49 LIKE NATURAL LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION THE
CONCEPTION OF THE NEW MAN IN THE BELIEVER. 1 Sam. 16:7
"For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."
Hard-liners refuse to acknowledge that looks and actions cannot reveal whether or not someone possesses "the newness of life." This viewpoint stems from a shallow understanding of the new birth. To illustrate this thinking, imagine a young married woman. If you met this lady two days after she has conceived, would you know she had a new life inside her? No! Why? Because you see no evidence. Although this woman isn’t showing, does it mean the new life is any less in her? No! The only way you will know she has a new life inside her is if she tells you. Otherwise, you won’t have a clue until growth occurs, and so it is with born again believers.
Suppose a sinner you see everyday, meets you an hour after he believes the gospel. Would you know the new man had been conceived in him? No! You would only know that Christ’s spirit dwells in him if he tells you, because “the evidence is not seen.” A new convert’s natural mind is still carnal, worldly, and reprobate for it “receiveth not the things of the Spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:14) Until converts adhere to the Scripture to “let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus,” and become renewed in the spirit of the mind, their behavior will still be conformed to the ways of the world, though saved to the uttermost. (Rom. 12:2) Therefore, you may seriously doubt whether Christ’s Spirit was ever conceived in that person – in the same way you might doubt a woman who says she's five months pregnant, yet she exhibits no visible signs of growth.
Christians are great at proclaiming “LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION,” but they hypocritically ignore this same rule applies to the new birth. The “miracle of birth” is an accurate description of our hidden man. When a soul believes the gospel, the invisible new man born of “the invisible God,” is instantaneously conceived in that heart as the new creature and eternal life begins. (Romans 10:9-10) Since this new man “cannot sin,” he can never collect the wages of sin and die. (1 John 3:9) This new life cannot be aborted because he is eternal. Being born of an incorruptible seed, your new man will live and abide in the redeemed forever. (1 Pet. 1:23, John 14:16) This “newness of life” is an entity separate and distinct from the pre-existing old man, the flesh, just as the new life in a pregnant woman is a new life separate from the woman.
Most of the time a woman who has conceived does not know right away that she carries a new life inside of her. Likewise, many believers don’t realize that the incorruptible seed of Christ conceived in them long ago still lives and abides in them since the hour they first believed. (1 Pet. 1:23) Perhaps they stood at an evangelical rally or a soul-winning crusade to accept Jesus Christ’s offer of eternal life by believing in His death, blood, and resurrection. Afterwards, when no one nourished these newborn babes with “the sincere milk of the Word" and good doctrine, they never gave it a second thought. (1 Tim. 4:6, 1 Pet. 2:2) Though these babes never learned their identity in Christ, the new creation of Christ in them did not dry up and go away. He remains eternally in their souls, though currently unable to mature much beyond the seed stage. He has not “formed” in them. (Gal. 4:19) This is the equivalent of a woman who neglects prenatal care and stunts the growth of the life conceived in her. Nevertheless, life has begun. Moreover, God can work and “no man can hinder” and “he that has begun a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.” Since God is pro-life, He has never allowed the world, the flesh, or its devil to perform an abortion on this hidden man in the redeemed! As it is written, “the wicked one toucheth him not.” (1 John 5:18) If you, the born again, lose this new man, then you have lost your salvation and God has lost His Son, “Christ in you,” your only hope of Glory. (Gal. 6:15)
50 SALVATION IS NOT GIVEN TO YOU BECAUSE YOU “WALK THE WALK” AND “TALK THE TALK.” SALVATION IS A FREE GIFT BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH. Eph. 4:15
“But speaking the truth in love that ye may grow up into him in all things.”
