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WJhlo
l Th
Word with joy when they hear
it;
how
ever, during a time of testing their faith
withers. (vs. 13)
cemllillfumce CClblJrilblm
Falling away from the Faith doesn't
mean that one loses his salvation, it
means that one never had any salvation
from the beginning. Passages such
as
Hebrews 6:4-6 and 10:26-31 do not
teach that a genuine believer can forfeit
his salvation. This would contradict a
host of other passages, some of which
we have already mentioned. Apostasy
is
a sin that no genuine Christian can ever
commit. I John 2:18,19 is quite clear.
John
is
discussing the reality of those
who are called antichrists. These are the
wolves in sheep clothing, often times.
Verse 19 asserts, "They went out from
us, but they did not really belong to us.
For
if
they had belonged to us, they
would have remained with
us;
but their
going showed that none
of
them
belonged to us.
Part
IV
Vll. The Necessity
of Perseverance
The doctrine
of
the perseverance
of
the saints
is
a precious truth in God's
Word. This doctrine states that every
genuine Christian is eternally secure in
Christ. There
is
absolutely nothing that
can prevent God's work
of
grace in a per
son's heart from failing to achieve its
ultimate goal - glorification in heaven.
Ephesians
1:4
says that God the Father
chose us before the foundation of the
world
to
be holy and blameless. Our sal
vation has its roots even before crea
tion We see God's electing grace mani
fested in His special work in our lives.
He irresistibly calls us to himself by
the sovereign work
of
His Holy Spirit.
We are then born again by the very
power
of
God, who changes our hearts
by regenerating our lost souls. The
Holy Spirit applies Christ's work of re
demption
to us,
and He gives
us
the
ability to bear godly fruit. The sancti
fication process continues throughout
our entire lives until we are completely
sanctified or made perfect when Jesus
Christ returns. To believe that man can
do something to interrupt this process
is
to diminish and assault the glory of
God.
Philippians 1:6 says, "being confi
dent of this, that he who began a good
work in you will carry it on to comple
tion until the day of Christ Jesus." II
Timothy 4:18 says, "The Lord will
rescue
me from every evil attack and
will bring me safely to his heavenly
kingdom Romans 8:38,39 says,
John
M.
Otis is
a PCA minister
residing
in
Roswell, Georgia
The Counsel of Chalcedon, August, 1988
"For I
am
convinced that neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor
any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else
in
all creation, will
be able to separate us from the love
of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The genuine Christian is secure
When we speak
of
the eternal secur
ity
of
the saints, we must be careful not
to think that this means that we can
live like children
of
the Devil and still
be secure. The previous sections in this
article should have sufficiently put this
thought to rest. One
of
the other proofs
that we are genuinely saved
is
that our
faith will persevere to the end of our
lives. The genuine Christian
c nnot
apostatize from the Faith. The Chris
tian's faith will persevere. I once heard a
preacher say, "Faith that is faulty to the
finish was faulty at the start." t is not
how well one looks during the race but
whether one finishes the race.
Luke 8:4-15 is the parable
of
the
sower. This parable is a tremendous
teaching concerning the nature of gen
uine Christianity. There are those who
have misinterpreted the parable. The
distinction among the seed in different
soils is not one of varying commit
ments in the Christian life. The distinc
tion
is
more fundamental; it is the dis
tinguishing between true saving faith
and differing kinds of
spurious faith.
The only soil that represents the gen
uine Christian is the last soil, which
bears much fruit. Jesus said in Luke
8:15 concerning this soil, "But the seed
on good soil stands for those with a
noble and good heart, who hear the
word, retain it, and by persevering pro
duce a crop." The seed that fell on the
rocks springs up quickly but because it
has no real depth it cannot endure the
eventual bad weather. Jesus said that
this person is one who receives the
Vlll Discipleship
and
Salvation
There are those in the Christian com
munity who teach that discipleship is a
higher gradation in the Christian life. t
is a higher level of commitment to
Christ. Thus, the distinction is made be
tween being a regular Christian and a
disciple. Those who believe this are
usually the same ones who advocate the
carnal Christian doctrine alluded
to
ear
lier. The distinction between a Chris
tian and a disciple is not only erroneous
but it is extremely dangerous for one's
spiritual welfare.
For those who truly knew him, Jesus
had only one term for them - disciples.
The Great Commission as recorded in
Matthew 28:19,20 states that we are to
make "disciples"
of
all nations. A dis
ciple would be equivalent
to
a Chris
tian. In Acts 11:26 the disciples were
first called Christians in Antioch.
What content is given to the term
"disciple?" In John 8:31, Jesus said that
abiding in His Word was a sign that a
person was truly His disciple. In John
13:35, Jesus said that loving one
another was a sign
of
being a true dis
ciple. In John 15:8, bearing much fruit
was a sign
of
being a true disciple. In
the previous sections
of
this article, we
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have noted that all of these signs of a
disciple clearly are evidences of a. gen
uine Christian. They are not evidences
of a greater corilrirltffient to Christ but
are evidences of the reality of saving
faith.
