The Facts Of Eternal Life
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The Facts of Eternal Life.
By Gary Harvey
Introduction.
A few years ago, while I was delivering a sermon to the congregation at Little Flock Primitive Baptist Church in Rogers, Arkansas, I uttered the phrase “the facts of eternal life.” I am constantly seeking the best way to teach God’s word. And when those words passed my lips, I knew that God had given me something special, a new and interesting device with which to expound Bible truth. From the pulpit I told my wife Becky to write the phrase down. She did so, and I eventually delivered a series of sermons to the folks at Macedonia under that title.
The phrase “the facts of eternal life” meant more to me the more I thought about it. We commonly speak of the facts of life in a natural sense whereas “the facts of eternal life” refer to the facts of spiritual life. Also, my years in the teaching profession have taught me one thing if nothing else. In any area of study, it is necessary to first know the basic facts before it is possible to reason accurately in that field. It is impossible to reason in the field of algebra without knowing the arithmetic facts. It is impossible to reason in trigonometry without knowing the algebra facts, or to reason in calculus without trigonometry facts.
The same is true of theology. We must first have the facts before we can reason.
A recent fad in education is having third- and fourth-graders write essays when the children do not yet have any grasp of the facts of English syntax, usage or mechanics. These children are constantly asked to express their opinions on a number of weighty, often politically charged subjects. The children do not know the facts on the subject to even have an opinion, and they do not have the grammar and usage facts with which to explain their opinion. But elementary teachers continue to attempt this impossible task and thus for all practical purposes destroy their students’ opportunity to ever learn to really reason accurately and maturely. All for want of the basic facts.
Also, while I was thinking about facts, I thought how important it is to know the facts as groundwork, in order to arrive at correct conclusions. No matter how well we can reason, no matter how intelligent we are, if we start out with false ideas we will always arrive at false conclusions. This is true in all areas of thought, including theology. If I have been taught that 2 + 2=5, all of my calculations will be wrong as a result. And we will do the very same thing in theology if we start with false assumptions about God or man or sin. If we do not have the basic facts of eternal life well in hand, we simply cannot come to the proper conclusions about the many spiritual subjects taught in the Bible.
Years ago, while reading the theologian Charles Hodge, I learned that theology is a science. He also taught me that the Bible, being the revealed will of God, contains the facts about God, man, sin, and Christ, but that it remains for us, as the students of God’s word, to put these facts together in a logical, systematic manner. In this way we understand the truth and depths of God. We become, at least to some degree, systematic thinkers about God: systematic theologians. But this can never happen if we do not possess the basic facts: the facts of eternal life.
This essay is an effort to set forth the facts of eternal life, and some of the logical consequences of those facts. And we must begin of course with the most basic fact of all, God Himself.
The Nature of God.
Fact 1: God has a nature that he cannot go beyond.
The Bible gives us a good description of the nature of God, and tells us some things that He cannot do.
In Isaiah 6, we are told of a great vision God gave the prophet. He saw the Lord high and lifted up. And one of the seraphim there cried unto the other, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (v. 3). The vision God granted Isaiah teaches us that each of the three divine persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirt) is holy.
God is by nature holy. The Bible also describes God as eternal. He changes not. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, if both of these are true, and God is holy and eternal, God cannot do any unholy thing. I do not mean that there is any standard of perfection outside of God that He measures Himself by. If there were such a standard that God had to meet, He would not be sovereign, another description of God’s nature. I do mean that God’s nature is holiness and infinite holiness at that. So, because of God’s nature, all of His actions are holy and can be nothing other than holy.
Fact 2: God cannot lie.
This is stated in Titus 1:2. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Notice also Hebrews 6:18. “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation…” Try to imagine a being that cannot lie. Do not think that God has to keep Himself from lying like we do. His nature is holy. That’s why we are told that he cannot lie, that it is impossible for God to lie.
One logical result of this glorious fact of God’s nature is contained in Titus 1:2. God promised eternal life to some people before the world began. He declared the ultimate end of those people even before the beginning of creation. Now, I lovingly submit that if even one of those people does not get eternal life, God has lied. But we have the glorious teaching of Christ that He would lose none of them. I will lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day, He said. So when God promised eternal life, He could not lie about it because His nature is holy and to lie is an unholy act. We can believe Him.
Another logical result of the fact that God cannot lie is the truth of the word of God. Paul told Timothy, in II Timothy 3:16, that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The doctrine of inspiration does not mean that the men God used to write His word were themselves perfect. They certainly were not; they made many mistakes and the Bible records those mistakes. But it does mean that while they were operating under the inspiration of God they could not make a mistake. God, in this way, gave the word. And He promised in Psalm 12:7 to preserve the word. Remember, God cannot lie and He promised to preserve His word. God’s holy nature, in conjunction with the truth of the inspiration of scripture, proves that the Bible is truth. God cannot lie and He did not lie when He gave the scriptures which, according to Christ, cannot be broken. In other words, they cannot contain a contradiction.
Fact 3: God cannot die.
This is a second logical result from the fact of God’s holy nature. God’s nature is holy, and that makes it impossible for God to sin. Deuteronomy 32:4 describes Him as a “God of truth and without iniquity.” James teaches us that God cannot be tempted with evil. And since it is sin that brings forth death, it follows that God cannot die. It is just impossible. He is eternal.
This glorious doctrine of God’s eternal nature has a very beautiful logical result: the Son of God had to become a human being so that he could die. It was necessary for the Son of God to be made flesh, to be made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death. Godhead cannot die, so the Son of God took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh. He did this for the express purpose of being able to die in place of all of those to whom God promised eternal life before the world began. Amazing grace! The incarnation is a logical result of the fact that God cannot sin or die.
Fact 4: God cannot deny himself.
This is the express teaching of the Bible. “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (II Timothy 2:13). Aren’t you glad that verse is in the Bible? It teaches that God is faithful even if we don’t believe like we should. Even a born again person can have tremendous trouble believing what God says. But God cannot deny himself. Malachi teaches us that He changes not. He doesn’t change His mind about you or your salvation! He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.
God cannot deny himself; he cannot deny his own holy nature. And one aspect of that nature is to punish sin. God is a sin-hating, sin-punishing God. He is of too pure an eye than to even look upon sin. Sin is a stench and an offense against the holiness of God. He will not justify the wicked, that is, He will not declare that they are right. Or as it says in Exodus 24:7, he will “by no means clear the guilty.”
Now at first this would seem to contradict II Timothy 2:13, but it does not. And the reason is in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ was made to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So God punished Christ for the sins of all those to whom he promised eternal life before the world began! God’s holy nature would have it no other way. Our sin had to be punished, either in us or in a substitute. God’s holy nature leads logically to the substitutionary death of our Lord and Savior. Christ gave his life for the sheep. He bore their guilt. He suffered in their place. He offered himself without spot to God on their behalf. And when Christ took upon himself the sins of His people, God poured out his wrath upon His only begotten son, for them. His holiness demanded it. He cannot deny himself.
Nor can God deny the result of this great transaction. Since Jesus Christ paid the sin debt for these people, God will never exact the same payment from them. Their debt is paid! A holy God can never require payment for their sins twice. He can never punish them as He punished Christ. They are free from the law of sin and death. So ultimately speaking, a holy God must grant unto each of them the thing that Christ’s death purchased for them, or otherwise be unholy Himself. Again I am not saying that God does this to obey a law outside Himself; He is a law unto Himself. And He cannot deny Himself.
The Fallen Nature of Man.
Fact 1: Man has a nature, a fallen nature, that he cannot go beyond.
We have established that God has a nature and He cannot act outside it. This is also true for fallen man. Down through the years many theologians have forgotten or ignored the Fall and its universal effect upon mankind. It is very common for these men, in order to justify their Biblical errors about the spiritual ability of fallen man, to rest their case on the fact that man was created in God’s image. While it is quite true that God created man in his own image, the question is this. Is fallen man still in the image of God?
The answer is yes and no. Let me explain.
In the beginning God said, “Let us make man in our image.” We will quickly go astray in our thought if we ignore the plural pronouns in that statement. Let us make man in our image. God is triune. Genesis 1:26 says that God created Adam in that very image. This teaches us that Adam was a triune being from the moment he was created by God. Adam had a body first, and then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. From that moment Adam had a soul and a spirit as well.
We know that man was originally good, because the God who cannot lie declared him to be good. God created man upright, without sin. But God also created man with the potential to fall. Why? I would simply say that God would be worshipped willingly by his creatures. This is even so with Adam. (Since the fall removed our capacity to worship God, it can be said that regeneration renews in us the ability to freely worship Him. But God no more forces us to worship him than he forced Adam.) The obvious fact is that Adam did fall.
After creating Adam, but before creating Eve, God gave him the law of sin and death. See Genesis 2:16-17. He told Adam, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” and God did not lie. So, I know that Adam died on the very day he disobeyed God. Adam and Eve became dead in trespasses and in sins. Think about that. All of the New Testament descriptions of the unregenerate man now apply to Adam and Eve who, a few moments before, were perfect and upright and good and in complete fellowship with God. But now there is no fear of God before their eyes. They do not love God, can not know God, or come to God, or hear God, or understand the things of God, or do anything pleasing in the sight of God. In other words, the fundamental nature of Adam and Eve is now radically different than it was. They are now fallen. They now have only a carnal mind that is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. There is none good, no not one. At this early point in human history, there are only two people, Adam and Eve. Neither of them is good any longer!
And this fallen nature exists in all three parts of fallen man: body, soul, and spirit. Yes, this teaches that even an unregenerate person is a triune being. It’s just that every part of him is at enmity with God.
So the answer to the question “Is man still in the image of God” is both yes and no. Man is still in the image of God as far as being triune. But he is not at all in the image of God as far as his nature or ability is concerned. All three parts of him are dead in sins, totally void of holy, spiritual life. The life that Adam has is not enough like God to have fellowship with God.
But that is not the whole story here.
Before creating man, God had put into place an irrevocable law of nature, a law that has never been broken during all the centuries of time. That is, like begets like. This law is stated in the creation account every time we read the phrase after his kind. What this law means is that one being can only produce another being like it, that the nature is passed down from generation to generation. This law also applies to fallen man, and the scriptures teach abundantly that the fallen nature of man is passed down from parent to child, and that the fallen nature is present from the very moment of conception. As David said, “In sin did my mother conceive me.” This does not mean that David’s mother had an affair. It simply means that David’s father and mother were fallen sinners and consequently David was too. Like produces like.
So the sinful, evil, fallen nature of Adam and Eve has been passed down to every human that has ever been naturally conceived in the history of the world. That means that no man can, in this natural condition, do anything acceptable or pleasing in God’s sight. A man in this condition does NOT believe in God. Many scholars insist that every man, even fallen man, believes in God, in a higher power, and that all men know the difference between right and wrong. And every time such scholars say this, they invariably fall back on the only argument they have: that man was created in the image of God. You see, their false assumption about a fact results in a false conclusion about the nature of the fallen man.
