Plain Words For The Young Who Belong To Christ

by N.D.W. MILLER | Category: Pages For Young Believers | Mar 1932

11.-SECURITY.

Once in Christ, in Christ for ever:

Thus th' eternal cov'nant stands.

To many, at first sight it might seem unnecessary to write about the believer's eternal security in Christ, because they believe and know, that the two lines quoted state an abiding fact.

But there are many-very many, alas!-on the other hand, who believe and hold what is called" the falling away doctrine," a pernicious, and peace-destroying heresy. It is nothing less, for it means that the poor, helpless sinner who has sought refuge in Christ, having accepted the Saviour, must hold on to Him; and, that if by sinning he should let go, he would thus lose his hold of the Saviour, and so fall away and be lost. Unless, of course, that he is restored, and then the same process of holding on begins all over again. Saved to-day, and possibly lost to-morrow, sums up this teaching. It is false.

How then are such beliefs brought about? Largely by failing to distinguish between things that differ.

Falling away is clearly taught in the Scriptures; but NEVER in connection with the salvation of the sinner. Falling away has to do with the saint's walk, and work, and warfare, during life down here.

Faith, on the part of the sinner, brings salvation; life and pardon, peace and heaven.

Works, on the part of the saint, when in agreement with God's Word and will, bring reward.

We have already seen that our eternal salvation depends entirely upon Christ Himself; but it will be necessary, in connection with our present theme, to refer to it again. We will do so in His Own Words.

"I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep... My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, which hath given them unto Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are One" (John 10. 11, 27-30).

Here, indeed, is Eternal Security, and we see that it is not our hold of Christ that provides security, but the glorious fact that we are safely held by the all-sufficient hand of the Son of God, and the all-powerful hand of the Father-what a grip! It reminds me of the little child who was crossing a rather dangerous plank over a stream. Father went first; then the child; then mother. It was getting rather dark, so mother said, "Are you sure, dear, you have got a hold of father's hand ?" "No, mummy," replied the child; "father has got hold of my hand." That made all the difference.

Then further, referring to Christ in Ephesians 1. we read, "In whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance." So that the believer is in Christ's hand; and in the Father's hand; and sealed with the Holy Spirit. No power in earth or hell can break that seal. Could our security be made more secure? No! This blessed fact creates "a mind at perfect peace with God," and the believer-so blessed-is free to follow in the Master's footsteps.

But, apart from "falling away " teaching, young Christians are sometimes perplexed, and disturbed too, in mind, as they come across certain passages of Holy Scripture, and it is for the help of such that we write.

In John 15. 6, for instance, we read-" If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."

Here, then, is such a passage. Does it teach that the sinner, once saved, is, after all, in danger of the eternal burnings? Oh no! The seeming difficulty vanishes when we understand that the chapter is dealing with fruitbearing. It has nothing whatever to do with the salvation of the sinner. It contemplates persons already saved, but it shews that the "branches" were chosen, and appointed, to go and bear fruit (verse 16).

The question is-will your life be fruitful; or will it be unfruitful? Would your like it to be fruitful? Then listen, "If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments" (John 14. 15). "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love" (John 15. 10). A "branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye except ye abide in Me" (verse 4).

Joseph, in his day, was "a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a fountain" (Genesis 49. 22), and we, if we are to be fruitful in our lives, must abide in Christ, Who is not only the True Vine, but the Fountain of living waters.

Ezekiel 15. elucidates John 15. 6. You will see there that as wood the vine branches were good for nothing. Their only value is in bearing fruit. Unsightly and worthless apart from the vine, they only served for fuel. But on the other hand, cared for and drawing nutriment from the vine, they are capable of bearing the most luscious of all fruit-fruit that cheereth both God and man (Judges 9. 13).

Another passage which is often misapplied is 1 Corinthians 9. 27 (A.V.), where Paul says-"lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

But here again there is no reference whatever to the believers security. Paul, as a "preacher" had a stewardship entrusted to him (verse 17). The faithful discharge of that stewardship would win for him the Lord's commendation, and an incorruptible crown. If, on the other hand, the Lord's steward becomes careless and indifferent to his Master's claims, he is set aside, he is rejected as a steward-he becomes a castaway, losing both commendation and crown.

The same applies, in the understanding of the present writer, to the more difficult passage, Hebrews 6. To apply this chapter to the security in Christ of the believer, is entirely wrong.

Very briefly, let us note that the Epistle was written to Hebrews; to persons who had been circumcised; and brought up in "the Jew's Religion," with its oft-repeated sacrifices, its various washings, and many other things. They were now Christians. They had come into contact with Christ by faith, and had thus been enlightened. They had set their seal to the alone-sufficiency of Christ, and His once-offered sacrifice, to save-and to save eternally. It was God's desire for them, as it is for us, that they should "press on unto perfection," or full growth (verse 1). "And this," says the writer, "will we do, if God permit. For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing (or the while, R.V. Margin) they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. "For the land," and so forth (verses 4-7).

Imagine a person, knowing all the blessedness spoken of here through his faith in the Saviour, coming to the conclusion, that after all, the once-offered sacrifice of Christ was not sufficient for him, and he goes back to the Temple to lay his sin-offering-as he did when under Law-on the Altar.

That is, I believe, just what is contemplated here-in God's sight it would amount to a crucifying of the Son of God afresh and putting Him to an open shame. I think "the while," in the Margin, is helpful. The while such a thought, or practice, existed, it would be "impossible to renew them again unto repentance," for it means turning back from the full light of grace, to the dark shadows of the Law.

Such lives would be lost-wasted. Like the land referred to, which, instead of bringing forth useful herbs, yielded only thorns and thistles. Because of this it would be rejected. The things it produced would be burned.

In 2 Corinthians 5. 10, we read about the judgment seat of Christ, before which "we must all be made manifest

that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

Our work as Christians down here must be tested.

At the judgment seat of Christ, before which we shall thus stand after we have been caught up to be for ever with the Lord, "the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work shall abide... he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3.).

Saved "as through fire." The life of Lot is an apt Old Testament illustration of this sad possibility. "That righteous

was saved; but his life in Sodom was a lost life-his life-work was consumed in the fire. At the end he had nothing to shew for the years spent in Sodom.

So with the believer at the judgment seat of Christ. He may see his life-work pass safely through the fire, and have the joy of receiving a reward: while, on the other hand, he may see his work burned up, and experience the sorrow of suffering loss-of receiving neither commendation nor reward from the Lord, "he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire." Saved, because in Christ. Our eternal security lies in the blessed fact that GOD has placed us IN CHRIST.

"Once in Christ, in Christ for ever

Thus th' eternal cov'nant stands."

May we continue to prove the things that differ.

N.D.W. MILLER | Mar 1932
Pages For Young Believers