Answers in August—Part Three:
Scripture’s Consistency
By Pastor Josh Wamble
This past Sunday, we continued our annual Answers in August series. This year we are studying the doctrine of Eternal Security or the perseverance of the saints. We started this series off last week by talking about the view that it is possible for people to fall away from salvation. You can watch week one here or listen to week one audio here. You can watch week two here or listen to week two audio here. You can watch week three here or listen to week three audio here. Below, I want to provide a short summary of what we talked about on 8/20.
During this final teaching week of this year’s Answers in August series, we considered three topics: Firstly, how should biblical passages that seem to talk about people actually falling away from the faith be understood? We looked at three specific passages. Secondly, how should believers treat people they know who seem to have fallen away? Thirdly, can people have real assurance of their salvation?
How Should These Biblical Passages be Understood?
1. Acts 5:1-11
In this passage, we read about Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple, who sold some land that they owned, kept some of the money, and donated the rest of the money to the church. None of that is a problem. The problem is that they both claimed to have donated everything to the church. The issue is not about money; the issue is about lying to God and to the Holy Spirit. God directly killed both Ananias and Sapphira for their lies. Many people read this passage and conclude that Ananias and Sapphira were believers who fell away from grace and lost their salvation. There are two problems with this understanding.
Firstly, the text of Acts 5:1-11 does not say that either Ananias or Sapphira were believers. Secondly, the text of Acts 5:1-11 does not say that either Ananias or Sapphira fell away from grace and lost their salvation. In fact, the Bible does say that if they did fall away from grace, they were never believers to start with. One of those statements must be false. Either they were not believers, or they did not lose their salvation. Both of those things cannot be true.
It seems to me that they were probably true believers. They were members of the early church, and nothing in the passage leads us to believe that they were not genuinely converted members. However, the text never tells us that they stopped being believers. It only says that they suffered punishment or consequences for their sin. Suffering or experiencing consequences for sin is not something that believers are immune to. Believers are forgiven for the eternal consequences for sin, but that does not mean that they always avoid temporal consequences for sin. History is full of believers who have suffered greatly on earth for their sins. These consequences include jail, sickness, broken relationships, lost ministry positions, lost trust and reputations, and even death.
Consider Moses who sinned against God. God did not abandon him or turn away from him. Moses did not lose his relationship with God. However, he did suffer the consequence of not being allowed to enter the Promised land. Instead, he died on the opposite side of the Jordan River. It seems to me that Ananias and Sapphira found themselves in a similar situation.
2. Hebrews 3:12-14
In these verses, the church as a whole is encouraged to watch out for one another—to help one another follow the Lord faithfully. The church is even warned that there may be some who are members of the church who do in fact fall away. They are to watch out for these people and do what they can to help them not fall away.
The key to understanding this passage correctly is found in verse 12. The author presents the possibility of some in the church having “an evil unbelieving heart, leading [them] to fall away.” What is significant here is the order that these events are listed and what situation causes the other situation. He does not describe someone who falls away and stops believing. Instead, he describes someone whose evil unbelieving heart leads him to fall away. The evil unbelieving heart comes first, and it is what causes the falling away.
In other words, he is describing someone who is in the church but is not really a believer. He has an unbelieving heart. He is not truly believing or trusting in Jesus. The result is that this unbeliever will eventually fall away from the church. He is not falling away from God or from salvation. He never has faith in God and salvation to begin with.
3. Hebrews 6:1-9
This passage is probably the hardest NT passage to understand if it is true that someone cannot fall away from the faith and lose his salvation. What makes it so difficult is how the person who falls away is described. In verses 4 and 5, this person is described as having “once been enlightened” and having “tasted of the heavenly gift” and having “been made a partaker in the Holy Spirit” and having “tasted the good word of God.” On the surface, it seems almost undeniable that these are descriptions of a genuine believer. When those four descriptions are added together, the argument is even stronger.
The key to understanding this passage rightly is found in verse 9. There, the author says, “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.” He says that he is convinced of better things in the lives of those he is writing to—things better than having “once been enlightened” and having “tasted of the heavenly gift” and having “been made a partaker in the Holy Spirit” and having “tasted the good word of God.” Moreover, these “better things” are things that “belong to salvation.” This means whatever the other things (being enlightened, tasting the heavenly gift, partaking of the Holy Spirit, and tasting the good word of God) are describing, they are not describing things that belong to salvation. This may be counter-intuitive because of what comes into our minds when we hear and think of these “other things” (partaking of the Holy Spirit, being enlightened, and etc.), but we should let the author tell us what they mean or don’t mean and not make those assumptions ourselves. He doesn’t tell us what he means by those things, but he does tell us what he does not mean by them. He does not mean “things that belong to salvation.”
