Declare a Spiritual War Against the Heresy of Teaching the Possibility of a Fruitless Christianity
Jesus wants to show the distinction between the Christian as branches vs. the Judas Iscariot branches. We read the context that first, Jesus says that He is the true Vine and that the Father is the gardener. Every branch that bears fruit is taken away and every branch that bears fruit is tended to. We see that there are two branches, those that abide in Jesus and those that don't. Now what does it mean to purge the branches? Do you see how grape vines are tended? Branches are trimmed but never removed if they can hold the vines so there will be more fruit. Pruning is a necessary process and true Christians abide in Christ. Now what is this purging? Christians are not free from sin and God in His loving care cuts off anything that prevents the Christian from being useful for Him. Now a Christian backslides, it's time to purge the branch until it bears fruit. Now what about the branches that cast out and thrown into the fire? Now it's not about fruitless Christianity nor a loss of salvation, it's about people who were never saved to start with. It's amazing how easy believism has so falsely said that the branches cast into the fire is just a loss of reward. Now Christians will lose some rewards but they will also gain some rewards but never, ever do we have fruitless Christianity. That notion of a fruitless Christianity is stupid and crazy because it's nowhere in Scripture! That's why I am declaring war on the notion of fruitless Christianity because it is not Scriptural!
The teaching the carnal Christian is indeed one of the most dangerous teachings that is giving assurance to people who were NEVER saved to start with. The verse that has been misused and abused is 1 Corinthians 3:1 that says, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." Now here's reality... I do agree that there are babes in Christ or in other words, the newly saved person. Here's a few commentaries that can help us understand what 1 Corinthians 3:1 means. Here's a few commentaries that I hope can help to gain some understanding:
John Gill (a Baptist preacher) wrote of the matter of carnal Christians:
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you,.... Though the apostle was a spiritual man himself, had spiritual gifts, even the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, could judge all things, had the mind of Christ, and was able to speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, yet could not speak it to them, as unto spiritual; not but that they had the Spirit of God in them, and a work of grace upon them; for they were, as the apostle afterwards says, the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelt in them; they were washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God; but had not that spiritual discerning, or judgment in spiritual things, which some believers had, at least when the apostle was first with them; and now they were under great spiritual declensions, and had not those spiritual frames, nor that spiritual experience and conversation, which some other Christians had: but as unto carnal: not that they were in a carnal state, as unregenerate men are; but had carnal conceptions of things, were in carnal frames of soul, and walked in a carnal conversation with each other; though they were not in the flesh, in a state of nature, yet the flesh was in them, and not only lusted against the Spirit, but was very predominant in them, and carried them captive, so that they are denominated from it: even as unto babes in Christ; they were in Christ, and so were new creatures; they were, as the Arabic version reads it, "in the faith of Christ"; though babes and weaklings in it, they were believers in Christ, converted persons, yet children in understanding, knowledge, and experience; had but little judgment in spiritual things, and were unskilful in the word of righteousness; at least this was the case of many of them, though others were enriched in all utterance and knowledge, and in no gift came behind members of other churches.
Pulpit Commentary wrote also why Paul called them carnal, now we must understand the Greek to further understand the text:
Verses 1-4. - The carnal conceit of the spiritually immature. Verse 1. - I... could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. Though softened by the word brethren, there was a crushing irony of reproof in these words: "You thought yourselves quite above the need of my simple teaching. You were looking down on me from the whole height of your inferiority. The elementary character of my doctrine was after all the necessary consequence of your own incapacity for anything more profound." As unto carnal. The true reading here is sarkinois, fleshen, not sarkikois, fleshly, or carnal; the later and severer word is perhaps first used in ver. 3. The word sarkinos (earneus), fleshen, implies earthliness and weakness and the absence of spirituality; but sarki-kos (carnalis) involves the dominance of the lower nature and antagonism to the spiritual. As mite babes in Christ. The word "babes" has a good and a bad sense. In its good sense it implies humility and teachableness, as in 1 Corinthians 14:20, "In malice be ye babes;" and in 1 Peter 2:2, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word;" and in Matthew 11:25. Here it is used in its bad sense of spiritual childishness.
