Once again I had the privilege of guest hosting on Dr. James White’s Dividing Line broadcast and concluded the TULIP series with the “P” – the Perseverance (or Preservation) of the Saints. I actually recorded the show last week but there were so many technical problems with the original recording that I came in to the studio for a complete redo today. Here is the program:
Think about it: Do people with hearts of stone ask God to give them a different kind of heart?
Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
He promises: “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me” (Jer. 32:40).
On the other hand, it is entirely possible for someone to have a keen interest in Christianity (say a prayer, be a member of a local Church and even be involved in Christian ministry) and never be a genuine Christian in any way at all.
How do we know that? Well, because 1 John 2:19 explicitly says that! In referring to those who had once served alongside him in ministry, the Apostle John writes, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
I don’t know how John could have been clearer on the issue. According to him, those who leave the faith never truly were in the faith. John did not conclude that such a person was eternally safe because they had prayed a prayer one day long ago. No, for him, the fact that someone left the Christian faith showed that the faith they professed was never really possessed. They were never truly amongst God’s elect sheep. They were never a genuine Christian. Continue reading
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit…” Ephesians 1:13 (ESV)
(an extended paraphrase) “When you believed God’s truthful message, the gospel that saved you, you were placed into Christ and stamped with a seal that cannot be broken, erased, deleted or tampered with. This unbreakable seal is the Holy Spirit Himself and signifies God’s total approval of you! When He looked over all that He had done in you, He saw nothing flawed or inferior whatsoever, but all was as it should be. That seal tells everyone that you belong to God and no one can ever interfere with the package! Even more, this Holy Spirit-stamp means the postage is pre-paid to get you all the way to your ultimate destination! So you can be sure that once your journey with the Lord began, you will make it all the way to the final destination – safe forever, home at last.”