God wants us to be confident in His promises. Examine your life and trust in what His word says!
Tag: Eternal Security
As I look back over all the sermons I heard while growing up. I cannot remember a single sermon emphasizing the fact that we can have confidence in our salvation. On the other hand I remember many sermons telling me all of the ways that I can lose my salvation! I read passages like I Corinthians 9:27 where Paul says; “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” Paul here is telling us that he had to discipline his body to ensure he did not lose his salvation!
The Preacher writes in Ecclesiastes 8:11, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” If a criminal successfully eludes being caught, he is certainly going to be more willing to commit the crime again. Unfortunately, man has this same outlook on their spiritual life. Because God does not come quickly, man is inclined to commit evil. Man says, God has not come yet, so I’m safe to continue in sin.
In Romans 6:1 Paul asks the following as a follow up to his previous point, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Chapter five explained that through Adam sin entered the world, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Sin is the breaking of law. “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” There was offense before the covenant given through Moses. Sin was in the world, and death by that sin.
We have all sinned. Paul rightly illuminates that everyone in the world has sinned. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23 KJV) We have all sinned. We all need the forgiveness of the Lord. This is undeniable.
Is there a quality that is generally more detested than favoritism? We cry out when we observe our branches of government perverted by bribery, “pork-barrel politics”, or racial bias. Some political movements are formed for the sole purpose of promoting fairness, equality, social impartiality.
Saving faith is sadly an integral part of many mainstream churches today. It is also deadly to people that believe it and those they teach. As a concept, it is derived from the Calvinist doctrines of Unconditional Election and Perseverance of the Saints. To sum up the concept of ‘saving faith’ in a few words; it is something that the predestined to election receive upon hearing the word.
Unless the Lord comes first, we will all face death. For some, death comes in their youth- a tragic accident or a deadly disease. Others will live out a long and fruitful life dying quietly in their sleep. None of us know how or when death will take us but we all know it will- “For the living know they will die…”
From age to age God has dealt with his creation in the same manner. He has framed his interaction and conveyed his wishes through the vehicle of a covenant. The beauty of God’s interaction can be seen in the uniform simplicity of the format of His message. This concept of a covenant is so integral to the Bible that the two major divisions are named the Old and New Testaments.