Now before you accuse me of teaching that you can be sinlessly perfect, I do not. In fact, I do not deny that even the truest of converts can compromise with sin like Lot, David, Samson, Solomon and Jehoshaphat but they do not revel in sin. Remember Jehoshaphat was foolish to have an alliance with Ahab and some Christians though they may be living decent lives might still be playing a certain degree of inappropriate media like Counterstrike or compromising with worldly music even if they have all the marks of true conversion such as continued fellowship and willing to lose their worldly pleasures if Christ is ever involved. If Christians were sinlessly perfect annd old habits die easy, I don't suspect the need for chastising (Hebrews 12:5-6). I remembered when I was newly saved, I still had to struggle with old habits and every time I did something wrong, I always felt God's hand was there to stop me while He allowed the unsaved to keep getting away with what they did until they suffered the consequences of their actions.
The idea of a Christian who will not grow in Christ is unscriptural. Nowhere in Scripture do we read of fruitless Christianity. Let us example the other excuses and I am going to use the King James Bible and for some of these KJV easy believism believers who throw mud at me with Calvin, well the King James translators WERE Calvinists, Amazing Grace is a Calvinist hymn and Charles H. Spurgeon is a Calvinist that's why I'm now a newbie Calvinist. For one, I believe in preaching VERSE BY VERSE and in doing it EXPOSITORILY. It's stupid to sing Amazing Grace without realizing the horridness of sin and seeing how God's grace is truly a life saving.
After all does not the song "Amazing Grace" go like:
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.
The song teaches how God's grace not only saves us when we do not deserve it. God's grace teaches the fear of Him. Before you were saved, you just don't fear God but now you are saved, you fear God in fear of His holiness. This is reverential fear, not fear in terror. The worldly fear is relieved because of godly fear. There are dangers, toils and snares that only by God's grace can be overcome. It admits that the heart and the flesh will fail but God never fails. It's stupid to sing Amazing Grace if there is not a bit of change in your life.
Then we have the Calvinist hymn "Why Have You Chosen Me"? The lyrics goes like:
Why have You chosen me out of millions Your child to be
You know all the wrongs that I have done
Oh how could You pardon me, forgive my iniquities
To save me give Jesus Your Son
But Lord help me be what You want me to be
Your word I will strive to obey
My life I now give, for You I will live
And walk by Your side all the way
I am amazed to know that a God so great could love me so
Is willing and wanting to bless
His love is so wonderful, His mercy so bountiful
I can't understand it I confess
Does not the hymn ask, "But Lord help me be what You want to be/Your word I will strive to obey/My life I now give, for You I will live/And walk by Your side all the way." In salvation, there is the feeling of gratitude that you cannot deny. How can anybody be truly saved and not be willing to grow in Christ? There is also the feeling that the hymn writer realize that the grace is indeed, truly undeserved so it develops the attitude of gratitude. I cannot imagine anybody getting saved in spite of not deserving God's love to still want to revel in sin. They have experienced the holiness of God and how can they still want to keep living so sinfully? Yes they will stumble into sin but they do not revel with sin. There is a huge difference between reveling in sin and struggling in it. God always finds a way to make Christians stumble so they will rise up for Him. It's "sin no more" not "sin all the more". God does not save men in their sins but from their sins.
In John 10:27-29 it says, "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 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." If you are saved, then there should be the result of obedience. Now I am not saying perfect obedience but there will be the fruit of obedience. Hebrews 5;9 says, And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him;" Notice the tenses that says made perfect (past tense), He became (past tense) the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey (present tense)... that is obedience is a result of true salvation.
