“THEN you are one of those people that think that if they are once saved they are always saved!” said a man in the garb of the Salvation Army, to a fellow traveler on the M— platform.
“And so would you be, if you believed God’s Word,” was the reply. “I will give you a verse to think over: ‘For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.’” (Rom. 5:1010For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10).)
The other, however, evidently thinking it showed a more humble spirit to doubt God’s Word than to gladly believe it, went his way, shaking his head at the “dangerous doctrine” set forth in the plain verse of Scripture repeated to him by his fellow traveler.
“Not now! Not now!” were the hopeless words of a dying man, in answer to my question, “Are your feet on the Rock? Do you know Christ as your Saviour?” “Not now! Not now!”
“What do you mean by ‘Not now’? Was there ever a time when you came to Christ as a lost sinner and your sins were forgiven?”
“Yes, there was,” he replied earnestly; “and I was very happy and went on well for a time; but gradually I got cold and indifferent, and then got away altogether, and now I’m lost!”
“No, indeed you are not, not if you have once come to Christ and have got the forgiveness of your sins. Christ says, ‘I give unto them [believers in the Lord] eternal life; and they shall NEVER perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.’ (John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28).) Then you remember those last verses in the eighth chapter of Romans: ‘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.’”
The poor dying backslider turned in contrition to God, who graciously used these scriptures to restore unto him, not his salvation, which he could never lose, but the joy of salvation, which we soon lose if we do not “lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us,” and which we only regain by confessing our wrongdoing to God; for “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).)
The poor man’s last words, a week or two after, were: “Oh! the blessedness of knowing I am saved.”
Nothing is more clearly set forth in Scripture than the eternal security of every believer in Christ; therefore, “the blessedness of knowing” that he is saved should be the enjoyed privilege of every child of God, not only saved now, but saved forever.
Alas! how many Christian lives are robbed of their continued happiness and usefulness by this unscriptural “saved today and lost tomorrow” teaching! How many awakened souls, perhaps just struggling into the light of Christianity, are hindered by seeing those go back again to the world who once confessed Christ as Saviour, causing them to question, “Is there anything in it after all?”
The salvation of the sinner is the work of Christ alone; it is, therefore, clearly impossible that a subject of that work could ever be lost. What He does could never fail. “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:66Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: (Philippians 1:6).)
F. A.