To reason accurately from God’s word, we must not ignore the Fall and its destructive effect. Belief and reverence toward God was stamped on man in his original condition. But he no longer is in that condition. Does a dead man retain any mental faculties? Does he retain emotional faculties? Does a spiritually dead person retain any spiritual faculties? Fallen man will worship anything, even sticks and stones, but worship God he will not. It is completely outside his capacity. He is dead to God. He has no spiritual mind, no spiritual will, no spiritual capacity.
Now the Apostle Paul tells us something about the fall of man in Romans 5:12. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” This means that all men died in Adam, that they all sinned in Adam. I think we can understand this a little better when we realize that we all inherit Adam’s fallen nature, and thus we partake of the consequence of his sin. Verse 18 of this same chapter tells us that “by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,” and that leads me to the next fact of eternal life.
Fact 2: All men deserve hell, that is, eternal separation from God, even those who have not transgressed a law of God. Man’s fallen human nature, in and of itself, merits separation from a holy God.
Yes, this fact is taught in God’s holy word. Again in the book of Romans, 9:10-13, Paul uses the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau to illustrate this point. “And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
Please notice that God pronounced his hatred of Esau before the boy was ever born, before he had done any good or evil. God predicted that many people would cry this to be unfair, but they forget that we are talking about a triune, holy God who cannot lie, sin, die, or deny himself. In fact I would ask you this about God’s statement that he loved Jacob and hated Esau. Which half of that statement is the most amazing to you? Are you flabbergasted that God hated Esau? Or are you flabbergasted that God loved Jacob? I lovingly submit that if you understand the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, you will be amazed that such a God could love any man! You will stand still in wonder that God could ever love Jacob! Or you yourself!
Of course Paul knew what man’s natural reaction to such doctrine would be. He continues in Romans 9 by saying, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” That tells us that God’s love of Jacob was a mercy, and that in turn tells us that Jacob did not deserve it.
Think about what this passage is saying. You do not have to reject Christ to deserve to go to hell. You do not have to reach a certain arbitrary age. You do not have to murder somebody. You do not have to depart the faith once you’ve confessed it. You do not have to commit suicide. Your fallen human nature alone merits separation from God.
Let me refer to one other passage to show that God makes the same statement about the whole human race, not just Esau. Well, actually I will be quoting two passages because Psalm fourteen and Psalm fifty-three are practically identical. But notice Psalm 14:1-3.
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (verse 1). Now, I simply must comment on this verse. Many theologians who ignore the Fall and its consequences, will not admit what this verse says. It says that a fool says in his heart there is no God. It does not say that he knows in his heart there is a God but he just won’t admit it with his mouth. No, the fool says in his heart, in the deepest part of his unregenerate being, that there is no God. He is a true atheist. See, most of the men who deny the effect of the Fall on man also deny that there is such a thing as a true atheist. But this verse, and its companion in Psalm fifty-three, teaches that very thing.
“The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God” (verse 2). Yes, God did take that long look from heaven. He looked down through time and saw every man that would ever exist to see if they would seek God. What did God see when he took this long look? He tells us in the next verse, and what He says is no lie. “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good.” And to make things perfectly clear, the Bible says, “no, not one.”
Not one. Earlier I referred to this text with reference to Adam and Eve, only two. Now we see from the entire passage that it encompasses many more, in fact the whole human family. Man in his fallen nature can not and does not do good.
All men deserve hell.
But let me refer to one other point, found in Romans 8 and Hebrews 11. Paul tells us in Romans, “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” The prepositional phrase in the flesh here means unregenerate, according the context. And in Hebrews we read, “without faith, it is impossible to please him.” Now these two passages cover a lot of ground. A man in his natural condition, in the image of fallen Adam, cannot please God. Hebrews tells us that it is impossible, not unlikely or improbable. Without faith, the fruit of the Spirit, he cannot please God.
Now ponder that. Anything you can think of that would please God is impossible for this natural man to do. Wouldn’t it please God to believe in him? To love him? To acknowledge in our souls that he is God? To know in our hearts that we owe him obedience? To obey Him voluntarily? Or to repent? (How could a natural man ever repent of his own human nature?) But alas, natural man cannot do these things. Neither can he come to God, or worship God, or fear God. There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:10-18).
All men deserve hell, even those who have not yet transgressed a law of God. They can not do anything to please God. How can they possibly earn heaven? As a result of Adam’s transgression of the law of sin and death, they all are condemned and justly so. Remember this is a holy God saying these things.
And although this is all quite depressing, it leads us to the next fact of eternal life.
Fact 3: The salvation of men is God’s decision.
Man is spiritually dead and cannot choose salvation. Or as I have said in preaching many times, eternal salvation must be unconditional because man is in no condition to meet any conditions. God looked and saw that men would never seek Him. They could not possibly, in their fallen human nature, ever deserve it. All they deserve is hell.
So, to use words that are probably inaccurate, God has a “decision” to make concerning fallen man. And that decision is to save, or not to save.
God does not have to save anyone. He is not obligated to do so. Man’s fall and man’s sinful nature do not in any way make it incumbent upon God to save anyone. He does not owe it to them. In fact, if He owes them anything, He owes them hell, according to their nature and their works. If God had chosen to do nothing concerning man’s sin, it would in fact have been just and right and holy.
The proof of that can be seen in the fallen angels and their doom. The fallen angels were originally created good too, just like men. But they too fell, probably about one third of them. They are now Satan and his angels, as the scriptures describe them. They are very active enemies to God, going to and fro in the earth, seeking whom they may devour. And, according to Matthew 25:41, there is a place prepared for them, and it is described as everlasting fire.
The Bible says that Satan and his angels are going to hell at the end of time. God is going to say to them, “Depart from me” and they are going to do what God says. But very few people realize what this means concerning God and man. In fact, it took me a long time to realize it.
God has not done one thing in order to save the fallen angels. He has not chosen them or made any plan in order to save them. And don’t forget that this is a God who is holy and can not do wrong. And this God did nothing about the angels that fell. They are doomed to eternal woe and they know it.
And if God had chosen to overlook the entire human race just like that, it would have been perfectly legal justice. The fact that God did not save angels proves that God did not have to save men either. He certainly could have saved the angels because He can do all things; He has the power to do it. But He did not do it.
If you ask me why, the only Biblical answer I can give is that it did not please Him to do it. Our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. It did not please God to save any of the angels, and this leads to the next fact.
Fact 4: God chose to save and chose whom to save.
We should not be offended at this fact because scripture states that man did not choose salvation, but that God chose to save man. I wish all people could see that it is a mercy (GRACE!) that God chose to save any.
God chose to save. He had His mind made up about it before He ever created the universe. Before man had a problem God had the remedy. In other words, God had in His mind the plan of salvation before there were any men to save or any sin to save them from. We often refer to this plan as the covenant of grace. A covenant is simply an agreement between parties about what they are going to do. This covenant was between the three persons of the Godhead about what they were going to do in order to save men. Without this covenant, no one would ever be saved because no man had the power to save himself or even to help save himself. God must do all the saving, or it won’t get done.
This agreement, this covenant is described in some of the most incredible language in scripture. Ephesians 1:3-6: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 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 hath made us accepted in the beloved.” God chose to save and here is how He did it. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Why did He do that? So we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. What is the device God used? He predestinated us to be adopted by Jesus Christ. And all of this is to the praise of the glory of his grace. And in grace, and by grace, He has made us accepted in Christ!
Please remember that God has done all of this for people who deserve to go to hell and have no love for Him. They are described elsewhere as dead in sins, ungodly, sinners, and enemies of God. These are the very people God looked down on and saw could do no good. Yet He chose them anyway. That, my friend, is grace.
Romans 8:29 describes it this way: “Moreover whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
This passage does not say that God has predestinated all things that happen, or that we are just puppets on a string. God did not predestinate all things whatsoever come to pass; He is not the author of sin. But notice here that God’s people are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. God also tells us here that they will be called, justified, and glorified. These things must happen for a fallen man to be like the resurrected Christ, and since man cannot do them for himself, God chose to save men by doing these things for them and to them. In that covenant of grace, the persons of the Godhead agreed to do all of these things for God’s people. This is how they are saved. God the Father chose them, Christ redeemed them, and the Holy Spirit quickens them. None of this was left to chance. Hallelujah!
The Nature of God’s Plan of Salvation, or The Everlasting Blood Covenant.
Fact 1: The eternal salvation of men is unconditional on man’s part.
That statement is the heart and soul of why grace is amazing. Man in nature is dead in sins; he has no spiritual life. And since life always precedes action, a man who is spiritually dead cannot perform any spiritual act. In fact, the best definition of life that I ever read is the following: “the capability to respond to a stimulus.” Now just transfer that over into the spiritual realm and you will see that a spiritually dead man cannot respond to a spiritual stimulus. He is without life. And since the gospel is spiritual, we know that a spiritually dead man cannot respond to the gospel. A man must first have spiritual life, that is, he must first be born again, before he will ever be able to understand the gospel. See I Corinthians 2:14. The eternal salvation of God’s people must be unconditional because fallen man is in no condition to meet any conditions.
Fact 2: God chose his people in Christ before the world began.
I have already referred to Ephesians 1: 4 where we are told that God chose His people in Christ before the world began. This is also taught in I Corinthians 1:30. “But of him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus.” This teaches us that it is God that put us in Christ Jesus and not we ourselves. God put us in Christ before the world began.
This group of chosen or elect people is called by many names in scripture, one of the most obvious being sheep. Christ frequently referred to the sheep and often called them my sheep. Notice John 10:27-30. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my father’s hand.” So far, in these verses we have been told that Jesus has some sheep, that they hear His voice, that He knows them, and that He gives to them eternal life. Also no man can pluck them out of His father’s hand. That sounds like they are pretty secure to me. The next verse (29) refers to election. “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.”
God gave these sheep to Christ. This harmonizes beautifully with I Corinthians 1:30 and Ephesians 1:4, which I have already quoted. Now, check out the election in another passage, John 6:37-39. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”
That is one amazing passage! It teaches that the Father gave some people to Christ, that they will all come to Christ (they will all be born again), and that Christ will not loose any of them, but raise them up at the last day!
Fact 3: Christ redeemed all of the elect.
This is probably the central doctrine of all Christianity and, I might add, the central and pivotal event in all of world history. The life of Christ is the hinge that history turns upon. Jesus said in John 10:15, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” The sheep, again. And just a few verses later Christ says, “I give unto them eternal life.” One of my favorite verses in all the Bible is Revelation 5:9. Here John is getting a glimpse into glory and he sees a vast multitude there. “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
Just look at the doctrinal teaching in that verse. Christ redeemed us. He redeemed the elect. His death actually accomplished this. It did not make it a possibility or a potentiality. His death made the elect’s redemption a reality, a certainty.
