Yesterday, we started reflecting on the doctrine of eternal security. We considered what this false doctrine teaches and the character of its teachers. Today, we will be looking at the truth of what God’s word says in contrast to this doctrine. If there was no possibility of falling away and losing one’s inheritance in Christ, the Holy Spirit would not have given the counsel we have in 2 Peter 3:17. In fact, the Holy Spirit in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3 also warns:
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”
Only those who occupy a high position need fear a fall. The “falling away” in this scripture therefore refers to the falling away from grace of those seated with Christ in heavenly places. The possibility of a saved person falling is registered in these scriptures and in several others (Galatians 5:4, Revelation 2:5). Also, in Ezekiel 33:12-20, God Almighty told Prophet Ezekiel the truth which disproves the doctrine of eternal security. The Lord is therefore warning everyone who chooses to live a godly life never to depart from the path of righteousness, or else his or her past righteous deeds will not be remembered on the day he or she departs to do evil.

Some people argue that nobody sends his child away to the lions because he or she sins, and so God will not judge His children for their sin. What such people don’t seem to understand is that you cannot equate the ways of God with that of mere mortal men. They fail to recognise that a person who continues to live in sin after being saved does not have the nature of God and is therefore not a child of God. This is made clear in 1st John 3:8:
“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”
Furthermore, while forewarning us of things to come in Matthew 24:12-13, Jesus Christ said:
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.”
In other words, the global increase in iniquity will not exonerate a backslider on the Day of Judgment. This is a lesson for those who think that because the world is changing, God should also change His standards (2nd Timothy 2:19). Beloved, it would be immoral for God to accept from us what He did not accept from those who ran the Christian race before us. Don’t be deceived; there is no eternal security. The wages of sin is death: this is the truth of God’s word that is forever settled.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.