As Christians, we should be ashamed of ourselves for not challenging the “walk the walk, talk the talk” doctrine as a basis of salvation, the most sacred cow Gentile Christianity possesses. Bible-based Christianity has the only foot powerful enough to kick over this most sacred cow of false doctrines. Hawkers of religion the world over, preach, “You’ve got to walk the walk and talk the talk if you’re going to make heaven your home.” Friend, you can walk the walk until your feet swell, talk the talk till you develop lockjaw, and live the life until you die, yet none of these things will gain or sustain your eternal salvation. The Bible is clear “every man at his best state is altogether vanity, walking in a vain show.” (Ps. 39:5) This includes you at your very best. Your best is counted as vanity in its contribution towards your soul’s salvation. Nothing but the blood of Jesus and the birth of Christ in you preserves your soul unto His heavenly kingdom. (2 Tim. 4:18) Nothing else will do.
When you were born, were you able to walk or intelligibly talk to your parents? No. Yet, you were nonetheless born, and they were nonetheless your parents. You needed to learn how to walk and how to talk and how to live a civil life – not so your parents would continue being your parents, but for your own blessing and benefit! Likewise, at the second birth, you as a newborn babe in the gospel, were delivered into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, unable to take a step of faith’s walk or able to speak the Word, which is the talk. (Col. 1:13) This is because neither our first or second births automatically endow us with a walk or a talk. (Titus 3:8) Being born gives us the faculties for walking and talking, but not the skills. No baby has been born fluent in Spanish, English, or Swahili, nor has any baby been born running marathons. Comparatively, no babe in Christ is automatically endowed with the walk of faith, or the knowledge of our Savior’s wonderful words of life.
Learning to walk and talk are traits of a child’s growth, not evidence of its birth! Likewise, walking the walk of faith and talking the talk of the Word are traits of growth in grace, not evidence of the new birth. Beloved, your salvation was not obtained by you walking the walk, but by the holy one who walks in you. (2 Cor. 6:16) If you could walk the walk, then the famous poem “Footprints in the Sand” is lunacy. For why would you need Jesus if you could walk into heaven on your own two feet? (Gal. 2:21) Neither is your salvation based on you talking the talk – it’s based on the seed of Christ born in you, as the hidden man. (1 Pet. 1:23) Lastly, your salvation doesn’t depend on you living the life, but on you receiving “the life” you cannot live, Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) Therefore, if you are basing your salvation on the life you are living instead of on “the life” Christ said He is, then you are an eternal glutton for punishment. (1 John. 5:12)
51 AS YOU CANNOT BEHAVE YOURSELF INTO A FAMILY, NEITHER CAN YOU
MISBEHAVE YOUR WAY OUT OF ONE. 1 John 3:2
"Now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be..."
Behavior is not criteria for getting into a family; birth is! Imagine one day you woke up, got ready for work, and when you stepped out the front door a man waited on your porch. When you asked what he wanted, he replied, "Well, I’m behaving just like you. See, I can walk like you, talk like you. Hey, I even work like you." So, you ask, “What are you doing here?" "Oh, I’m behaving myself into your family," he replies. Friend, you couldn't slam the door hard enough, or dial 911 quick enough on him. Though, this man's behavior and etiquette may have been far superior to those in your household, it would have never made him good enough to be admitted into your family. Because it's birth before behavior; not behavior before birth. First, you’re either born or adopted into a family, and then behavior is taught. And so it is with the family of God.
