Ephesians 1:15-23; 2:1-5
[What follows is
a short article I wrote which might help explain an apparent contradiction
in Scripture on the subject of “once saved, always saved.”
After the article, the sermon transcript will continue.
Apparent
Contradiction
In Ephesians 1:13 Paul said that we “were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance…”, giving rise to the “once saved, always saved” doctrine a great many Christian fellowships ascribe to. Yet in Matthew 24:11-13 Jesus states, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love [agapeo] of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure to the end shall be saved.” A smaller number of fellowships adhere to Jesus’ words here and say salvation isn’t a sure thing, but that you have to hold on to the end, or else you won’t be saved, receiving eternal life in the resurrection (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:49-54). In the expository sermon on Ephesians 1, Pastor Joe Focht was stating that Paul was praying that the Ephesians, and by extension all of us Christians, would receive from God “the spirit of wisdom and revelation.” As he expounded on how we were “sealed” to the end by the Holy Spirit, and how powerful that sealing was, this contradiction (above) came to mind, so I asked God to give me a spirit of revelation concerning this problem. I shouldn’t have been so amazed and surprised when various Scriptures came flooding into my mind, but it’s always amazing when the Lord starts revealing the meaning of a Bible truth in this manner. I will give the Scriptures that came to mind and comment on them as I go. Matthew 24:11-13 came to mind first, and then to counterbalance that one, Romans 8:35, 38-39, which states, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?…Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that 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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So considering these two Scriptures, is it possible for a “sealed believer” to leave the body of Christ? People do, apparently. Then I remembered a Holy Spirit led pastor had once remarked to the congregation as we sat there, and said that he estimated that 50 percent of us were or people in general in any Holy Spirit led church were “seat warmers”, were unconverted. Of course in the fellowship I was in at the time, we didn’t ascribe to the “once saved, always saved” doctrine, but what Jesus had stated in Matthew 24:11-13. So what came into my mind next, as these Scriptures were coming into my head?
I couldn’t remember the exact Scripture, but just the passage and what it said. I’ll look it up for this article. But the passage came to mind about Saul and his soldiers chasing the future king David, and how Saul and his soldiers entered into one of Samuel’s religious colleges looking for David. Obviously Samuel and probably most of the students had the Holy Spirit indwelling in them, or what I am about to relate wouldn’t have occurred. Saul and his carnal, gruff soldiers obviously didn’t have God’s Holy Spirit indwelling in them, being on a mission to kill David. In the presence of Samuel and all these students, obviously filled with the Holy Spirit, who were singing songs to the Lord, Saul and his soldiers started singing to the Lord along with them, you might say, “caught up in the Spirit of things”. God’s Spirit obviously was shining into them so they “reflected” the influence of the Spirit back out of their beings for awhile. Three whole groups, one after the other, were sent by Saul to apprehend David, but soon each group of battle-hardened soldiers forgot why they had come in pursuit of David, as they left the college singing songs to God (1 Samuel 19:18-24 ). Then it clicked.
Recently
I have been made painfully aware of the fact that someone can “fall away”
from their calling--my wife of 20 years recently divorced me and is now
exhibiting an extremely worldly lifestyle which I won’t elaborate on.
She turned her back on the church and Jesus, and anything she had
believed. On further examination
and subsequent conversations with her, now confirmed by her own admission,
she had demonstrated “interest” in the church I was attending at the time
we were dating and about to get married, just so she could “land me”, so
that I would marry her. She then
got baptized by one of the pastors in that church I was attending, and by
all appearances from then on, became a solid member along with me.
Then when severe problems hit in our marriage, as happens in most
marriages from time to time, she walked away from me, God, and the church. I became painfully aware of the fact that the
Holy Spirit was not in her, and I think now probably never was. Just as Saul and his soldiers “reflected God’s
Spirit”, and in the strong presence of the Spirit of God being beamed onto
these hardened soldiers, they took on the attitudes of the other Spirit
led people who were in their presence. The
Holy Spirit was in Samuel and his students (called in the Bible “the sons
of the prophets”), and they were “shining” the light of God’s Spirit onto
and into Saul and his men, hardened soldiers.
