The subject before us is elemental, basic, indispensable. All controversy concerning theological matters is a waste of time, if man, after a brief and troubled existence for a few fleeting years, goes down to "dusty death." If there be no deliverance from sin and its dread consequences, then all is vanity. To be in need of salvation implies that one is "lost." To be in
need of deliverance implies that one is in bondage or in danger. To discover that "no man can redeem" either himself or his brother, makes the question "What must I do to be saved?" the most imperative question mortal man can utter.
Israel, God's chosen people, are represented as being "lost sheep" (Matt. 10:6) and Christ said of Himself and of His mission. "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).
Gentiles, too, are in the same category:
"If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" (2 Cor. 4:3).
Paul says in Romans 8. 38, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. And it has been said, that those who profess to the Christian believer that no matter how much one will sin, no matter what sort of life you live you can just do what you like, and never lose your Salvation.
That of course has been settled. What we are going to find in this study, is that God in His matchless Wisdom has so arranged that that just cannot be. Oh yes, God knows all about that. You can’t tell God anything about the weakness of human nature. He knows. He has provided for it, in the believer. First there is one or two things we shall want to see. We read in the epistle to the Ephesians 4, v30, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption”. In chapter one v12-14, we have this sealing again brought before us, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 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”. So twice in Ephesians, we are assured that God has stamped His seal on this transaction. That is to say the work is finished, completed. He’s using a human Figure to bring before us the completeness of this glorious work. God has put His seal on it. “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory”.
Now the point is, can the believer break this seal? Well, I say, that it is definitely written in the forth chapter that he can’t. How long is he sealed for? He is sealed until the day of redemption. And the day of redemption is the end, it s the day of glory. That is to say, all down through this present pilgrim pathway, the seal is there. It can’t be broken, praise God, until the day of redemption. So we have the work of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in all these different ways, guarding, strengthening, keeping, holding, sealing, all to bring this glorious fact home to us, that once in Christ, we are saved. We are safe.
Not only that, but Ephesians also brings before us this wonderful doctrine of identification with Christ. When we read of the one baptism in chapter four, we find it is not the ‘type’, not the picture that sets identification forth by immersion in water, but The Reality: The Baptism of the Spirit. Colossians says this baptism is the working of God. You are raised through the operation and the working of God. It’s not by what any man is doing by immersing them. This is God doing it. God the Holy Spirit uniting the believer with the Savior, in all these aspects: His death, His burial, His quickening, His resurrection, His present cession, at the right hand of God. And presently, His glorious manifestation.
Now God has done that, can that be broken by the believer? We are not given one hint that there is anything the believer can do to break that identification. There isn’t one that I know of. You see, it is God’s work. Suppose that He had allowed man to have a little hand in it, then I would agree that there is a possibility, but no, all you and I have to do is believe it. To act upon it, to live by faith is what He is asking us to do. It cannot be marred by any fault of the believer. Then see to, of course, in Ephesians one, of His Will and His choice, starting in v3 we read, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
According as he hath chosen us”. Now there is a certain number of people who have been chosen in Christ by the Father. Now, are some of those not going to get to glory? Well, we read of the church which is His body, “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world”, before it ever existed, chosen in Christ. Some are not going to get there? Some are going to fail? Shouldn’t we have to say that at least part of God’s plan has been spoiled then? It must be so if this is he case; And yet, this surely cannot be. We find the work of the Son is so holy and so complete that He can place all His creation in its future place before it ever existed, and this calling is one “that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”. In chapter 5. 25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy (here are the words of ch1) and without (blame) blemish” in love”.
Now that’s the same number that the Father chose. Is this a mutilated church that is going to be presented? Is it a partial church? With some fallen out? Surely not, and if God cannot accept that, then why should we listen to anyone telling us that we should accept that sort of work which God works as being somehow incompetent. This is the exact number chosen in past eternity, redeemed, made fit, by the work of Christ. This is the glorious will of the Father, and we will be presented a completed church. So, we want to bear that in mind. Let us turn now to Colossians.
