“I CANNOT receive your doctrine, sir that all who are once saved can never be lost. I once felt happy myself, but it all gone, now.”
So said a farmer’s wife to me, when speaking of God’s salvation.
“What made you feel happy?” I asked.
“Oh, sir, some years since I was in deer distress of soul, seeking rest here and there, troubled about my lost condition, when one night, as distinctly as though some one was speaking to me, I heard the Lord say ‘Daughter, thy sins are forgiven;’ but have lost everything now, it is all gone, my peace has fled.”
I immediately turned to two little girls, who were listening to their mother, and asked, “Are these your daughters?”
“Oh, yes, they are mine.”
“Were they always your daughters?”
“Of course they were.”
“Will they always be your daughters?”
“Certainly they will,” she replied, looking at me as though I were very stupid to ask such questions.
“Listen,” I said; “What did you heal the Lord say to you?”
“Daughter—”
“Did He say ‘Daughter?’ If you were daughter then you are a daughter now, for the relationship of a parent to a child car never be broken.”
Dear reader, are you in the difficulty in which I found the farmer’s wife? Then permit me to direct you to a few plain scriptures that prove, beyond a question, that a person once truly believing can never be lost, but is child of God forever. If my reader be inclined to argue, that there are some difficult passages, which seem to prove the contrary, all that I ask is, believe what is plain, and what you can understand, and quietly wait upon God until the other scriptures are made plain to you; for, rely upon it, God cannot contradict Himself.
The first scripture I ask you to look at is in the gospel of John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12). “As many as received Him (Jesus), to them gave He power (or the right, title, or privilege) to become the Sons (rather children) of God.”
Again, turn to John 8:3535And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. (John 8:35), “the servant abideth not in the house forever.” Our servants leave us, or we send them away at our pleasure, and the link is broken. Not so our children; “the son abideth ever.” If your child were to go to the other side of the globe, he would still be your child; and wherever your house was, he would still be able to point to it, and say, “that is my father’s house.”
But, do you reply, “I must feel I am a child before I can enjoy the relationship, and if the Spirit does not witness within, I cannot be one.”
The word of God says, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” (Rom. 8:1616The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:16).)
Notice, being children, the Spirit of God takes possession of our hearts, giving us the conscious relationship of children.
But do you look upon affliction as a sign that you are not a child of God?
We read in Heb. 12 how God, the Father, deals with His erring children; for the 6th verse tells us that “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth”; and in the 7th “if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”
Moreover, if a believer sins, he is dealt with as a child of God, by the Father, to maintain the holiness of the house; but he never ceases to be a child.
Doubting Christian, will you not accredit the love of God? “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons (children) of God; beloved, now are we the sons (children) of God, and it Both not yet appear—is not yet fully manifested—what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:1, 2, 31Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1 John 3:1‑3).)
Nothing can be more distinct, emphatic, and clear, than that the gift of God is eternal life, and to doubt, or question, is to deny the recorded words of God, “for this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son,” and the special purpose of the Spirit of God in writing thus is, that those who believe on the name of the Son of God, should know that they have eternal life. (1 John 5:1313These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13))
Mark, it is ours, not to doubt, or fear, or hope, but to know with assurance that we are “children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26).) H. N.