Tuesday, September 19, 2006

PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

Agree. However, I want to be quick to say that I agree with the 5th point of Calvinist because of my belief in the Perseverance of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the child of God will persevere but only because of the predetermination of a sovereign God. As I have previously written, all of those whom God calls He justified, and all of those whom He justified, He glorified. The final step in the process of salvation, glorification, is the point of this post. How is it that the "wicked sinner" (God's characterization of the lost, not mine) gets from "wicked" to "blameless"? The subject of this study is not focused on the "how?" of this incredible journey to glorification, but rather is focused on "how many?"

I could post dozens of pages of Bible verses that prove up my belief that every person saved will make the trip to final glory when at the resurrection the saved are resurrected to life everlasting and those saved who are alive will be instantly changed and the mortal (flesh) will put on immortality. We shall then be "like Him", sinless, blameless, in a glorified body, and there in His presence forever more. It is only then that our salvation is complete.

This is an important piece of the puzzle and if misunderstood, leads to many errors and false teaching concerning the doctrine of soteriology, which is a technical term for the study of how a poor sinner can take advantage of the atonement provided by the life and death and life of Jesus. For all of those of us who have saving faith in Jesus we are presently saved.

  • So first, we are saved from the penalty of sin. "For by grace you have been saved, through faith". "Therefore, having been justified by faith". There is a moment in time when we "believed God and it was counted to us as righteousness" just as our father in the faith Abraham. The result is that we have been given the right to be called "sons of God" because we have "received" Jesus as Savior. Our previous condition was spiritual death but our present condition is spiritual life. And, that life is eternal.

  • Secondly, we are being saved from the power of sin through a process called "sanctification" in the seminary class room. God, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, is at work in us and on us to conform us to the likeness of Jesus. His presence in us provides us the absolute power to overcome sin. And, the work of the Holy Spirit produces in us the "fruit of the Spirit" and pours out into our hearts the love of God. The gift of God's love and the fruit of the Spirit are nothing less than the character of Christ being formed in us. We move through the process of sanctification at different rates of speed depending on our exposure to the truth of the Bible and our willingness to fully surrender to the will of God for our lives.

  • Thirdly, we will be saved from the presence of sin. When finally God's mission of redemption is complete and everyone who was called by God has been justified, Jesus will come and the believers both physically dead and alive will be changed in the "twinkle of an eye", sin and its effects will be history. Our salvation will be complete! Not one of God's children will be left out and not one of us can say that we had any part whatsoever in our completed transformation from "wicked sinner" to glorified child of God. We will be put on display so that every created thing can see the glory of God. Even the earth will be reclaimed and changed to its pre-sin cursed condition. The curse of sin will be finally broken.

    This is the process of salvation. Saved, being saved, and finally completely saved.

    I contend that every person whom God determines should begin this process, will finally complete it. In the strongest terms possible I disavow the terminology "Perseverance of the Saints" and instead hold up the doctrine of the "Perseverance of the Holy Spirit". I might be accused of splitting hairs because the end of the teaching is the same. I only believe it is right to focus on the work of God by the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, rather than to leave the tiniest hint that the believer can make this journey on his own.

    I am well aware of objections to my position. I can already see the first comment posted by someone who is horrified that I believe the Baptist doctrine of "Once saved, always saved". In our coC brotherhood, it is a rare bird who openly professes belief in such an unacceptable doctrine.

    I will state in terms that can not possibly be misunderstood my position. With every fiber of my being I believe in the perseverance of the Holy Spirit, eternal security, and that once saved you will always be saved.

    This is not subject matter that I have recently become familiar with. When I came to Christ as a fifteen year old boy in the hills of North Carolina, my understanding of the gospel was simple. I had a sin problem. Christ had fixed the sin problem and stood ready to forgive my sins and make me His. I understood the promise of the gospel to be eternal life with Christ. I trusted Christ the best I knew how based on those elementary facts.

    In the ensuing years I was confronted by a strongly held belief that Christians could loose their salvation. This came from Freewill Baptists and Pentecostal family members who worshipped at the Church of God. I was shocked at such an idea! If what they were saying was true, one of two things was not true. Either my sin problem was not really solved, or worse, I could not believe the promises of Jesus that I had read over and over scores of times in the gospel of John. I was driven to the pages of my King James Bible and I poured over its pages for months and could find nothing but the grace of a loving God who Himself had provided ALL of the necessary elements of salvation and His promise of eternal life was good. That was about 45 years ago. After hearing every possible objection, being rejected by my own father for believing such a lie, and seeing most of the believing world flatly reject my belief in the eternal security of the believer, I still happily maintain that firm conviction in my heart. Furthermore, I contend that if it is not so, none of us will make it to heaven.

    Salvation is of the Lord. That simple statement is either true or it is not. Either man contributes to his salvation or he does not. There is no gray area here. It is a black and white, yea or nea doctrine.

    The following Bible passages are given here for the consideration of the reader.

    "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."(Jn. 10:27-28).

    "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:26)

    "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Ro. 5:9)

    "Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees" (Ro. 8:23-24)


"who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself."(Ph. 3:21).

" And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Ro. 8:28-29).

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against GodÂ’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Ro. 8:31-39).