You cannot behave yourself into God's family: You must be born again. (John 3:3) Jesus Christ did not say you must behave well in order to see the kingdom of heaven, because God is not impressed with any man’s behavior. (Job 38:2-3) Let’s get this straight right now. If you were the best human ever to walk the earth and had the most wonderful behavior ever exemplified by humanity, Psalms 39:5 would still include you when it states, “Every man at his best state is altogether vanity, walking in a vain show.” This is our behavior, walk, and talk at its best, not mediocre, but at its “best state”. Yet God still regards this as vanity when it comes to our salvation. The only element that impresses God is faith, and He is the finisher of our faith for your souls salvation. (Heb. 11:6, 12:2)
The only way anyone is admitted into the Adam’s family of the human race, is by birth. Likewise, the only way anyone is admitted into the last Adam's family is through the second birth. Our invitation for Christ to come into our hearts by faith gave us "power to be called sons of God.” (Rev. 3:20, Eph. 3:17, Gal. 4:6, John 1:12) After all, the panoramic plan of salvation, devised before the world began, was for Jesus Christ to present to His Father a race of sons "perfected forever" as Himself. (Luke 13:32, Heb. 2:10, 10:14, Jude 24) Yet, many people think Christianity is like some good citizenship award you can win by showing impeccable behavior, as if this gives you the right to call yourself a Christian. This is far from the truth, because some atheists exhibit behavior that outshines the actions of many Christians. Such Christians need constant reminding that good behavior and clean living do not assure or secure their salvation or righteousness. This is why Jesus warned, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (religious people) which is the sin of self-righteousness." Only faith in Christ is counted for righteousness, while wholesome character and moral living are not! (Rom. 4:5) Nevertheless, we are commanded to maintain good behavior “for it is good and profitable unto men.” (Titus 3:8) It is the blood of Jesus gave as a ransom for your soul and his birth in your heart that secured you the “right” to call yourself a Christian. Nothing else grants you this privilege.
Once birth has taken place, then behavior is taught. If a child's behavior is poor it produces family shame, and the same principle applies to the family of God. (Pro. 29:15) In recent times some of our brothers in the Lord were “buffeted” for their own faults – some for embezzlement, others for murder, and some for adultery, fraud, child molestation, and many other ungodly acts. Many of us who “name the name of Christ” faced criticism because of the actions of these Christians. (1 Sam. 2:11-12) Though many people have been saved and blessed by their local and national ministries, their “deeds gave great occasion for the adversary to speak reproachfully” of the family of God. (2 Sam. 12:14, 1 Tim. 5:14) When these Christians were "buffeted” for their own faults did God say, "Sorry boys, I'm out of here" and desert their hearts? No. He never left or forsook them, but was with them “as a father pitieth his children.” (Ps. 103:13) Regardless of where they are today, they are still our brothers in the Lord, because the same Savior, who unconditionally lives in us has also promised never to leave or forsake them either, and He cannot lie. (Heb. 13:5) Our salvation is not based on our behavior, but on the faithfulness of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 John. 5:4) Neither can our misbehavior cause Christ to cast us out. Chastise us, yes. But cast us out? No. As Jesus stated, those who come unto Him He will “in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37, Heb. 13:5) Moreover, you can never leave Christ because He gave His word that He would never leave or forsake you, and He is faithful to His word.
Behavioral training is designed to transform the character of a self-centered child. Your children are your children not because they act like it, but because they were either born or adopted into your family. Behavior didn’t grant them this right and neither can misbehavior cause their dismissal. You shall always be their parents, and they your children because of birth and so it is with the children of God. (Gal. 4:5)
Note: Many believers are suffering today because they failed in critical areas of behavior. As children of God, we are to “give no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed." (2 Cor. 6:3) If you are a Christian who is unruly by not living in accordance to the instructions in righteousness, unless you repent (conform to the Word of God) you shall not be without chastisement, and “no chastening is pleasurable but rather grievous.” Therefore, judge yourselves “lest ye be judged.” God chastises his unruly children. For “whosoever God loveth he chastens,” and this is some good grief you should want to avoid. (Heb. 12:8)
52 THE WORKS OF YOUR FLESH DID NOT OBTAIN CHRIST IN YOU, AND
THERE ARE NO WORKS IT CAN DO TO RID YOURSELF OF HIM. John 1:12
"But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe upon his name.”