Notice now that Christ redeemed the elect to God. His death redeemed the sheep, or the elect, all the way back to God, not just part of the way. Christ did not redeem you part of the way to God and then you must kick and scratch and claw and pray yourself the rest of the way. No! He redeemed you to God.
Christ redeemed the elect to God by his blood. Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, His shed blood, is the thing that redeemed the elect. His blood removed their sins, washed them clean, made them completely innocent of all sin. Imagine that. This is why Paul asked in Romans, “Who can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” The answer to that question is no one. No one can lay any sin to the charge of the elect because it is Christ that died and shed his blood and washed away their sins!
Christ redeemed the elect to God by his blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. Please notice this glorious thought, that Christ’s blood washed away the sins of the elect, from every family, every kindred, every nation, and every language! God chose to save, and He chose to save a vast number of people, from all over the world and in every walk of life. Christ’s blood atoned for the souls of all of the elect, wherever and whoever they may be!
There are theologians who object to that glorious doctrine. I think it is because Christ redeemed all different kinds of people. Yes, my friend, Christ shed his blood for pagans and Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus. And yes, Christ’s shed blood washed away all of their sins, even their sins of false belief and false practice! How can people object to such glorious grace and mercy? I am afraid that they may think such folks don’t deserve it. Well, that is true. They don’t. But neither do we here in America. The bottom line is that there is no difference in redeeming a pagan and an American. They are both dead in sins and completely helpless, spiritually speaking.
Incidentally, I have found something to be quite ironic down through the years. Folks who insist that Christ died for everyone so that they can have a chance to go to heaven are not bothered by the fact that Christ died for pagans, Muslims, etc. But if you tell them that Christ not only died for these people but actually redeemed them and that they will go to heaven, they cry foul. It is as if they cannot accept the fact that Christ’s death alone was sufficient to redeem all for whom he died. But praise the Lord, it was!
Fact 4: The Holy Spirit quickens all of the elect.
If anything this doctrine is even more glorious than redemption. It teaches that the Holy Spirit (which is just as much God as the Father or the Son, don’t forget!) quickens each of the elect at some point during their life. The Holy Spirit does this alone, without any human help whatsoever, and without fail. This doctrine is sometimes called immediate, Holy Spirit regeneration. The word immediate in that definition means that the Holy Spirit does not use any mediator to do this work; the Spirit does the work itself. One reason why this is so is that regeneration is also a creation, a new creation (II Cor. 5:17), and only God can create. Another way of looking at this is that the Holy Spirit applies the redemption bought and paid for by the death of Christ, as God purposed in the covenant of grace before the world began. This application of Christ’s redemption takes place in the spirit and soul of the person being born again, in what the Bible calls the inner man or inward man.
None of this work is dependent upon the efforts of man. Remember the doctrine of depravity, that man dead in sins has no spiritual ability, no spiritual life and cannot perform spiritual actions (such as feeling guilt toward God for sin). Regeneration is unconditional on man’s part; that is, it is by grace. Man does not and cannot do anything in order to be born again.
This truth is very beautifully described in many places in scripture.
In Ezekiel 16, the prophet goes into an amazing, and almost gory, description of Jerusalem. God wants Jerusalem to know her abominations, her true condition of sinfulness and the power of God it took to save her. Notice verses 4-5.
“And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out into the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day wast born.”
This baby has been born dead. It is not washed, or diapered, or salted to protect it from disease. The baby’s navel is not cut. It is thrown into a field in this condition. What a horrible (but accurate) physical description of man’s spiritual condition before regeneration! Dead, bloody, filthy.
But look at the next verse.
“And when I (the Lord) passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast polluted in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.”
This may be the clearest, most detailed description of the very moment of regeneration in the Bible. Here the prophet is using a physical description of the giving of spiritual life. The baby is dead, unwashed, lying in an open field. The Lord comes to the baby, and utters a creative command: LIVE! He does not ask the baby if it wants life. He does not give the baby any condition to meet. The Lord does not command the baby to do anything. Think about it: if the Lord had said to the baby, “Move your finger, or bat your eyes, and I will give you life,” the baby would never have gotten life. Just as Adam’s body was dead before God gave it life (unconditionally!), this baby is dead before the Lord’s commandment gives it life.
Notice also that the dead baby has no power to resist the act of God in giving it life. It has no mind, no power, no will with which to resist. If God stood there and waited until the dead baby got willing to have life, would the baby ever have had life? No, the dead are not willing and cannot be made willing to receive eternal life. To be willing, you must already be alive. This is why John 1:13 teaches us that we are not spiritually born “of the will of the flesh” or “of the will of man” but “of God.” Amen!
Another physical illustration of regeneration is found when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. It is a very beautiful picture of the giving of spiritual life, when properly viewed. Remember when Christ finally arrives at the grave, Lazarus has been dead four days. His body is already decomposing. Christ tells them to roll the stone away from the cave where Lazarus lay. Martha warns that he stinks.
Then Christ utters the same irresistible, creative commandment of Godhead. “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43). “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin.” Lazarus was wrapped in linen cloth from head to foot and his face was covered. I think he probably looked like a mummy. So he could not have walked or run or skipped out of that grave. I believe he floated out! Lazarus had no will or power to either help or resist coming out of that grave. He was drawn out by the life-giving power of the voice of the Son of God. And regeneration is the spiritual equivalent of this very act.
By the way, there were other people, probably including preachers, present when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. But they didn’t have anything to do with getting Lazarus out of that grave. They just stood and watched Christ work. After Lazarus is raised, Christ then turns to them and says, “Loose him, and let him go” (verse 44). That is the job of the preacher. That is the purpose of the gospel. Not to give eternal life, but to loose the born again child of God from the death clothes of his fallen human nature! Amen. The spiritual parallels in this story are powerful.
Earlier in the book of John is another very fascinating verse. It is found in John 5:25 and it too describes regeneration. However, it describes it in a slightly different way, as an ongoing work of the Son of God. This is of course a correct point of theology. God has been regenerating his people since Adam and Eve fell in the garden and this sovereign work of Holy Spirit God will continue, on an individual, case-by-case basis, until the last elect person is born again. Now, notice the verse, which contains the words of our Savior.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” Wow, what a verse! First Christ gets us to sit up and pay attention to what He is about to say: “Verily, verily, I say unto you.” Truly, truly I say unto you. You should believe what I am about to tell you. “The hour is coming and now is”: the work I am about to describe is going on now and it will continue to go on in the future. “When the dead”, that is, the dead in sins, “shall hear the voice of the Son of God.” Not the voice of the preacher or the church or their parents or the evangelist. None of those voices have creative, life-giving power. But the voice of the Son of God does, and the rest of the verse proves it. “And they that hear shall live.” Every time. No matter where they are in the world, no matter their intellectual or educational status, no matter their age, no matter their sinfulness! Hallelujah! As Jonah cried out in the belly of the whale, Salvation is of the Lord!
The doctrine of immediate Holy Spirit regeneration is a critically important fact of eternal life. It explains why Christ could teach that He will lose none of His sheep, how they will all be with Him in heaven, how Paul could declare that nothing is able to separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. It also shows us that it is impossible for any person that Christ died for to die and go to hell. We see further that God’s plan of sovereign grace includes many, many more than most people think. Lots of people think that the doctrine of grace encompasses only a few, what men have called the “chosen few.” But nothing could be further from the truth. The elect family of God is not a few, but a vast multitude of people, from all walks of life, many of whom, maybe even most of whom, will never understand in this life what Christ has done for them (because that understanding comes through belief of the gospel). The number of saved people is not limited by what man does or does not do.
In fact, I would lovingly ask you to consider this: the more conditions that a theological theory requires of a person to be born again, the fewer people that theory can consistently expect to be saved. If a person must hear the gospel, and repent, and accept Christ, and be baptized, and continue faithful throughout life, and repent of every sin during life, there will only be a few in heaven. But since regeneration, and in fact all of our eternal salvation, is accomplished by God and is not dependent upon what men do, we can understand why God told Abraham to count the stars and that his seed would be numberless like the stars. Or the sand of the seashore. Out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and family under heaven. God’s grace reaches where men cannot reach, where the gospel cannot be preached, where churches aren’t allowed to exist, where Bibles are forbidden and burned, and where evangelists are imprisoned and murdered. Only God’s amazing grace can account for the salvation of unborn infants (John the Baptist, Jeremiah) and nursing children (David) being born again and yielding praises to God. Only God’s amazing grace can reach the mentally impaired, who cannot grasp the gospel message. Only God’s eternal plan of unconditional election and predestination can account for the salvation of all the folks who lived in the Old Testament, before any form of New Testament gospel was ever heard. And all of these individuals and cases are saved in exactly the same way. “Even so is every one that is born of the spirit” (John 3:8). God has only one method of salvation. He doesn’t have two or three. He does not need a back-up plan, because His first (and only) plan was absolutely perfect! Let us praise and serve Him!
Finally, let me refer to Romans 11:5-6. These verses of scripture make a powerful point about grace as opposed to works. “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” I have often thought how this verse sounds like double-talk, and many places in scripture will seem that way unless we properly understand them. Here the Apostle is simply saying that grace and works do not mix. Salvation is either of grace or works, not a combination of the two, otherwise the definitions of these words mean nothing. In other words, we are being inconsistent theologically to say, “Sure, salvation is by grace, but here’s what you have to do to get it.” That statement contains an inherent contradiction in terms and cannot be true, according to scriptural logic.
Fact 5: Regeneration is also a glorification in the inner man.
This is a very important point to remember when we think of regeneration. I have already shown that regeneration is described in scripture as a creation, but it is also described as a glorification. The new creature that is produced by the life-giving, universe-creating voice of the Son of God is truly born of God, born from above. The Holy Ghost comes upon them (Ezekiel 16) and the power of the Highest overshadows them, and a holy thing is produced within them. Don’t forget that God has instituted that irrevocable law of like begets like, so when a person is born of God their new creature, their inner man is like God. It is created in His image. (Incidentally, this is a further proof that human and gospel means can have nothing to do with regeneration.)
I think Romans 8:29-30 describes this act of God beautifully. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Here the word “foreknow” means to love intimately beforehand. I have loved them with an everlasting love, God tells us in Jeremiah 31:3. Notice that God has predestinated that these people be conformed to the image of Christ. This again was agreed upon between the persons of the Godhead in the covenant of grace before time. So it is logical to conclude that regeneration conforms the inner man of the child of God to the image of the glorified Christ.
