After salvation, it is extremely important that we are secure in who we are and who the LORD is in our life.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
051919
After salvation, it is extremely important that we are secure in who we are and who the LORD is in our life.

The LORD not only provided the power and the ability to be saved but He also provided the power that protects us and our salvation.

1PE 1:3-5, Blessed be the GOD and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of GOD through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Go forward to 2PE 1:2-4, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of GOD and of Jesus our LORD; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and GODliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Now, even though there are people who say that we can lose the gift of salvation that GOD has given to us the moment we believed in His Son;

Our LORD also reminds us of the fact that we are not only eternally saved but we also have the gift of eternal security.

This means that the same power that we all needed at the moment of our salvation is the same power that keeps us saved.

EG + EG = For remember EPH 2:8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that (grace; salvation; faith) not of yourselves, it is the gift of GOD; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

By the way, here is another different approach that we will note which is called the original language approach.

The original language of the verb sozo in EPH 2:8 is a perfect, passive, participle of sozo.

Perfect – saved in the past with the result of being saved forever.

Passive – you received the salvation – you did not produce it.
Participle – purpose.

Even our LORD’s half brother Jude says something about JUD 1:24, Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,

There are so many passages that we could quote concerning the doctrine of eternal security that I have decided to teach the doctrine by pointing to the different approaches we could use concerning eternal security.

By approaches, I mean that no matter which way we approach the subject, it all brings us right back to the fact that the LORD has provided many different ways for us to approach the doctrine of eternal security because of the importance of it.

After salvation, it is extremely important that we are secure in who we are and who the LORD is in our life; 1CO 15:10 says, By the grace of GOD I am what I am.

Never think that you can live for GOD by your own power or by your own strength; but always look to HIM and rely on HIM for the assurance and the mental stability that is needed in times of pressure. Also, one of the most important statements that the apostle Paul made is found in 2TI 2:1 where the apostle Paul taught Timothy some very important principles concerning the grace of GOD.

2TI 2:1-5, You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

So, I have chosen to approach our doctrine of which I will call “The Eternal Security Approaches.”

If you haven’t learned by now, believers can and do commit some type of sin that not only shocks them but also it shocks those believers who say or think that anyone who sins as a believer has lost their salvation.

In our main passage in JOH 15 on the Vine and the branches, our LORD is teaching HIS disciples the difference between suffering for blessing and suffering for divine discipline.

Our LORD was preparing HIS disciples to always be ready to give to everyone the reasons that they can handle adversity or prosperity as well as deserved suffering and undeserved suffering.

As the Apostle Peter said in 1PE 3:15, Sanctify Christ as LORD in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

JOH 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

Now, all of us should be alert to the fact that there are always individuals who distort passages like JOH 15:2, which says that “Every branch [believer] in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.

JOH 15:2, a verse that ignorant believers use to say that you can lose your salvation. Now, I have been asking you this past week to answer certain questions that lead to false doctrine.

For example, in our passage, our LORD is dealing with our fellowship with our LORD and not our salvation, but do you see the word salvation in this verse?”

What about those who say that verses 2 and 6 is teaching that believers can lose their salvation?

Do you see the word “lose” in this verse?

No, you don’t see the word lose at all because our LORD is teaching His disciples the importance of the principle of “Abiding in him” which refers to our fellowship with our LORD and not our salvation.

Also, do you see the word “sin” in this verse for it is sin that causes believers to lose their salvation according to those who believe the “satanic lie” that they can lose their salvation?”

However, if a believer does willfully sin, he does not lose his salvation, he loses the principle of Abiding or fellowshipping.

Do you see the word salvation in this passage?

No, the word salvation is not even mentioned in this verse, JOH 15:2; and JOH 15:6.

Let’s stop right here.

First of all, all of us should be alert to the fact that there are always individuals who distort passages like JOH 15:2 which says that “Every branch [believer] in Me that does not bear fruit, He [TLJC] takes away; = (that’s the first part).

The main question that our LORD was dealing with is found in phrases like JOH 15:2 where our LORD says that “every believer in Him that does not bear fruit, our LORD takes them away.

And here’s my question; “What does our LORD take others away to?

This is one of the main questions that we should have in JOH 15:2, where our LORD says that “every believer in Him that does not bear fruit, our LORD takes them away [from what?].”

ISA 57:1, The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil,

The question we should have is what did our LORD refer to by the phrase that “if a believer does not bear fruit, our LORD will take away the believer.”

The main question that we should all have is also found in Joh 15:6 which other apostate believers distort the verse when it says that; “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Notice the main subject that our LORD is addressing is said to those who “do not” abide in Him that they need to “abide in Him” and not have anything thrown away as a dead branch.