John Gill writes of Hebrews 5:9:
And being made perfect,.... In His obedience, through sufferings; having completed his obedience, gone through his sufferings, and finished his sacrifice, and being perfectly glorified in heaven: He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him; the salvation Christ is the author of is "eternal"; it was resolved upon from eternity, and contrived in it; it was secured in the everlasting covenant, in which not only a Saviour was provided, but blessings both of grace and glory: and it is to eternity; and stands distinguished from a temporal salvation, and is opposed to eternal damnation; it is the salvation of the soul, which is immortal; and it takes in both grace and glory, which are of a durable nature; and the continuance of it is owing to the abiding and lasting virtue of Christ's person, blood, and righteousness: and Christ is the cause or author of this salvation, by His obedience and sufferings; by obeying the precept, and bearing the penalty of the law; by the price of his blood, and by the power of his arm; by his death and by his life; by his sacrifice on the cross, and by his intercession in heaven; by bestowing grace here, and glory hereafter: this shows that salvation is done, and that Christ is the sole author of it, and that all the glory of it should be given to Him; and those to whom He is the author of salvation, are such as hearken to the voice of his Gospel, and obey Hin in his ordinances. Christ is not the author of salvation to all men; all men do not obey him; all those whom Christ saves, He brings them to an obedience to himself; for His obedience for them does not exempt them from obedience to Him, though their obedience is no cause of their salvation; Christ himself is the alone author of that.
That is, you are saved then obedience comes out. How can it be possible for a truly saved person and yet that person does not even show the slightest bit of obedience? If God cast out the person, it was not because the person lost his or her salvation. It's all because the person NEVER had that assurance and his or her life showed it all the way.
The great Baptist preacher of the 1800s Charles Spurgeon while he firmly believed in eternal security, he did not want to teach the eternal security that people believe in that you can sin all you want and still enter Heaven. That is as serious a heresy as saying you can enter into Heaven by your works. He said, "Another proof of the conquest of a soul for Christ will be found in a REAL CHANGE OF LIFE. If a man does not live DIFFERENTLY from what he did before, both at home and abroad, his repentance needs to be repented of and his conversion is a FICTION. Not only action and language but spirit and temper MUST BE CHANGED... Abiding under the POWER OF ANY KNOWN SIN is a mark of our being servants of sin for his "servants ye are to whom ye obey." Idle are the boasts of a man who harbors with himself the LOVE OF ANY TRANSGRESSION. He may feel what he likes and believe what he likes, he is still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity while a single sin rules his heart and life. True regeneration implants a HATRED OF ALL EVIL and where one sin is delighted in, the evidence is fatal to a sound hope... There must be harmony between THE LIFE AND THE PROFESSION. A Christian professes to renounce sin; and if he does not do so, his very name is an imposture."
You do not take out some verses and leave out the rest. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." While salvation is by faith but it is never by a faith that is alone. I do find it stupid why people quote Ephesians 2:8-9 to show that salvation will not result to good works which is just absurd. Do you know what God's grace does? Titus 2:11-14 says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
Did you read the phrases properly? First, we have God's grace that appears unto all men. This grace brings salvation to all men and two, this salvation results in good works. Second, salvation changes the life of the believer to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts so they can live soberly righteously and godly in this present world. Third, it's to look for that blessed hope and that Jesus gave Himself to redeem people from iniquity and to make them a peculiar people zealous unto good works. The idea that a Christian can remain and live like the rest of the world is absurd and stupid. True a Christian is not sinlessly perfect but as said, perfection is the standard, direction is the test. While a Christian is never redeemed by acts of righteousness but he or she is redeemed and saved to do acts of righteousness. While there is such a thing as saved and compromising with sin but that is way different than living a life of sin without any remorse for sin whatsoever.
1 Corinthians 6:11 says, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." What does that mean? Now I know old habits die hard but God is not willing to let sin stay in the life of the Christian. Verses 9-10 mention all the marks of unrighteousness. Again, Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one." However verse 11 is clear of the lifestyle change as a result of salvation. It's stupid how some people claiming to be Christians are saying that there will be people who have never changed, that they remained the same, they will be in Heaven but such people will get no reward. The truth is, such people were never saved to start with. Whenever I think of that degenerate man who committed a mass murder against children and killed himself, while claiming himself to be a Christian, how can I then embrace him as a true convert when he has no real change?