If we start with the understanding that they do not describe the benefits or fruit of salvation, we can try to deduce what they are describing. If we are told that “being enlightened” does not mean “being saved” then maybe it is describing someone who has heard the truth, understood the truth, and even to some extent believed the truth but has not trusted in Jesus for salvation. This shouldn’t be too hard for us to imagine. Surely, we all know people who would agree that the principles of the Bible are good and maybe believe that following them will lead them to being a better person or that the morality of the Bible is good or that they want their children to grow up in church and be influenced by the truths of the Bible, but they, themselves, do not believe the gospel. They are not trusting in Jesus for salvation.
If “tasting the heavenly gift” doesn’t describe someone who is being saved, then maybe it describes someone who has experienced the benefits of the goodness of God. They have received blessings from God and/or from His church (genuine believers) but they, themselves, are not repenting of their sin and trusting in Jesus alone for salvation.
If “being made a partaker in the Holy Spirit” does not describe someone who is being saved, then maybe it describes someone who has a connection to a church and have experienced or partaken in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps this person is even an active member of a church and serves alongside genuine believers. Perhaps he attends regular worship services and Bible studies with genuine believers. Perhaps he has partaken in the gifts of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), but he is not genuinely trusting Jesus’s death and righteousness for his own salvation.
If “having tasted the good word of God” does not describe a genuine believer, maybe it is describing someone who has been connected to a church for a significant amount of time and has learned the Bible. Maybe he has heard it preached and taught for years and recognizes God’s goodness in it; yet, he is not trusting in the good news of Jesus that the word describes for his own salvation.
Although the author doesn’t tell us precisely what he means by these phrases, he does tell us very clearly what he does not mean by them. They do not describe the benefits and fruit of salvation. They do not describe people who have been genuinely saved. They do not describe his readers. In the case of his readers, he is confident of better things—things that actually do belong to genuine and true salvation.
How Should Believers Treat People Who Seem to Have Fallen Away?
1. Treat Them with Love
People who fall away from the faith are either people who have never believed the gospel to begin with and are walking away from the church or are people who are genuine believers but are in the midst of serious sin but will one day repent and come back to the Lord. Either way, we should treat these people with love. Often these are people that we know and have deep relationships with—people that we have known for a long time and are close to. We have loved them for a long time and should continue to love them
We should continue spending time with them and talking with them about the gospel. It is tragic to think of people who have left the church for whatever reason and never hear from those who remain who were so dear to them for such a long time. We should call them and send them cards and go out to eat with them and invite them to our homes and go to their homes.
2. Treat Them with Concern
The way this love looks is that we try to bring them back. We should treat them like we would any other unbeliever. Whether they are truly unbelievers who have never trusted the gospel or genuine believers who are in the midst of serious sin, they are living like unbelievers, and we should treat them as such. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we treat them badly or avoid them or shame them. If means that we should look for opportunities to speak to them about the Jesus and the gospel. We should ask them about their lives and what is going on with them. We should genuinely listen to them and try to help them with their problems, suffering, questions, doubts, anger, or whatever they may be dealing with.
We should also pray for them like we would any other believer. We should pray that God would convict them of their sins and open their hearts to trust in Jesus. We should pray that the Holy Spirit would be spurring them to read their Bible and using His word in their lives. We should be praying that God would make Himself known to them and give them the faith to believe. We should pray that God would give you and others opportunities to speak to them about the gospel.
3. Treat Them with Seriousness
Finally, we should treat them with seriousness because they are in a very serious situation. This doesn’t mean that we can never have fun with them, but it does mean that we should take their situation with the utmost seriousness.
There may come a time (after much prayer and pleading with them) to remove them from the membership of the church. This should not be done lightly or flippantly. It should not be done quickly. If this time comes, it should only be done out of a desire for their good and for the good of the church. It should be done through much grief and many tears but with their good in mind. The goal is always that they would see the seriousness of their situation and turn to the Lord. The goal is for their salvation.
