The Conditional Nature of Salvation

The lesson today was from the third chapter of the Book of Hebrews. There are Bible teachers who, using a few verses of Scripture, have deduced that once a person "accepts Christ," he or she never again can be removed from God’s favor. I think this totally unscriptural position has arisen from man’s love for himself. He wants to be assured that whether he serves God or not, he will go to Heaven when he dies.

(3/27/2006) There are many passages—I am tempted to say the message of the entire Scriptures, Old Testament and New—that tell us God can change His mind, based on our behavior. Consider God’s words to Eli, the High Priest, when he did not rebuke his sons.

Scholars used the concept that since God is sovereign, once He declares that we are saved we never can be lost. Perhaps the antecedent of this idea is the overemphasis on predestination, that surfaces at times in Christian thinking.

There are several passages that declare flatly we can draw back from salvation after we begin walking in the "way of righteousness." Second Peter states that it would be better never to have walked this way than to draw back after once having done so.

One illustration used by New-Testament authors is that of the Jews dying in the wilderness after having started out from Egypt. What could be plainer than this illustration?

Another factor that impacts modern Christian thinking is the phrase "God’s unconditional love." The idea here is that God loves us even though we do not obey Christ and His Apostles. An intelligent individual who read the New Testament would marvel that people could be so confused.

There is no question in my mind but that the current people-centered philosophies in the American culture are spilling over into Christian thinking. "People must be happy no matter whether God is obeyed or not." This attitude accounts for the "once saved, always saved," "unconditional love," "God wants us to be wealthy and never suffer," "God will take all Gentile believers to Heaven so they will not experience the Great Tribulation or the reign of Antichrist," doctrines that abound. All of these are contrary to the message of the New Testament.

The third chapter of the Book of Hebrews is a good antidote for the poison that has entered the bloodstream of Christianity in America.

There are those who recognize that Hebrews is incompatible with current doctrine. So they either claim the book is not written to Christians, or else they use arguments from the Greek to prove certain passages do not mean what they state. This is a pseudo- scholarship, and its proponents should be ashamed of their lapse of intellectual ethics.

The third chapter of the Book of Hebrews states that we are part of Christ’s house if we hold fast to our courage and hope.

"If" means "on the condition that." We are the house of Christ on the condition that we hold fast to our courage and hope.

Does this statement in the third chapter of Hebrews mean that if we do not hold fast to our courage and hope we will not be the house of Christ?

There is no other way to interpret the passage.

But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. (Hebrews 3:6)

Perhaps there are Bible teachers today who would claim that being Christ’s house and being saved are two different circumstances. We can be saved and yet not be Christ’s house.

I heard of one teacher who is saying that we can be cut from the Vine, from Christ, and still be saved. There may be others who teach that we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God because we continued to behave according to our sinful nature. But we still can be "saved."

From my point of view, it is a wicked practice to teach believers that even if they continue to sin they will still go to Heaven, because once they "accept Christ" they never can be cut off from the Lord.

I wonder how the Apostle Paul, who toward the end of his life was still attempting to "gain Christ," would view the current man-centered gospel.

If I am hearing correctly from the Lord Jesus, a great revival is sweeping this way. Past revivals have emphasized one or another aspect of salvation: sinners being saved and being born again; Divine healing; speaking in tongues, for example. I believe the revival that is on the way will emphasize repentance on the part of God’s people. Because of false doctrine the moral strength of the believers is so weak that it no longer is having much of an impact on our government and culture. This not always has been the case in America. I believe the record will show that Christian people were largely responsible for the emancipation of African-Americans. The book "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," a contributing factor to the Civil War, was written from a series of visions given to a Christian lady.

The Christian religion has played a major role in the history of Europe, America, and South America. Little by little the Christian influence has been eroded. My personal opinion is that this is because of the teaching that if we make a profession of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will go to Heaven no matter how we behave. I do not see where today’ position is much different from the Muslim belief that if an innocent child is murdered in the name of Allah, the murderer upon death will enter Paradise.

Religion tends to destroy common sense as well as conscience.

Sunday night another vital concept was introduced. This has to do with the first resurrection, the resurrection out from among the dead. Paul speaks of this ejxanavstasin in the third chapter of the Book of Philippians. The same event is termed hJ ajnavstasi" hJ prwvth, or first resurrection, in the twentieth chapter of Revelation.

Very little is taught today, I believe, concerning the fact that there shall be two resurrections from the dead. The resurrection out from among the dead was the principal goal of the Apostle Paul. Paul, while in prison, said that he felt he had not attained the first resurrection as yet, but was pressing forward toward that goal.

After the thousand-year Kingdom Age has transpired, the general resurrection of the dead will occur. This will include all human beings ever born on the earth, but who did not attain to the first resurrection, the resurrection that is out from among the dead.

Those who attain to the earlier resurrection will have been judged previously, so no books will be opened when the Lord comes. They will have fellowship, and then rise to meet Him in the air.

Those whose bodies are called forth from the grave at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age will be judged according to what they have done during their lifetime. This does not mean they automatically are lost, as is taught erroneously. No individual will be thrown into the eternal fire unless his or her name is not found in the Book of Life.

And let me say in concluding, that in spite of what is taught today, no person, young or old, will be thrown into that most terrible of fates on the basis or never having heard the Gospel. If he has heard the Gospel he will be judged on that basis. If he has never heard the Gospel, he will be judged according to his behavior, whether wicked or righteous.

We must come to understand that "accepting Christ" does not guarantee we can never be thrown into the Lake of Fire. God has given the Lake of Fire authority over eight types of behavior. Placing our faith in Christ does not waive that authority, except temporarily while we have a chance to become a new creation. But the authority of the Lake of Fire is cast in steel. Whoever persists in those behaviors, not being willing to permit Jesus Christ to deliver him or her, will finally make the Lake of Fire his or her eternal home.

We have made the Lord Jesus Christ an alternative to moral transformation. This would mean God has given up on His plan to make man in His image. Such a change in the Divine program never has happened and never shall happen. Through the Lord Jesus we can fulfill God’s intention and be made in His image. But those who resist this moral transformation, claiming God loves them too much to permit them to suffer, are heading toward a frightful destiny unless they repent.