ETERNAL SALVATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
Recently received the following questions about eternal salvation.
“So If you believe in the Lord and the gospel of Jesus Christ, ask for forgiveness but keep repeating the same sin over and over are you saved? I keep hearing different teachings on this. I’ve heard youre still saved but you get less crowns in heaven and I’ve also heard you arent truly saved even if you believe bc you’re fruit isn’t Godly and you ask for forgiveness but haven’t repented. So what’s the truth?”
While the entire paragraph is about salvation and the saved believer’s relationship with sin, there is a primary question.
The primary question is “So If you believe in the Lord and the gospel of Jesus Christ, ask for forgiveness but keep repeating the same sin over and over are you saved?”
As always, the answers are in God’s Word.
1- Peter sums up salvation in one verse.
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
–1PETER 1:2
2- The ultimate proof of whether one has eternal salvation is the transformed life. Having a belief one is “saved” has nothing to do with eternal salvation: the transformed life is the final evidence of such a salvation.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
–2CORINTHIANS 5:17
3- Part of this transformation is a renewed mind: a new purpose, a new understanding of God and His Word, a new realization of the destructiveness of sin.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
–Romans 12:2
4- Through the transformed life, one now has the Spirit of God residing within. This is God’s token to the believer that he is now God’s.
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
–1CORINTHIANS 3:16
“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?”
–1CORINTHIANS 6:19
5- This gift of the Holy Spirit to the believer was a promise God had made.
“And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
–Ezekiel 36:27
This indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God is one BIG feature of the New Covenant. God declares that He will no longer dwell in buildings built by hands, but in the believer himself.
“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building”
–Hebrews 9:11
“Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,”
—Acts 7:48
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”
–1KINGS 8:27
“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;”
—Acts 17:24
6- By the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the believer led to the truth.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
–John 16:13
7- Part of that truth is that the believer, though now the temple of the Holy Spirit, is still encased in a body of flesh; of dirt; of sin. God’s Word highlights the magnificence of God’s Holy Spirit being in a corrupted body made of dirt in 2CORINTHIANS 4:7.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
This body of sin wars against the Spirit of God who now dwells within.
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.”
–Galatians 5:17
The believer learns that, even with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it is not possible for him to live a sin-free life. Eventually, the believer learns that, though the Spirit of God dwells within him, his body is corrupt and will lead him to sin. Though he may fervently wish it otherwise, he will stumble: he WILL sin.
“For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
–Romans 7:15-20
Does this then give the believer a “license to sin“?
Absolutely not. In fact, the believer is quite aware when he sins and, because he now has the Holy Spirit, the believer realizes what a transgression against God sin really is.
Sin is NOT fun.
Sin is not amusement.
Sin is a transgression against a Holy God.
And the believer now HATES it when he sins.
“…but what I hate, that do I.”
Because one’s life is now transformed, the believer KNOWS he sins–even if he sincerely wishes otherwise.
Unlike his previous life, where he ran to embrace sin, the believer is now carried away captive by his sin. He knows sin is wrong and destructive (unlike before, when he thought of sin as something to be enjoyed).
“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”
–Romans 7:22-23
7- Again, does this then give the believer a “license to sin“?
Once more: absolutely not.
In fact, the believer is quite aware when he sins and, because he now has the Holy Spirit, the believer realizes what sin really is.
Instead of sin as a pleasure, the believer now experiences his sin as a failure to obey.
“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
–Romans 7:24
8- Though he will stumble–even after his transformation– the believer will do his best to follow the commandments of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ–even if he is not always successful.
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
–Luke 6:46
AFTER the believer sins, he is to confess his sin to the Father.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
–1John 1:9
9- After his transformation, the believer is no longer under the law of sin and death.
“But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”
–Galatians 5:18
“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
–Romans 6:14
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
–Romans 8:2
10- The law of grace was known even to those under the Old Covenant–though it was rare.
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”
–Psalm 32:1-2
MORE: Blessed Is the Man Unto Whom the LORD Imputeth Not Iniquity – Part One
MORE: Blessed Is the Man Whom the LORD Imputeth Not Iniquity – Part Two
11- More questions:
I keep hearing different teachings on this. I’ve heard youre still saved but you get less crowns in heaven and I’ve also heard you arent truly saved even if you believe bc you’re fruit isn’t Godly and you ask for forgiveness but haven’t repented.
The Bible is silent about both of these “teachings.”
NOTE: To repent means to “have a change of mind” or to “change directions.” Many confuse ‘repentance’ with ‘penance’ (which is something one does if one believes he can atone for his sins by offering something to God in exchange for forgiveness.
12- Ultimately, once one experiences a transformed life, one’s relationship with sin changes dramatically. Sin is no longer something to be enjoyed and sought after: sin is something to be fought against–and that fight will continue as long as that believer’s mortal life shall last.
Even if sin does win out for a time, the believer KNOWS the Spirit of God will ultimately triumph over sin with God’s mercy and assistance.
In fact, the believer KNOWS he would not be saved if not for the great and unending mercy of God. This leads to constant questions being asked “Why me? Why did God show mercy to me?”
The answer to those question is also to be found in God’s Word.
“For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
–Romans 9:15
“And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”
–Exodus 33:19
Which makes the believer realize how much God’s mercy figured into his salvation.
“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”
–Romans 9:16
Making an effort and having a sincere desire to be saved are very helpful, but eternal salvation is “God that sheweth mercy.”
Now, the unsaved man merely needs to do that which will trigger God’s mercy.
“Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”
–John 9:31
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
-–Romans 1:16
MORE: Romans 6-7: A Servant or a Captive of Sin?
DOES the reader understand the purpose and mercy of God?
DOES the reader believe he has to work to earn God’s forgiveness?
It is not YET too late: there is still time to change direction (repent), place your faith (hope) for the future entirely on Jesus Christ and enter the kingdom of heaven.
DOES the reader believe he is saved?
Make Your Calling and Election Sure: End Times Survival
DOES the reader believe he is NOT saved?
Time is Running Out: Today is the Day of Salvation
THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. ”
–1 Corinthians 15:1-8
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
-–Romans 1:16
MORE: Eternal Salvation Through Jesus Christ: Salvation Messages from End Times Prophecy Report
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[Portions of this piece appeared originally in End Times Prophecy Headlines: January 7, 2019.]
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by Jeremiah Jameson
–with Mondo Frazier
image: ETPR file/pd
© Jeremiah J. Jameson and End Times Prophecy Report, 2012-18. © Mondo Frazier and End Times Prophecy Report, DBKP, 2007-2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s authors and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeremiah J. Jameson, Mondo Frazier and End Times Prophecy Report with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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