Concerning your birth, did your mother work so hard at being virtuous that her sacrifices, selflessness, and good works formed and sustained your life in her? No, well, neither is Christ’s life produced or sustained in you by your good works. As a woman cannot conceive life until a seed is planted in her. In like manner, the new birth of “Christ in you” cannot occur until the Father plants the incorruptible seed of His Son into your gospel-believing heart. This divine conception gave birth to the new man in you, “which lives and abides forever” without your, old man’s consent, assistance, or permission. (1 Pet. 1:23)
The question is, since your faith conceived this new man in you, can your unbelief abort Him? The answer is absolutely not, because Jesus Christ is the finisher of your faith, not you! Many Christians enjoy fantasizing that they are the finishers of their faith, when they are not. If Christians were the finishers of their faith, then they could lose their salvation, because many of us would not finish it, but speckle it with unbelief, "the sin which does so easily besets us.” (Heb. 12:1) Since, Jesus is the finisher of your faith, Paul asks this rhetorical question, “Shall your unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid.” (Rom. 3:3) The phrase “God forbid” in Paul’s New Testament has nothing in common with our American colloquialism that uses God’s name in vain. Jews of the Pharisaical order did not use God’s name in vain as is the practice with gentile Christianity’s interpretation of “God forbid,” which they allege to mean may it never be, let’s certainly hope not, or perish the thought. The law forbade the use of God’s name in vain. Paul was the only New Testament Apostle to use the phrase “God forbid,” and he wasn’t trying to say, “Let’s hope not” or “may it never be.” Paul was a pharisee of pharisees and concerning the law, he was blameless and the law stated “thou shalt not use the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Paul certainly didn’t begin using the name of God in vain when he penned “God forbid.” When Paul used “God forbid,” he was emphatically stating that Jehovah God himself forbade the remotest possibility of that situation ever occurring. Our topic Scripture asks, “Shall your unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God Forbid. This is not a shriek of abhorrence of “may it never be.” It means God has forbidden the remotest possibility of your old man overthrowing "the faith of the Son of God." (Gal. 2:20, 2 Tim. 2:13) For example, if you stopped believing in Christ tomorrow, would your unbelief abort his Second Coming and terminate His existence in you? The answer is not “may it never be.” The answer is, God forbid. Why? Because God forbids the remotest possibility that your unbelief can make the faith of God ineffective! (See proof 83 for more information on the meaning of “God forbid” and order the audio supplement: God Forbid.)
God forbids the possibility of His faith being made void by our unbelief. Moreover, God forbids the possibility that your unbelief can abort Christ finishing your faith. For even “if we believe not he abideth faithful...,” not as the author but finisher of your faith. (2 Tim. 2:13) For “God is able to work, and no man can hinder,” including your old man. You cannot fire Jesus and, according to his word, He will never leave or forsake you. Jesus declared that His Spirit “shall abide in you forever." (John 14:16) Just mediate on forever. Some of us tend to forget exactly how long He shall abide in us. The Lord is our salvation, and he shall abide in us forever. This is why born again Christians cannot lose their salvation.
53 SALVATION IS NOT AN INCENTIVE TO LIVE RIGHT, LIKE A CARROT AT THE
END OF A STICK. SALVATION IS A GIFT UP FRONT. Rom. 5:18
"by the righteousness of one the free gift came."
If someone offers you a free gift, how much do you owe for it? Nothing. If someone offers you a “free gift” and you accept it, are you obligated to that person? No, or the gift could not be classified as free! What if a man offers a free gift, then when you accept it he explains you need to do certain things in order to keep it. Friend, that’s no gift – that’s a scam! Beloved, God is not running a scam. Salvation is a “free gift” with no strings attached, and it’s given to every sinner who repents of their unbelief by placing faith in Jesus Christ as the savior of their soul. (Rom. 10:9-10, 16-17, 4:5) Many “Christians” have forgotten this, so they string the carrot of salvation on the stick of good works and tell sinners to go for it. And, just as the ass never gets the carrot at the end of the stick, sinners will never attain salvation by following the lure of good works. (Matt. 7:22) The new creation is the free gift, the carrot (so-to-speak) that God grants us up front, the moment we first believe. (Eph. 1:13) The “new creature” of “Christ in you” comes with no strings attached. (Gal. 6:15) No strings for God to pull to threaten His removal and no strings your old man can snip to cut you loose from "so great salvation." (Heb. 2:3) Jesus “Christ in you” is your soul’s lifeline.
