Home/Bible Studies/Security of the Believer
in

Security of the Believer

Definitions

(Definitions taken from the 1913 Webster's Dictionary)

believer 1. One who believes; one who is persuaded of the truth or reality of some doctrine, person, or thing.

security 1. Freedom from apprehension, anxiety or care; confidence of power or safety; assurance; certainty
2. Freedom from risk; safety

If we take the first definition, we'll be saying that the believer feels secure because he believes he is secure. This is doubtless true, but if all we're looking for is the appearance or feeling of safety, any religion would equally suffice.

So let's take the second definition under consideration.

Does God guarantee safety or security to those who are persuaded of the truth of His doctrine?

Well, there are different kinds of safety or security:

  • financial: safety from poverty
  • physical: safety from bodily harm
  • providential: safety from hunger or want
  • emotional: reassurance, confidence, emotional stability
  • salvation: safety from death or damnation

Let's take them one at a time:

Does the Bible provide any guarantees of financial security?

Well, Jesus did say:

Mark 10:28-30
  1. Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
  2. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
  3. But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

But the gifts of God are not fungible. You can't trade the gifts of helps for a gift of healing, nor a healing for tongues, nor tongues for the gift of teaching. Jesus wasn't promising to Peter that he'd get back the fishing business he walked away from. Jesus only promised that Peter would be better off, generally, for having made the sacrifice.

Romans 11:29
  1. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Saying that God promises financial security to those who believe is the same as saying that anyone who ever missed a car payment was somehow lacking in faith. The Jewish leaders of Jesus' day did believe in such a guarantee of financial security; that's why they scorned the widow's two mites:

Mark 12:41-44
  1. And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
  2. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
  3. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
  4. For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Physical security?

Anyone who has read Foxes Book of Martyrs or seen The Passion of the Christ knows that God makes no guarantee of physical safety to the believer. Your faith in God is no guarantee of safety from bodily harm.

Providential security?

Psalms 37:25
  1. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

David didn't say that the righteous won't ever go hungry; he said they won't go begging. Pastor Ulysse told me that in Haiti you often see people begging, but never Christians. No matter how poor or hungry, the church members don't ever beg in the streets.

In fact, the Bible implies that it is common for Christians to endure tribulation, including lack of money, food, or adequate shelter:

Romans 8:35-37
  1. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
  2. As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
  3. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Emotional security?

The Bible does say that God gives "a sound mind."

2 Timothy 1:7
  1. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Does that mean that anyone who lacks emotional stability is not saved? How about people like (Tim Coats?)

There was a brother in the early days of the ministry at 16th Bay who thought that because he got saved, he didn't have to take his meds. Without the stablizing influence of his prescribed medication, he went through extreme emotional upheavals. At one point he became so violent that John Rice (a very big man), had to forcibly restrain him. I've seen the man-shaped patch-job in the back hallway wall where John had literally pushed him through the wall to keep him still. Are we saying that it is because of this man's lack of faith, rather than lack of meds, that he suffered from this problem?

1 Thessalonians 5:14
  1. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

Maybe God gave us the feeble-minded so that we'd have someone to comfort.

John 9:1-3
  1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
  2. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
  3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Salvation (eternal security)

Having dispensed with the other forms of security, let's talk about the eternal security, or safety from hellfire and damnation. The Bible does guarantee that form of security to the believer:

Romans 10:6-17
  1. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
  2. Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
  3. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
  4. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
  5. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
  6. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
  7. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
  8. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
  9. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
  10. And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
  11. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
  12. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The reference to "who hath believed" comes from Isaiah 53, which is a prophesy of Jesus Christ. Obviously, there is a "doing" that comes with belief, at least the kind of belief that guarantees salvation.

James 2:19-26
  1. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
  2. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
  3. Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
  4. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
  5. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
  6. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
  7. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
  8. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

There are churches which teach that after an initial declaration of faith, the believer is guaranteed to enjoy eternal salvation, no matter what happens. They claim that salvation, once attained, can never be lost. This is called the "once saved, always saved" doctrine. To support this claim, they use the following scripture:

1 John 2:18-19
  1. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
  2. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

John was speaking of those who spoke against or even persecuted the early Christians. Some of the church's worst enemies were ex-Christians themselves. I don't think John was saying that these people had never believed the Gospel. He was saying that when they stopped believing, they left the church. Belief is no more eternal than unbelief.

Romans 11:13-25
  1. For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
  2. If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
  3. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
  4. For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
  5. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
  6. Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
  7. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
  8. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
  9. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
  10. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
  11. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
  12. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
  13. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

In This Life

I submit to you that there are promises that God makes to us, here in this life, for as long as we believe. Here are some of them:

1 Corinthians 10:13
  1. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

No matter how bad you might think you have it, you're no worse off than "what is common to man." And even then, God will always provide a way to escape, if you can't bear it.

James 4:7
  1. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The devil walks among us; you will encounter evil influences in your daily life. But you don't have to fight them in the physical sense; all you have to do is resist, and they'll leave you alone.

Romans 8:38-39
  1. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
  2. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is nothing in this life, apart from yourself, that can force you to sin.

God even promises that he won't let us sin through ignorance.

Joel 2:28
  1. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
John 14:26
  1. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Philippians 3:13-15
  1. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
  2. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
  3. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Acts 17:30
  1. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
James 4:17
  1. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Here's a promise that is near and dear to my heart:

Romans 8:28
  1. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

No matter what happens, God is able to make it work to the good. You might call this the "silver lining" or "Pollyanna" doctrine.

Here's another:

Mark 13:9-11
  1. But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
  2. And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
  3. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

God promises that when it really matters, when you're delivered up before kings and presidents to speak on behalf of the gospel, then God will give you the words to speak. I know this is true; I've seen it happen.

What are some promises that you've found in the Bible?