Why do the easy believism crowd say I'm demonic as the Arminian? Do I teach you can lose your salvation or that you need to do good works to maintain it? Absolutely not at all! What I am stressing is in true conversion and that true conversion, changes the life even if a Christian cannot attain sinless perfection, they however sin less. Struggling with sin is only normal for a Christian and in Romans 7:13-21, the Apostle Paul says, "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
Protestant and Calvinist preacher Arthur W. Pink also wrote, "The terms of Christ's salvation are erroneously stated by the present-day evangelist. With very rare exceptions he tells the hearers that salvation is by grace and is received as a free gift that Christ has done everything for the sinner and nothing remains except for him to "believe" - to trust the infinite merits of His blood. And so widely does this conception now prevail in 'orthodox' circles, so frequently has it dinned in their ears, so deeply has it taken root in their minds, that for one to now challenge it and denounce it as being so inadequate and one-sided as to be deceptive and erroneous, is for him to instantly court the stigma of being a heretic and to be charged with dishonoring the finished work of Christ by inculcating salvation by works... salvation is by grace, by grace alone... Nevertheless, Divine grace is not exercised at the expense of holiness, for it never compromises with sin. It is true that salvation is a free gift but an empty hand must receive it and not a hand which still tightly grasps to the world .. A heart that is steeled in rebellion cannot (or refuses to, emphasis mine) savingly believe; it must first be broken... Those preachers who tell sinners they may be saved without forsaking their idols (false religion, emphasis mine), without repenting, without surrendering to the Lordship of Christ (that is, to give up without a fight, emphasis mine) are as erroneous and dangerous as others who insist that salvation is by works and that Heaven must be earned by our own efforts.
That is, again, Christians do sin and sometimes even horribly and it cannot be denied that it happens. I don't deny the reality of backsliding but there is a huge difference between backsliding and apostasy. A backslider is when a child of God who has fallen badly into sin. Examples of backsliders in the Bible are when Lot entered into Sodom (but remember he was vexed in Sodom - 2 Peter 2:7-8), Samson flirted with danger (Judges 16), David fell into adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11), Solomon had strange compromises (but Ecclesiastes was his repentance), Jehoshaphat foolishly teamed up with Ahab (2 Chronicles 19), Peter denied he was a Christian but take a look at what happened. Lot was vexed in Sodom by its horrible behavior, David wrote Psalm 51 after he realized he backslid horribly, Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes as a repentance, Jehoshaphat took heed to God's chastising of his wrong actions and Peter wept bitterly. Meanwhile the apostate is someone who supposedly claimed to be a Christian but he had forsaken. When John wrote 1 John 2:19 that says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.", he must have had Judas Iscariot in mind. Judas Iscariot pretended to be a Christian but Jesus already gave hints that the former was a devil, unsaved and would betray the latter. In John 17:12, Jesus revealed Judas Iscariot was not even saved to start with.
Hebrews 12:5-7 writes, "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." Now while God won't be chastising a Christian immediately but He takes loving steps to convict the person of sin like depriving of blessings, getting them sick or by any means to get a person's attention to Christ. It's like how a Christian man may be secretly watching some inappropriate stuff because he was frustrated then the Holy Spirit convicts the person and while Christians do sin daily, but they do not revel in sin daily. A Christian can fall into sin, still stay saved but they will be subjected unto chastisement. With a loving Father who chastises His own adopted children in Christ whenever they do wrong, how is it possible then that a Christian will never grow in Christ? I cannot imagine myself as a Christian without a loving God who would chastise me even if He would not cast me out (John 6:37). Just because God would not cast me out does not mean He won't chastise me and any person who truly possesses eternal security will have a very different lifestyle from the rest of the world all thanks to a God who lovingly chastises His own.
