What God Starts Working with the Believer, He Will Certainly Finish It!
Philippians 1:6- "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"
As a person who adheres or holds on to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints as well as unconditional election, I believe that God will certainly finish the work that He has started with the believer. Looking at the illustration in John 15:1-8 about the Christians as the branches and the Father trims them, the fruitless branches can only represent people who were never saved to start with. For a person who truly possesses eternal security, there is no way they will be idle because God does not only save, He also sanctifies the believer and every Christian is a sheep with a listening ear while those who can't even obey Christ are goats (John 10).
John 6:37, Jesus promised that whosoever comes to Him, He shall no likewise cast out and I wonder what part of that verse the heretical Arminian crowd and their high-minded arrogant doctrine of conditional security (that teaches that Christians lose their salvation every single time they stumble and lie that those who adhere to the perseverance of the saints can't teach holy living otherwise this is also hyper-lordship salvation which contrasts to Lordship salvation that stands that salvation can't be lost and evidenced by a Christian's performance against the unsaved) can't they understand on that promise of Jesus while Christ shows the mark of the truly saved.
1 Corinthians 6:11, He has revealed the changed lives of the unrighteous (Romans 3:10 says nobody is righteous, no not one) as they are sanctified and declared righteous, given a new life. Ephesians 2:10 says that Christians are created unto good works in Christ Jesus, Titus 2:11-14 declares the grace that makes Christians zealous unto good works and Hebrews 9:14 declares that by the blood of Christ it purges the soul from dead works to serve Christ. And for one, when Christ has begun His work, He will definitely finish it. Christians may fall, backslide but Christ always figures out a way to bring them back to the LORD's service. True Christians do not completely fall away (1 John 2:19). Because Christ works in the believer, it is 100% impossible for a Christian to live like the rest of the world, rather because they are not of the world, there is no way that they will live like the rest of the world. John 15:18-19 and James 4:4 do agree- friendship with the world is to be enemies of God, but Christians are no longer friends of the world, therefore, the world hates them.
1 Corinthians 6:11, He has revealed the changed lives of the unrighteous (Romans 3:10 says nobody is righteous, no not one) as they are sanctified and declared righteous, given a new life. Ephesians 2:10 says that Christians are created unto good works in Christ Jesus, Titus 2:11-14 declares the grace that makes Christians zealous unto good works and Hebrews 9:14 declares that by the blood of Christ it purges the soul from dead works to serve Christ. And for one, when Christ has begun His work, He will definitely finish it. Christians may fall, backslide but Christ always figures out a way to bring them back to the LORD's service. True Christians do not completely fall away (1 John 2:19). Because Christ works in the believer, it is 100% impossible for a Christian to live like the rest of the world, rather because they are not of the world, there is no way that they will live like the rest of the world. John 15:18-19 and James 4:4 do agree- friendship with the world is to be enemies of God, but Christians are no longer friends of the world, therefore, the world hates them.
All I can say is, I am still alive right now and kicking because God will not shut me down until He says so and the same applies to any legitimate Christian worker who is exposing the most controversial conspiracies and still alive. Ever since He saved me, He has changed my life and that power over sin I have, it's not my own, it's His grace. I owe nothing to myself for the changed life I have, I owe nothing to myself for the good works that are produced by the grace of God. What I can say is that is why God allows trials not so He will find out what's in the Christian's heart but rather to reveal to Christians what sins are blocking their prayer lives. All I can say is, I shouldn't mind persecution and by God's grace, I will not mind persecution and stand firm to Christ's call. It's God's grace that starts His work, it's God's grace that finishes His work. He decides to call me home or allow me to die for being a Christian, God will definitely continue His work.