In a fallen and fractured creation it's refreshing to hear some good news. What better news than the Gospel of Jesus Christ? The Gospel, free from man made religious tradition brings peace, comfort and joy to the hurting and downcast and the outcast.
Many suffer from depression, discontentment, and feel so downtrodden because of the insecurity religion and a lost world produce. The world offers hope with no substance. Religion offers conditional hope. The Gospel is the hope for all mankind.
Many churches and ministries believe they are in fact in the service of God when they strip the security of the believer away each Sunday morning. I have listened to messages from a church that had literal thousands in attendance and after the minster preached a message that salvation is not eternally secure, sincerely believed 3/4ths of those in attendance should be at the altar in "repentance" ensuring they are still saved.
The world system offers no real hope or goodness. Surely the church is where we should find hope and peace and Good News. Yet through religious tradition we have only offered partial hope. Let's bring the full Gospel of Christ to a lost world and bring the real hope and change they long for.
Wait brother, you're inferring that salvation is eternally secure. That once one is saved, they are always saved. That can't be true, look at what Jesus said in Revelation.
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Revelation 3:5 MEV
The beauty of the Gospel is that we can see God's Goodness and Love and Grace in the Word. Traditional religion, on the other hand can only see doom, gloom and condemning judgment throughout the Word. Even passages that are meant to comfort are twisted into a condemning statement by the religious minded.
Before Christ, we were alone and apart from God. We had no method, no principle, no formula, and no performance that would ever warrant us receiving eternal life. We could never earn it, could never do enough, could never achieve or attain any form of spirituality that would make us worthy of eternal life.
It was only trusting in Christ alone that caused us to receive eternal life. How could we ever think after receiving Him, there is something we could do that could undo what only He could do? How could we ever think that we could reverse what Jesus did in us? Grace is greater!
In addressing this passage that seems to contradict eternal security, look at what Jesus actually said in context. Jesus begins to speak of those who haven't soiled their proverbial garments with the lies of the enemy and religious tradition. Then He makes this statement that tradition has misunderstood and misapplied.
Jesus said He who overcomes will be clothed in white and their names will not be blotted out of the book of life. In reality, this passage isn't some dire warning of an unsettled and unsteady foundation of an eternally insecure salvation. This passage is a promise not a warning. He is reminding those who follow Him that their salvation is secure and eternal.
What about the overcoming part? He wouldn't say that if there aren't things to overcome. Salvation then is based upon us overcoming something? What is it we specifically need to overcome in order to be saved? Or in order to stay saved? Jesus didn't create some list of obstacles we need to overcome in order to be saved and to remain saved. Here is a passage that explains what Jesus meant.
4 for whoever is born of God overcomes the world, and the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4-3 MEV
When you believed, you are the overcomer and have overcome the lies of the enemy and the traditions of men. This passage then doesn't reveal we can lose our salvation. The passage is a promise not a warning.
When some say Revelation 3 shows Jesus rejecting eternal security they are forgetting Jesus' own words. How could Jesus the author and originator of eternal security contradict and counter His own words and His own Finished Work at the Cross? In John's Gospel Jesus declared three times our salvation is secure. He said we would never again be condemned for our sins. He said those who come to Him will never be lost. He stated that when we received Him we are forever in His Father's hands and will never perish. Jesus wouldn't contradict His own words!
In summation, the full Gospel is the Good News we all need. We may not see much hope in this fallen world. We can however find hope and healing and happiness in the Good News Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus and His Grace is for us and never against us. In Christ, we are eternally secure and saved.
Image by Markus Winkler from Pixabay