Col 3. 1-3, “If ye then be risen with Christ”, <now this is not the conditional “if”, as pointed out before. This is not saying, well, if you are, because I am not quite sure, you might be like so and so. It’s SINCE you have been. You have been identified with Christ in His resurrection. This is part of this glorious identification Paul writes to us gentiles we read in Ephesians. Well now, if that’s so, then “ seek those things which are above (literally, those above things), where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection (mind) on the above things, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Well now, that is quite a statement. Where has God put this eternal life, which is His gift? Has he handed it over to the believers and said now there it is, that’s yours, now you take care of it, and make sure you don’t lose it? Of course He hasn’t, oh no, it is perfectly safe where no one can get at it. Why would He trust us to keep it safe, because that’s just what would happen, we would go and do something silly and lose it. But that shall not happen, God has hidden it, and He’s hidden it so effectively, He’s hidden it in Himself. Can anyone think of a safer place by which God could place the surety of a Salvation He had in His mind before the world even began? I can’t. He hasn’t hidden it in the heavens, or with angels, or even the greatest created being, He’s hidden it in Himself, with Christ.
Hidden until Christ is manifested, not handing it over for even a moment, and we read in v4, that “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory”.
And you will remember this, from Romans 11, that in all of God’s work, in all of God’s plans for the ages, His gift, His calling is without repentance. He’s not going to change His mind. Now, we’ve seen that Salvation is by His grace, not dependant upon anything of ourselves, that we cannot undo the finished work of Christ. The Scripture says God is not going to give it and then take it back again. He won’t do it with His earthly people Israel, in spite of all their sin and failure, we read “and so all Israel shall be saved…For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”, (without change of mind, as that word is).
I think that when we keep all these things in front of our mind, we should have to find some very very clear Scripture to upset all this. But I know, I know, this is only one side of the story, right? Hebrews chapter 6 will always be brought up, so we’d better look at it then.
Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (that’s written AGE. And must refer to the Kingdom AGE. You see, all the miraculous gifts during the Acts period were simply foretastes of the coming Kingdom of Israel’s inheritance in the earth. AND every believer had tasted, they all got one gift or another by the HS, see Mark 16. 17, 18)
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Now those are solemn words. God forbid that I should lessen them, or try to get out of it by saying he isn’t talking to saved people or that those were pretending to be saved but they’re not. That would never do, for v4 tells us they’ve been enlightened, and that we find the same word coming out in ch10:32, we find they’ve been “illuminated”:
“But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated,” these weren’t the fakers, these were the real ones. And fortunately, he’s given us an example of what he is trying to say, v7: “For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you”,
NOW I can’t think that you are like the ground that hast to be burnt. Look again. It does not say the ground is cursed, it says it is getting preciously near to it, it is what fails to come forth out of it whose end is to be burned. When the ground is burned, it’s still there afterwards isn’t it? Only those useless things which came out of it have no salvation, and that friend, are the works that are not fit, or meet as it were. Hebrews is not dealing with Salvation, for these are believers, this is not an evangelistic message, is one to the overcomers, and speaks of those things which come with Salvation, things that accompany Salvation:
“and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak”.
They are told they are running a race, 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”.
Well, we can see losing a race, losing the prize that comes with finishing the course, but Jesus is both the author and the finisher of Faith. Faith gets one across the end run of the course for the glory of the prize, but the Lord Jesus has taken care of the first things first, before the prize was ever in the mind of Abraham. So a prize can be lost, but that’s not the same as becoming unsaved.
And this is the point. When we find our friend pressed on being saved, and losing that glorious Salvation which is in perfect safe keeping in God with Christ, it is because they have confused Salvation with Reward.
Now what I have in Christ, and I know this because I am a believer, I have in Christ and that is SalvationI may disregard service and lose my Reward, for it is a personal choice we all meet, whether we deny this or not is up to us, but it is presented as fact when we rightly divide the word of truth.