Note: Although salvation is free, never think of it as cheap. Your salvation cost God the most precious possession He had, His only begotten Son. (John 3:16, Eph. 3:9-19) Therefore in reverence of His supreme sacrifice Paul states, “If one died for all then all were dead and they that live should not live unto themselves, but unto the one that died for them, and rose again.” (2 Cor. 5:14-15)
54 EVERY BORN AGAIN BEELIEVER HAS AN ETERNALLY SINLESS LIFE BEFORE GOD, BECAUSE CHRIST IS THEIR LIFE. Col. 3:4
“When Christ who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him
in glory."
Paul warned Christians about the fallacy of believing that living a good life secures eternal life, when, according to Christ, "the flesh profits nothing.” (John 6:63) The flesh is contaminated with sin from the womb to the tomb. This is why Paul instructed you to have "no confidence in the flesh,” because one sin invalidates all possibility of your life entering heaven’s gates. (Phil. 3:3) Our human lives must collect the wages of sin and die, and since we do not see any of the original Apostles, the Virgin Mary, or any former Pope walking around down here, then it’s safe to conclude that they too died because sin infiltrated their earthly lives.
God cannot accept any life that has ever had one particle of sin in it, because to Him it is totally defiled. (James 2:10) This is why, despite desperate evangelical pleas for sinners to give their lives to Christ, NO SINNER CAN GIVE HIS LIFE TO CHRIST! IT’S CHRIST WHO GIVES HIS LIFE TO SINNERS! Our natural mind reverses this truth and demands sinners give their lives to Christ, while knowing full well a sinner has no life to give, since he or she is “dead in trespasses and sins." (Eph. 2:1) Jesus is "the life" you cannot live. Furthermore, He is the life you cannot rededicate. (John 14:6) Jesus is "the life" you must receive as a gift by faith in His death, blood, and resurrection for forgiveness of sin and life eternal. Now, I ask you:
"the life," is there any sin in that born again believer's life?”
Answer: No! For “Christ is our life” and in Him is “no sin.” (Col. 3:4, 1 John
3:5)
Is there sin in their flesh? Yes, because human nature, called the flesh, of both the saved and the lost, "serves the law of sin." (Rom. 7:25) According to 1 John 3:9, at salvation the born again receive the only life that cannot sin, because it is born of God as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (1 John 3:9, Col. 1:27) For if God spots the slightest blemish of sin in your life, then your soul will not be admitted into His “heavenly kingdom.” Therefore, if Christ is not your life, you are dead in sin, as far as God is concerned. (John 1:4, 1 John 5:12) When God examines your life, after your redemption, He only beholds “the life” of “Christ in you,” your hope of glory. (Rom. 8:10, John 14:6) Christ is the only life you have that God respects enough to grant entrance into His everlasting kingdom. This is why “the chiefest of sinners” could write:
It is no longer I which liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. (Gal. 2:20)
For:
“He who hath the Son hath life.” (1 John 5:12)
Jesus Christ declared, “I am the life, not man can come to the father but by me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is the life every sinner must accept in order to enter heaven, because only He is “the life” that will enter the kingdom of heaven. (Eph. 3:17) Those who do not have Christ as their life "abide in death" while they breathe in and out. Born again Christians have the only life that has no record of sin. That life is God’s Son, as it is written that "he that hath the son hath life,” and your life is hid with Christ in God. “And when Christ who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory." (Col. 3:3-4) Hallelujah!
55 YOU ARE EITHER SAVED OR LOST. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BEING
UNSAVED! Luke 15:6
“for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
There are only two classes of people on earth: the saved and the lost. You are either saved or not saved. There are no “unsaved.” The word “unsaved” is not in the Bible, because it is a religious term invented by men. The word saved is synonymous with rescued. A person is either rescued or not, but it is impossible for someone to be “unrescued,” as it is impossible for someone to be “unsaved.” To further illustrate this point, the word “unwrapped” denotes something was once wrapped but now is not. In like manner, one is either redeemed or not redeemed. There is no such thing as anyone being “unredeemed,” as there is no such thing of someone being “unsaved.”
