It is impossible to understand the purpose, presence, and function of the Holy Spirit if the Bible doctrine of eternal security is rejected.
THE HOLY SPIRIT ABIDES FOREVER
One of the last statements made by Jesus Christ just before ascending into Heaven was “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever… He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John14:16,17). In this age of grace, often called the church age, the Holy Spirit dwells in the individual believer and will abide forever. For clarification, David prayed, “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; uphold me with thy free spirit” (Psalm 51:11,12). This statement was made many hundreds of years before Jesus prayed that the Holy Spirit should abide forever. The Holy Spirit can be grieved or quenched, but this does not imply that He is taken from the believer.
“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians (4:30).
“Quench not the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
This quenching or grieving indicates the believer is not walking by means of the Spirit or is not filled with the Spirit. However, quenching or grieving does not mean the Spirit is removed because the indwelling is once and for all. He indwells forever, but because of unconfessed sin He is grieved or quenched and does not fill the believer. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18).
The Holy Spirit does not abide in an unbeliever, and in this lost condition Spiritual death reigns in the heart. This means he is not regenerated or indwelt by the Spirit and is not a child of God. The promise from Jesus that the Holy Spirit would come and abide forever does not apply to the unbeliever. To lose the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, at any time, would be a contradiction of the promise Jesus gave to His disciples in saying that the Holy Spirit has come to abide forever. It would be a mistake of the first order to say that the one in whom the Holy Spirit has come to abide forever can be lost.
THE BELIEVER IS SEALED POSITIONALLY
The believer is indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption and can never lose his perfect union or standing with Christ positionally. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit can never be lost, but He can be grieved or quenched. To either quench or grieve the Holy Spirit by sin affects His filling and fellowship, but never His relationship or indwelling.
“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30).
What is the purpose of this sealing? In Revelation (7: 2-8) a company of God’s servants are sealed in their foreheads. The purpose of this seal is to keep them secure. “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not THE SEAL OF God in their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4). Those who did not have the seal would be tormented five months. In this vision John saw Satan bound for a thousand years, cast into the bottomless pit, and shut up. A seal was set upon him that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled.
“And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season” (Revelation 20:2,3).
In the first instance, the servants were sealed in order to be secure against the pain and torment of the locusts. In the second case, the seal was applied so that there could be no change in the orders. In the third instance, the seal assures that Satan will be in a place of maximum security from which he cannot escape. In all three instances, the seal connotes an unalterable position of those who are sealed. That is exactly what the Holy Spirit as a seal means to the believer in Christ. God has sealed him by His own Holy Spirit so that he, as a believer, cannot be changed or affected until the day of redemption.
SEALED AS TO OWNERSHIP
The seal also signifies ownership. Everyone who has believed in Christ as the only Savior is sealed with the Holy Spirit until the redemption of the purchased possession. “That we should be to the praise of His glory, who FIRST TRUSTED IN CHRIST. In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that you believed, you were SEALED with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12-14).
This magnificent sealing is perfect and eternally effective and cannot be broken while the believer is in his mortal body. It will not be needed after He is no longer in his mortal body as he is perfected forever in a resurrection body that is eternal and can never be affected by time or any outside source. If the resurrection body could be inserted inside a hydrogen bomb, at the time of the explosion not even a hair on the head of the believer would be singed. This is the nature and permanence of the resurrection body. Those purchased with the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ will always be His purchased possession as the price has been fully paid for their souls, and they are safe forever as the seal of the Holy Spirit can never be broken.
ERNEST OF THE BELIEVERS INHERITANCE
At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit is given as an Ernest of the believer’s inheritance, see above (Ephesians 1:14). Ernest money is a payment made by a purchaser to guarantee the completion of a transaction. In Christ, the believer has obtained an inheritance which was, “Predestined according to the purpose of Him Who works all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11). The believer has not as yet entered into possession of his inheritance, but the Holy Spirit has been given as an earnest (guarantee) that it shall be given when the transaction has been fully consummated. To say that anyone who has been saved can be lost is to indicate that possession of the inheritance shall not be given to the one to whom God has already made an earnest payment.
“God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man that He should repent: (change his mind) has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).
How could it be clearer? The doctrine of eternal security of the believer can be understood by the fact that the Holy Spirit indwells the saved individual and abides forever; he is sealed by the Holy Spirit, both for the purpose of security and as a sign of ownership; and God has given Him as a pledge to the believer that he shall receive an inheritance that is reserved in heaven. If the believer in Christ is not secure (and he is) what does this clear word from God mean concerning the finished work of Christ and the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit? An individual may either be the object of the love of God or the wrath of God. There is no middle ground. Those who are lost are called the children of wrath.
“Among whom also we all had our conversation (manner of life) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephesians 2:3).
The objects of wrath constitutes being lost and doomed before God.
“He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
On the other hand, to be saved is to be an object of His love “Having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). If it is possible for one who has been saved to be lost, it would of necessity be possible for the one who has been the object of the love of God to be taken out of this lofty and secure position and be made the object of the wrath of God. In searching the scriptures, it will be learned that no scripture teaches such an unthinkable possibility. On the contrary, it is taught that God loves His own with an everlasting love.
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn you” Jeremiah 31:3).
Every believer in Jesus Christ has been chosen before the foundation of the world that they should be before Him in love throughout all eternity.
“According as He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:4).
This amazing function of His grace is a portion of the purpose of God in order to bring praise to the glory of His grace.
“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved” (the beloved is Jesus) (Ephesians 1:5,6).
If it were possible for a child of God to revert into a state of being a child of wrath, then God can be circumvented in His purpose to keep the believer secure forever. It has been demonstrated that this is not a possibility. Furthermore, the word of God emphatically declares, that nothing, or no one, can separate the believer from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, not life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39)
In spite of this powerful scripture there are those who attempt to make this clear declaration null and void by saying, “While it is true that nothing can separate a believer from the love of God, he can of his own will, remove himself from God’s love.” This erroneous statement is due to an incorrect understanding of the free agency of an individual. The passage here in Romans eight clearly excludes any such possibility. If one argues that because man can come to God and be saved, he can also decide by that same will to turn from God and be lost. In other words, he can reverse his action and the associated effects of the action.
No one has ever willed to be born into the human race or possess the power to separate himself and become something he is not or even nothing at all. The freedom to act along a certain line does not imply freedom to reverse that action and the associated effects of the action. Therefore, it does not follow, that because an individual has willed to come to God and be saved, he can will to separate himself and be lost.
The contention that a child of God can separate himself from God and be lost because he is a free moral agent ascribes a power to will and act far greater than can possibly be included under the free moral agency of man. In fact, it makes created man a free agent who has power that is independent of his Creator and Savior. To whatever degree man may operate as a free moral agency, that limited freedom is exercised entirely within the limits of humanity. The freedom to choose does not include the freedom to separate himself from God. There is no possibility for a believer, by will or action, to effect any change in their secure position in Christ. God is faithful and will not change what He has guaranteed and because of what Jesus has declared. “Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
All who are saved are secure for all eternity. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:28-30).
This is the greatest offer ever made to mankind along with the greatest assurance of eternal life. It is greatest because it does not rely on man but exclusively on the very character of God.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not upon your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
Do not be afraid to place all of your trust in Him. To do so is to remove all trust in self and depend on Him, personally. He is unseen and unfelt but is ever near to be called upon in complete dependence to save your eternal soul.
“Call upon Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not” (Jeremiah 33:3).
“All that the father has given me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13: 38,39).
“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? (Hebrews 2:3).
“But God commended His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).
“Christ died for our sins” … (1 Corinthians 15:3).
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6).
