CAN WE TAKE GOD’S LOVE FOR GRANTED?

God’s love towards believers is immeasurable but can we take it for granted?

The apostle Paul tells us that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God once we have been saved:

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39).

If we belong to Him, Jesus tells us our eternal security is secured:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29).

Furthermore, God keeps us in His love and favour:

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 1:24).

The above references seem to tell us that once we have been saved, we can be rest assured that God will always be on our side, no matter what happens. Since we have already bought our ticket to heaven, it will be smooth sailing all the way. No worries.

                                                                         

         

But can we take God’s love for granted? Like the foolish virgins in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13)?  http://bit.ly/1L0vOLy

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

The foolish virgins are those who profess to be believers but are careless and complacent. They did not carry with them extra oil to keep their lamps burning just in case the bridegroom got delayed. In other words, they just took God’s love for granted.

Like many presumptuous believers in church today, the foolish virgins addressed the groom by the name, "Lord, Lord" (Matthew 25:11). That means they were not outside the circle of believers but had a relationship with the Lord once upon a time. Sadly, they lost their spiritual fervour with the passage of time and were told by the bridegroom, “I don’t know you.”

And, finally, they were shut out from the wedding celebration / heaven.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins emphasises the need to stay spiritually prepared as we await the appearance of the bridegroom, who is a picture of Christ who will return to earth. Keeping one’s lamp filled with oil means staying close to God, constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit. When a person thinks he has more than enough time to get ready, he is seriously tempted to be complacent and spiritually lax. It’s worse if he espouses the ‘feel good’ teaching of eternal security (Once Saved, Always Saved, OSAS in short). 

As to whether we can take God's love for granted, let the readers of this blog speak up as well. Let their voices be heard. 

As such, I would like to share an unedited comment  by Pastor Dr Charles Alphonso on my “Parable of the Ten Virgins” article, http://bit.ly/1L0vOLy. 

It was made through the comment section of the “Christianity Malaysia” website on March 13, 2015:  **

"A wonderfully written and presented Article covering all bases with respect to the very essence of the Article. 

Some of the gems that we can and should extract from this Article is that we should never take GOD’s Love for us for granted and become complacent even for a moment in our Christian walk or should I say Christian Race, using Apostle Paul’s analogy to a race in our journey through life. 

That is to even regress a little bit from our Christian walk/race on the narrow but well lit GOD LAMP-LIT Path and from what GOD has so freely given us in CHRIST JESUS, in particular our Salvation among the many other blessings i.e. Rewards, as Mr Lim Poh Ann puts it.

And yes, I certainly agree with him that we can be forfeited our Salvation, if we persist in this entrapment that we place ourselves in – SIN. For it is a willful choice whether to sin or not to sin, so help us GOD we should pray to remain without sinning and to be working well towards our Salvation opportunity.

Finally, we cannot be adherents to the Theology as underwritten in Calvinism which underpins the philosophy of ‘Once Saved Always Saved’. This is harboring on human fantasy and, by default,  even on Theological heresy, if I could say so.

Thank you dear Mr. Lim Poh Ann, for your sharing in this and timely warning Article, as we come closer to the Passion Week, which begins on March 29th – i.e. Palm Sunday and continuing till April 5th – the Resurrection Sunday Celebration of our LORD and SAVIOR’s conquest over sin and death, paving the way to our Salvation.

GOD BLESS you and all who may read this comment too; stay strong always in the Faith so that we would never be Shut Out, but to be most fortunate in being Shut In. Amen."

‘IN CHRIST WE REMAIN, WITHOUT CHRIST WE PERISH!’

**   http://christianitymalaysia.com/wp/loss-of-rewards-vs-loss-of-salvation/#comment-83114

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SAVED AND SECURE?

Is there eternal security for believers if they deny God or continue living in sin?

http://bit.ly/1mIQKvq

SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT

Five ways believers could possibly jeopardise their eternal destiny

http://bit.ly/1nm6nuK

WHY PERSEVERANCE IS NEEDED

Why we have to be steadfast in our journey of faith. What are the possible consequences if we fail to persevere?

http://bit.ly/1imb1GN

REPETITIVE SINNING

What fate awaits those who sin repeatedly?

http://bit.ly/1hhs75c

HOW TO QUICKLY ACCESS PORRIDGE

                                                                             

For a quick overview: http://bit.ly/1ijiXHp

WHAT CAN GOD DO FOR ME?

Isn’t this true: We’d rather ask God what He can do for us than what we have to do to please Him?

                                                                    

Here are four instances to illustrate the above premise that we would rather ask what God can do for us than what we have to do to please Him.

Forgiveness without conditions?