Now verse 30. “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Notice the three terms Paul uses here to describe what God does to a person when they are born again: called, justified, glorified. They are called from death in sins to life in Christ (again, just like the baby in Ezekiel 16) by the voice of the Son of God (John 5:25). The inner man of the child of God is justified, that is, made just, pure, sinless. And it is also glorified, which means that it is not only sinless and perfect but will remain that way!
Paul says something else very interesting in Ephesians 4:24. In this verse, and the verses immediately before it, Paul is admonishing us to put off evil deeds and be renewed in the spirit of our spiritual mind. Then he tells us to put on the “new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” This passage tells us that the inner man, here called the new man (If any man be in Christ he is a new creature!) is created after God. Now that cannot mean that the inner man was created after God was created because God is eternal and never was created. What it does mean is that the inner man is created in the image of God and then Paul further describes what that means: in righteousness and true holiness. Isn’t that amazing?
Well, how holy and how righteous is your inner man? We learn that from I John 3:9. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” This verse obviously does not mean that a born again child of God never ever sins again. That is a denial of the tenor of the whole Bible. But it does mean that the part of you which is born of God (the inner man) cannot sin. This verse also teaches that it is a person, a whosoever. It is also referred to here as a seed and that is none other than the seed of God Himself. Notice that the seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now, don’t forget that this is talking about the inner man, not your flesh, not your body. This explains beautifully what we learned a moment ago in Ephesians: that the inner man is created in righteousness and true holiness. This perfect, sinless, glorified new creature dwells within each and every born again child of God.
Until that individual dies, that is. One of the most blessed promises in all the Bible is that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord. Now stop and think about that just a second. How could the inner man inside you go into the very presence of God if it were not already holy? If it were not already sinless? And pure? And fit to live in heaven? If it were not, in a word, glorified? And your inner man has been in that condition, glorified and ready to fly away to heaven, since the blessed moment that God spoke life into your depraved soul. From that moment, you have been a new creature in Christ. Your inner man did not have to have anything else done to it for it to be ready to go to heaven. The new creation did it all!
Now before I continue, let me answer a couple of questions that often arise at this point. The first has to do with the purpose of the gospel. What is it for? If the gospel is not the means by which God gives eternal life, what exactly is it? And the other question has to do with good works. The Bible is explicitly clear that we are to be careful to maintain good works. So where do the gospel and works fit in?
The Bible has the answers here also. A general guiding principle is that of cause and effect. We must understand from the doctrine of depravity that good works cannot be the cause of eternal life; they are in fact a result of eternal life. Spiritual life precedes spiritual action. This principle is taught in Galatians 5:22-23, where we learn about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. These are all by-products of regeneration; they are not causes of it. So, when I see someone who loves God, has joy in their soul, etc, I can know that they are a child of God already. They do not need to be born again; they already are. Notice especially the word “faith” in that list. We understand from this passage that faith is not the cause of eternal salvation but an effect of salvation. You do not have to exercise faith to be born again; you must be born again in order to have faith in the first place! So when we read passages that talk about obedience and works, we must realize first of all that they are fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit, through regeneration, must be in a person first before they will be able to bear fruit in the service of God.
The purpose of the gospel is defined in II Timothy 1:9-10. Verse nine tells us that our eternal salvation is “not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” Look at the grace in that passage! Now verse 10: “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” There is the Bible definition of the purpose of the gospel. It does not and cannot bring eternal life; only the life-giving voice of God can do that. But the gospel does bring life and immortality to light. It teaches us what Christ has done for us. And it also teaches us how to behave ourselves so that we may have a close fellowship with God while we live. Most of the time in the Bible, the word save in its various forms isn’t referring to heaven at all. There is a great salvation in hearing and obeying the gospel, but it is salvation or deliverance from errors and sins and their consequences while we live here on earth.
One final thought on this topic. There is a huge difference between our relationship with God and our fellowship with God. Our relationship with God was established by the blood of Christ plus nothing. Because of Christ’s finished work, God is our Father and nothing can sever that relationship. Look again at Romans 8:38-39. There is no creature in the universe that can separate you from the love of God. He is and eternally will be your heavenly Father. It is impossible for any person Christ died for to go to hell! But, we can and often do cause a breach in our fellowship with God. Our sins can cause Him to be angry with us and to chastise us, as He did his people Israel on many occasions in history. So the gospel, which teaches us how to live and how to please God, will also show us how to live the abundant life Christ spoke of. Remember He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Fact 6: Christ rose from the grave after three days and nights.
Here we return to the history of Christianity. Christ laid down his life for the sheep, just as He said he would. But He also rose again the third day, just as He said. This is the central fact of Christianity and the thing that separates it from all other religions in the world. The founders of all other major world religions died and never rose again. Only the founder of Christianity did that, and it proved many things about Him and about his work.
It proved that He was who He said he was: the Son of the Living God. Many people who wish to deny this central fact of eternal life say that Christ was a good man, a good teacher, and that He did many good things. But they deny that He was the Son of God, the second person in the trinity. Now, if Christ was not the Son of God He was either an impostor or a madman. He claimed to be equal with God all during His ministry. I and my Father are one. If He was not the Son of God, what a liar He was. A fraud and an impostor and probably one of the craziest people ever to live. He claimed to be God!
But He was God and his resurrection proved it.
Paul teaches us explicitly on this profound point in Romans 1:3-4. In these verses Paul speaks “Concerning his [God’s] Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh: And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Christ’s resurrection from the dead proved that he was the eternal Son of God who spoke this universe into existence.
Christ’s resurrection also proved that he had in fact redeemed his entire family from sin by his death on the cross, that he had satisfied the justice of God Almighty on their behalf. Paul teaches us this in Romans 5:25 where again he speaks concerning Christ, “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” The word justification there means “to declare just.” So, Christ’s resurrection proved that he had made all of the elect family just, perfect, and sinless in the sight of a holy God.
Christ’s resurrection proved one final glorious point, and this is taught in I Corinthians 15: 20 and 23. His resurrection proves that all of the elect, all of the family of God, without the loss of one, will also be resurrected on the last day. They will all be conformed to image of the resurrected Christ, even in their bodies.
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Christ was the first person to be resurrected and glorified, the firstfruits. And in the Bible, the firstfruits were a guarantee of the whole crop. Paul explains this exactly in verse 23: “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits: afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” The expression they that are Christ’s tells us that they are bought with a price and that they belong to Him. And they will be raised from the dead at His coming. As Christ said on one occasion, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
The full significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ will probably never be known by mortal man. It is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the bedrock of our entire belief system. Let me encourage the reader to slowly and reverently read the entirety of I Corinthians 15.
Fact 7: Christ ascended back to heaven about forty days after his resurrection.
This amazing fact of eternal life is taught in Acts 1:1-11. We are told that Christ appeared after his resurrection for a period of forty days, during which he proved infallibly that it was he. He taught his disciples more concerning the kingdom of heaven and told them that they would receive special power when the Holy Ghost came upon them. This of course took place on the day of Pentecost. He also repeated the Great Commission to them.
“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel: Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
This is the Bible description of how Christ left this world. And it is also a big hint about how Christ will return to this world. That hint is contained in the expression in like manner. Christ will return at the end of time much as he left here in Acts 1. His second coming will not be a giant secret. People will see him when he returns as they saw him when he left. He will come in a cloud as he left in a cloud. It is just that simple. Many incredible and unscriptural theories are promoted about Christ’s second coming. Some try to scare God’s people half to death with graphic depictions of nightmarish horrors. Most of these theories come from grossly misinterpreting some difficult passages in the Bible. But any accurate theory about Christ’s second coming will harmonize with this beautiful passage in Acts 1. He will return in like manner, not in a radically different manner!
Which leads us to one final and amazing fact of eternal life.
Fact 8. Christ will return to earth and raise all the dead from the graves on the last day of this world.
Notice that this fact harmonizes with the other facts of eternal life, especially fact 7. This final fact of eternal life is sometimes referred to as the general resurrection. And it is taught throughout the New Testament scriptures.
First of all, Paul teaches us in I Corinthians 15 that our bodies must be resurrected or changed in order to go to heaven. The human body was designed to live on this earth. It cannot live elsewhere. And if it is ever to go to heaven, as Christ’s body did in Acts 1, it too must have something done to it by God.
Here’s how Paul says it in I Corinthians 15:51-55. “Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” All of God’s redeemed will undergo the bodily change described here. This of course includes those in the graves when Christ returns and those who are still alive then. Their bodies will be made incorruptible and immortal, which will enable them to bodily stand in the presence of a holy God. And their bodies will never die after this.
Now notice John 5:28-29, which gives us some more information about Christ’s return and the resurrection. “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life: and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” This passage tells us that the resurrection will take place in one hour and that all the dead will come forth, both saved and unsaved, at the same time. There will only be one resurrection, not two or three. Language could hardly be any clearer.
John 6:37-40 gives us still more information about the resurrection, including when it will occur in the history of the world. I have already described how this verse teaches the doctrine of grace. Notice now what it says about the timing of the resurrection. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” We learn from this tremendous passage that the resurrection, which will include all that are in the graves, will take place on the last day of the history of this world.
And finally, the classic passage concerning the after-effect of the resurrection, I Thessalonians 4:13-18. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.”
Let me pause here before I give the rest of the text. Notice how Paul describes the two groups he is talking about. The first group is asleep and also them which sleep in Jesus. The second group is we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. So the first group is God’s children who have already died, whose spirits have gone to heaven. And when Jesus comes back He will bring them all with him. Amazing! Please notice that Paul is not talking about the unsaved here. We know from John 5 that the lost will be raised in the same hour as these saved people, but Paul is not talking about them in I Thessalonians 4. Also the word “prevent” in this passage means “hinder, or go before.” So we learn that those who are alive when Christ returns will not hinder or go before those who are dead.
Now the rest of the passage. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Christ will descend and raise the dead first, that is, first with reference to those who are alive and remain. When He raises the dead, as taught in this passage, He will raise all that are in the graves, as taught in John 5 and elsewhere. The dead in Christ will not only rise from the graves, but rise into the air. Then all of God’s children who are alive at the time will meet them in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord in heaven.
It all seems too good to be true. But it is true! You have God’s word on it, and don’t forget: He cannot lie!
Conclusion.
The facts of eternal life teach us that salvation is completely the work of Almighty God. The holy nature of God, the fallen nature of man, and the nature of God’s plan of salvation all show just how amazing the grace of God really is. The eternal salvation of God’s sheep is not based on their works, neither on works they must perform to get eternal life, nor on works they must perform to keep eternal life. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. And these facts of eternal life are the foundational principles that the rest of God’s revealed truth rests upon. We must never forget the basic facts as we continue to learn more and more of God’s word. Without a good grasp of the facts of eternal life, we cannot rightly divide the word of truth.
