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A sound Bible doctrine will harmonize with all the
Scriptures, otherwise the interpretation is wrong and that teaching
will be false.
In St. John 10, verses 27 to 29, is a passage of Scripture often
quoted by people who believe that when a person is once saved, he
always will be saved, regardless of what he or she will do, or how
much they may sin.
This is the quotation: "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, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My
Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able
to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
If we claim this passage of Scripture, then we must keep the
conditions which go with it, and we find them right at the beginning
of that passage, which reads, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me." God's promises are conditional. We can
claim the rest of the passage only if we do the first part of it.
When we obey God's voice and follow Him, we are truly God's people.
Otherwise when we sin and are disobedient to God, we are not His
sheep, even if we have professed that we were once saved.
It is sin that separates us from God. The following Scripture
passages convince us that we must obey the Lord and follow Him to be
called His sheep. And when we love the Lord, that is, obey and
follow Him, then there is no power on earth which can separate us
from God.
The Lord Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for
without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast
forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast
them into the fire, and they are burned." John 15:5-6. "Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven: but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Matt. 7:21.
Apostle Paul: ". . . Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared
not the natural branches [Israel], take heed lest he also spare not
thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them
which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in
his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." Rom. 11:20-22.
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness?" Rom. 6:16.
Apostle Peter: "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things
before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the
wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (II Pet.
3:17-18).
Apostle James: "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and
one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner
from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall
hide a multitude of sins." James 5:19-20.
Apostle John: "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the
doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of
Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." II John 9. (See also I
John 3:4-8.)
Prophet Ezekiel: ". . . The righteousness of the righteous shall not
deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness
of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth
from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for
his righteousness in the day that he sinneth." (See Ezek. 33:12-19.)
Besides these given passages, the Bible is full of exhortations and
warnings to live godly in this present world, that we may receive
the reward of the just.
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face
from you, that he will not hear. . . ." Isa. 59:1-2. "REPENT ye
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, . .
." Acts 3:19. |
