But good and evil are outcomes -- and the outcome of our actions is known only to God.
Allow me to illustrate…
You are in Vienna, Austria, and the year is 1905. A man is painting a landscape portrait of downtown Vienna and doesn't realize he has stepped back into the path of a street car. You see him, and push him to safety.
You did the right thing, right? It was a 'good' thing that you did, and not 'evil', right?
If you knew what the outcome of your good deed in 1905 would be -- that is, if you knew at the time that you had just saved the life of Adolph Hitler and knew what he would become -- did doing 'the right thing' result in a 'good', or 'evil' outcome?
The first lie of the Garden of Evil was that man should trust in himself and on his own understanding. The Scriptures teach the precise opposite.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
The doctrine of eternal security flies in the face of that first lie by removing man from the equation altogether. Eternal security says that human righteousness is as 'filthy rags' before the Lord, therefore, Jesus paid the FULL penalty for sin.
It teaches that man plays no greater role in his salvation than that of accepting the gift of Pardon offered him by repenting (which means to change one's mind) about his sin and trusting in the shed Blood of Christ as a completed work.
The Scriptures teach us we can be; “confident of this very thing, that He which hath BEGUN a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phillipians 1:6)
One doctrine, that of salvation plus works, teaches that once He hath begun a good work in me, it is up to ME to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
The other, that of eternal security, teaches that, once He hath begun a good work in me, HE will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Which doctrine lines up best with the main theme of the revealed Word of God?
We return to the message of salvation, but presented WITHOUT the implicit promise of eternal security for the believer…
“You are lost and deserve to go to hell. But Jesus has made a way for
you to be saved.
All you have to do is believe in Him and not sin again. Go to church, learn the Bible, quit smoking, drinking, swearing, having lustful thoughts, avoid all your old sinful friends, do good and don't sin, and you shall be saved. But if you continue in sin after trusting Jesus, you will go to hell anyway.”
All you have to do is believe in Him and not sin again. Go to church, learn the Bible, quit smoking, drinking, swearing, having lustful thoughts, avoid all your old sinful friends, do good and don't sin, and you shall be saved. But if you continue in sin after trusting Jesus, you will go to hell anyway.”
If one discounts the doctrine of eternal security as some kind of Satanic lie, then giving the Gospel in any manner differently that the one above is deceptive advertising.
But the Scriptures teach; “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” (Galatians 6:15)
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2nd Corinthians 5:17)
If one is turned into a 'new creature' through God's extension of Sovereign grace accepted through faith, how then does one turn ONESELF back to the old creature by an act of human will (sin)?
Finally, there is the logic argument, as further advanced the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians.
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Galatians 2:21)
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:28)
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Jack Kinsella, 1952-2013 — Founder of The Omega Letter
The above article was taken in part from the website, Rapture Notes. For the full article click the aforementioned link.