By Gary Harvey
Introduction.
A few years ago, while I was delivering a sermon to the congregation at Little Flock Primitive Baptist Church in Rogers, Arkansas, I uttered the phrase “the facts of eternal life.” I am constantly seeking the best way to teach God’s word. And when those words passed my lips, I knew that God had given me something special, a new and interesting device with which to expound Bible truth. From the pulpit I told my wife Becky to write the phrase down. She did so, and I eventually delivered a series of sermons to the folks at Macedonia under that title.
The phrase “the facts of eternal life” meant more to me the more I thought about it. We commonly speak of the facts of life in a natural sense whereas “the facts of eternal life” refer to the facts of spiritual life. Also, my years in the teaching profession have taught me one thing if nothing else. In any area of study, it is necessary to first know the basic facts before it is possible to reason accurately in that field. It is impossible to reason in the field of algebra without knowing the arithmetic facts. It is impossible to reason in trigonometry without knowing the algebra facts, or to reason in calculus without trigonometry facts.
The same is true of theology. We must first have the facts before we can reason.
A recent fad in education is having third- and fourth-graders write essays when the children do not yet have any grasp of the facts of English syntax, usage or mechanics. These children are constantly asked to express their opinions on a number of weighty, often politically charged subjects. The children do not know the facts on the subject to even have an opinion, and they do not have the grammar and usage facts with which to explain their opinion. But elementary teachers continue to attempt this impossible task and thus for all practical purposes destroy their students’ opportunity to ever learn to really reason accurately and maturely. All for want of the basic facts.
Also, while I was thinking about facts, I thought how important it is to know the facts as groundwork, in order to arrive at correct conclusions. No matter how well we can reason, no matter how intelligent we are, if we start out with false ideas we will always arrive at false conclusions. This is true in all areas of thought, including theology. If I have been taught that 2 + 2=5, all of my calculations will be wrong as a result. And we will do the very same thing in theology if we start with false assumptions about God or man or sin. If we do not have the basic facts of eternal life well in hand, we simply cannot come to the proper conclusions about the many spiritual subjects taught in the Bible.
Years ago, while reading the theologian Charles Hodge, I learned that theology is a science. He also taught me that the Bible, being the revealed will of God, contains the facts about God, man, sin, and Christ, but that it remains for us, as the students of God’s word, to put these facts together in a logical, systematic manner. In this way we understand the truth and depths of God. We become, at least to some degree, systematic thinkers about God: systematic theologians. But this can never happen if we do not possess the basic facts: the facts of eternal life.
This essay is an effort to set forth the facts of eternal life, and some of the logical consequences of those facts. And we must begin of course with the most basic fact of all, God Himself.
The Nature of God.
Fact 1: God has a nature that he cannot go beyond.
The Bible gives us a good description of the nature of God, and tells us some things that He cannot do.
In Isaiah 6, we are told of a great vision God gave the prophet. He saw the Lord high and lifted up. And one of the seraphim there cried unto the other, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (v. 3). The vision God granted Isaiah teaches us that each of the three divine persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirt) is holy.
God is by nature holy. The Bible also describes God as eternal. He changes not. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, if both of these are true, and God is holy and eternal, God cannot do any unholy thing. I do not mean that there is any standard of perfection outside of God that He measures Himself by. If there were such a standard that God had to meet, He would not be sovereign, another description of God’s nature. I do mean that God’s nature is holiness and infinite holiness at that. So, because of God’s nature, all of His actions are holy and can be nothing other than holy.
Fact 2: God cannot lie.
This is stated in Titus 1:2. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Notice also Hebrews 6:18. “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation…” Try to imagine a being that cannot lie. Do not think that God has to keep Himself from lying like we do. His nature is holy. That’s why we are told that he cannot lie, that it is impossible for God to lie.
One logical result of this glorious fact of God’s nature is contained in Titus 1:2. God promised eternal life to some people before the world began. He declared the ultimate end of those people even before the beginning of creation. Now, I lovingly submit that if even one of those people does not get eternal life, God has lied. But we have the glorious teaching of Christ that He would lose none of them. I will lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day, He said. So when God promised eternal life, He could not lie about it because His nature is holy and to lie is an unholy act. We can believe Him.
Another logical result of the fact that God cannot lie is the truth of the word of God. Paul told Timothy, in II Timothy 3:16, that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The doctrine of inspiration does not mean that the men God used to write His word were themselves perfect. They certainly were not; they made many mistakes and the Bible records those mistakes. But it does mean that while they were operating under the inspiration of God they could not make a mistake. God, in this way, gave the word. And He promised in Psalm 12:7 to preserve the word. Remember, God cannot lie and He promised to preserve His word. God’s holy nature, in conjunction with the truth of the inspiration of scripture, proves that the Bible is truth. God cannot lie and He did not lie when He gave the scriptures which, according to Christ, cannot be broken. In other words, they cannot contain a contradiction.
Fact 3: God cannot die.
This is a second logical result from the fact of God’s holy nature. God’s nature is holy, and that makes it impossible for God to sin. Deuteronomy 32:4 describes Him as a “God of truth and without iniquity.” James teaches us that God cannot be tempted with evil. And since it is sin that brings forth death, it follows that God cannot die. It is just impossible. He is eternal.
This glorious doctrine of God’s eternal nature has a very beautiful logical result: the Son of God had to become a human being so that he could die. It was necessary for the Son of God to be made flesh, to be made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death. Godhead cannot die, so the Son of God took upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh. He did this for the express purpose of being able to die in place of all of those to whom God promised eternal life before the world began. Amazing grace! The incarnation is a logical result of the fact that God cannot sin or die.
Fact 4: God cannot deny himself.
This is the express teaching of the Bible. “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (II Timothy 2:13). Aren’t you glad that verse is in the Bible? It teaches that God is faithful even if we don’t believe like we should. Even a born again person can have tremendous trouble believing what God says. But God cannot deny himself. Malachi teaches us that He changes not. He doesn’t change His mind about you or your salvation! He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.
God cannot deny himself; he cannot deny his own holy nature. And one aspect of that nature is to punish sin. God is a sin-hating, sin-punishing God. He is of too pure an eye than to even look upon sin. Sin is a stench and an offense against the holiness of God. He will not justify the wicked, that is, He will not declare that they are right. Or as it says in Exodus 24:7, he will “by no means clear the guilty.”
Now at first this would seem to contradict II Timothy 2:13, but it does not. And the reason is in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ was made to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So God punished Christ for the sins of all those to whom he promised eternal life before the world began! God’s holy nature would have it no other way. Our sin had to be punished, either in us or in a substitute. God’s holy nature leads logically to the substitutionary death of our Lord and Savior. Christ gave his life for the sheep. He bore their guilt. He suffered in their place. He offered himself without spot to God on their behalf. And when Christ took upon himself the sins of His people, God poured out his wrath upon His only begotten son, for them. His holiness demanded it. He cannot deny himself.
Nor can God deny the result of this great transaction. Since Jesus Christ paid the sin debt for these people, God will never exact the same payment from them. Their debt is paid! A holy God can never require payment for their sins twice. He can never punish them as He punished Christ. They are free from the law of sin and death. So ultimately speaking, a holy God must grant unto each of them the thing that Christ’s death purchased for them, or otherwise be unholy Himself. Again I am not saying that God does this to obey a law outside Himself; He is a law unto Himself. And He cannot deny Himself.
The Fallen Nature of Man.
Fact 1: Man has a nature, a fallen nature, that he cannot go beyond.
We have established that God has a nature and He cannot act outside it. This is also true for fallen man. Down through the years many theologians have forgotten or ignored the Fall and its universal effect upon mankind. It is very common for these men, in order to justify their Biblical errors about the spiritual ability of fallen man, to rest their case on the fact that man was created in God’s image. While it is quite true that God created man in his own image, the question is this. Is fallen man still in the image of God?
The answer is yes and no. Let me explain.
In the beginning God said, “Let us make man in our image.” We will quickly go astray in our thought if we ignore the plural pronouns in that statement. Let us make man in our image. God is triune. Genesis 1:26 says that God created Adam in that very image. This teaches us that Adam was a triune being from the moment he was created by God. Adam had a body first, and then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. From that moment Adam had a soul and a spirit as well.
We know that man was originally good, because the God who cannot lie declared him to be good. God created man upright, without sin. But God also created man with the potential to fall. Why? I would simply say that God would be worshipped willingly by his creatures. This is even so with Adam. (Since the fall removed our capacity to worship God, it can be said that regeneration renews in us the ability to freely worship Him. But God no more forces us to worship him than he forced Adam.) The obvious fact is that Adam did fall.
After creating Adam, but before creating Eve, God gave him the law of sin and death. See Genesis 2:16-17. He told Adam, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” and God did not lie. So, I know that Adam died on the very day he disobeyed God. Adam and Eve became dead in trespasses and in sins. Think about that. All of the New Testament descriptions of the unregenerate man now apply to Adam and Eve who, a few moments before, were perfect and upright and good and in complete fellowship with God. But now there is no fear of God before their eyes. They do not love God, can not know God, or come to God, or hear God, or understand the things of God, or do anything pleasing in the sight of God. In other words, the fundamental nature of Adam and Eve is now radically different than it was. They are now fallen. They now have only a carnal mind that is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. There is none good, no not one. At this early point in human history, there are only two people, Adam and Eve. Neither of them is good any longer!
And this fallen nature exists in all three parts of fallen man: body, soul, and spirit. Yes, this teaches that even an unregenerate person is a triune being. It’s just that every part of him is at enmity with God.
So the answer to the question “Is man still in the image of God” is both yes and no. Man is still in the image of God as far as being triune. But he is not at all in the image of God as far as his nature or ability is concerned. All three parts of him are dead in sins, totally void of holy, spiritual life. The life that Adam has is not enough like God to have fellowship with God.
But that is not the whole story here.
Before creating man, God had put into place an irrevocable law of nature, a law that has never been broken during all the centuries of time. That is, like begets like. This law is stated in the creation account every time we read the phrase after his kind. What this law means is that one being can only produce another being like it, that the nature is passed down from generation to generation. This law also applies to fallen man, and the scriptures teach abundantly that the fallen nature of man is passed down from parent to child, and that the fallen nature is present from the very moment of conception. As David said, “In sin did my mother conceive me.” This does not mean that David’s mother had an affair. It simply means that David’s father and mother were fallen sinners and consequently David was too. Like produces like.
So the sinful, evil, fallen nature of Adam and Eve has been passed down to every human that has ever been naturally conceived in the history of the world. That means that no man can, in this natural condition, do anything acceptable or pleasing in God’s sight. A man in this condition does NOT believe in God. Many scholars insist that every man, even fallen man, believes in God, in a higher power, and that all men know the difference between right and wrong. And every time such scholars say this, they invariably fall back on the only argument they have: that man was created in the image of God. You see, their false assumption about a fact results in a false conclusion about the nature of the fallen man.
