ETERNAL SECURITY AND APOSTASY - Part 1 of 2

ETERNAL SECURITY AND APOSTASY

KEY CHAPTER: 2 Chron 24

  There is one true doctrine, and that is the Doctrine of Christ. There are many false doctrines, but they can be categorized as the “doctrine of men.” Speaking of unity in Christ, Paul said, “Be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephes 4:14). The commonest doctrine of men was the necessity for obedience to the Commandments (Col 2:22). The “Commandments” are still God’s Will, but the efficacy of keeping them is the problem.
  “Conversion” is breaking a person’s will. It is an alignment of their will to God’s Will. In Acts 2, finally, when Christians became of one accord, then God’s Holy Ghost communed with them. It seems that the Jews in Jerusalem began to love one another just for the sake of it, and the command to do so was unnecessary!
  God is love, and they began to love God and others. God did not make them do that nor coerce them, but their hearts were changed. They had been born again, or converted from unloving and argumentative to loving and long-suffering. They became new persons under Christ, and were thenceforth adopted by God (Ephes 1:5), as He predestined or willed them to be.
  Predestination is not God deciding which men would love Him, but knowing in advance who would. Since salvation is for everyone, “predestination” is God’s desire that none should perish (John 3:16) in that is His Will for us.
  Misunderstanding “predestination” and “election” has led to grievous sins. Those are the bases for eternal security (“preservation of the saints”) taken from, “For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:28).
   However, there is a contingency on preservation: “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 97:10).
  Therein, nothing is said about keeping dietary laws and rituals. The contingency is love! Wickedness is a desire, using one’s own will, to not love God. Sinners don’t necessarily hate God, but fail to love Him.
  Most sinners are merely apathetic to God and His Will for them! Love can be described using a bell-shaped curve. The people are hovered around the mean which is apathy toward God. On the left tail of the curve are the few who truly despise the Lord, and on the right tail are the few who truly love the Lord and seek His Will. The bell-shaped curve is a graphic representation of who takes which gate to destruction or to salvation:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Mat 7:13-14)

  “Enter ye” puts emphasis on the convert. Jesus paid it all, but Christians must walk his walk! The “strait gate” is the Doctrine of Christ. It is the basis for judgment. It can be found in Holy Scripture, and not the doctrines of men. Those false doctrines are the wide gate to destruction. The bell-shaped curve represents the doctrines and the "doctrine of men" with evil on the left and "goodness" on the right. The dispersion of people on the curve represents who will and won’t go through the gates. The curve itself is narrow; it’s merely a small line above a broad area. That is the Way.
  While walking the narrow line, God has much leniency. Drunks stumble and fall when they can’t toe the line. Christians stumble as well. Really drunk people can’t see the line and walk wherever chance takes them. Sober people may walk the line, and even drift-off for a while. However, they keep their eyes on the Lord, and he brings them back! That is preservation of the saints.
  Those who are not sober are apathetic. They drift off just because they do not care where they go. They often go along with the crowd. Rebellious people avoid the curvy line intentionally. The punishment for the rebellious and apathetic is the same. Since neither group shows love, God will not keep them safe.
  Deitrich Bonnhoeffer referred to those Christians who see the path, but do not see fit to toe the line as beneficiaries of “cheap grace.” Theologians call them “antinomialists” (antinomianism) in that they reject laws and legalism.
  God’s Will is written as statutes to which adherence is desired. Just because He doesn’t require His children to do and not do certain things, does not mean that He doesn’t care! For instance, tattoos and cuttings have no bearing on preservation of the saints, but if truly “saints,” then faithful people should not want tattoos and cuttings because they should want to please God. Loving God is doing His Will, not because we must, but desire to!
  Antinomialists may still be among the few who enter into Heaven, but it is because of their love despite their failure to do God’s Will. The Ten Commandments (Prescriptions) are still great for eternal healing but only if done with a loving attitude. The lesson learned from Scripture is that God doesn’t look at our failures against Him, but our attitudes about pleasing Him! Christians should want to NOT sin, and that is LOVE demonstrated - the one contingency for preservation of the saints. A “saint” is one set apart, or sanctified, and that is, “Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine” (1 Tim 4:6).
  “Preservation” is to sustain the life of those with “good doctrine” which is living righteously. How is that accomplished? By willingness to please God by doing His Will. It all goes back to doing the Ten Prescriptions for eternal life. Those who love God, but become rebellious or apathetic to Him, are in apostasy as they have defected from God. They may not have intentionally affected to Satan, but if they are not God’s, they are children of the Devil (John 8:44). The Devil wants everyone to do his will, while thinking that they are independent or free-thinkers. Free-thinking is delusional; it is controlled thought!
  That background on “eternal security,” “once=saved-always-saved,” or “preservation of the saints” is information for the apostasy of Joash (2 Chron 24) which will be continued tomorrow.