No doubt this particular issue will not be solved here. Nevertheless, to give another perspective is my only desire.

 

There are many aspects to be considered. Many scriptures upon which to meditate. We must have a foundation and a plan. That plan will tell us how and what God, the Master Builder, is building.

 

As we know, God is not arbitrary about what he does. All we have to do is look at the plan for the tabernacle and we will see he is very specific and detailed as to how he wanted the tabernacle to look and operate.

 

So then what is God's plan for our salvation? What did he intend and what is our part in that salvation?

 

First of all God's plan was for us but did not involve us. By this I mean the plan, the New Covenant was between Jesus and the Father. To say it does not involve us is saying that the initiation of the plan, the continuance of the plan and the completion of the plan are squarely laid upon Jesus and the Father.

 

Is it not true that before the foundations of the world that Jesus was slain? How does that involve us? Does it not say that he is the Author and finisher of our faith? How does that involve us?

 

Does it not also say that Jesus is the Anchor of our souls having gone in beyond the veil? How does that involve us?

 

The gift that we receive is indeed a gift. Again that does not involve us. That gift which is given us is our choice of course. Nevertheless, once that gift is receive it cannot be repented of...or given back.

Rom 11:29
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

The word for irrevocable in the Greek is: ametameletos (am-et-am-el'-ay-tos) which means...irrevocable, without repentance, not to be repented of.

 

For a gift to be irrevocable means it cannot be given back, left by the roadside, thrown into a garbage heap or destroyed.

 

This is the gift of God to us who have believed on Jesus.

 

We must also realize that we have been purchased by Jesus with his blood. In being purchased or bought we no longer are our own.

 

1 Cor 6:18-20
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

If we are not our own...to whom then do we belong? Obviously we belong to God. If then we belong to God it is no longer our decision regarding our eternity...it is his. Since it is his decision and since he swore by himself he will not leave us.

 

We may say we leave him, but we are not our own...he will not leave us.

 

Then there is the fact that before we were born again we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

Eph 2:1-7
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

We were dead in sin, but Christ made us alive. Not only that but we are already seated in heavenly places. How? Because we have become one with Christ.

1 Cor 6:15-18
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!
16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh."
17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality.

 

We are one spirit with Christ.

 

Since we are one spirit with Christ how then can he leave us? Is our flesh stronger than the Spirit of Christ?

 

Now, before we were in Christ we were dead in our trespasses. After we are in Christ we are dead to sin and it has no power over us.

Rom 6:1-8
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

We are dead to sin because we are in Christ and he has put away sin once and for all.

Heb 9:26
26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

The word for put away in this passage is:  athetesis it means - abolition, disannulling, putting away, rejection.

 

Christ has abolished sin. That is why there is no more sacrifice for sin. It has been put away. It no longer has a claim upon us in order to condemn us to hell.

 

We are dead but no longer in our trespasses and sins but we are dead in Christ. Our death in him fulfills the requirements of the law. All our sins have been removed past, present and future. For God does not live within time but outside of time.

 

Since he lives outside of time the occasion of our sin whether it is yesterday or tomorrow is not material to our living with him in heaven. That is why we are seated now in heavenly places.

 

Paul said I am crucified with Christ.

 

Gal 2:20-21
20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

We are crucified, thus dead, yet we are alive but it is not us that is alive but Christ in us and it is even his faith that does so.

 

How does that involve us?

 

Another part of the plan is grace. What is grace? Is it as we have always been taught...God's unmerited favor?

 

The scriptures teach us that His grace is his strength or sufficiency.

2 Cor 12:9
9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Grace is his strength in our weakness. It is the life of God in us doing that which we never could or would be able to do. It is his sufficiency.

 

2 Cor 9:8
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

This grace is given to us that we may overcome through his strength and walk as Jesus walked.

 

This is the another part of the plan...that we may show forth Jesus in our lives. It is this part of the plan that causes much confusion in the body of Christ.

 

The whole book of Hebrews is about this part of the plan. It speaks to not entering the promise. That promise is that we are partakers of his divine nature. We are one spirit with Christ.

 

We have the very God of the universe dwelling within us and he wants us to appropriate the grace he has extended to us that we might show forth to the world his beloved Son Jesus.

 

If we sin willfully, since sin has been put away and since we are dead to it...there is no more sacrifice. We can either confess our sins and be cleansed or fall into the hands of God.

 

Heb 10:26-31
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The Lord will judge His people."
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Please note this is not talking about losing ones salvation. It is impossible...we are not our own.

 

So, if we do sin we fall into God's hands because he will judge his people. In other words we will be severely disciplined by our Father who does not disciplined us arbitrarily but we fire and indignation.

 

That fire is not hell but rather the fire of judgment. Does not judgment begin at the house of God?

 

So there is a paradox.

 

If we despise his grace...the strength to overcome sin...then he will purge the sin from us through discipline. That discipline is his judgment. He does this because we belong to him.

 

We are now sons of God. That cannot be undone and that being the case the Lord will judge his people.

 

The plan of salvation is quite sure. We are already in heaven, we are already complete and if we do not appropriate his grace to overcome sin...for where sin abounds grace (his strength in our weakness) does much more abound....then he will send forth his fiery indignation and judgment to devour the adversaries. Because the Lord will judge HIS PEOPLE.

 

His people are not the adversaries...the sin is the adversary.

 

I see this is getting too long for most to read, nevertheless here it is. There is much, much more that can be said but this is just a beginning.

 

John Johnson