"who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Co. 1:8)

"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ"(Ph. 1:6)

"For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."(Col. 3:3-4)

"and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1 Th. 1:10)

"For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ"(1 Th. 5:9)


"And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." (He. 9:15)


"to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Pe. 1:4)


These are only a few of the wonderful passages from the Bible that teach our safety in Christ. In addition to these great and precious promises, I invite you to carefully read Jesus' great prayer in John 17. As I read those words where He said "I pray also for those who will believe because of their witness.."I know He was praying for me.


So we can say, Halleluiah what a Savior!, With confidence now, and the promise of a certain future. "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe."


Your comments are welcome.


Grace and Peace,
Royce Ogle


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5 comments:

Michael Russell said...

Royce:

You wrote,

'In the strongest terms possible I disavow the terminology "Perseverance of the Saints" and instead hold up the doctrine of the "Perseverance of the Holy Spirit".'

I don't think you're splitting hairs at all. In fact, I have gone so far as to say that it is not the "perseverance of the saints" but the "preservation of the Savior" that assures my eternal salvation.

Praise God that you found the truth even in the midst of some (probably) sincere and loving teaching that was mistaken!

Royce Ogle said...

Mike,

Thanks for your comment. I hope you have great success in the future after your time out for regrouping and refreshing.

Grace and Peace,
Royce Ogle

cwinwc said...

Royce - First, thanks for visiting my blog the other day.

This is an interesting post. We have always been a strange fellowship having both a high view of scripture and self. You have certainly provoked me to more thought on this subject and after all, isn't that (beside encouraging) what we're supposed to do to each other.

Have a good day.

Royce Ogle said...

Ben, The respect is mutual. I believe you are a good man, a man of God, but in error. It is clear from our previous online discussions that you have adopted a position of salvation by a mixture of works and grace and you continue that line of reasoning here. Paul and Peter agreed that the smallest amount of works for salvation voids the grace of God and perverts the gospel. In your salvation model, the eternal destiny of a man is not determined at the point in time that he repents and places saving faith in Jesus, but rather, God must wait to see if his works are sufficient after becoming a Christian, or if he turns his back on God, to decide his eternal fate. This is foreign to the clear teaching of Jesus, the disciples, and the apostles. To accept such an uncertain future for the child of God I must ignore, or admit I don’t believe, most of the body of teaching about God’s role in salvation through Jesus on mans behalf.

Rather than rehash the Hebrews texts you cited (as well as the other few often used “proof texts” for salvations dependence on man rather than God) I invite your comments on these verses that are in red in my Bible. Never mind scores of supportive texts in the rest of the New Testament. I am amazed that anyone can adopt a position that completely disregards the words of Jesus.

John 3:14-16, John 4:13-14, John 5:24, John 6:35-40, 47-51, 54, John 10:27-30, John 11:25-26, John 17:20-24.

These promises of Jesus Christ are to be trusted or not. They are clear, unambiguous statements not difficult to understand.

I believe every one born from above will follow Jesus and obey his commands. I also believe that everyone who lives for himself in a pattern of a sinful lifestyle is lost; Not backslidden, but never has been saved. The Bible is very clear that those who believe behave as if they believe, and those who are disobedient are not believers. I don’t believe that everyone who has prayed the sinners prayer, or come forward and confessed Jesus as Lord, or have been baptized, or cried because they were caught in some sin, are saved. Only those who have put their full trust in Jesus are born again and those will not see death according to Him.

Our churches have tares among the wheat, actors and imposters, and some wolves in sheep’s clothing, but only those who are depending on Jesus for salvation are in the body of Christ. There will be a great host of people who will end up in hell, religious but lost. Doing good deeds, church attendance, charitable giving, and even preaching, are no substitute for the righteousness of Jesus which God requires for everyone who goes to heaven.

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb 7:25)

Grace and Peace,
Royce Ogle

Royce Ogle said...

NOTE! I must make a correction, or an apology, or both.

I just received an email from our brother Ben Overby and he believes I have mischaracterized his beliefs regarding salvation. I said "you have adopted a position of salvation by a mixture of works and grace.." Ben denies that and I will take him at his word. I apologize for my mistake. I would never purposefuly say something about someone that I know to be false.

Ben said in his email "I've said explicitly that salvation is by grace and grace alone. I've also said that our works (not merit) will be our justification. And I'll add that John Piper, a man full of grace, a man who'd probably agree with your view of eternal security, writes and lectures saying, "Grace is the grounds of our salvation, while our works will be our justification." And further, "I still think you're not understanding the difference between salvation and justification."

You are right brother Ben. I don't understand the difference. And further more, I disagree with both you and Piper for the following reason.

The Bible says over and over we are justified by faith. You and supposedly Piper teach we are justified by our works. Your exact quote to me is "I've also said that our works (not merit) will be our justification".

Did I miss something? Can someone else explain to me in simple terms, so I can understand the difference?

Ben is currently making his move to New York, so pray for his safety and for God's continued blessing on his work.

My disagreement with Ben Overby, and with most of my readers for that matter, does not change my love for brothers and sisters with whom I'll sit and the marriage supper of the Lamb.

God's best to you Ben and I look forward to communicating with you in the future.

Grace and Peace,
Royce Ogle