To reason accurately from God’s word, we must not ignore the Fall and its destructive effect. Belief and reverence toward God was stamped on man in his original condition. But he no longer is in that condition. Does a dead man retain any mental faculties? Does he retain emotional faculties? Does a spiritually dead person retain any spiritual faculties? Fallen man will worship anything, even sticks and stones, but worship God he will not. It is completely outside his capacity. He is dead to God. He has no spiritual mind, no spiritual will, no spiritual capacity.
Now the Apostle Paul tells us something about the fall of man in Romans 5:12. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” This means that all men died in Adam, that they all sinned in Adam. I think we can understand this a little better when we realize that we all inherit Adam’s fallen nature, and thus we partake of the consequence of his sin. Verse 18 of this same chapter tells us that “by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,” and that leads me to the next fact of eternal life.
Fact 2: All men deserve hell, that is, eternal separation from God, even those who have not transgressed a law of God. Man’s fallen human nature, in and of itself, merits separation from a holy God.
Yes, this fact is taught in God’s holy word. Again in the book of Romans, 9:10-13, Paul uses the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau to illustrate this point. “And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
Please notice that God pronounced his hatred of Esau before the boy was ever born, before he had done any good or evil. God predicted that many people would cry this to be unfair, but they forget that we are talking about a triune, holy God who cannot lie, sin, die, or deny himself. In fact I would ask you this about God’s statement that he loved Jacob and hated Esau. Which half of that statement is the most amazing to you? Are you flabbergasted that God hated Esau? Or are you flabbergasted that God loved Jacob? I lovingly submit that if you understand the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, you will be amazed that such a God could love any man! You will stand still in wonder that God could ever love Jacob! Or you yourself!
Of course Paul knew what man’s natural reaction to such doctrine would be. He continues in Romans 9 by saying, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” That tells us that God’s love of Jacob was a mercy, and that in turn tells us that Jacob did not deserve it.
Think about what this passage is saying. You do not have to reject Christ to deserve to go to hell. You do not have to reach a certain arbitrary age. You do not have to murder somebody. You do not have to depart the faith once you’ve confessed it. You do not have to commit suicide. Your fallen human nature alone merits separation from God.
Let me refer to one other passage to show that God makes the same statement about the whole human race, not just Esau. Well, actually I will be quoting two passages because Psalm fourteen and Psalm fifty-three are practically identical. But notice Psalm 14:1-3.
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (verse 1). Now, I simply must comment on this verse. Many theologians who ignore the Fall and its consequences, will not admit what this verse says. It says that a fool says in his heart there is no God. It does not say that he knows in his heart there is a God but he just won’t admit it with his mouth. No, the fool says in his heart, in the deepest part of his unregenerate being, that there is no God. He is a true atheist. See, most of the men who deny the effect of the Fall on man also deny that there is such a thing as a true atheist. But this verse, and its companion in Psalm fifty-three, teaches that very thing.
“The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God” (verse 2). Yes, God did take that long look from heaven. He looked down through time and saw every man that would ever exist to see if they would seek God. What did God see when he took this long look? He tells us in the next verse, and what He says is no lie. “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good.” And to make things perfectly clear, the Bible says, “no, not one.”
Not one. Earlier I referred to this text with reference to Adam and Eve, only two. Now we see from the entire passage that it encompasses many more, in fact the whole human family. Man in his fallen nature can not and does not do good.
All men deserve hell.
But let me refer to one other point, found in Romans 8 and Hebrews 11. Paul tells us in Romans, “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” The prepositional phrase in the flesh here means unregenerate, according the context. And in Hebrews we read, “without faith, it is impossible to please him.” Now these two passages cover a lot of ground. A man in his natural condition, in the image of fallen Adam, cannot please God. Hebrews tells us that it is impossible, not unlikely or improbable. Without faith, the fruit of the Spirit, he cannot please God.
Now ponder that. Anything you can think of that would please God is impossible for this natural man to do. Wouldn’t it please God to believe in him? To love him? To acknowledge in our souls that he is God? To know in our hearts that we owe him obedience? To obey Him voluntarily? Or to repent? (How could a natural man ever repent of his own human nature?) But alas, natural man cannot do these things. Neither can he come to God, or worship God, or fear God. There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:10-18).
All men deserve hell, even those who have not yet transgressed a law of God. They can not do anything to please God. How can they possibly earn heaven? As a result of Adam’s transgression of the law of sin and death, they all are condemned and justly so. Remember this is a holy God saying these things.
And although this is all quite depressing, it leads us to the next fact of eternal life.
Fact 3: The salvation of men is God’s decision.
Man is spiritually dead and cannot choose salvation. Or as I have said in preaching many times, eternal salvation must be unconditional because man is in no condition to meet any conditions. God looked and saw that men would never seek Him. They could not possibly, in their fallen human nature, ever deserve it. All they deserve is hell.
So, to use words that are probably inaccurate, God has a “decision” to make concerning fallen man. And that decision is to save, or not to save.
God does not have to save anyone. He is not obligated to do so. Man’s fall and man’s sinful nature do not in any way make it incumbent upon God to save anyone. He does not owe it to them. In fact, if He owes them anything, He owes them hell, according to their nature and their works. If God had chosen to do nothing concerning man’s sin, it would in fact have been just and right and holy.
The proof of that can be seen in the fallen angels and their doom. The fallen angels were originally created good too, just like men. But they too fell, probably about one third of them. They are now Satan and his angels, as the scriptures describe them. They are very active enemies to God, going to and fro in the earth, seeking whom they may devour. And, according to Matthew 25:41, there is a place prepared for them, and it is described as everlasting fire.
The Bible says that Satan and his angels are going to hell at the end of time. God is going to say to them, “Depart from me” and they are going to do what God says. But very few people realize what this means concerning God and man. In fact, it took me a long time to realize it.
God has not done one thing in order to save the fallen angels. He has not chosen them or made any plan in order to save them. And don’t forget that this is a God who is holy and can not do wrong. And this God did nothing about the angels that fell. They are doomed to eternal woe and they know it.
And if God had chosen to overlook the entire human race just like that, it would have been perfectly legal justice. The fact that God did not save angels proves that God did not have to save men either. He certainly could have saved the angels because He can do all things; He has the power to do it. But He did not do it.
If you ask me why, the only Biblical answer I can give is that it did not please Him to do it. Our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. It did not please God to save any of the angels, and this leads to the next fact.
Fact 4: God chose to save and chose whom to save.
We should not be offended at this fact because scripture states that man did not choose salvation, but that God chose to save man. I wish all people could see that it is a mercy (GRACE!) that God chose to save any.
God chose to save. He had His mind made up about it before He ever created the universe. Before man had a problem God had the remedy. In other words, God had in His mind the plan of salvation before there were any men to save or any sin to save them from. We often refer to this plan as the covenant of grace. A covenant is simply an agreement between parties about what they are going to do. This covenant was between the three persons of the Godhead about what they were going to do in order to save men. Without this covenant, no one would ever be saved because no man had the power to save himself or even to help save himself. God must do all the saving, or it won’t get done.
This agreement, this covenant is described in some of the most incredible language in scripture. Ephesians 1:3-6: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 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 hath made us accepted in the beloved.” God chose to save and here is how He did it. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Why did He do that? So we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. What is the device God used? He predestinated us to be adopted by Jesus Christ. And all of this is to the praise of the glory of his grace. And in grace, and by grace, He has made us accepted in Christ!
Please remember that God has done all of this for people who deserve to go to hell and have no love for Him. They are described elsewhere as dead in sins, ungodly, sinners, and enemies of God. These are the very people God looked down on and saw could do no good. Yet He chose them anyway. That, my friend, is grace.
Romans 8:29 describes it this way: “Moreover whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
This passage does not say that God has predestinated all things that happen, or that we are just puppets on a string. God did not predestinate all things whatsoever come to pass; He is not the author of sin. But notice here that God’s people are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. God also tells us here that they will be called, justified, and glorified. These things must happen for a fallen man to be like the resurrected Christ, and since man cannot do them for himself, God chose to save men by doing these things for them and to them. In that covenant of grace, the persons of the Godhead agreed to do all of these things for God’s people. This is how they are saved. God the Father chose them, Christ redeemed them, and the Holy Spirit quickens them. None of this was left to chance. Hallelujah!
The Nature of God’s Plan of Salvation, or The Everlasting Blood Covenant.
Fact 1: The eternal salvation of men is unconditional on man’s part.
That statement is the heart and soul of why grace is amazing. Man in nature is dead in sins; he has no spiritual life. And since life always precedes action, a man who is spiritually dead cannot perform any spiritual act. In fact, the best definition of life that I ever read is the following: “the capability to respond to a stimulus.” Now just transfer that over into the spiritual realm and you will see that a spiritually dead man cannot respond to a spiritual stimulus. He is without life. And since the gospel is spiritual, we know that a spiritually dead man cannot respond to the gospel. A man must first have spiritual life, that is, he must first be born again, before he will ever be able to understand the gospel. See I Corinthians 2:14. The eternal salvation of God’s people must be unconditional because fallen man is in no condition to meet any conditions.
Fact 2: God chose his people in Christ before the world began.
I have already referred to Ephesians 1: 4 where we are told that God chose His people in Christ before the world began. This is also taught in I Corinthians 1:30. “But of him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus.” This teaches us that it is God that put us in Christ Jesus and not we ourselves. God put us in Christ before the world began.
This group of chosen or elect people is called by many names in scripture, one of the most obvious being sheep. Christ frequently referred to the sheep and often called them my sheep. Notice John 10:27-30. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my father’s hand.” So far, in these verses we have been told that Jesus has some sheep, that they hear His voice, that He knows them, and that He gives to them eternal life. Also no man can pluck them out of His father’s hand. That sounds like they are pretty secure to me. The next verse (29) refers to election. “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.”
God gave these sheep to Christ. This harmonizes beautifully with I Corinthians 1:30 and Ephesians 1:4, which I have already quoted. Now, check out the election in another passage, John 6:37-39. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”
That is one amazing passage! It teaches that the Father gave some people to Christ, that they will all come to Christ (they will all be born again), and that Christ will not loose any of them, but raise them up at the last day!
Fact 3: Christ redeemed all of the elect.
This is probably the central doctrine of all Christianity and, I might add, the central and pivotal event in all of world history. The life of Christ is the hinge that history turns upon. Jesus said in John 10:15, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” The sheep, again. And just a few verses later Christ says, “I give unto them eternal life.” One of my favorite verses in all the Bible is Revelation 5:9. Here John is getting a glimpse into glory and he sees a vast multitude there. “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
Just look at the doctrinal teaching in that verse. Christ redeemed us. He redeemed the elect. His death actually accomplished this. It did not make it a possibility or a potentiality. His death made the elect’s redemption a reality, a certainty.