I became aware of the fact, which these passages in Romans 8:35,
38-39 and Ephesians 1 seemed to indicate, that once God’s Holy Spirit has
sealed an individual, it is God through his Spirit who won’t let go of you. But people can and do come into our midst, into
the church, into our lives, and for some reason, say like wanting to marry
someone who’s a Christian, they will make a “decision for Christ” which
is not entirely honest, but out of an ulterior motive.
Though we may be fooled, God is never fooled by this, and refuses
to honor such baptisms and subsequent bestowal of his Holy Spirit within
such a person. That person, then,
in the constant presence of other Christians, reflects the presence of the
Holy Spirit of the other Spirit-filled and led individuals around him or
her. Daniel
12:3, in talking of the just resurrected saints, says, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament”
which is a king James way of saying we will shine as the very stars in the
heavens. In Revelation 1:13-18 it
states that the face of Jesus right now shines as the very sun in its brilliance. As one pastor said (he had had occasion to interview
several demon-possessed people), the demons don’t like to be around a real
Christian, as they shine with the light of the Holy Spirit who is dwelling
within them. As these “revelations”
were coming to my mind I was driving to work.
It was dark out, the sky was clear and
cold. Venus and the moon were shining
brightly in the early morning sky. Then
it hit me. The moon,
and even Venus, are like unconverted people who may be, for awhile,
fellowshipping with us in the church. The
moon reflects the light of the sun, and on the
surface of the moon when the sun is hitting it the temperature can be in
the hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit. When
the moon’s surface goes into darkness and shadow it then falls down hundreds
of degrees into the below zero range. We
see the light at night, and it can be brilliant and beautiful. That is like an unconverted person within our
midst, reflecting all the Holy Spirit to all around, having and displaying
a degree of spiritual knowledge, so much so as to fool those around them,
and yes, even themselves. But God
is never fooled. Then when real trouble
comes into their lives, some fiery trial, they “fall away”. Why? God
had never really sealed them. John
makes this plain statement in his first epistle, chapter two, verse 19,
“They went out from us, but they
were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us.”
In
Matthew 24:11-13, the word for love is agapeo,
which is a Greek word used to denote God’s love which comes into us by the
Holy Spirit. It is not a human love. So by the very use of that word, it shows Jesus
is apparently talking about believers, Christians--or is he?. My question is,
are they “real believers”, those who have really been sealed by God’s Holy
Spirit, or are they those that I have described here, reflectors of God’s
Holy Spirit, those who absorbed and reflect God’s Holy Spirit from other
real Christians around them? I also
recalled examples in Foxes book of Martyrs of ordinary Christians who willing
died for their beliefs in Jesus, when all they had to do was renounce him
verbally. Paul’s words in Romans 8:35, 38-39 came to mind. “Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword?…Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that 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
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” So that
pretty well sums the matter up, at least in my mind. Some may not think so. In no way I am taking a dogmatic stance one
way or the other on this matter, either the “once saved, always saved” or
“ we must endure to the very end to be saved” side of the
doctrinal fence. Personally, I believe
both principles apply. But we will
all know for sure when Jesus returns, when we’re in the resurrection to
immorality Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 15:49-54. So I defer any hard
and fast judgment on the matter until then.
But let this be a strong warning to any Christian who may desire
to date unbelievers (for a good article on that subject, log onto http://www.askpastorjim.org/unbelievers.htm
). These facts also ought to be a
strong warning to pastors as well. Not
everyone within your congregation is born-again--and you can’t really discern
who is and isn’t until you see, long-term, the fruits of their lives. That’s
why Paul cautioned Timothy not to appoint a novice, or new-believer as a
deacon. When I learned of the untimely death of Jon
Courson’s wife and daughter in two separate car accidents, Paul’s words
in Romans 8:35-39 rang out loud and clear, this man is a Christian, sealed
with the Holy Spirit. Why? An unconverted, unsealed individual would have
cursed God for not protecting his loved ones, and turned his back on God
and walked out the door of the church. Jon
didn’t do that, but instead wrote a book titled “A Future and A Hope” [Available from “A Foundation for Living,
[You might be asking right now, “What kind of lemonade did you make? For starters I transcribed and got permission to put on my website two incredibly good articles describing how to make a marital relationship work. It applies to believer and non-believer marriages with equal success, and if you’re married to an unbeliever and struggling, it may just be what you need to keep things going. To access these two articles, log onto http://www.UNITYINCHRIST.COM/christiangrowth/HisNeeds_HerNeeds.htm .]