I might not be a faithful servant, and I may not finish the race which is the requirement to receive the prize, but I have the Salvation of God.
need of deliverance implies that one is in bondage or in danger. To discover that "no man can redeem" either himself or his brother, makes the question "What must I do to be saved?" the most imperative question mortal man can utter.
Israel, God's chosen people, are represented as being "lost sheep" (Matt. 10:6) and Christ said of Himself and of His mission. "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).
Gentiles, too, are in the same category:
"If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" (2 Cor. 4:3).
Paul says in Romans 8. 38, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. And it has been said, that those who profess to the Christian believer that no matter how much one will sin, no matter what sort of life you live you can just do what you like, and never lose your Salvation.
That of course has been settled. What we are going to find in this study, is that God in His matchless Wisdom has so arranged that that just cannot be. Oh yes, God knows all about that. You can’t tell God anything about the weakness of human nature. He knows. He has provided for it, in the believer. First there is one or two things we shall want to see. We read in the epistle to the Ephesians 4, v30, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption”. In chapter one v12-14, we have this sealing again brought before us, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 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”. So twice in Ephesians, we are assured that God has stamped His seal on this transaction. That is to say the work is finished, completed. He’s using a human Figure to bring before us the completeness of this glorious work. God has put His seal on it. “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory”.
Now the point is, can the believer break this seal? Well, I say, that it is definitely written in the forth chapter that he can’t. How long is he sealed for? He is sealed until the day of redemption. And the day of redemption is the end, it s the day of glory. That is to say, all down through this present pilgrim pathway, the seal is there. It can’t be broken, praise God, until the day of redemption. So we have the work of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in all these different ways, guarding, strengthening, keeping, holding, sealing, all to bring this glorious fact home to us, that once in Christ, we are saved. We are safe.
Not only that, but Ephesians also brings before us this wonderful doctrine of identification with Christ. When we read of the one baptism in chapter four, we find it is not the ‘type’, not the picture that sets identification forth by immersion in water, but The Reality: The Baptism of the Spirit. Colossians says this baptism is the working of God. You are raised through the operation and the working of God. It’s not by what any man is doing by immersing them. This is God doing it. God the Holy Spirit uniting the believer with the Savior, in all these aspects: His death, His burial, His quickening, His resurrection, His present cession, at the right hand of God. And presently, His glorious manifestation.
Now God has done that, can that be broken by the believer? We are not given one hint that there is anything the believer can do to break that identification. There isn’t one that I know of. You see, it is God’s work. Suppose that He had allowed man to have a little hand in it, then I would agree that there is a possibility, but no, all you and I have to do is believe it. To act upon it, to live by faith is what He is asking us to do. It cannot be marred by any fault of the believer. Then see to, of course, in Ephesians one, of His Will and His choice, starting in v3 we read, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
According as he hath chosen us”. Now there is a certain number of people who have been chosen in Christ by the Father. Now, are some of those not going to get to glory? Well, we read of the church which is His body, “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world”, before it ever existed, chosen in Christ. Some are not going to get there? Some are going to fail? Shouldn’t we have to say that at least part of God’s plan has been spoiled then? It must be so if this is he case; And yet, this surely cannot be. We find the work of the Son is so holy and so complete that He can place all His creation in its future place before it ever existed, and this calling is one “that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”. In chapter 5. 25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy (here are the words of ch1) and without (blame) blemish” in love”.
Now that’s the same number that the Father chose. Is this a mutilated church that is going to be presented? Is it a partial church? With some fallen out? Surely not, and if God cannot accept that, then why should we listen to anyone telling us that we should accept that sort of work which God works as being somehow incompetent. This is the exact number chosen in past eternity, redeemed, made fit, by the work of Christ. This is the glorious will of the Father, and we will be presented a completed church. So, we want to bear that in mind. Let us turn now to Colossians.
