The Eternal Security of the Believer

This doctrine has been discussed and dissected by most generations. Perhaps you’ve pondered this about yourself or someone you love. This is a subject that has come up in recent discussions in our home.

I remember the first time I saw that term. It has been so long a time that I don’t remember what it said or where I first saw this, but I remember being scared out of my wits at the time. My parents reared Sister and me in the Methodist church. Most of Mama’s family were Methodists while Daddy’s were a mix. Daddy had been reared Presbyterian and his twin brother, my Uncle Bill, was a Presbyterian Minister. Uncle Bill earned his ministerial degrees from Bob Jones and then Princeton Theological Seminary.

I have no clue what kind of impact different denominations had on one’s belief in this doctrine. In our home, we never discussed it. We didn’t discuss a lot about beliefs or theology. But we were in church, somewhere, every time the doors were opened. It was the South. Church is what we did.

Today, there seems to be a huge emphasis on knowing what one believes and why one believes that. From what I understand, young men who once had little affiliation with any church are now seeking out churches that speak to their hearts. That’s not a bad thing IMHO.

TOO DEEP FOR ME TO EXPLAIN IT

The Eternal Security of the Believer @DDuPreeWilliams #faith #EternalSecurity #JesusSaves Share on X

This is far too deep a subject for me to cover. I remind you with regularity that I am not a Bible scholar. I do well to dig out what I believe and why and what the Bible has to say about it. Let the Bible explain the Bible. Good advice.

My husband and I were both reared in the church. As stated earlier, I was Methodist, and Hubby was Baptist. After we married, we joined the Presbyterian church. We remained in that denomination for the first forty-seven years of our marriage. Church music had become almost the most important thing in our lives. Then, God literally shone a light on dark places in our lives and we both fell to our knees. There’s so much more to this story, and maybe one day we will write a book.

Just because one confessed as a child and was baptized doesn’t mean one is a true believer. We have talked about this at length. We both agree that we both had truly put our faith and trust in Jesus, but we weren’t the people He intended us to be. Our faith was shallow at best, due to lack of knowledge.  Hosea 4:6 ESV—My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Hubby and I began reading our Bibles, Genesis to Revelation in 2020. We’ve now read it at least five times. Neither of us had ever read it front to back. Now we stop and read commentaries and study Bibles. Our eyes, hearts, and spirits were opened and changed. Because of changed hearts and where we live, we joined the local Baptist church.

YIKES! DON’T LET THIS BE YOU!

Here’s the thing—churches are filled with people who call themselves Christian, yet when they stand before the Lord, they may hear, Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me you workers of lawlessness.’(Matthew 7:21-23 ESV). The words are in red in the Bible because they are the words of Jesus.

Did that passage give you pause? Yeah, me too. It was things like this that scared me to death when I was a child and a teen. Here is something for you to read. My husband came across this yesterday and sent it to me. It is a bit long, but so worth the read. I did my best to get the link to post here, but I will have to give you a long version as it simply won’t let me.

Go to Founders.org. Then scroll a bit until you see the article, Can A Genuine Christian Backslide? By Jeff Robinson. It was written in 2018, so you may have to look through archived articles, but it was right on the first page for me once I scrolled down. Sooo worth reading. If you read this, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Read the book of Revelation to learn about this. Some say it’s too scary or too hard to understand. That is not true. Find a good commentary and use that as you read. Or do my favorite thing, find on YouTube the late Voddie Baucham teaching on this book. So good! Know you’re in my prayers.

Blessings, y’all!

I grew up singing this. It brings back so many fond memories of all-night sings and gatherings around our piano in my little hometown, Andalusia, Alabama. I had such a blessed childhood and teen years. Charles and Marie Hinson, I love you so much! Thank you for making a difference in my life!