“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk (live) worthy of the calling wherewith you were called” (Ephesians 4:1).
This encouraging appeal is to those who have been saved by grace through faith to live a life worthy of their calling. The believers conduct is an important part of this admonition. Notice the word “therefore.” It refers to the reason for the appeal. No admonition to live worthily of an individuals station in life means anything without a knowledge of the importance of their position. In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul presented the believer’s exalted position before God. These truths suggest the basis for the appeal to walk worthily.
Any informed believer is aware of their chosen position in Christ and the admonition to be holy and without blame before God in love. Every believer has been predestinated to the high position of sons of God. This privileged position and possession has been established “according to the good pleasure of the will of God” and for the purpose of “praise to the glory of His grace” (Ephesians 1:4-6). The choosing here was according to His foreknowledge, so He did not falter concerning whom He chose. This calling was according to those who were predestined in eternity past. Predestination is “that effective exercise of the will of God by which things before determined by Him are brought to pass.” (C.I. Scofield). It is absolutely certain that nothing can interfere with God’s accomplishment in placing every believer as a son who is without blame before Him in love. This is the most exalted position into which any human being can be placed. It is above all celestial beings in the entirety of the heavenly host. It is all of grace and that which is by grace is from God and therefore is certain. Hence, there can be no question as to its preeminence and accomplishment. God has sealed with the Holy Spirit everyone He has chosen. All that is done by God is according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will.
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1: 11).
All of these gracious acts of God are unto “the praise of the glory of His grace” and “unto the praise of His glory” (verses 12,14). There is no possibility of making any part of these amazing acts of grace to be conditioned, in the slightest, upon the works or merit of man. It is also graciously revealed that God is exercising, for the believer, the same power He exercised in that great manifestation of His power, when He raised Christ from the dead and set Him above all principality and power, might, and dominion. When God’s power is exercised there is certainty in what will be accomplished by the exercise of His omnipotent power. Salvation by grace through faith as a gift of God apart from any work or merit of man places man where he belongs… unable to offer God anything but the unacceptable human fruit from his unworthy hands. God doesn’t need man’s imperfect work; man needs God’s finished work as accomplished by Jesus Christ on the Cross who said “it is finished” (John 19:30). The work of salvation is certainly finished, but the believer’s work never ends. We are to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called and are not to be conformed to the world. The Apostle Paul appeals to the believer to walk worthy of God and for full dedication of body, behavior, and will. The believer’s understanding of eternal security is the greatest impetus for obedient behavior in the life of a Christian. The assurance of having life everlasting diminishes doubt and centers the affection on Christ with whom he is to be perpetually occupied. Notice these faithful and assuring words of scripture.
“For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be weary and faint in your own minds” (Hebrews 12:3).
Where is the focus? It is on Jesus Christ! We are to look to Him! When we look to Him, we become heavenly minded and temporal matters that perish tend to recede.
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
Please notice the challenge before those who have received the mercies of God is that they shall not be conformed to the world. A dedicated life of obedience and consistent behavior depends upon applying the doctrines of the grace of God which demand the eternal security of the believer. Beliefs and behavior patterns must be established by the yesses and no’s within the written word of God. Busyness and body motions can be great but all functions and actions from the believer must be based on a clear understanding of the written word regarding obedience and acceptable behavior. Paul admonished the Corinthians believers in no uncertain terms. Flee fornication based on the fact that their bodies were members of the body of Christ. The position from which to live a righteous life can be no higher. Following this emphatic language was an appeal to glorify God in the body and in the spirit because the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which was in them, and because they were bought with the price of the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own. For you are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20).
Herein, are two unalterable conditions that establish the basis for the appeal. The Holy Spirit who was dwelling within them was there to “ABIDE FOREVER” (John 14:16) and the purchase by the blood of Christ had been both sealed and witnessed by the Holy Spirit until the redemption of the body. The individual who has been purchased and redeemed from the bondage of sin and the condemnation of the law cannot be returned to that state. The seal remains throughout the entire life of the believer. To deny the eternal security of the believer is to reject the full value of the seal and witness of the Holy Spirit. If security is removed from the one who has been redeemed, its life sustaining power vanishes. The doctrine of redemption demands the sure and sealed security of the believer. It is the certainty and unchangeable work that God has accomplished, for the believer, that is the basis for the appeal not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
“Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
A strong admonition to set the affections on things above and not on things on the Earth is based on one of the most powerful statements in the Bible concerning the eternal security of the believer: “Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3: 2,3). Is it possible to be more secure than the person who has been hidden in God so that nothing can touch or affect him? The same prohibition to separate from the unsavory world because of who and what the believer is may be found in the following scriptures:
“You are all children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness, so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:5,6).
“For God has not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9,10).
Every one of these conditions upon which the above appeals are made are compromised, if not destroyed, by the unscriptural teaching that one who has been saved can be lost. Such fallacious teachings deny the unalterable nature of the keeping power of God. It is apparent that incorrect interpretations and a predetermined mindset is responsible for the failure to learn doctrines of the grace of God which are inseparable from the truth of eternal security. A denial of the truth of eternal security makes it impossible to teach these doctrines in their fulness as those who teach against this infallible truth are contributing to the present state of callousness and immaturity that exists in the churches. The most reliable basis for living righteously in the present world is to know that God does what He says He will do and that is… He will save eternally those who call on Him as the Author and Finisher of the work He has accomplished through Jesus Christ. Eternal life is in a person. That person is the only Savior–the Only Savior is Jesus Christ.
“Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but by ME” (John 14:6).
“There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
“For by grace are you saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).
Imperfect man cannot perform sufficient good works that will appease God so that He will allow entrance into heaven. A dry and empty soul must look unto Jesus and walk through the door to Heaven by faith. That door is exclusive… it is the person of Jesus Christ, entrance is only through HIM.
“I AM the door; by me if any man enter in, HE SHALL BE SAVED, and shall go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).
Nothing can more stimulate a desire for knowledge of God’s word than a clear understanding of the fact that an individual is born again of incorruptible seed. This birth provides certainty of being in Heaven with Christ and all who have preceded Him with a like precious faith that is centered exclusively in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
There is no rest until a restless and lost soul rests securely in the Lord Jesus Christ.
