Handbook Of Personal Evangelism
by Dr. A. Ray Stanford
Chapter 2
ETERNAL LIFE / ETERNAL SECURITY
Eternal security is not a separate doctrine
from salvation.
If you are not saved forever, you are not saved.
Those who think they are saved now but could lose their
salvation later, have one of two problems:
(1). Either they are trusting to some
degree in their works to save them, or
(2). They do not understand that by
trusting Christ as their Savior, their destiny is in God's hands. Perhaps they
have had little or no Bible teaching and do not realize that God has determined
that all who believe will go to heaven when they die.
The first group, those who think leading a poor
Christian life will result in a loss of their salvation, actually need to have
the plan of salvation made clear to them. Somewhere they have not fully
understood that Christ's death paid for ALL their sin, that their works have
NOTHING to do with their salvation, and that only their FAITH IN CHRIST will
save them. You would answer their questions just as you would almost any lost
person's; it is a clear-cut problem of "grace and works." You just
stay with the gospel until they see the light.
An illustration that has clarified the issue for many
with this problem deals with the definition of the word "Savior."
What is a Savior? Suppose you are drowning. There you are out in the middle of
the ocean. Suppose someone were to throw you a book, Three Easy Lessons on How
to Swim. Would he be a Savior? No! Perhaps he could be called an
"educator."
Now suppose a man got out of his boat, jumped in along
side you, and demonstrated various swimming strokes showing you just how you
ought to do it. Would he be a Savior? Of course not. He would merely be an
"example."
All right, what if he took you into his boat, dried you
off, fed you, took you ten miles from shore-and then threw you out again into
the ocean? Would he be a Savior? By all means, no! He would be as a
"deceiver," a "probation officer,'' one who starts a heroic act
and then quits right in the middle. He certainly would not be a Savior!
A Savior is one who takes you safely all the way to
shore! When God says He gives you eternal life and that He will never cast you
out or lose you, He means it because He is the true Savior! If you do not trust
Christ to take you all the way to heaven, then you have not trusted Him as your
Savior. Let's examine Christ's own promise in John 6:37, "All that the
Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise
cast out."
He says those who come to Him will not be cast out for any
reason.
To bring home this truth, use an illustration from
family life. What kind of a parent would you be if, when your child was
disobedient, you kicked him out and said, "Go to hell, I'm through with
you!" Rather, the proper parent says, "Come on in!" and the
parent has ways and means to deal with the disobedient child.
God never casts out His children! God has other ways
and means to deal with them, which we will discuss in Chapter Three.
Some would say, "All right, God won't cast me out,
but I could get out of my own will and choice." The Lord anticipated such
doubts and answers them clearly in John 6:39, "And this is the Father's
will which hath sent Me, that of all which he hath given Me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." It is God's will
that no saved person would ever become lost. He says He will "lose
nothing,'' and you are at least something! You could never be saved and lost
again. God saves you forever. This is HIS will!
In witnessing you should use only as many verses as are
necessary for the person to see the truth. (Too many verses will confuse the
person). On this point of not losing salvation, you will usually find that
John
6:37 and 6:39
are sufficient. They are certainly clear. At times you might sense
that certain cases require additional verses, and the Scriptures abound with
clear teaching. Study the passages thoroughly so you will know which verses will
best answer the need of the person. I
Peter 1:4, 5, "To an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time." Notice who is keeping our salvation . . . God
Himself, by His own almighty power! And He is reserving place in heaven for us.
I Cor. 6:19, "What? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God . . .?"
The Holy Spirit lives inside of every believer. John 14:16, 17 says, "And I
will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide
with you forever; even the Spirit of truth . . . for He dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you." The Holy Spirit is in believers forever. If a saved
person could go to hell, the Holy Spirit would have to go to hell, too.
Eph. 1:13, 14, "In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of His glory." The Holy Spirit indwells every
believer from the moment he trusts Christ as his Savior for evermore. One
important reason for this is to keep us saved and protected until we receive our
glorified body. The term "earnest of our inheritance" is like when we
make a "down payment on a house." It is a guarantee that the rest is
coming later-now we have the new birth-later we will have our new body.
I Cor. 12:27, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and
members in particular."
The moment you are saved, you become a member of
the body of Christ. If you could ever become unsaved, part of Christ's own body
would go to hell.