Some may argue that although the Bible does not contain the word “unsaved” it does list some “un's” such as ungodly, unholy, unrighteous, unbeliever, and more. Granted, these are “biblical” terms. However, a more appropriate word for unbeliever is non-believer. Moreover, a more accurate term for unholy is not holy, and for ungodly; not godly. The word “unholy” does not indicate someone was once in true holiness, then fell from that estate, just as the word “ungodly” does not mean someone was once godlike, then became godless. Of course, the word “unrighteous” cannot mean someone was once righteous, then became unrighteous because “there is none righteous, no not one.” Likewise, the word unsaved, does not mean a person was once saved, then stripped of salvation and thereby left unsaved. The only way a born again believer can be unsaved would be to become unborn again, again. (Prov. 26:5)
56 THOSE WHO DARE TEACH THAT PEOPLE ARE SAVED BY FAITH MINGLED
WITH THEIR WORKS HAVE EMBRACED RAW HUMANISM. Jonah 2:9
“Salvation is of the Lord.”
Satan enticed Eve into believing she and Adam could “be as gods.” (Gen. 3:5) Today, this same father of lies beguiles many people into thinking they can be as gods by working out their souls’ salvation outside of faith in what Christ has done for them. They are:
“going about to establish their own righteousness…” (Rom. 10:3)
Such people have unwittingly embraced raw humanism, and “have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God which is by faith.” (Rom. 10:3) Popular Christianity regularly condemns secular humanism, while it simultaneously practices, promotes, and endorses religious humanism for salvation, which is equally damnable. (Matt. 23:15)
According to Scripture, salvation is of the Lord and “not of works of righteousness we may have done.” (Ps. 3:8, Titus 3:5) Before or after salvation, no one is deserving of it. Including you! Your works did not provide you with salvation, “the finisher” of your faith did. Neither can your works overthrow your salvation, because not only is salvation of the Lord, salvation is the Lord, Jesus Christ, and He cannot be overthrown! (1 John 4:4) Jesus wasn’t restrictive when He announced that no man can take His life. This includes His life “in you,” as “Christ in you” the hope of glory. (John 10:18, Col.1:27)
Humanitarianism cannot obtain, sustain, or retain God’s gift of salvation in believers. Your humanitarianistic works did not birth “Christ in you.” Only the “works of God,” provides us with “eternal salvation,” and:
“This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom
God has sent.” (John 6:29)
Therefore, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31) What “works of God” could the thief on the cross do except “believe on him whom God hath sent?” Jesus illustrated this in a parable where both the bad and the good were invited to a king’s supper. The thief on the cross acknowledged he belonged in the bad category. (Luke 23:41) His mind was still carnal. He wasn’t filled with love and good works before or after he believed. Furthermore, it’s doubtful he shouted down blessings on the soldiers as they broke his legs. (John 19:31) Nevertheless, after Jesus stated, “This day shalt thou be with me in paradise,” there was no work that thief could have done to either support or abort Jesus’ promise of paradise to him. For, “the mouth of the Lord has spoken it and who can disannul it?” (Isa. 14:27, Ps. 89:34) “Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?” (Num. 23:19) The thief on the cross was saved by the same one who “finished” his measure of faith that finishes ours, when he confessed that death was not the end of his Lord. (Luke 23:42, Rom. 10:9-10) Oddly, we still call this man a thief, while the Lord regards him as a saint, one who is sanctified “once and for all” by the offering of Christ’s body on the cross. (Heb. 10:10, 14, Rom. 4:5, )
Salvation is not of your character, morality, or integrity. Those who teach that your works, good or ill, determine whether you will be saved or remain saved are embracing humanism. (Matt. 15:9) For no human being can refrain from enough sin or reform enough to merit God’s salvation. Your human efforts are not subsidizing the blood of Christ, neither can the sinfulness of your old man dilute its power to save. Salvation is an eternally free gift to every sinner who receives the now resurrected life of the only begotten son of God by faith. God gives lost souls eternal salvation, not when they reform, but when they believe! (Eph. 1:13, 1 Cor. 1:21) Salvation is the Lord and salvation is of the Lord, not of your humanitarianism (human decency). Neither can your inhumanity take it away. Reformation of character will occur after salvation, provided that believer applies his or her heart to grow in grace. Sadly, after the second birth, many believers choose to remain babes in Christ throughout their allotted lifetime.