From, Jesus' perspective, being His
disciple implied great demands upon the
individual. This does notmean that one
had to
~ w o r k
hard to earn being a dis
ciple. We are hot saved by our works. It
means that a disciple will have made a
great commitment to Christ. Luke 9:23-
25 demonstrates this fact. Verse 23 says
that every follower of Christ must be
willing to deny himself, take up his
cross daily, and follow Christ. This
level of commitment is
an
absolute
necessitY
in
order for one to possess
eternal life. Verses 24 and
25
make this
clear. The attempt to save one's life on
ly results in the loss of it. What value
is the gaining of the whole world
if
it
costs a man his very soul? The person
who refuses to make this commitment
is one who loves himself more than
Christ. The commitment that is demand
ed is wh t constitutes coming to Christ
for salvation. It is by no means half-
hearted.
In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus set forth the
requirements that were necessary to be a
true disciple. Jesus demanded a great
commitment. In verse 26, Jesus said
that a person could not be his disciple
unless he hated his father, mother, wife,
children, and even his own life. The
word for "hate" is a comparative term in
relation to love. In other words, our
love and commitment to Christ is to be
so great that it will appear as
if
our
commitment . to our family is hate.
Jesus said that one could not be his
disCiple unless he carried his cross and
followed Him. Unless a person is will
ing to be persecuted for righteousness
and even die for his Lord, he cannot be
Jesus' disciple. \In John 15:18-20, Jesus
declared that his disciples should expect
persecution. In Luke 14:33, Jesus also
said that one could not be
his disciple
unless he gave up everything he pos
sessed. A persqn cannot lov:e his materi
al wealth more than Jesus and be a dis
ciple. This was the problem with the
young rich ruler in Matthew 19:16-22.
In verse
16,
the man asked Jesus what
he had to do to inherit eternal life. In ' '
verse 17, Jesus said to obey the com
mandments. The young mati wa8 naive
enough to believe that he had kept all
of them. He asked Jesus if there was
anything still lacking. Knowing the
man's heart, Jesus said that one more
thing remained. He was to sell all his
possessions; give them to the poor, and
then follow Jesus. Upon hearing this de
mand for this level of commitment, the
young rich ruler departed. He loved his
wealth more than Jesus. It is ironic that
he who thought that he had kept all of
the commandments was guilty of vio
lating this first commandment - "You
shall have no other gods before me."
Jesus put this incident into proper per
spective when he told his disciples in
verse 23 that it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of
heaven.
In
verse 25, the disciples asked,
"who then can be saved?" Jesus assured
them that God could accomplish what
man couldn't. Peter then affirms that he
and the other disciples had indeed left
everything and followed him. He won
dered whether they would be rewarded.
In verses 28-30, Jesus informs them
that they would be rewarded with eternal
life for having left homes, mothers,
fathers, brothers, sisters, and children.
The parallel between Matthew 19:16-
30 with that
of Luke 14:25-33 is re
markable. t should be clear that the
demands for discipleship in Luke 14 are
the necessary requirements for being a
genuine Christian. The same things
that Jesus demands in the Luke passage
are the things that will reward the dis
ciples with eternal life in the Matthew
passage.
In Luke 14:28-32, Jesus said that a
person should carefully count the cost
before he makes the commitment to be
His disciple. This does not mean that a
person must first determine i f he has
the spiritual capability to make a com
mitment to Christ. Scripture tells us
that the natural man has no capacity to
do good before God (Rom. 3). Yes, a
person does make a decision of his will
to follow Christ in order to be saved.
However, this decision is one which is
willing
to
submit to Jesus' Lordship. A
person who is not willing to yield. his
entire life to Jesus
Is
one
who
is still
short of the kingdom of God. We recall
that justifying faith is an absolute faith
or trust in Christ. Where there is real
faith, there will be the commitme.nt
to
submit to Christ's Lordship. The mar-
velous thing is that when
we
a:re b.orn
again by .the power of the Holy Spirit,
we are given the desire and ability to
make such a commitment. The call to
discipleship is the call to salvation
IX. Conclusion
I cannot stress too highly the impor
tance of the material we have set forth
in this series of articles. The most ini-
portant knowledge and assurance a per
son can have is to know that he pos
sesses eternal life. Though the issues
mentioned in these articles have been
the subject of great theological debate,
they should not be cast aside
as
the vain
rhetoric of theologians, The destirty of
your very soul is at stake. It is
p a s ~
sible to be deluded. It is possible
t
have a false security.
It
would be tragic
to go through life living a lie. Every
professing Christian should ask him-
self, Am I really a genuine Christian?
Do I manifest .the traits of a true dis-
ciple?" These aiticles are intended to
spur you to ask these questions and,to
enable you to understand what it really
means to be saved. May God be praised
if the reading of these articles enables
one who was deluded into a false secur
ity to come to a true saving knowledge
of Jesus Christ.
[Editor's note- This series
of arti
cles is . now available in a booklet n ~
titled, Who i The Genuine Chris-,
tian?
You can order it from the
W e s t ~
minster Presbytery Christian Education,
Committee at 150 S. Atlanta St., Apt.,
35C in Roswell, Georgia 30075. Also
see the advertisement on page 10 of
this:
issue of The Counsel o Chalcedon.]
When you move, please send your
.llil your new address to
The Counsel
of
Chalcedon
3032 Hacienda Ct.
Marietta, GA
30066
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Tlte CQunsel of Cbalcedon, August, 1988
