Is it possible for us to know that we are saved and that we never can be lost?
Is every saved person complete in Christ without membership in any Church organization and without the practice of any of the Church ordinances?
Do we go immediately to Heaven or Hell when we leave this world?
If there ever was a time the Church needed to give a positive, clear ringing testimony in answer to these questions, that time is today. The world is in confusion because of “Wars and rumors of wars.” The Church is hopelessly divided in “mind and judgment,” because of denominationalism; and desperately sick because of the improper diet prescribed by Church leaders and rationed out to the multitudes by hirelings.
The individual sinner has a desire to be saved, but he doesn’t often hear the plain scriptural plan of salvation given from the pulpit, over the air, or from the printed page. The babe in Christ has a desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, but when he goes to the meeting place for food from the precious Word of God, he usually gets a sermonette on churchanity and must return home with a hungry heart.
We May Know
that we are saved, because God has said so in His infallible Word.
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:11)
This is God’s record that all who have His Son are in possession of His own eternal life. He wrote these things in order that those who “believe” may “know.”
Dear Reader, If you are in doubt about your salvation or if you feel that you are now saved, but fear that some day you may lose your salvation, will you not get your Bible and read the above passage on your knees before the God of glory. Read and re-read this, His own testimony, which He has borne concerning His Son and the eternal life given through Him.
If you are among those who “believe on the name of the Son of God,” you have the scriptural right to know that you have eternal life.
In connection with this comforting certainty, I suggest that you read and meditate upon the following kindred passages—Ecclesiastes 3:14; John 3:16-18; 10:27-29; Colossians 3:3; Ephesians 1:13-14; Philippians 1:6; Romans 8:35-39 and 2 Timothy 1:12.
In these closing days of the Church Age, things are terribly unsettled. The unsaved man looks about him for something that is substantial and sure. All he can see in the world is change and decay. Oh, that we who are really saved might bear a sound, solid, positive testimony concerning the eternal life which God has given to us in His Son. How refreshing it is to hear a believer say, “I know I’m saved.”
Remember, my dear friends, when we testify to the fact that we are saved and sure of our salvation, we are not bragging on ourselves but we are boasting in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who saved us! He is the One who keeps us! He is the One who will carry us safely through to glory, without the loss of one! To Him belongeth all the praise.
Church Joining
is a very popular movement in these days, spoken of by the Apostle Paul as “perilous times.” The idea of forming church organizations and promoting church-joining programs originated with man and not with God. The proud flesh of churchmen cries out for manpower when the real need of the church is God-power.
The children of Noah said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name” (Genesis 11:4). The modern church program of today is built on this same foundation, hence the confusion and scattering of the church members into more than four hundred different sects and creeds. Just as the organized effort at the Tower of Babel failed (Genesis 11:5-9), so the organized efforts of churchanity are doomed to confusion and failure.
Paul describes the conditions in the professing Church at the close of this age in 2 Timothy 3:1-5:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
It is very easy for the majority of God’s faithful children to see that the above quotation applies directly to organized churches. However, it is painfully difficult and extremely hard on the flesh for us to apply the last four words of verse five in a practical way. If every child of God would obey this imperative command—”From such turn away”—the religious system would be forced to cease their commercialism in the name of Jesus Christ.
Independent Churches
are springing up everywhere. Just as the conscientious Protestants in the days of Martin Luther organized themselves into churches like unto the Catholic system from whence they came, so are the independent Fundamentalists of today organizing themselves after the fashion of denominational systems. It seems that preachers and church leaders refuse to be satisfied with the church and its doctrine, as set forth by the Holy Spirit through the writings of Paul. They insist upon enlisting the members of the body of Christ in a competitive work of building churches.
The moment a group of believers give themselves any other name than that which designates them as an assembly at a given address, they mark themselves as another sectarian group. Usually a second step is taken immediately after the church name is selected. This second step is a doctrinal statement including a part of the Bible and emphasizing one Biblical doctrine above that of another. A third step usually follows, which binds the members of the assembly into an organization with voting power to control the policies of the said organization. Such doctrines of men can never be fitted in to the order of God as laid down in Ephesians 4:11-16.
The Biblical Church
of this dispensation is spoken of in Ephesians 1:22-23 as “The church, which is the body of Christ.” Christ is the one head of this church, and every saved person on the face of the earth is included in its membership. “We are all baptized by one spirit into one body.” The baptism here referred to is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The body is the “Body of Christ.”
“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)
If you are a member of the church which is Christ’s body, you are “complete in Him” (Colossians 2:10). It is just as unscriptural for a believer to be dissatisfied with the church membership which God gives him as it is for him to be dissatisfied with the salvation which God offers. We do not need man’s work added to God’s plan of salvation; neither do we need the touch of man-made organizations for everyday service in God’s church. If you are satisfied with your salvation, you should be satisfied with your position in Christ.
Our Hope of Glory
will be realized when our Saviour returns from heaven to “change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21). If we who are members of the body of Christ die before He returns for His church, we are immediately “Absent from the body, and present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). The body goes back to dust, but the spirit goes to be with the Lord. We may expect the return of the Lord for His church at any moment, and at His coming the bodies of those who have fallen asleep in Christ will be raised and joined with their spirits that are now present with the Lord, and the living saints will be changed and caught up into glory with the resurrected ones. At this time the church which is the body of Christ, will be presented to Christ, the Head, according to Ephesians 5:25-27.
All who die without the Lord Jesus Christ go immediately into the flames of torment. This truth is illustrated in Luke 16:19-31. The rich man of this passage actually lived on the earth, died as other men die, and then lifted up his eyes, “being in torments,” and recognized his terrible condition.
All Unbelievers
must either meet the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary and accept Him as their personal Saviour, or else they must take their place in the flames of torment when this life is over.
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)