Notice now that Christ redeemed the elect to God. His death redeemed the sheep, or the elect, all the way back to God, not just part of the way. Christ did not redeem you part of the way to God and then you must kick and scratch and claw and pray yourself the rest of the way. No! He redeemed you to God.
Christ redeemed the elect to God by his blood. Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, His shed blood, is the thing that redeemed the elect. His blood removed their sins, washed them clean, made them completely innocent of all sin. Imagine that. This is why Paul asked in Romans, “Who can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” The answer to that question is no one. No one can lay any sin to the charge of the elect because it is Christ that died and shed his blood and washed away their sins!
Christ redeemed the elect to God by his blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. Please notice this glorious thought, that Christ’s blood washed away the sins of the elect, from every family, every kindred, every nation, and every language! God chose to save, and He chose to save a vast number of people, from all over the world and in every walk of life. Christ’s blood atoned for the souls of all of the elect, wherever and whoever they may be!
There are theologians who object to that glorious doctrine. I think it is because Christ redeemed all different kinds of people. Yes, my friend, Christ shed his blood for pagans and Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus. And yes, Christ’s shed blood washed away all of their sins, even their sins of false belief and false practice! How can people object to such glorious grace and mercy? I am afraid that they may think such folks don’t deserve it. Well, that is true. They don’t. But neither do we here in America. The bottom line is that there is no difference in redeeming a pagan and an American. They are both dead in sins and completely helpless, spiritually speaking.
Incidentally, I have found something to be quite ironic down through the years. Folks who insist that Christ died for everyone so that they can have a chance to go to heaven are not bothered by the fact that Christ died for pagans, Muslims, etc. But if you tell them that Christ not only died for these people but actually redeemed them and that they will go to heaven, they cry foul. It is as if they cannot accept the fact that Christ’s death alone was sufficient to redeem all for whom he died. But praise the Lord, it was!
Fact 4: The Holy Spirit quickens all of the elect.
If anything this doctrine is even more glorious than redemption. It teaches that the Holy Spirit (which is just as much God as the Father or the Son, don’t forget!) quickens each of the elect at some point during their life. The Holy Spirit does this alone, without any human help whatsoever, and without fail. This doctrine is sometimes called immediate, Holy Spirit regeneration. The word immediate in that definition means that the Holy Spirit does not use any mediator to do this work; the Spirit does the work itself. One reason why this is so is that regeneration is also a creation, a new creation (II Cor. 5:17), and only God can create. Another way of looking at this is that the Holy Spirit applies the redemption bought and paid for by the death of Christ, as God purposed in the covenant of grace before the world began. This application of Christ’s redemption takes place in the spirit and soul of the person being born again, in what the Bible calls the inner man or inward man.
None of this work is dependent upon the efforts of man. Remember the doctrine of depravity, that man dead in sins has no spiritual ability, no spiritual life and cannot perform spiritual actions (such as feeling guilt toward God for sin). Regeneration is unconditional on man’s part; that is, it is by grace. Man does not and cannot do anything in order to be born again.
This truth is very beautifully described in many places in scripture.
In Ezekiel 16, the prophet goes into an amazing, and almost gory, description of Jerusalem. God wants Jerusalem to know her abominations, her true condition of sinfulness and the power of God it took to save her. Notice verses 4-5.
“And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out into the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day wast born.”
This baby has been born dead. It is not washed, or diapered, or salted to protect it from disease. The baby’s navel is not cut. It is thrown into a field in this condition. What a horrible (but accurate) physical description of man’s spiritual condition before regeneration! Dead, bloody, filthy.
But look at the next verse.
“And when I (the Lord) passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast polluted in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.”
This may be the clearest, most detailed description of the very moment of regeneration in the Bible. Here the prophet is using a physical description of the giving of spiritual life. The baby is dead, unwashed, lying in an open field. The Lord comes to the baby, and utters a creative command: LIVE! He does not ask the baby if it wants life. He does not give the baby any condition to meet. The Lord does not command the baby to do anything. Think about it: if the Lord had said to the baby, “Move your finger, or bat your eyes, and I will give you life,” the baby would never have gotten life. Just as Adam’s body was dead before God gave it life (unconditionally!), this baby is dead before the Lord’s commandment gives it life.
Notice also that the dead baby has no power to resist the act of God in giving it life. It has no mind, no power, no will with which to resist. If God stood there and waited until the dead baby got willing to have life, would the baby ever have had life? No, the dead are not willing and cannot be made willing to receive eternal life. To be willing, you must already be alive. This is why John 1:13 teaches us that we are not spiritually born “of the will of the flesh” or “of the will of man” but “of God.” Amen!
Another physical illustration of regeneration is found when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. It is a very beautiful picture of the giving of spiritual life, when properly viewed. Remember when Christ finally arrives at the grave, Lazarus has been dead four days. His body is already decomposing. Christ tells them to roll the stone away from the cave where Lazarus lay. Martha warns that he stinks.
Then Christ utters the same irresistible, creative commandment of Godhead. “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43). “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin.” Lazarus was wrapped in linen cloth from head to foot and his face was covered. I think he probably looked like a mummy. So he could not have walked or run or skipped out of that grave. I believe he floated out! Lazarus had no will or power to either help or resist coming out of that grave. He was drawn out by the life-giving power of the voice of the Son of God. And regeneration is the spiritual equivalent of this very act.
By the way, there were other people, probably including preachers, present when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. But they didn’t have anything to do with getting Lazarus out of that grave. They just stood and watched Christ work. After Lazarus is raised, Christ then turns to them and says, “Loose him, and let him go” (verse 44). That is the job of the preacher. That is the purpose of the gospel. Not to give eternal life, but to loose the born again child of God from the death clothes of his fallen human nature! Amen. The spiritual parallels in this story are powerful.
Earlier in the book of John is another very fascinating verse. It is found in John 5:25 and it too describes regeneration. However, it describes it in a slightly different way, as an ongoing work of the Son of God. This is of course a correct point of theology. God has been regenerating his people since Adam and Eve fell in the garden and this sovereign work of Holy Spirit God will continue, on an individual, case-by-case basis, until the last elect person is born again. Now, notice the verse, which contains the words of our Savior.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” Wow, what a verse! First Christ gets us to sit up and pay attention to what He is about to say: “Verily, verily, I say unto you.” Truly, truly I say unto you. You should believe what I am about to tell you. “The hour is coming and now is”: the work I am about to describe is going on now and it will continue to go on in the future. “When the dead”, that is, the dead in sins, “shall hear the voice of the Son of God.” Not the voice of the preacher or the church or their parents or the evangelist. None of those voices have creative, life-giving power. But the voice of the Son of God does, and the rest of the verse proves it. “And they that hear shall live.” Every time. No matter where they are in the world, no matter their intellectual or educational status, no matter their age, no matter their sinfulness! Hallelujah! As Jonah cried out in the belly of the whale, Salvation is of the Lord!
The doctrine of immediate Holy Spirit regeneration is a critically important fact of eternal life. It explains why Christ could teach that He will lose none of His sheep, how they will all be with Him in heaven, how Paul could declare that nothing is able to separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. It also shows us that it is impossible for any person that Christ died for to die and go to hell. We see further that God’s plan of sovereign grace includes many, many more than most people think. Lots of people think that the doctrine of grace encompasses only a few, what men have called the “chosen few.” But nothing could be further from the truth. The elect family of God is not a few, but a vast multitude of people, from all walks of life, many of whom, maybe even most of whom, will never understand in this life what Christ has done for them (because that understanding comes through belief of the gospel). The number of saved people is not limited by what man does or does not do.
In fact, I would lovingly ask you to consider this: the more conditions that a theological theory requires of a person to be born again, the fewer people that theory can consistently expect to be saved. If a person must hear the gospel, and repent, and accept Christ, and be baptized, and continue faithful throughout life, and repent of every sin during life, there will only be a few in heaven. But since regeneration, and in fact all of our eternal salvation, is accomplished by God and is not dependent upon what men do, we can understand why God told Abraham to count the stars and that his seed would be numberless like the stars. Or the sand of the seashore. Out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and family under heaven. God’s grace reaches where men cannot reach, where the gospel cannot be preached, where churches aren’t allowed to exist, where Bibles are forbidden and burned, and where evangelists are imprisoned and murdered. Only God’s amazing grace can account for the salvation of unborn infants (John the Baptist, Jeremiah) and nursing children (David) being born again and yielding praises to God. Only God’s amazing grace can reach the mentally impaired, who cannot grasp the gospel message. Only God’s eternal plan of unconditional election and predestination can account for the salvation of all the folks who lived in the Old Testament, before any form of New Testament gospel was ever heard. And all of these individuals and cases are saved in exactly the same way. “Even so is every one that is born of the spirit” (John 3:8). God has only one method of salvation. He doesn’t have two or three. He does not need a back-up plan, because His first (and only) plan was absolutely perfect! Let us praise and serve Him!
Finally, let me refer to Romans 11:5-6. These verses of scripture make a powerful point about grace as opposed to works. “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” I have often thought how this verse sounds like double-talk, and many places in scripture will seem that way unless we properly understand them. Here the Apostle is simply saying that grace and works do not mix. Salvation is either of grace or works, not a combination of the two, otherwise the definitions of these words mean nothing. In other words, we are being inconsistent theologically to say, “Sure, salvation is by grace, but here’s what you have to do to get it.” That statement contains an inherent contradiction in terms and cannot be true, according to scriptural logic.
Fact 5: Regeneration is also a glorification in the inner man.
This is a very important point to remember when we think of regeneration. I have already shown that regeneration is described in scripture as a creation, but it is also described as a glorification. The new creature that is produced by the life-giving, universe-creating voice of the Son of God is truly born of God, born from above. The Holy Ghost comes upon them (Ezekiel 16) and the power of the Highest overshadows them, and a holy thing is produced within them. Don’t forget that God has instituted that irrevocable law of like begets like, so when a person is born of God their new creature, their inner man is like God. It is created in His image. (Incidentally, this is a further proof that human and gospel means can have nothing to do with regeneration.)
I think Romans 8:29-30 describes this act of God beautifully. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Here the word “foreknow” means to love intimately beforehand. I have loved them with an everlasting love, God tells us in Jeremiah 31:3. Notice that God has predestinated that these people be conformed to the image of Christ. This again was agreed upon between the persons of the Godhead in the covenant of grace before time. So it is logical to conclude that regeneration conforms the inner man of the child of God to the image of the glorified Christ.