To further comment on 1 John 2:19, what was John really speaking about? We can observe how many people claim to be saved and what's stupid is how false converts are getting embraced as true converts. If there was no distinction between the saved and the unsaved by the fruit they do, how can we tell the difference? Again, why do the easy believist crowd think I rely on my works when I demand a performance assessment to see who is truly saved and who isn't? Did not the Lord Jesus warn in Matthew 7:17-20 saying, "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Now I don't say that Christians cannot bear bad fruit... the old man is the bad tree but there is the new man, that is the good tree. I simply am stressing the reality that false converts will be known. Soon they may discontinue fellowship like somebody was supposed saved in a Baptist church but later, he joined the Mormons or another, supposedly an Evangelical but she soon converted to her husband's religion of Roman Catholicism. Did they lose their salvation? They never had it as Matthew 7:23 says, "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Now I feel like to even further discuss Matthew 7:23. Why did Jesus say, "I NEVER KNEW YOU." Such people may claim to know Christ but only superficially, not in a loving relationship. Backtracking to verses 21-22, again we see the works salvation crowd among them. Again, they are rightfully called workers of iniquity because by default Romans 3:19 says, "Now we know that what things soever the Law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." That is, nobody is ever blameless. James 2:10-11 says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." That is, we are all sinners and these men NEVER got saved. Notice they try to justify by their works but are revealed to be workers of iniquity. Some people who claim to be Christians but have never had any change needs to have their sense of security shaken as much as the works salvation crowd.
To close, we really see that there is always a distinction between those who are truly once saved, always saved and those who were never saved to start with. I really want to say to preachers who teach the idea of a fruitless Christianity, you Antinomians are just as dangerous as the conditional security crowd. I renounce the idea of a fruitless Christianity because it's unscriptural and damnable all the way.
See also:
Did you read the phrases properly? First, we have God's grace that appears unto all men. This grace brings salvation to all men and two, this salvation results in good works. Second, salvation changes the life of the believer to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts so they can live soberly righteously and godly in this present world. Third, it's to look for that blessed hope and that Jesus gave Himself to redeem people from iniquity and to make them a peculiar people zealous unto good works. The idea that a Christian can remain and live like the rest of the world is absurd and stupid. True a Christian is not sinlessly perfect but as said, perfection is the standard, direction is the test. While a Christian is never redeemed by acts of righteousness but he or she is redeemed and saved to do acts of righteousness. While there is such a thing as saved and compromising with sin but that is way different than living a life of sin without any remorse for sin whatsoever.
1 Corinthians 6:11 says, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." What does that mean? Now I know old habits die hard but God is not willing to let sin stay in the life of the Christian. Verses 9-10 mention all the marks of unrighteousness. Again, Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one." However verse 11 is clear of the lifestyle change as a result of salvation. It's stupid how some people claiming to be Christians are saying that there will be people who have never changed, that they remained the same, they will be in Heaven but such people will get no reward. The truth is, such people were never saved to start with. Whenever I think of that degenerate man who committed a mass murder against children and killed himself, while claiming himself to be a Christian, how can I then embrace him as a true convert when he has no real change?
