Page 104 - Prophetic Word Newsletter Archive 2011

God expects His people to “put off the man which grows corrupt according to its deceitful lusts” and to
“put on the new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). Do you really
believe all these things happened at the new birth, or are they an ongoing, progressive action taken by
the born-again believer as he/she submits to the working of the Spirit of Grace (the Holy Spirit) sent by
God to finish the work Christ has begun. Paul states, “Be confident of this very thing, that He who has
BEGUN a good work in you shall COMPLETE it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil.1:6). We are to look
to Jesus as the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith” (Heb.12:2). Can you not see the absolute folly of
espousing clever clichés like “once saved-always saved,” when God still has so much “salvation” to
complete in us? Are we indeed “eternally secure” if we in essence only allow God to do the initial work
of bringing salvation to our spirit by means of the new birth?

FUTURE This is the final act of our salvation. It is the resurrection (or rapture) of
the body of the believer. This is not a finished work, but a future work. In

FFIINNAALLIIZZEEDD October’s newsletter, I was a pleading with you to avoid intentionally
IINN TTHHEE BBOODDYY cremating the body, but rather to plant it as a seed in the ground as Paul
plainly argues in 1 Cor. 15.
“…EAGERLY WAITING
FOR THE ADOPTION, Read carefully these two scriptures in their contextual setting as I lack the
space to print them. At the appropriate moment, Jesus Christ Himself will
THE REDEMPTION raise the bodies of Christians from the grave. It is at this moment that THE
OF OUR BODY… BODY will put on IMMORTALITY (“eternal life”). The spirit and the soul
FOR WE ARE SAVED are ETERNAL, but the body has not yet put on eternal life. That is why we
IN THIS HOPE”

Rom. 8:23-24

“…WHEN THIS MORTAL are “being saved”, because the process is not yet finished! Saying all that
HAS PUT ON as preliminary instruction, I now want to talk to you about the doctrine of
eternal life.
IMMORTALITY…”
1 Cor. 15:54 If you endorse a gospel that adds to God’s Word

“YOU SHALL NOT ADD TO THE WORD WHICH then you are in danger of keeping the
I HAVE COMMANDED YOU, NOR TAKE commandments of men – things added to the

ANYTHING FROM IT, THAT YOU MAY KEEP Word of God. Today’s version of the gospel
THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD YOUR teaches salvation as a past-tense, completed
event.There are teachers who major in drilling
GOD WHICH I COMMAND YOU.” home the point that the born-again believer has

Deut. 4:2

already received eternal life. Is that true? Is that

“I ALREADY HAVE “I AM really what the Scriptures teach? Does the believer
ETERNAL LIFE” ALREADY SAVED” possess eternal life or is it given to the believer in
the form of a promise and a hope for the future?

This is an enormously important question to

answer properly. Equally emphasized by the wide-

gate and broad-way gospel is the emphatic

declaration of salvation being a completed task. Is

this what the Scriptures teach, or do they present

“I HAVE THE PROMISE, BEI“NIGASMAVED-- salvation as an on-going, progressive action that
ETTHEERNHAOLPELIOFEF” SPIRIT, SOUL, BODY” begins in the spirit, progresses to the soul, and is

yet-to-be finalized in the body through the
resurrection of the dead? This, too, is a vitally

important question to consider.

Both of these positions cannot be true. Only one is according to what is written in God’s Word. Either
eternal life is a present possession in the life of the believer or it is a promised possession that will take
place in eternity. Multitudes of believers are endorsing the “once saved-always saved” concept
because of the belief that they already possess eternal life; and if it is eternal, then they can never lose
it. It is a doctrine that sounds good, but it is not sound doctrine! These concepts are “sand theology”
(Mat. 7:26). These are the teachings of man replacing the rock foundational teachings of Christ (Mat. 7:25).

Let us begin to examine what the Scriptures teach about when and how the believer receives eternal
life.