(Part 1 of this article is available on this link – http://csplalumni.blogspot.com.ng/2015/12/understanding-error-in-once-saved.html )
“You are trying to EARN/KEEP your salvation by works!!!”
This is the standard accusation that our brothers and sisters that hold the doctrine of ‘ONCE-SAVED-FOREVER-SAVED’ usually throw at believers that strongly hold the biblical view that fruit-bearing is ESSENTIAL for a believer that will end in glory.
To be fair, their accusation may be valid in a few instances. In the instances where believers do not fully understand that Christ has already paid the full price for our redemption. Believers that strive to ‘make heaven’ by fulfilling some shadows of the law. They forget that Christ is the end of the law for those that believe (Romans 10:1-5). This was the mistake made by the Galatian church, a mistake that nearly caused them to fall from grace (Galatians 5:4). If we fall into the same trap, it is a mistake that may be very costly for us too. We’ll look at this in more details in a forthcoming article, God willing.
But apart from that, the accusation of ‘earning your salvation by works’ is quite often baseless. And it stems from a lack of full understanding of our salvation in Jesus Christ. For it is indeed a critical component of our salvation that we MUST accept PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for engaging with the Gospel (Romans 12:1-2). Our engagement with the Gospel will produce the fruits of righteousness unto God (Romans 7:4). It is ONLY believers that take this PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY seriously that will be saved on the Last Day as explained in Part 1 of this series of articles.
For a better understanding of the subject, we need to know that our salvation, though A SINGLE PACKAGE, is actually a three-phase process: it has A BEGINNING (the call to salvation), A MIDDLE (continuation phase), and AN END (consummation).
We can see these three distinct phases in Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:1-13. In verse 3, it is clear that He was speaking to His disciples (already called). And then in verse 13, He tells them, “But he that shall endure (continuation phase) unto the end, the same shall be saved (consummation).” From the words of Jesus here, it is obvious that it is only the CALLED person that ENDURES till the END that shall be saved. Not every called person shall be saved (Matthew 22:14). It is not ONLY the call that guarantees the consummation – the continuation phase is ESSENTIAL to consummation. These are the words of Jesus Christ Himself.
So, in essence, salvation is a SINGLE PACKAGE with three different phases. This same concept is displayed throughout the New Testament where we can clearly see that WE ARE SAVED (Ephesians 2:8), WE ARE BEING SAVED (2 Corinthians 2:15), and WE SHALL BE SAVED (Acts 15:11).
Let us look at this notion in practical terms in the Bible. When Jesus rescued the woman that was about to be stoned in adultery in John 8:1-11, her salvation did not end there. He moved her to the second stage, He told her, “Go, and sin no more”. This is the continuation stage of the salvation process. Please note that she did not do ANYTHING to deserve the rescue by Jesus. Her salvation was a completely free gift, she did nothing to earn it. Now, please imagine this: The woman goes about her life, obeying Christ’s injunction to ‘go and sin no more’ (equivalent to ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling’ - Phil 2:12-13). Then some people see her and accuse her of trying to ‘earn’ her salvation. Ludicrous, isn’t it? Her salvation has been given to her FREELY. She didn’t earn it. It was a free rescue. A free gift for a helpless woman. And this is how God found us all as sinners – weak, lost, and helpless. We were saved FREELY by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). We did absolutely nothing to deserve the salvation. But this is NOT the end of our salvation! It is just the beginning of the Christian race. The trigger point of our Christian experience.
Next, we also get our ‘GO, AND SIN NO MORE’ directive. This is our CONTINUATION phase. In giving this directive, God did not leave us to wrestle with sin in our own strength, neither did he tell us to ‘struggle to make heaven’ (Philippians 2:13). He simply put us in heaven in Christ Jesus, and told us to continue to ABIDE IN CHRIST (Ephesians 2:4-7). We also saw this in several passages in Part 1 of this article, where we spoke about the CONTINUATION phase of our salvation experience. Because Christ is seated in heavenly places, EVERY believer that CONTINUES TO ABIDE IN HIM is already in heaven. Positionally, God places us in heaven at the beginning of our Christian race. And our directive is very simple – ABIDE IN HIM. This is the continuation phase of our salvation experience. And all those that continue like this will have their salvation consummated on the Last Day.
So what does it mean to CONTINUE TO ABIDE IN CHRIST? (This is very important to us, for this is what GUARANTEES our final salvation). The Bible supplies a helpful answer in 1 John 2:5-6, “… whoever says he ABIDES IN HIM ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” Very simple concept. Do you want to ABIDE IN CHRIST in practical terms? OBEY HIM and walk as He walked. And how do we walk as He walked? Again, very simple answer. Follow His steps (1 Peter 2:21). To follow His steps is to walk as He walked. The next question is this, how do we follow His steps? Fortunately for us, Jesus Himself gave us an undisputable way of following His steps in Luke 9:23. It reads: “And he said to them all, If ANY man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
And this is what gives us the clearest biblical view of what it means to continue to ABIDE IN CHRIST. To abide in Christ is to deny ourselves, take our cross daily, and follow Him. There are several biblical passages that affirm this simple truth. We’ll find a very good model in Romans 12:1-2. After thoroughly explaining the subject of grace and election in Romans chapters 1 – 11, the very FIRST THING Apostle Paul appeals to us to do in response to grace is to YIELD OURSELVES as a sacrifice that is acceptable to God. To YIELD OURSELVES, in a manner of speaking, means exactly the same thing as to DENY OURSELVES as Jesus mentioned in Luke 9:23.