Col 3. 1-3, “If ye then be risen with Christ”, <now this is not the conditional “if”, as pointed out before. This is not saying, well, if you are, because I am not quite sure, you might be like so and so. It’s SINCE you have been. You have been identified with Christ in His resurrection. This is part of this glorious identification Paul writes to us gentiles we read in Ephesians. Well now, if that’s so, then “ seek those things which are above (literally, those above things), where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection (mind) on the above things, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Well now, that is quite a statement. Where has God put this eternal life, which is His gift? Has he handed it over to the believers and said now there it is, that’s yours, now you take care of it, and make sure you don’t lose it? Of course He hasn’t, oh no, it is perfectly safe where no one can get at it. Why would He trust us to keep it safe, because that’s just what would happen, we would go and do something silly and lose it. But that shall not happen, God has hidden it, and He’s hidden it so effectively, He’s hidden it in Himself. Can anyone think of a safer place by which God could place the surety of a Salvation He had in His mind before the world even began? I can’t. He hasn’t hidden it in the heavens, or with angels, or even the greatest created being, He’s hidden it in Himself, with Christ.
Hidden until Christ is manifested, not handing it over for even a moment, and we read in v4, that “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory”.
And you will remember this, from Romans 11, that in all of God’s work, in all of God’s plans for the ages, His gift, His calling is without repentance. He’s not going to change His mind. Now, we’ve seen that Salvation is by His grace, not dependant upon anything of ourselves, that we cannot undo the finished work of Christ. The Scripture says God is not going to give it and then take it back again. He won’t do it with His earthly people Israel, in spite of all their sin and failure, we read “and so all Israel shall be saved…For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”, (without change of mind, as that word is).
I think that when we keep all these things in front of our mind, we should have to find some very very clear Scripture to upset all this. But I know, I know, this is only one side of the story, right? Hebrews chapter 6 will always be brought up, so we’d better look at it then.
Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (that’s written AGE. And must refer to the Kingdom AGE. You see, all the miraculous gifts during the Acts period were simply foretastes of the coming Kingdom of Israel’s inheritance in the earth. AND every believer had tasted, they all got one gift or another by the HS, see Mark 16. 17, 18)
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Now those are solemn words. God forbid that I should lessen them, or try to get out of it by saying he isn’t talking to saved people or that those were pretending to be saved but they’re not. That would never do, for v4 tells us they’ve been enlightened, and that we find the same word coming out in ch10:32, we find they’ve been “illuminated”:
“But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated,” these weren’t the fakers, these were the real ones. And fortunately, he’s given us an example of what he is trying to say, v7: “For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you”,
NOW I can’t think that you are like the ground that hast to be burnt. Look again. It does not say the ground is cursed, it says it is getting preciously near to it, it is what fails to come forth out of it whose end is to be burned. When the ground is burned, it’s still there afterwards isn’t it? Only those useless things which came out of it have no salvation, and that friend, are the works that are not fit, or meet as it were. Hebrews is not dealing with Salvation, for these are believers, this is not an evangelistic message, is one to the overcomers, and speaks of those things which come with Salvation, things that accompany Salvation:
“and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak”.
They are told they are running a race, 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”.
Well, we can see losing a race, losing the prize that comes with finishing the course, but Jesus is both the author and the finisher of Faith. Faith gets one across the end run of the course for the glory of the prize, but the Lord Jesus has taken care of the first things first, before the prize was ever in the mind of Abraham. So a prize can be lost, but that’s not the same as becoming unsaved.
And this is the point. When we find our friend pressed on being saved, and losing that glorious Salvation which is in perfect safe keeping in God with Christ, it is because they have confused Salvation with Reward.
Now what I have in Christ, and I know this because I am a believer, I have in Christ and that is SalvationI may disregard service and lose my Reward, for it is a personal choice we all meet, whether we deny this or not is up to us, but it is presented as fact when we rightly divide the word of truth.
I might not be a faithful servant, and I may not finish the race which is the requirement to receive the prize, but I have the Salvation of God.
