There is absolutely nothing to the belief that everlasting life once received cannot be lost that suggests our behavior is not important to God. Jesus Christ made that clear in all His teaching including what He said in John 8:31-32. He desires that everyone take up the challenge of being a disciple. However, being a disciple does nothing to eliminate the main barrier to entrance into Heaven. Look at John 3:3. The man Nicodemus would not see the eternal kingdom because he was dead. His behavior was not the issue it was his lack of life, everlasting life. He needed the second birth. Death is what blocks the way to entering the eternal Kingdom.
A dead person doesn’t need to clean up his or her life. They don’t have a life to clean up! They need two things. The removal of whatever caused their death and then a new life installed. Jesus Christ took away the sin of the world (Psalms 103:12 & John 1:29). That was the cause of death. Having removed sin He now is free to offer the rebirth unto everlasting life to all who believe in Him. It really is that simple (2 Corinthians 11:3). Those who insist that continued faith coupled with good works are necessary to get you across the finish line just removed any chance of certainty. Because no one has ever offered a quantitative measure of when you’ve done enough accept the Lord. And He said you have to keep the whole Law 100% of the time. Deuteronomy 27:26 - Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’ Galatians 3:10 - For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
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The failure to recognize that God makes a distinction between a believer, someone with everlasting life, and a disciple, someone who is seeking to be a follower of Jesus Christ, leads to many serious doctrinal errors. Jesus Christ Himself laid out that distinction in John 8:30-32. The setting is a debate Jesus Christ was having with the Pharisees in the Temple. During this confrontation the Pharisees demand that Christ tell them who He is. Which, as He pointed out in this exchange, He had already done. That is in John 8:25-29. Then John records this:
As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus Christ interrupted His debate with the Pharisees to address the people in the crowd who had believed in Him. He was no longer addressing the Pharisees or the general public, just those who believed in Him. He was saying to be a true disciple (disciple indeed) they needed to continue in His word or teaching. They needed to learn the truth which would make them free. There are many passages in the gospels in which the Lord is explaining the nature and demands of discipleship. Those passages are not evangelistic but sanctifying. Compare the passages in John I have referenced in the previous two posts with Luke 14:25-35 or Matthew 5:1-7:27. Notice in John Jesus was talking about entering into life, everlasting life. Luke and Matthew are talking about how to live as a disciple. The content of the Luke and Matthew passages are completely incompatible with John 3:16, 4:10, 5:24 and 6:47. If you fail to see the differences in subject matter and insist both are about receiving everlasting life then you must concede these passages are contradicting each other. There is no way to weasel word an explanation that melds them together. Salvation cannot be both by faith alone and at the same time by good works, Romans 11:5 & 6. If you rule the Word of God as contradictory in its content, then you have removed all hope of finding a path to God. You have eliminated the only trustworthy source you have for God’s revealed truth, the Bible. The truth is that God has in His infinite grace love and mercy made everlasting life obtainable in the only way we can receive it. It is by believing in Jesus Christ for everlasting life. We are incapable of being consistently good enough to please Him. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Don’t miss the shift in verb tense between the first and second clause. All have sinned – past tense, a completed action or actions. Fall short – present tense – our current condition. In other words, we have failed to mean God’s expectations in the past and we continue to do so. Our only hope is salvation by grace though faith. So, here is the thing. Jesus Christ made very clear and emphatic statements about what it takes to receive everlasting life. What we commonly refer to as being saved. Jesus Christ claimed to be God and the one who is able to give everlasting life to everyone who will believe Him for it. He proved He has the power to give life when He rose from the dead. His resurrection is proof of all that He claimed to be.
Go back and read John 3:16, 4:10 and 6:47 in context again. Now, look at John 5:24: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Again, notice the Lord said all of this in the present tense. Here He adds that believing Him, Jesus Christ, is proof of a person’s belief in the Father. It is a confirmation of the trinitarian nature of God. But the main point for our purpose today is this. The person who believes the Father sent Jesus Christ to die for us, who in turn believes in Jesus Christ for everlasting life will not face an additional judgement but already has the gift of eternal life. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ plainly said. And yet I know a number of Pastors and church leaders who insist you can lose your salvation teaching everlasting is not a sure thing. They reject the security of salvation by faith and insist one must have good works to back up their claim to faith. Why? The answer is simple. They have a low view of the Bible and a low view of God. That is a polite way of saying they don’t believe the Bible is God’s word. They fail to see the distinction Christ makes between being a believer and a disciple. Their trust is in a philosophical derived system of theology rather than a careful study of God’s word. And we have to decide who are we going to trust. The men and women who gave their lives to make sure the words of Jesus Christ were preserved have proven their integrity. They died defending something they knew to be true. They were eyewitnesses to the events of Christ’s life. If they had made it all up do you really think they would have given their lives to protect something they knew was a lie? That is a question each of us has to answer for ourselves. After 55 years of study I am more convinced than ever. The evidence is overwhelming in support of the reality of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. He is to be believed. Is it possible to almost believe in Jesus Christ? I believe it is, but that leaves the question is almost good enough. I’m thinking belief is very much like telling the truth. The legal standard for truth is to speak truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Being mostly true is still a lie because it’s not the whole truth. So, if not quite telling the whole truth is a lie, then it follows that not quite believing is actually unbelief. Almost is not quite, therefore the same as never has.
So, what does it mean to believe something? My dictionary leads with this: “to accept as true, genuine or real.” That pretty much covers it. It is important we understand what it means to believe because believing is the only requirement Jesus Christ spoke of concerning the gift of everlasting life. Jesus Christ always and only said the gift of everlasting life was a gift given to everyone who believes in Him. Two verses that explain that are John 3:16 & 6:47. John 3:16 states: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” In John 6:47 Jesus Christ was a bit more forceful in His claim. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” Both of those verses use the present tense which clearly means the believer has everlasting life when they believe. It is not something received later in life or after we die. It is a present possession of those who believe. Therefore, we must conclude that everlasting life is given the moment someone believes in Jesus Christ for everlasting life or deny Jesus Christ is speaking truthfully. Another important verse in John’s Gospel to examine is John 4:10. “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” Speaking to a Samaritan woman the Lord Jesus told her if she knew who He was she would have asked for living water (everlasting life) and He would have given it to her right then! Since He called it everlasting life, we can trust that it lasts forever. Forever means never ending so once given it cannot be lost or taken away. |
AuthorBill Lee, Pastor at Trego Community Church. Archives
October 2024
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