HPE 2 - ETERNAL LIFE
Reference:
Stanford, R. (1999). Handbook of Personal Evangelism.
Free Downloads of Book (Handbook of Personal Evangelism) at the following site: http://www.eph289.com/
CHAPTER 2 - ETERNAL LIFE: ETERNAL SECURITY IS NOT A SEPARATE DOCTRINE FROM SALVATION
If you are not saved forever, you are not saved.
Those who think they are saved now but could lose their salvation later, have one of two problems: (1) either they are trusting in some degree in their works to save them, or (2) they do not understand that by trusting Christ as their Savior, their destiny is in God’s hands.
Those who think leading a poor Christian life will result in a loss of their salvation, actually need to have the plan of salvation made clear to them. Somewhere they have not fully understood that Christ’s death paid for ALL their sin, that their works have NOTHING to do with their salvation, and that only their FAITH IN CHRIST will save them.
A Savior is one who takes you all the way home. When God says He gives you eternal life and that He will never cast you out or lose you, He means it because He is the true Savior. He says those who come to Him will NOT be cast out for any reason.
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37 KJV).
God never casts out His children; however, He has other ways to deal with them (discussed in chapter 3).
It is God’s will that no saved person would ever become lost. He says He will “lose nothing,” and you are at least something! You could never be saved and lost again. God saves you forever. This is HIS will!
“And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39 KJV).
Who keeps our salvation? God Himself, by His own almighty power! God has reserved a place in Heaven for the saved.
“To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Peter 1:4-5 KJV).
The Holy Spirit lives inside every believer.
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own” (I Corinthians 6:19 KJV)?
The Holy Spirit is in believers forever. If a saved person could go to Hell, the Holy Spirit would have to go to Hell, too.
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17 KJV).
The Holy Spirit indwells every believer from the moment they trust in Christ as their Savior forever. One important reason for this is to keep us saved and protect us until we receive our glorified bodies. The term “earnest of our inheritance” is like when we make a “down payment on a house.” It is a guarantee that the rest is coming later -now we have the new birth -later we will have our new body.
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14 KJV).
The moment a person is saved, they become a member of the Body of Christ. If a person could ever become unsaved, a part of Christ’s own body would go to Hell.
“Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” (I Corinthians 12:27 KJV).
Christ gives eternal life, and they who receive this eternal life shall NEVER perish! When you look up the word “never” which occurs in John 10:28 in the Strong’s Concordance, you find that it comes from five different Greek words which are spelled in English: OU, ME, EIS, HO, and AION. The words OU and ME form a double negative meaning, “ not at all, by no means, in no case, never.” The remaining three words combine to form an idiomatic expression meaning “forever.”
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28 KJV).
If we were to take this most emphatic way of saying “never” in the Greek and try to bring it across into the English, John 10:28 would read something like this: “And I give unto them eternal life and they shall not at all, by any means, male or female, in any case, forever perish.”
Christians are sanctified through the death of Christ (Hebrews 10:10,14 KJV). Believers are sanctified, and Christ gives them the perfection they need to go to Heaven. The word “sanctified” means to be made “holy, pure, and blameless.” God would never send a believer to Hell. He has made he believer holy and blameless and has given him a perfection which will last FOREVER!
“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10 KJV).
“For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14 KJV).
Christ says those who have everlasting life (they already have it) shall not be condemned (promise for the future). Since God promises believers will not be condemned, why not take Him as His Word and realize they will not be condemned? Believers cannot go to Hell: They have already “PASSED from death unto life!”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24 KJV).
Christ’s own righteousness is given to believers. Who would dare say Christ’s righteousness isn’t good enough for Heaven?
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9 KJV).
Colossians 2:13 and Acts 13:39 say the believers is already justified and forgiven of all sin. So what sin could send you to Hell? In fact, when Christ died on the Cross for our sins, ALL our sins were future.
“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:13 KJV).
“And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39 KJV).
Romans 8:28-39 teaches nothing can separate believers from God. He justified us; nobody could charge a single thing against us! What a Savior we have.
“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 brethren. 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 is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:28-39 KJV).
**Christ’s death on the Cross does not do anything for you unless it gives you everlasting life. If you have Christ as your Savior, you have this life: EVERLASTING LIFE! Anyone who doubts that God gives eternal life is calling God a liar. Don’t you think it would be very unwise to call God a liar? Personally, I would not want to be in that category.
“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:10-13 KJV).
Since God tells me I can know I have eternal life, I say, “thank you!” and I know I have eternal life. I am taking God at His Word. God said it, I believe it, that settles it! I base my whole eternity on the fact that God cannot lie and His Word cannot fail.
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good” (Numbers 23:19 KJV)?
You will discover that when a person really understands the plan of salvation, he rarely will have a problem with “eternal security.” It has been our experience that the most effective way to deal with those who still doubt their eternal life, after they seemingly understand the Gospel, is to go over one or two verses, perhaps John 6:37,39, and lovingly and firmly keep going over them until the person really believes what God is saying.
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