Without yielding ourselves, denying ourselves, we CANNOT abide in Christ (for two captains cannot be in the same boat). And without abiding in Christ IN THIS WAY PRESCRIBED BY GOD, no man can make it on the Last Day – irrespective of any false hope produced by believing in the false ‘ONCE-SAVED-FOREVER-SAVED’ doctrine. Jesus makes this same point in Luke 9:24: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it”. It is ONLY by losing our lives (yielding ourselves, denying ourselves to follow Jesus) that we’ll find our lives on the Last Day. These are the words of Jesus Christ.
Denying SELF, by walking in the Spirit, facilitates our ABIDING IN CHRIST where God placed us at our initial salvation. ABIDING IN CHRIST is exactly the same thing as ABIDING IN THE VINE as Jesus mentioned in John 15:1-11. And it is this act of ABIDING that results in our FRUITFULNESS. Here is something very important to note. The fruits that we produce as we abide in the vine, IS NOT WHAT QUALIFY US FOR HEAVEN. (We are not ‘earning’ our salvation). Rather, it is just THE EVIDENCE of our status as heavenly citizens that are abiding in the vine. Therefore, believers that are NOT manifesting the fruits of the Gospel will END UP IN HELL as Jesus concluded in John 15:6. Then, He added this in verse 7: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” It is clear that fruitless believers, whose lives do not glorify God, will end up in hell. The doctrine of ‘ONCE-SAVED-FOREVER-SAVED’ only gives a FALSE HOPE.
Another great error that ‘ONCE-SAVED-FOREVER-SAVED’ entails is this: “Any believer that is not manifesting the fruit of the Gospel is just showing that s/he never got saved in the first place”. This is very, very incorrect! It is quite possible to have believers that, for one reason or another, are not producing the fruits of the Gospel – until they are called back to repentance. The Corinthians church was walking in carnality at a stage, until Apostle Paul quickly called them to repentance. Yet they were believers. In the same way, the church in Galatia was saved; yet they were beginning to slip into the error of legalism before Paul quickly called them to repentance.
There are many reasons that could cause a sincere believer not to bear the fruits of the Gospel in spite of being genuinely born again. Some of these include:
(1) They have not been properly taught the genuine Gospel that features the message of the cross of Christ at the CENTRE (the situation in most of our contemporary churches)
(2) They have been derailed in their Christian walk by erroneous teachings and false doctrines (Galatians 5:4)
(3) They need rebuke, and sound instruction (Titus 1:13 and 2:1-15)
(4) They need encouragement because they have become weary in the Christian walk – in the continuation stage (Hebrews 12:12-13)
(5) They have been drawn away from Christ unto men/denominations by false pastors (Acts 20:29-30)
(6) They are careless, worldly, etc (Matthew 13:20-21). This last point is particularly important because many want to follow Christ today, and still follow the world. They want the glory of the Gospel without the accompanying cross and shame (Hebrews 12:2). We dealt with this subject in more details in an article titled ‘THE ALLURE OF CHRISTLESS CHRISTIANITY. It is available on this link on.fb.me/1MEI33h
Believers in these six categories can still get back on track. All they need is constant and continuous exposure to the TRUTH OF THE WORD OF GOD, and a call to repentance. That is ALL they need. That was all the Corinthians got, and by the time we get to 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 we see how they had become revitalised and fruitful in the gospel. The truth of the word of God is the seed that AUTOMATICALLY leads to fruitfulness in hearts that are GENUINELY YIELDED to the Lord.
Bearing the fruits of the Gospel is an AUTOMATIC outcome of YIELDEDNESS. The fruit is a product of the Spirit. It is not by effort. Fruitfulness is in the seed, all we are called to do is to prepare the ‘soil’ of our hearts by YIELDING to the Lord. Wherever there is yieldedness, there will be harvest of 30-fold, 60-fold, and 100-fold (Matthew 13:23). It is because the devil does not want some believers in the six categories listed above to wake up to their responsibility in the Gospel, and seek the truth, that is why He lulls them into a false sense of confidence with the ‘ONCE-SAVED-FOREVER-SAVED’ doctrine.
As we walk in this Christian journey, the flesh will cause us to trip sometimes. Perhaps, we may even trip many, many, many times. This is part of the journey, and God has made adequate provision for our cleansing through the blood of Jesus. But it is important to note that this provision is for Christians that WALK IN THE LIGHT (1 John 1:7). Believers that persist in walking in darkness, for any of the reasons listed above, will be surprised on the last day to find out that their sins are waiting for them yonder. This is why Jesus will tell them that He never knew them. This means they were never intimate with Him – though they were working and flourishing in the church.
CHRISTIANITY IS ALL ABOUT JESUS CHRIST. We are called to focus on a Person (Jesus Christ), not to focus on a place (Heaven). It was the ardent prayer and labour of Apostle Paul that He would be FOUND IN CHRIST, not having His own righteousness according to the law, but the righteousness that is by faith in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:7-9). That is exactly where we should all PRAY AND LABOUR to be found - in Christ Jesus. Because it is all about Him (Colossians 1:15-20).
“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (I John 2:3-4)
Thanks for reading, God bless.
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