57 THE BELIEVER’S ETERNAL LIFE HAS BEEN HIDDEN FROM ALL DANGER.
Col. 3:3
"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
A Psalmist wrote "safety is of the Lord," and the believer’s salvation has been placed in safekeeping. No born again believer can lose eternal life because it has been hid from them. If God placed the believers’ eternal life at their disposal, Satan would bargain the majority of us out of our second birth, as Jacob enticed Esau out of his birthright with a bowl of porridge. (Gen. 25:30-34) Recall, when sinners receive eternal salvation they become babes in Christ. Now, would “the only wise God” place a babe’s salvation under that infant’s management? Of course not, or Satan would have it by nightfall! God would never place the priceless gift of eternal life under the dominion of fallible humans. On the contrary, He felt the need to hide it from the world, our flesh, and the Devil.
Since “the whole world lies in wickedness,” God hid your eternal life from "the world.” For if it were possible, the “pollutions of the world” would contaminate Christ in you, and thus disallow your entrance into heaven. Secondly, God hid your eternal life from your most dangerous enemy; the enemy within called the flesh. (1 John 5:18) If our earthly, sensual, and devilish human nature had the opportunity, it would soil the life of Christ in us with the wicked works of the flesh listed in the fifth chapter of Galatians.
Lastly, God hid our eternal life from the Devil, because Satan's mission is to “steal, kill, and destroy.” Although God granted Satan much power, He never gave him the ability to kill, destroy, or abort "eternal" life, though Satan would have loved to steal this precious gift from us. (John 19:11) That is why God hid every believer’s eternal life where this thief “cannot break through and steal." (Matt. 6:19) Moreover, when God hides something, you can believe it’s well hidden!
In His infinite wisdom, God hid every believer’s eternal life in the safest place He could find – a place safer than the tree of life was from Eden's human herbivores. It is hidden in a place safer than the kingdom of heaven and the holy of holies in heaven’s third tier. God hid the eternal life of the born again in Himself. As it is written, "your life is hid with Christ in God." From the instant you were redeemed until the time you shed your mortality and put on immortality, your eternal life that is hid in God Himself. Now you too can sing with the Psalmist, Lord, "Thou art my hiding place." (Ps. 32:7) Born again believers cannot lose their salvation for the simple reason that not one of them can find it to lose it. Your eternal life “dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High,” hidden there from the world, your flesh, and its devil. “Your life is hid with Christ in God, ready to be revealed at the last time.” (Col. 3:3, 1 Pet. 1:5)
58 THE CONCEPTION OF CHRIST IN A BELIEVER IS GREATER IN MAGNITUDE THAN THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE VIRGIN MARY. 1 John 3:9
“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him;
and he cannot sin because he is born of God.”
