When I accepted God´s offer of salvation, God then and there forgave me and accepted me as His child. In that moment in real time, God Himself transformed me into a new creature (2 Cor 5:17-21), and then God wrote my name in His Book of Life.
Once a person is changed into a new creature (2 Cor 5:17-21) …the battle is then to maintain our life holy, strong in Him. Even after becoming a child of the King, and having our life made brand new, we have the option to ¨offer our body to sin¨(Romans 6) and shipwreck this life we live on earth. Once we are His, we are then to live in a manner that pleases our Lord Jesus Christ – not worldly desires, not our flesh, not the Devil – but Christ our Lord.
Life is tough. The fiery darts of the Devil seek to destroy us, our testimony, and make us ineffective as His ambassadors. The Evil One seeks to sideline us, take us off the grid, and get us to not play on the field. Always, while on earth, we are to be ¨fighting the good fight of faith¨ (1 Timothy 1:18, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7) – to please God, to not fail Him. Our goal is to one day hear His commendation, ¨Well done, good and faithful servant!¨(Matthew 25:23, Luke 19:17).
The Almighty Judge ruled in His Court that I am free from the penalty of sin. His ruling stands forever (Romans 8:31-35). God Himself forgave us our sins in that moment of turning to Christ, so ¨there is now therefore no condemnation – to those who are in Christ¨ (Romans 8:1). When one turns to Christ, the universal state of damnation is eliminated by the Righteous Judge of the Universe, declaring that person legally free from God´s wrath, forever.
Many verses that Armenianist thought interprets as ¨losing your salvation¨… are actually referring to this epic battle for the hearts of us children of God, those who are destined to serve and rule with God for eternity. Satan lost us forever – in that moment in time when we looked to the cross for salvation (like the many Israelites did in the desert and were saved from the vipers: Numbers 21, John 3:14). God Himself holds us firmly in His Hand. We can rest assured in the knowledge that ¨He will never leave us nor forsake us¨.
It is the role of all believers to stand fast in the faith, without waivering, enduring to the end – but not so we avoid falling out of God´s Hand of salvation, into Hell, but rather to be victorious servants of Christ (rewarded with a crown of jewels, etc), instead of slovenly, miserable loosers with nothing to throw at Jesus´feet (wood, hay, stubble – all burned up) when we stand welcomed into His Kingdom. All those ¨in Christ¨will be welcomed into His Kingdom, with Him for eternity. There, those having served well on earth, with good works, will be further rewarded accordingly – in that life to come. Those with only works done in the flesh (works burned-up, worthless for His Kingdom), still are His sons and will be in heaven forever, but with less rewards. (1 Corinthians 3:8b-16)
We should never assure the one living in sin – that he or she is secure in Christ. The one in sin is evidencing the fruits of one without Christ. We cannot discern whether one is truly saved or actually not saved. Who are we to say!? That is God´s to discern. (See: God Damned “Believers”) It is, however, the responsibility of those who are spiritual to care about the spiritual state of others, and admonish and rebuke in love (Galatians 6:1, Colossians 1:28, Colossians 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:12), to bring them back into submission to Christ.
The point of the Gospel is submission to Christ. For those truly “in Christ”, it is not about whether you can or cannot lose it (Losing It) – but rather ¨Are you or are you not submitted to Christ?¨ It is all about ¨bowing the knee¨. We either have, or we have not. But we all will, either now of our own volition, to life eternal, or, at the great Throne of God, there kneeling forever damned. Forever damned. Scary thought. It is a fearful thing to think of – kneeling at God´s throne without having accepted His offer of salvation. There will be no second chance there.
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