Paul describes this happening in the church in Corinth. We read about it in 1 Corinthians 5:5. There Paul tells the church to remove a certain man from the church. He says doing so is the equivalent of turning him over to Satan. This is not in any way an act of anger or malice. Instead, Paul says the goal is the destruction of his flesh and the salvation of his spirit. Paul teaches the Corinthian church, and us, that this drastic measure is a way of helping the man to see the end of his sin and turn from it to the Lord in faith and repentance. This is always the goal.
Can People Have Real Assurance of Their Salvation?
In 1 John 5:13, he says that he has written that particular letter so that his readers would know that they have salvation. Below, I want to highlight three specific foundations for our assurance of salvation before the Lord.
1. The Author of Your Salvation
The Bible is clear that God is the one who saves His people. We do not save ourselves. Salvation is a work of God from the beginning to the end. If God has decided to save His people, there is no one or no thing that can prevent Him from doing so. Further, the Bible tells us that if God begins saving someone, He will not stop. He will bring that work to completion. God never fails in anything He sets out to do. This should bring us great assurance and confidence before the Lord.
2. The Nature of Your Salvation
Over the last couple of weeks, we have talked about what salvation is. We have used an analogy from middle school and high school science class. In scientific vocabulary, there is a difference between a physical reaction and a chemical reaction. Physical reactions include things like mixtures and suspensions. In these reactions, different substances are combined. Their physical characteristics may change, but their chemical properties remain the same. Mixtures and suspensions and other physical reactions can be reversed, and the components go back to their original states.
With chemical reactions, there is such a drastic change that they cannot be reversed. Fire is an example of a chemical reaction. In a fire, wood and oxygen and heat are combined in such a way that they can never go back to the way they were. They are changed into a new substance—ash.
God’s work in saving sinners is like a chemical reaction. There is no going back. The old is gone and all things are new. The sinner changes into a saint. The rebel is changed into a friend. The dead are made alive. When this happens there is no undoing it. This should also bring us great assurance and confidence before the Lord.
3. The Circumstances of Your Salvation
Finally, there is a very practical ground of assurance in the life of a believer. Often when believers are doubting their salvation, they are told to look back and remember the Lord working in their life. This is not necessarily bad advice. The Bible is full of examples where God tells his people to set up a monument as a reminder of His working in their midst. Sometimes they are told to regularly practice certain rituals and festivals during which they recount the goodness of God to their children and each other. These are good things for us to do as well. We should look back on and remember when the Lord saved us, when we professed our faith publicly in baptism, and when He has worked mightily in our lives.
However, there is another ground for our assurance. It is a better indicator of whether or not we are following the Lord. In 1 John (the book that John wrote so that his readers would know they are saved), John points us to the present instead of the past. You should ask yourselves a couple of questions: Are you currently believing and trusting the Lord? Are you currently repenting of your sin?
If you cannot answer yes to both of these questions, there is something in your life that needs to be addressed. It may be that you are not a believer and have never believed or repented, or it may be that you are genuinely converted but you are in the midst of some serious sin that you are not dealing with. Either way, you should seek the Lord in repentance, confession, and trust. If you can answer yes to both of these questions, that should bring great assurance and confidence before the Lord.
We hope that you have enjoyed this year’s Answers in August series and from this blog series. We hope that you have benefitted from both. Of course, this is a big topic, and we have only had a limited amount of time to consider it. We only looked at 3 passages in detail even during our last service. I am sure you have other questions that have not been addressed. If so, we invite you and encourage you to be present for our final meeting this Sunday (8/27) at 6:00.
During this service, we will spend the entire hour doing nothing but taking and discussing your questions. All four of your pastors will be up front to address and discuss anything that you want to bring up. If you have questions, there are several ways that you can get them to us.
1. You can come and ask those questions yourselves in person on Sunday night.
2. If you are not comfortable asking out loud in front of everyone, you can send those questions in through email or by phone. You can email any of your pastors or the church office. If you would prefer, you can call the church office and leave your question with our administrative assistant. Contact information is available on this website. We will be happy to answer these questions on Sunday.
3. If you prefer, you can write your questions on a slip of paper and hand them to one of your pastors or turn them in in the church office.
4. You can ask one of your pastors in private between now and Sunday, and we will address it in front of the group.
All of these questions that are not asked in person will be kept anonymous.
Whether you have questions or are interested in hearing your pastors answer other people’s questions, we hope to see all of you on Sunday!
