all that is thine mine,) and I am glorified in them” (John 17:10 – Darby);
• “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are” (John 17:11);
• “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name: those that you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12);
• “I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil” (John 17:15);
• “Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth” (John 17:17);
• “Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me: for you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

We can see in this chapter or better in these selected verses of this chapter that the expressions “gave me” or “have given me” are repeated seven times! We also see that those that the Father gave to the Son:

a)  Received His words;

b)  Jesus was glorified in them;

c)  Have been kept by Jesus;

d)  Were sanctified through God’s truth; and

e)  Jesus prayed the Father to keep them from the evil!

And now a final point, but very significant! It is written:

“According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph.1:4-5). Chosen before the foundation of the world! What did He choose? False and rebellious believers, hypocrites and backsliders? People who say Lord, Lord, but are workers of iniquity? Lukewarm believers who will be vomited? Worriers absorbed by the cares of this life? Disorderly walking people? Believers unfit for the kingdom of God? Christians like Demas, Diotrephes, Ananias and Sapphira? Believers who turn back to their “vomit”? Believers who cherish a wicked heart of unbelief? People that deny Him openly? People who do not respect His warnings? Believers whose name will be blotted out of the book of life? Believers who have sinned but have never repented of their sin? Those who profess that they know Him, but in works deny Him? Deceitful Christian workers? Christian workers who become enemies of the cross? Those who work for filthy lucre and lord over God’s heritage? Foolish virgins? People who entered without the wedding garment? Merchants of the Word of God? NO, but the ELECT according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: […] (1Pet.1:2). Not simply “called” but “elect”!

Consequently:

• True believers have been chosen before the foundation of the world, and have been predestinated to be adopted as His children according to the good pleasure of His will and for a specific service or ministry (Eph.1:4 and 2Tim.1:9).
• They are “elect” according to the “foreknowledge” (prognosis) of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (1Pet.1:2).

So, once again!

Consequently:

• God has not chosen them arbitrarily, but according to His foreknowledge (prognosis). Has His prognosis made any mistake or has He obliged anybody to be saved or to be lost?

These truths are corroborated once again with the aforementioned passage: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom.8:28-30).

 

Glory to God! Alleluia!

 

John BALTATZIS

baltatzis@skynet.be

To be continued…