John 10:28, "And I give unto them eternal life;
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My
hand." Notice again that Christ gives eternal life, and they who receive
this eternal life shall never perish! When you look up the word
"never" which occurs in John 10:28 in Strong's Concordance, you find
that it comes from five different Greek words which are spelled in English: OU,
ME, EIS, HO, and AION. The words OU and ME form a double negative meaning
"Not at all, by no means, in no case, never." This double negative was
used to state denials or prohibitions emphatically (Dana and Mantey, A Manual
Grammar of the Greek New Testament, p. 266). The remaining three words combine
to form an idiomatic expression meaning "forever" (The Englishman's
Greek New 'Testament, p. 276).
When you put all of these meanings together, you find
that when Christ says "never" here in this verse it carries with it
very powerful assurance-much more than one word "never" ordinarily
carries with it in our minds. If we were to take this most emphatic way of
saying "never" in the Greek and try to bring it across into the
English, John 10:28
would read something like this:
"And I give unto them
eternal life and they shall not at all, by any means, male or female, in any
case, forever perish."
Christians are sanctified through the death of Christ
(Heb. 10:10), and
Hebrews 10:14 tells us,
"For by one offering He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified." Believers are sanctified, and
Christ gives them the perfection they need to go to heaven. The word
"sanctified" means to be made "holy, pure and blameless" (Strong's
Concordance, Greek #37). God would never send a believer to hell . . . He has
made the believer holy and blameless and has given him a perfection which will
last FOREVER.
John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He
that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."
Christ says those who have everlasting life (they already have it) shall not be
condemned (promise for the future). Since God promises believers will not be
condemned, why not take Him at His Word and realize they will not be condemned?
Believers cannot go to hell: They have already "PASSED from death unto
life"!
Philippians 3:9, "And be found in Him, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Christ's own
righteousness is given to believers. Who would dare say Christ's righteousness
isn't good enough for heaven?!?
Colossians 2:13 and
Acts 13:39 say the believer is
already justified and forgiven of all sins. So what sin could send you to hell?
In fact, when Christ died on the cross for our sins, ALL our sins were future.
Romans 8:28-39 teaches nothing can separate believers from God. HE justified us;
nobody could charge a single thing against us! What a Savior we have!
I John 5:10-13 is as clear a passage as could be
written. Christ's death on the cross does not do anything for you unless it
gives you everlasting life. If you have Christ as your Savior, you have this
life. Anyone who doubts that God gives eternal life is calling God a liar. Don't
you think it would be very unwise to call God a liar? Personally, I wouldn't
want to be in that category.
There is an illustration which you might find will
interest people along this subject. One evening a man was having trouble with
doubts about his salvation. His wife came into the bedroom and found her husband
running his Bible back and forth under the bed, and she asked him what in the
world he was doing. He said he knew Satan was in the darkest places, so he was
showing Satan I John 5:13! (And this is a good idea when you have a doubt. Just
claim the promise from the Word of God, and Satan will have no ground to give
you doubts any more. The Word of God silences Satan.)
Since God tells me I can know I have eternal life, I
say, "Thank you!" and I know I have eternal life. I am taking God at
His Word. God said it . . . I believe it . . . that settles it! I base my whole
eternity on the fact that God cannot lie and His Word cannot fail.
Numbers 23:19 - "God is not a man, that He should lie . . . hath
He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it
good?"
You will discover that when a person really understands
the plan of salvation, he rarely will have a problem with "eternal
security." It has been our experience that the most effective way to deal
with those who still doubt their eternal life, after they seemingly understand
the gospel, is to go over one or two verses, perhaps John 6:37 and
39, and
lovingly and firmly keep going over them until the person really believes what
God is saying.
MEMORY VERSES FOR CHAPTER TWO
* John 6:37, 39 -
* I Peter l:4,5 -
I Corinthians 6: 19 -
Ephesians 1: 13, 14 -
John 14:16, 17 -
* John 10:28 -
* Hebrews 10:10, 14 -
* John 5:24 -
Colossians 2:13 -
* Acts 13 :39 -
Romans 8:38, 39 -
* I John 5:10-13 -
Numbers 23:19 -
NOTE: If you are unaccustomed to
memorizing Scripture, we recommend you start with the verses marked*.
Chapter 3
- Chastening And Rewards
