Conclusion Part V
Roy Hession, acclaimed author of From Shadow to Substance, addresses the topic of security clearly. The Bible is filled with verses to the effect that the Good Shepherd will keep His sheep, that those to whom He gives eternal life shall never perish, that He who has begun a good work in us will perform it, and that even if all our works are burned up, yet the one who is in Christ is still saved as though by fire. Never does the Bible say that the One who purchased my salvation has now turned it over to me to lose it if I please. That would be the utmost folly, and it is the force of the argument in all of Hebrews chapter 6: that if one could be lost, it would be impossible to be “re-saved” without Christ being crucified again, in which case Christ would be made a fool of before the world for having procured salvation at such a cost and then turn it over to sinners who could never earn it and who surely can’t keep it.
THE ALTERNATIVE TO GOING ON – DRAWING BACK
Editor’s words—There are those who would share concern about examining the issue of whether a person is “truly saved.” While no person can know another’s heart condition, for that is between God and the individual, there is a difference between those who have committed their lives to the Lord and yet have stepped away from Him for a time and those who only “profess” to know the Lord but never truly have a change of heart condition.
Roy Hession continues–Let us make quite clear that what we have in view here is not merely backsliding, as normally understood, but a place beyond backsliding. Moreover, we have been careful to use the phrase “the professing” Christian,” for he may turn out to have been only a professor and not a possessor. The eternal security of the true believer remains untouched. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand (John 10: 27,28).
It is not so much that it is impossible for a true child of God to apostatize, but if he is a true child of God, he will not do so. God guarantees that he will persevere in holiness. Paul was completely confident of this: “Being confident of this very thing,” he wrote to the Philippians, “that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Their salvation did not begin with themselves, neither will it’s continuance depend on themselves. God, by whom they were called in this, means that not only does God get all the glory in their salvation, which is all of grace, but also in their perseverance to the end, which is also all of grace. His eternal security is based solely on the value God sets on the blood of His Son on his behalf. That is enough for all the believers’ sins; God has declared Himself eternally satisfied with it in that He raised Jesus our Lord from the dead
Romans 4:25 New Living Translation
25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God.
It is this that gives the believer his title to know himself eternally saved.
Where before he was at home in his sins and largely unconcerned about them, if he now falls into any of them again, he is troubled in heart until he has turned back to the Lord in confession. This new principle of life which has been put within him, always tends him to return. This is something wholly due to the grace of God. Perseverance to the end is far more the perseverance of the Shepherd than that of the sheep. (Editor: go back and read this precious truth again, slowly, until it has worked its way completely into your heart).
PROVED A COUNTERFEIT
We come now to the next important question: What are we to make of the once- professing Christian who never returns to the Lord, but continues on his outward course and ultimately reaches that end-of-the-road place of finally repudiating his faith? This simply proves him never to have been a true child of God and all along to have been a counterfeit. The test as to whether a professed believer is true or false is whether he continues in the faith until the end. If he does not do so, but ends rather in open apostasy, then it is clear he was only a counterfeit all along. This does not necessarily mean he was deliberately deceiving others during that time and putting in an act; more likely he was just self-deceived.
These are exactly the sort of people the apostle John refers to with such sadness in his first epistle, 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out that it might be made manifest they were not all of us.”
APPLES OF GOLD
In his March 5, 2022 devotional, Dave Hunt shared—
The Bible is filled with verses to the effect that the Good Shepherd will keep His sheep, that those to whom He gives eternal life shall never perish, that He who has begun a good work in us will perform it, and that even if all our works are burned up, yet the one who is in Christ is saved as though by fire. Never does the Bible say that the One who purchased my salvation has now turned it over to me to lose it if I please. That would be the utmost folly and it is the force of the argument in Hebrews 6: that if one could be lost, it would be impossible to be saved without Christ being crucified again, in which case Christ would be made a fool of before the world for having procured salvation at such a cost and then turning it over to sinners who could never earn it and who surely can’t keep it.
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour.” Jude 24-25
In my closing remarks, I would like to leave you with a gift. One of our favorite pastors went to be with the Lord quite unexpectedly in February, 2022. His final sermon was a tribute to the Jesus he lived His life for. Four days later he would be in the presence of the Lord.
MEMORIAL TO STEVE FARRAR:
LAST FIVE MINUTES OF LAST SERMON
Interestingly, in the last five minutes of Steve Farrar’s last sermon (Order out of Chaos) he referred to exactly this topic “IRRESISTIBLE GRACE.” citing John 6:37.
John 6:37 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
37 All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me]
God, in His might and power will keep that which has been entrusted to Him. The price Jesus paid on the cross was more than enough.
Holding His Word Higher 