Why do the easy believism crowd say I'm demonic as the Arminian? Do I teach you can lose your salvation or that you need to do good works to maintain it? Absolutely not at all! What I am stressing is in true conversion and that true conversion, changes the life even if a Christian cannot attain sinless perfection, they however sin less. Struggling with sin is only normal for a Christian and in Romans 7:13-21, the Apostle Paul says, "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
Protestant and Calvinist preacher Arthur W. Pink also wrote, "The terms of Christ's salvation are erroneously stated by the present-day evangelist. With very rare exceptions he tells the hearers that salvation is by grace and is received as a free gift that Christ has done everything for the sinner and nothing remains except for him to "believe" - to trust the infinite merits of His blood. And so widely does this conception now prevail in 'orthodox' circles, so frequently has it dinned in their ears, so deeply has it taken root in their minds, that for one to now challenge it and denounce it as being so inadequate and one-sided as to be deceptive and erroneous, is for him to instantly court the stigma of being a heretic and to be charged with dishonoring the finished work of Christ by inculcating salvation by works... salvation is by grace, by grace alone... Nevertheless, Divine grace is not exercised at the expense of holiness, for it never compromises with sin. It is true that salvation is a free gift but an empty hand must receive it and not a hand which still tightly grasps to the world .. A heart that is steeled in rebellion cannot (or refuses to, emphasis mine) savingly believe; it must first be broken... Those preachers who tell sinners they may be saved without forsaking their idols (false religion, emphasis mine), without repenting, without surrendering to the Lordship of Christ (that is, to give up without a fight, emphasis mine) are as erroneous and dangerous as others who insist that salvation is by works and that Heaven must be earned by our own efforts.
Hebrews 12:5-7 writes, "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." Now while God won't be chastising a Christian immediately but He takes loving steps to convict the person of sin like depriving of blessings, getting them sick or by any means to get a person's attention to Christ. It's like how a Christian man may be secretly watching some inappropriate stuff because he was frustrated then the Holy Spirit convicts the person and while Christians do sin daily, but they do not revel in sin daily. A Christian can fall into sin, still stay saved but they will be subjected unto chastisement. With a loving Father who chastises His own adopted children in Christ whenever they do wrong, how is it possible then that a Christian will never grow in Christ? I cannot imagine myself as a Christian without a loving God who would chastise me even if He would not cast me out (John 6:37). Just because God would not cast me out does not mean He won't chastise me and any person who truly possesses eternal security will have a very different lifestyle from the rest of the world all thanks to a God who lovingly chastises His own.
To further comment on 1 John 2:19, what was John really speaking about? We can observe how many people claim to be saved and what's stupid is how false converts are getting embraced as true converts. If there was no distinction between the saved and the unsaved by the fruit they do, how can we tell the difference? Again, why do the easy believist crowd think I rely on my works when I demand a performance assessment to see who is truly saved and who isn't? Did not the Lord Jesus warn in Matthew 7:17-20 saying, "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Now I don't say that Christians cannot bear bad fruit... the old man is the bad tree but there is the new man, that is the good tree. I simply am stressing the reality that false converts will be known. Soon they may discontinue fellowship like somebody was supposed saved in a Baptist church but later, he joined the Mormons or another, supposedly an Evangelical but she soon converted to her husband's religion of Roman Catholicism. Did they lose their salvation? They never had it as Matthew 7:23 says, "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Now I feel like to even further discuss Matthew 7:23. Why did Jesus say, "I NEVER KNEW YOU." Such people may claim to know Christ but only superficially, not in a loving relationship. Backtracking to verses 21-22, again we see the works salvation crowd among them. Again, they are rightfully called workers of iniquity because by default Romans 3:19 says, "Now we know that what things soever the Law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." That is, nobody is ever blameless. James 2:10-11 says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." That is, we are all sinners and these men NEVER got saved. Notice they try to justify by their works but are revealed to be workers of iniquity. Some people who claim to be Christians but have never had any change needs to have their sense of security shaken as much as the works salvation crowd.
To close, we really see that there is always a distinction between those who are truly once saved, always saved and those who were never saved to start with. I really want to say to preachers who teach the idea of a fruitless Christianity, you Antinomians are just as dangerous as the conditional security crowd. I renounce the idea of a fruitless Christianity because it's unscriptural and damnable all the way.
See also:
- Can A Truly Saved Christian Sin All They Please? NOT A CHANCE According to Scriptures!
- It's Impossible to be a Christian and Not Bear Even ONE Good Fruit for the Lord Jesus Christ
- Jesus Christ is the Lord of EVERY Christian
- Struggling with Sin
- Why Do Christians Do Good Works Even If They're Not Saved By Good Works?