The conception of Christ in believers is greater in magnitude than His miraculous conception in Mary’s womb. While in Mary, Jesus was divested of the glory he had with the Father before the world was, whereas He is glorified in us. (John 17:5, 17:10) Moreover, Jesus Christ could not remain in the Virgin Mary, whereas He will never leave the born again. Mary carried within her the flesh of the Son of God. Whereas, the born again carry within their souls the Spirit of the risen Savior endowed with “all power in heaven and earth,” attributes He did not have while in Mary’s womb. The Virgin Mary possessed, in her, the seed that had to “die lest it abide alone,” while believers possess the seed that remains in them living and abiding in them forever. (John 12:24, 1 Pet. 1:23, 1 John 3:9)
When you believed the gospel, the Word and the Spirit of God conceived Christ in you “being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Pet. 1:23) The most powerful attribute of the seed of Christ is its staying power. It “remaineth” in you. (1 Pet. 1:23, 1 John 3:9) It does not go away. It cannot be uprooted or extracted, for the seed of Christ remains in you “not by the will of the flesh, or by the will of man, but by the will of God.” (1 John 3:9, John 1:13)
Since Christ was born in you not by the will of your flesh, then the will of your flesh cannot force Him out of you. The Scripture states He was born in you, not by the will of man, including your old man, but by the will of God. (John 1:13-14) In other words, the new birth of Christ born in you was also a virgin birth, because it was accomplished without the assistance of man. This hidden man of the heart was “born not of the will of man, but by the will of God.” (John 1:13) Since the will of man did not implant this incorruptible seed of Christ in you, it certainly doesn’t need the will of man’s permission to stay. “The seed of the woman” could not remain in Mary and perform its mission. Whereas, the seed of Christ “has begun a good work in you and shall perform it” to completion. Isaiah foretold that “Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrha.” (Rom. 9:29) The born again remain saved because the seed of Christ remains in them living and abiding forever, thus they cannot lose their salvation. (1 Pet. 1:23) Thank God, “the seed remains.” (Heb. 13:5, 1 John 3:9) Order the audio supplement: The Miracle of the New Birth: Little Known Facts about Christ’s Birth
59 JESUS CHRIST GIVES SOULS ETEERNAL SALVATION, NOT PROBATION. Heb. 5:9
“being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation”
What do people think “eternal” means? Logic dictates that once someone receives eternal life they cannot lose their life, right? Did not Jesus say, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish?” (John 10:28) What do people think “never perish” means? “Eternal life” means life without beginning or end, while “never perish” means life that can never be terminated, nullified, or abolished. (Heb. 7:3) Salvation is not some on again off again rite of passage. Salvation is a gift to all who come to God by faith in Christ Jesus.
When Jesus gives you salvation, He is not putting you on probation to see if you will “walk the walk” well enough to keep it. That would be works. Moreover, the Scripture states that God “taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man.” (Ps. 147:10) In other words, God has no pleasure in anyone’s natural walk, because it is riddled with “unbelief” when we stumble, stagger, and waiver at His promises. If God put you on probation to see if you would walk the walk, then He would have to damn you to hell because there is “none that doeth good.” (Rom. 3:12) Even the Apostle Paul devoted the entire seventh chapter of Romans admitting he was a “wretched man” who could not walk the walk, yet “concerning the law he was blameless.” (Rom. 7:15, 2 Cor. 1:5) Since we have not attained to Paul’s level of blamelessness before the law, how presumptuous would we be to think that we can even come close to walking a walk worthy of salvation? Paul’s walk fell short with other believer’s walk, and short is short. (Rom. 7, Rom. 3:10)
In Isaiah 51:6, the Father boasts that his gift of:
“SALVATION IS FOREVER.”
Therefore, your free gift of eternal salvation does not depend on you earning the right to keep it, as popular Christianity suggests! Once the Lord clothes you with his salvation, you are his forever. (Ps. 132:9, Isa. 51:6) You cannot cast off salvation as you would a sweatshirt – not by anything you do or avoid doing. Once Jehovah God bestows His salvation in you, you are saved. Not saved until the next time you sin, but saved “to the uttermost” on the basis of his life, and not your own. (Rom. 5:10, Heb. 7:25) This is the prime guarantee that you “shall never perish.” (John 10:28) Christ’s redemption did not place you on temporary probation, but endowed you with permanent salvation.
Note: Even though we know our walk can never save us, Christians are not to stop pressing on “to walk worthy of the Lord.” It is our new man who “walks the walk” perfectly at all times, and makes it possible for us to enjoy an unbridled and unbroken relationship with the eternal Father. For the new man of “Christ in you” has “none occasion of stumbling in him.” (1 John. 2:10) This cannot be said of any Christian’s walk in the natural. (Ps. 39:5-6, Rom. 3:10)