Now verse 30. “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Notice the three terms Paul uses here to describe what God does to a person when they are born again: called, justified, glorified. They are called from death in sins to life in Christ (again, just like the baby in Ezekiel 16) by the voice of the Son of God (John 5:25). The inner man of the child of God is justified, that is, made just, pure, sinless. And it is also glorified, which means that it is not only sinless and perfect but will remain that way!
Paul says something else very interesting in Ephesians 4:24. In this verse, and the verses immediately before it, Paul is admonishing us to put off evil deeds and be renewed in the spirit of our spiritual mind. Then he tells us to put on the “new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” This passage tells us that the inner man, here called the new man (If any man be in Christ he is a new creature!) is created after God. Now that cannot mean that the inner man was created after God was created because God is eternal and never was created. What it does mean is that the inner man is created in the image of God and then Paul further describes what that means: in righteousness and true holiness. Isn’t that amazing?
Well, how holy and how righteous is your inner man? We learn that from I John 3:9. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” This verse obviously does not mean that a born again child of God never ever sins again. That is a denial of the tenor of the whole Bible. But it does mean that the part of you which is born of God (the inner man) cannot sin. This verse also teaches that it is a person, a whosoever. It is also referred to here as a seed and that is none other than the seed of God Himself. Notice that the seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now, don’t forget that this is talking about the inner man, not your flesh, not your body. This explains beautifully what we learned a moment ago in Ephesians: that the inner man is created in righteousness and true holiness. This perfect, sinless, glorified new creature dwells within each and every born again child of God.
Until that individual dies, that is. One of the most blessed promises in all the Bible is that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord. Now stop and think about that just a second. How could the inner man inside you go into the very presence of God if it were not already holy? If it were not already sinless? And pure? And fit to live in heaven? If it were not, in a word, glorified? And your inner man has been in that condition, glorified and ready to fly away to heaven, since the blessed moment that God spoke life into your depraved soul. From that moment, you have been a new creature in Christ. Your inner man did not have to have anything else done to it for it to be ready to go to heaven. The new creation did it all!
Now before I continue, let me answer a couple of questions that often arise at this point. The first has to do with the purpose of the gospel. What is it for? If the gospel is not the means by which God gives eternal life, what exactly is it? And the other question has to do with good works. The Bible is explicitly clear that we are to be careful to maintain good works. So where do the gospel and works fit in?
The Bible has the answers here also. A general guiding principle is that of cause and effect. We must understand from the doctrine of depravity that good works cannot be the cause of eternal life; they are in fact a result of eternal life. Spiritual life precedes spiritual action. This principle is taught in Galatians 5:22-23, where we learn about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. These are all by-products of regeneration; they are not causes of it. So, when I see someone who loves God, has joy in their soul, etc, I can know that they are a child of God already. They do not need to be born again; they already are. Notice especially the word “faith” in that list. We understand from this passage that faith is not the cause of eternal salvation but an effect of salvation. You do not have to exercise faith to be born again; you must be born again in order to have faith in the first place! So when we read passages that talk about obedience and works, we must realize first of all that they are fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit, through regeneration, must be in a person first before they will be able to bear fruit in the service of God.
The purpose of the gospel is defined in II Timothy 1:9-10. Verse nine tells us that our eternal salvation is “not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” Look at the grace in that passage! Now verse 10: “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” There is the Bible definition of the purpose of the gospel. It does not and cannot bring eternal life; only the life-giving voice of God can do that. But the gospel does bring life and immortality to light. It teaches us what Christ has done for us. And it also teaches us how to behave ourselves so that we may have a close fellowship with God while we live. Most of the time in the Bible, the word save in its various forms isn’t referring to heaven at all. There is a great salvation in hearing and obeying the gospel, but it is salvation or deliverance from errors and sins and their consequences while we live here on earth.
One final thought on this topic. There is a huge difference between our relationship with God and our fellowship with God. Our relationship with God was established by the blood of Christ plus nothing. Because of Christ’s finished work, God is our Father and nothing can sever that relationship. Look again at Romans 8:38-39. There is no creature in the universe that can separate you from the love of God. He is and eternally will be your heavenly Father. It is impossible for any person Christ died for to go to hell! But, we can and often do cause a breach in our fellowship with God. Our sins can cause Him to be angry with us and to chastise us, as He did his people Israel on many occasions in history. So the gospel, which teaches us how to live and how to please God, will also show us how to live the abundant life Christ spoke of. Remember He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Fact 6: Christ rose from the grave after three days and nights.
Here we return to the history of Christianity. Christ laid down his life for the sheep, just as He said he would. But He also rose again the third day, just as He said. This is the central fact of Christianity and the thing that separates it from all other religions in the world. The founders of all other major world religions died and never rose again. Only the founder of Christianity did that, and it proved many things about Him and about his work.
It proved that He was who He said he was: the Son of the Living God. Many people who wish to deny this central fact of eternal life say that Christ was a good man, a good teacher, and that He did many good things. But they deny that He was the Son of God, the second person in the trinity. Now, if Christ was not the Son of God He was either an impostor or a madman. He claimed to be equal with God all during His ministry. I and my Father are one. If He was not the Son of God, what a liar He was. A fraud and an impostor and probably one of the craziest people ever to live. He claimed to be God!
But He was God and his resurrection proved it.
Paul teaches us explicitly on this profound point in Romans 1:3-4. In these verses Paul speaks “Concerning his [God’s] Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh: And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Christ’s resurrection from the dead proved that he was the eternal Son of God who spoke this universe into existence.
Christ’s resurrection also proved that he had in fact redeemed his entire family from sin by his death on the cross, that he had satisfied the justice of God Almighty on their behalf. Paul teaches us this in Romans 5:25 where again he speaks concerning Christ, “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” The word justification there means “to declare just.” So, Christ’s resurrection proved that he had made all of the elect family just, perfect, and sinless in the sight of a holy God.
Christ’s resurrection proved one final glorious point, and this is taught in I Corinthians 15: 20 and 23. His resurrection proves that all of the elect, all of the family of God, without the loss of one, will also be resurrected on the last day. They will all be conformed to image of the resurrected Christ, even in their bodies.
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Christ was the first person to be resurrected and glorified, the firstfruits. And in the Bible, the firstfruits were a guarantee of the whole crop. Paul explains this exactly in verse 23: “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits: afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” The expression they that are Christ’s tells us that they are bought with a price and that they belong to Him. And they will be raised from the dead at His coming. As Christ said on one occasion, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
The full significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ will probably never be known by mortal man. It is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the bedrock of our entire belief system. Let me encourage the reader to slowly and reverently read the entirety of I Corinthians 15.
Fact 7: Christ ascended back to heaven about forty days after his resurrection.
This amazing fact of eternal life is taught in Acts 1:1-11. We are told that Christ appeared after his resurrection for a period of forty days, during which he proved infallibly that it was he. He taught his disciples more concerning the kingdom of heaven and told them that they would receive special power when the Holy Ghost came upon them. This of course took place on the day of Pentecost. He also repeated the Great Commission to them.
“And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel: Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
This is the Bible description of how Christ left this world. And it is also a big hint about how Christ will return to this world. That hint is contained in the expression in like manner. Christ will return at the end of time much as he left here in Acts 1. His second coming will not be a giant secret. People will see him when he returns as they saw him when he left. He will come in a cloud as he left in a cloud. It is just that simple. Many incredible and unscriptural theories are promoted about Christ’s second coming. Some try to scare God’s people half to death with graphic depictions of nightmarish horrors. Most of these theories come from grossly misinterpreting some difficult passages in the Bible. But any accurate theory about Christ’s second coming will harmonize with this beautiful passage in Acts 1. He will return in like manner, not in a radically different manner!
Which leads us to one final and amazing fact of eternal life.
Fact 8. Christ will return to earth and raise all the dead from the graves on the last day of this world.
Notice that this fact harmonizes with the other facts of eternal life, especially fact 7. This final fact of eternal life is sometimes referred to as the general resurrection. And it is taught throughout the New Testament scriptures.
First of all, Paul teaches us in I Corinthians 15 that our bodies must be resurrected or changed in order to go to heaven. The human body was designed to live on this earth. It cannot live elsewhere. And if it is ever to go to heaven, as Christ’s body did in Acts 1, it too must have something done to it by God.
Here’s how Paul says it in I Corinthians 15:51-55. “Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” All of God’s redeemed will undergo the bodily change described here. This of course includes those in the graves when Christ returns and those who are still alive then. Their bodies will be made incorruptible and immortal, which will enable them to bodily stand in the presence of a holy God. And their bodies will never die after this.
Now notice John 5:28-29, which gives us some more information about Christ’s return and the resurrection. “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life: and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” This passage tells us that the resurrection will take place in one hour and that all the dead will come forth, both saved and unsaved, at the same time. There will only be one resurrection, not two or three. Language could hardly be any clearer.
John 6:37-40 gives us still more information about the resurrection, including when it will occur in the history of the world. I have already described how this verse teaches the doctrine of grace. Notice now what it says about the timing of the resurrection. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” We learn from this tremendous passage that the resurrection, which will include all that are in the graves, will take place on the last day of the history of this world.
And finally, the classic passage concerning the after-effect of the resurrection, I Thessalonians 4:13-18. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.”
Let me pause here before I give the rest of the text. Notice how Paul describes the two groups he is talking about. The first group is asleep and also them which sleep in Jesus. The second group is we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. So the first group is God’s children who have already died, whose spirits have gone to heaven. And when Jesus comes back He will bring them all with him. Amazing! Please notice that Paul is not talking about the unsaved here. We know from John 5 that the lost will be raised in the same hour as these saved people, but Paul is not talking about them in I Thessalonians 4. Also the word “prevent” in this passage means “hinder, or go before.” So we learn that those who are alive when Christ returns will not hinder or go before those who are dead.
Now the rest of the passage. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Christ will descend and raise the dead first, that is, first with reference to those who are alive and remain. When He raises the dead, as taught in this passage, He will raise all that are in the graves, as taught in John 5 and elsewhere. The dead in Christ will not only rise from the graves, but rise into the air. Then all of God’s children who are alive at the time will meet them in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord in heaven.
It all seems too good to be true. But it is true! You have God’s word on it, and don’t forget: He cannot lie!
Conclusion.
The facts of eternal life teach us that salvation is completely the work of Almighty God. The holy nature of God, the fallen nature of man, and the nature of God’s plan of salvation all show just how amazing the grace of God really is. The eternal salvation of God’s sheep is not based on their works, neither on works they must perform to get eternal life, nor on works they must perform to keep eternal life. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. And these facts of eternal life are the foundational principles that the rest of God’s revealed truth rests upon. We must never forget the basic facts as we continue to learn more and more of God’s word. Without a good grasp of the facts of eternal life, we cannot rightly divide the word of truth.