In John chapter 8, Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery. Jesus asked her, “Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Who doesn’t want to be forgiven? If we had our way, we would rather receive forgiveness without any conditions attached to it.

However, Jesus sets explicit conditions for His forgiving us. We must repent and turn away from sin. We must not continue living a sinful lifestyle. In this case, the woman had to forsake her immoral lifestyle and return to her husband.

We tend to emphasise God’s love and mercy towards sinners. The need for sinners to bear fruits that befit repentance—personal responsibility—is often not emphasised to the same degree. http://bit.ly/1eKirzG

God keeps us in His love and favour

We like to harp on the fact that God keeps us in the faith: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 1:24).

But we tend to downplay personal responsibility though it is clearly stated: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 1:20-21).

                                                                            

No one can pluck us out from God’s hands

Haven’t we heard this familiar refrain, “Eternal security is assured for believers because no one can pluck us out from Jesus’ hands,” sung by Once Saved, Always Saved (OSAS) adherents?  

After all, who wouldn't want to believe that we're always safe and secure in Jesus’ hands?

But before we hastily jump to the conclusion that no one can snatch or pluck us out from Jesus’ hand (John 10: 28), we need to ask ourselves the not-so-obvious requirements posed by the preceding verse (John 10:27):

• Have we sought to hear His voice, just as sheep hearken to the shepherd’s voice?

• Have much time do we spend getting to know Him?

• Have we obeyed His commands?

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28).

With regards to John 10:27-28, have we been honing our cherry picking skills, reading into the passage what we would like to hear and ignoring the rest?

Saved by faith … and that’s all we need to know

Some compare the Christian life to a walk in the park. They say everything is by faith. You just have to believe in what Jesus has done for you at the cross. Anything more than that smacks of self-effort, pride and legalism. http://bit.ly/1i4ec6W

It is true God saved us not because of our good works but by faith in the finished work of Christ at the cross. However, we cannot insist that henceforth we have no part to play for we are to devote ourselves to good works.

Let’s compare these two verses from Titus chapter 3:

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

 (Titus 3:5)

The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

(Titus 3:8)

Hopefully, after having considered the four examples outlined above, we are convinced that, just as a coin has two sides, there are two parts in the practical outworking of the believers' life—God's part and our part: 

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

Do we value accountability and personal responsibility as much as we celebrate God’s mercy, grace and love towards us?

Accountability is not a dirty word—though it seems that it has become a dirty word. Why?

• Modern-day liberal teachers have made it so.

• Believers prefer to downplay personal responsibility—choosing instead to focus on the blessings and privileges that God can offer them.

People say that this emphasis on accountability borders on legalism and “works righteousness”. However, if believers' works fulfil the following conditions, wouldn’t their deeds be absolutely biblical?

• Works that reflect obedience to God’s commands (John 14:21)

• Works that arise spontaneously in response to God’s grace (Luke 7:36-50)

• Works that are aligned with God’s will (John 4:34)

• Works that draw its strength and inspiration from God (Psalm 84:5, Colossians 1:29)

• Works that genuinely reflect sacrifice (Mark 12: 41-44)

• Works that remain steadfast despite discouragement (1 Corinthians 15:58)

So believers must not lean on the excuse that works are unimportant “since we are now under grace.”

                                                                          

The fact is that accountability does not stop the day we accept Jesus by faith.

RELATED POSTS

DANGER OF PERFORMANCE CULTURE

In our eagerness to perform, have we lost out in that which is most essential?

The church at Ephesus had many things going for them. They were commended in three areas:

They passed with flying colours in three P’s:

1. Performance – excelled in good works.

2. Purity of doctrine – being discerning, they managed to fend off false doctrine.

3. Perseverance – able to endure hardship.

But they failed in one area: First Love. So it’s PASS for three P’s but FAIL for one F.

http://goo.gl/PCEd1J

FOCUSING ON HALF-TRUTHS

Many believers focus on the privileges of being a Christian and forget that there are conditions attached to the blessings. In short, blessings come with responsibilities.

http://bit.ly/1yGV0CE

A WALK IN THE PARK

Some compare the Christian life to a walk in the park. They say everything is by faith. You just have to believe in what Jesus has done for you at the cross. Anything more than that smacks of self-effort, pride and legalism.

http://bit.ly/1i4ec6W

ENJOYING GOD’S FAVOUR: UNMERITED AND MERITED

It’s great to experience God’s unmerited favour. But we must not stop there. There are other ways to gain His favour.

http://bit.ly/NFBmCB

FAITH-WORK COMBO

Though we are saved by faith, we must not forget the fact we are destined for good works. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.”

http://bit.ly/1oE2RYX

HOW TO QUICKLY ACCESS PORRIDGE

                                                                       

For a quick overview: http://bit.ly/1ijiXHp