There’s a channel on my Openview decoder called People’s Planet which is essentially dedicated to conservation and animal programmes. “Monkey Helpline” airs the work of a rescue centre near Durban that cares for injured and orphaned vervet monkeys who fall victim to dogs and vehicles in the urban area.
This facility cares for and raises many orphaned baby monkeys because they are left abandoned through the loss of their mothers in the dangerous urban areas. One gets to see just how well equipped they are for life in the trees from birth by their life in the care of a surrogate mother.
Baby monkeys are born with strong fingers with which they cling to the underside of their mother’s fur. She puts a protective arm around him now and again as she moves on the ground or leaps in the trees. Very seldom does a baby monkey fall except when mother is injured or killed.
I am constantly amazed at God’s intimate provision for every creature He has made so that they fit perfectly into the life and habitat He has made for them.
So carefully has God also planned and created us for now on this earth and for eternity with Him.
However…
Eternal security is often debated among theologians and the rest of us. Once saved, always saved? Can we lose our salvation? Can we be lost if we have been saved?
Like the never-ending debate on election and free will, there are two seemingly irreconcilable sides to the story. The Bible is full of reassurances that He will keep us safe on this earth until we enter our eternal home. Yet, there are also stern warnings against falling away. So, how is it possible that anyone can fall away who is being protected by God’s power in this life?
Once again, there is no easy answer since both sides are true although unexplained. Like the issue of election and free will, we are to believe the truth and leave God to be God in His sovereignty and wisdom.
Deuteronomy 29:29 NLT
[29] “The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”
So, let’s look at what God’s Word has to say so that we can obey rather than question His wisdom.
Firstly, we have every reason to believe that those who trust God and obey His word to the end of their days will be received with joy into His eternal kingdom. The assurance we have is that God holds onto us.
John 10:27-30 NLT
[27]” My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, [29] for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. [30] The Father and I are one.”
What can be more secure than that! God holds us with such a firm grip that no outside force can separate us from Him.
Colossians 3:3 NLT
[3] “For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Romans 8:35, 37 NLT
[35] “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?”…
[37] No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
No earthly circumstance, however dangerous or threatening, can ever drive a wedge between us and God’s love.
How much more reassurance do we need than this?
Now, let’s look at what Scripture says about the possibility of being lost.
2 Peter 1:10-11 NLT
[10] “So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never FALL AWAY. [11] Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Does this mean that we can fall away?
Hebrews 6:4-6 NLT
[4] “For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— [6] and who THEN TURN AWAY from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.”
It seems that people can fall away by deliberately turning away.
There is a bridge between being secure and not falling away.
“DO THESE THINGS , and you will never fall away.”
What “things” is Peter referring to?
2 Peter 1:3-9 NLT
[3] “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. [4] And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. [5] IN VIEW OF ALL THIS , MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO RESPOND TO GOD’S PROMISES. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. [8] The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”
Although God’s promises are powerful and true, they are only effective when we believe and apply them to our own lives. Baby monkey is only safe when she clings onto mommy’s fur. Faith is only faith when we activate that faith by clinging to the One who promised.
Galatians 5:19-21 NLT
[19] “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, [20] idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, [21] envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”
Can you see the picture now? We declare the sincerity of our faith in Jesus by our attitude to His Word. He will hold on tightly to those who love Him enough to do what He says.
John 14:21 NLT
[21]”Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
Forget theology and theological debates!
Our security, then, depends on faithfulness, God’s faithfulness to us and our faithfulness to Him. In partnership, we are assured of a “grand entrance” into His eternal kingdom.
So, again…
2 Peter 1:10-11 NLT
[10] “So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. [11] Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Election and free will are not contradictory but work in partnership… God chooses us and we choose Him. So also, our salvation is secure because God holds on to us and we cling by faith to Him.
There is a another aspect we need to consider. Salvation is also a two-way street. Although God chose us before time, when we turn from sin to the Lord in faith, He responds by restoring us to sonship. He makes us alive, forgives our sin, cleanses us from unrighteousness, gives us His own nature, and adopts us into His family as true sons and daughters.
Is it possible, in this new standing with God, that a son or daughter of God, once born again, can never be unborn? That child may become estranged from the Father through his rebellious behaviour but he will always be a son.
Scripture seems to make a distinction between “sons” who live sinful lives, obeying the dictates of the flesh, and children of God who live in obedience to the Holy Spirit. The former will not inherit the kingdom while the latter will receive a grand welcome into the kingdom.
Life in the kingdom includes the promise of rewards for faithfulness, i.e., positions of authority and responsibility in God’s kingdom. Does this mean that God’s children, though saved, will receive no reward in eternity if they persist in sin? We can only ponder these things.
However, John gives us yet another angle to our assurance of eternal security. He makes a case for those who do not sin as a way of life. First, he says that those who walk away were never part of us.
1 John 2:18, 19 NIV
[18] “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.”
[19″These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.”
Apparently, “these people”. refers to those who were “antichrist” because they denied the true humanity of Jesus.
1 John 4:2-3 NLT
[2] “This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. [3] But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.”
John’s test is simple…
1 John 3:7-9 NLT
[7] “Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. [8] But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. [9] Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.”
…and his test is…
1 John 3:10, 14 NLT
[10]”So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God….
[14] If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.”
Since the “law” of the New Covenant consists of two commandments in place of the 613 laws of the Old Covenant,
1 John 3:23 NLT
[23] “And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.”
we can easily recognise those who are God’s true children. These are those who cannot live habitually in sin because…
- They have been born again through the Word of God.
1 Peter 1:23 NIV
[23]” For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
- They cannot continue in sin because God’s Word (seed) is in them.
1 John 3:9 NIV
[9] “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.”
As a young man, David learned this truth.
Psalms 119:9-11 NIV
[9]”How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. [10] I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. [11] I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
So, for John, the case is closed.
Those who believe and receive God’s Word are born again into God’s family. They have God’s Word in them which keeps them from habitual sin. They will not fall away.
Those who do fall away show that they were never born again. They left because they were never part of God’s family.
So, we have the assurance, if we have truly been born from above by the power of God’s Spirit,
1 John 3:1 NIV
[1] “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!…”
How do we have this assurance?
Romans 8:14-16 NIV
[14] “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. [15] The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” [16] The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
The lives we live either corroborate the witness of God’s Spirit in us or deny that we are truly God’s children.