Now
let’s continue the sermon transcript of Ephesians 1:15-2:5.
“Because there
has never been a “saved angel”, there has never been “a savior” for angels.
The angels were all created in one day.
When the rebellion took place in heaven [may have happened or started
on earth--or that’s where it ended up] and Satan seems to have led one third
of the angels in rebellion against God (cf. Revelation 12:3-4), they all
made their choice for themselves the same day.
And angels don’t have little angels, just you and I do, we have little
angels. Angel’s don’t propagate, there’s a fixed number,
there’s not generations of angels. And
the difference with human beings is, here we are in this mess, and we can
blame it all on Adam. It’s not our
fault, it’s Adam’s fault, that’s why we’re in
this pickle. [And by extension, the
buck stops on God’s desk, he was the one who allowed Satan and this host
of fallen angels, demons, to remain on earth—it was Satan, disguised as
a serpent, that beguiled and deceived Eve--God allowed this, full well knowing
Adam and Eve’s spiritual weakness, as they had not the Holy Spirit (the
Tree of Life) indwelling in them yet, and never would.]
And because of that, the Bible says God is just, because death has
come to the whole race because of one man, that eternal life and forgiveness
comes to the whole race through a man too.
The angels never experienced that.
See, you and I weren’t around when Adam blew it for us.
So God has provided a way of salvation for the race. The angels were all there [good ones and bad
ones]. They made their own decision.
So the angels that are in heaven that are worshipping God, their
song will be complete in some way once we arrive, and they understand a
little bit more about why all this took place.
[Here’s an explanation which came from the old Worldwide Church of
God, which may apply. Satan and his demons were cast down (or back
down) to earth when they rebelled (cf. Luke 10:18; Revelation 12:3-4a). Satan was in the Garden of Eden when God created
Adam and Eve. Who deceived Eve?
Who is the god of this evil world? (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; 1 Corinthians
11:13-15) Mankind is being taught a huge and painful lesson
about Satan’s way of life and wrong attitudes. All of mankind in this world, us included, are learning a lesson which will not be soon forgotten.]
Jesus said, “Lo, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am
you may also be. If I go and prepare a place, I’ll come again
and receive you unto myself, that wherever I
am you may be also. [Where will Jesus
Christ and God the Father’s dwelling place end up, initially Jesus and us
at his 2nd coming, and then the Father (and of course the Holy
Spirit, who is omnipresent throughout the universe, and will probably always
be so)??? Look up Zechariah 14:9; Revelation 5:9-10; Revelation
21:1-17.] Now think of that city
that we read about in the book of Revelation (Rev. 21:1-17), streets of
gold, walls of jewels, the incredible beauty of this city [which Abraham
looked forward so much too, cf. Hebrews 11:8-10].
But you know what it says? It
says there’s no light there. Imagine
that city in darkness. What would
it be? One of the incredible beauties of that city
is that it has the ability to reflect and refract light. And it says ‘the Lord God is the light thereof’,
and it says ‘the saints will shine like the stars of heaven’ (cf. Revelation
1:13-18; Daniel 12:2-3). What gives
beauty and meaning to that city is the redeemed standing around their Lord
and Savior and looking into his face. If
it wasn’t for that, it would be a ghost-town. The idea is, that when we think about it, and
you and I pray and seek the Lord, there’s facets of God’s glory and God’s
creation that have not seen the fulness of their purpose, and won’t see
it until all the redeemed are gathered home [and this occurs at the very
end of the time period spoken of as the Millennium, just after Gehenna fire
has consumed the whole earth (and perhaps the universe) (cf. Revelation
20:14-15; 21:1-17)]. So there is
within the saints a greater richness to his inheritance in us,
that adds to his glory. And
he says, ‘I pray that God will show you that.’
One of the reasons that we’re going to be redeemed is for his name’s
sake. A lot of the verbs through these first three
chapters are in the middle voice, which means he’s doing it for himself. Through the Old Testament we read about God
working for his name’s sake, that he preserved